16:3 - God knows that symbolism is so powerful for human beings...He frequently instructs His people to use symbols as reminders of who they are and where they come from. The Israelites use unleavened bread because when they were fleeing Egypt, there was no time for them to let yeast rise...they had to use flat bread that could be made quickly. When they celebrate the passover, they eat this flat bread to remember that the Lord brought them out of slavery. We use symbols to remember God's love too. The cross, the bread, the wine...we have to make sure that these things never become stale in our minds, but they exist as constant reminders of the incredible love of God.
16:12 - Again, the focus is on remembering where you came from. We were once slaves to sin...we were once absolute under the sway of sin and death - but Jesus Christ changed all that. If you don't take time to remember that you were a slave, you are bound to let yourself fall back into that slavery. Remember the brutality of our slavery to sin...remember the hopelessness...remember the confusion. What can you do as a reminder? The Israelites would fail to remember how horrible their slavery was and from time to time in the desert they would beg to go back to Egypt. They remembered the food and shelter and allowed themselves to forget the crack of the whip - the back-breaking labor - the horrible treatment. Don't allow yourself to candy-coat your slavery to sin. Again, what can you do to remember?
16:20 - As followers of Jesus Christ, we are the temple of God - the Holy Spirit lives within us. We are a part of the holy priesthood of all believers. We are living in the Promised Land, because we are living the life of freedom that Jesus promised us - freedom from sin! If that is who you are as a God follower, then justice should be a part of your DNA. God's people seek out justice because God is just. God's people do not allow injustice to run wild when they can do something about it.
17:7 - Have you purged the evil from your midst? What is it that is hanging around in your life, trying to drag you back to that slavery we talked about earlier? Have you taken drastic measures to go to war are the sin struggles that have plagued your life? God fearers do whatever it takes to combat sin - what is it gonna take for you?
17:16/17 - How shocking are these verses when you think about the kings of Israel like David and Solomon? Those guys were filthy rich! Solomon alone had thousands of wives and concubines! How did the kings of Israel react when they read the law about how kings were really supposed to act? A king of Israel was supposed to be a spiritual leader, not somebody who was gonna to get wealthy and take advantage of his position of power. What do you think Solomon thought when he read these verses? Flip that to us...what do we think when we read how differently our lives look from what Jesus throws out there in the NT? How do we react when we read about the life Paul was calling Christians to live? Probably the same way David and Solomon did - lame excuses.
18:2 - As Christians we are a priesthood of believers...should our attitude reflect that of the Levite priests? They were instructed to forget about an inheritance...their inheritance was found in God. The OT priests were not worried about the future...they were not worried about wealth and possessions...they we content in what God gave them. As priests of Jesus Christ we should be able to ignore the things of this world and find contentment in God (Phil. 4).
18:10ff - These verses talk about the abomination of a parent putting their children through fire - sacrificing them to false gods. Does this speak to the modern American system of putting your kids through the fire? We "encourage" (force) them into sports, music, school achievement, etc...pushing them to more and more practice/study...doing it "for their own good." So many parents are living out their dreams through their kids...so many parents are trying to find their own worth in their kids' achievements. Oh yeah, and in doing so they are sacrificing their kids to our culture.Is that evil? I would love to see parents following the example that Moses holds up in the Torah, of writing the word of God on the hearts of their kids. If we're gonna push our kids into something...why not something that is eternally meaningful...something that actually matters? (I'll get off my bitter little soap box now - and by the way, I have already been warring with the feelings of false personal fulfillment that come from my son's athletic achievements...so I'm speaking to myself as much as anybody)
3 comments:
what Brandon said about symbols in ch 16 really hit me hard this past Sunday night. While we were in worship time I was reminded so clearly of the salvation in the cross. The second song the band played was very moving, so much so that i went to take communion. As I took communion the words in the song were: "Salvation is here," and as I stood in front of the cross taking communion I was reminded of that so beautifully.
Ch 17:16-17, yes I think that Solomon reading these verses would be very convicted, but in the end he didn't care enough to "purge the evil from his midst." If you follow the story out to the end of Solomon's time, you will see that it cost him the kingdom. At the end of his reign the kingdom split and shortly after went into exile (mostly as a result of his choices). flipping it to us... I fear that the same will happen to us if we follow the same lackadaisical attitude about living in a luke-warm way. It is a scary thing to think about Jesus saying "I never knew you, your not welcome in my kingdom" (Matt 7:23). At the same time that fear propels me towards Christ.
18:2 Your comment here, and really the whole time i've spent with you guys blogging in the Deut, has really been a heart check. Where am I at, why am I doing what i'm doing; Am i living for myself or (like the Levite priests) do I find my joy in the LORD and in being in communion with Him. Keep up the good blogging :D
I like how in 16:6-7 He says that the sacrifices should be made where GOD chooses, not where we choose. Its really hard for me to ignore myself and do what God says especially when what I want to do seems like a good, Christian thing to do. I could always make the rationalization "oh i'm a Christian so i'm not going to associate myself with drug addicts or non-Christians etc..", but the fact is that God is dwelling most where these people are.
Thanks Matt and Jonny - good stuff.
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