August 16, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let\u2019s seek this ancient way together as a church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In beginning his recitation of the covenant law, Moses first recounts the giving of the ten commandments to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai. These commandments serve as a foundation for all the more specific commandments that are to come, and they reveal the moral character of God to us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God: we are to worship Him and Him alone as God, avoid all idolatry, honor and reverence His name and keep the Sabbath day holy. The order of these commandments is intentional, and the latter three flow out from the first. The idea is that, first and foremost, we are to love, honor, and worship God with our lives! When we do so, the other commandments are obeyed by default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last six commandments have to deal with our relationships with each other: we are to honor our parents, and we are not to murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, or covet what is not our own. Jesus reveals to us in Matthew chapter 5 that these commandments, which deal with outward behavior, are really aimed at orienting our hearts toward God and exposing the deeper heart-level issues that produce this kind of sin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As followers of Jesus we are no longer obligated to obey the full extent of the Old Covenant law, but we are still required to obey the spirit of the law, which Christ Himself fulfilled on our behalf! God never changes, and the way He reveals Himself to us through the law still has massive implications for the way that we live! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you read today, allow the Spirit to uncover the idolatry and deeper sin issues of your heart which lead to your outwardly sinful behavior. Give yourself over to the agenda of His redeeming grace and allow Him to transform you to be more like Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n