March 26th readings

~ Click on this link for today's readings ~
Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25 ~ Luke 7:11-35
Psalm 68:19-35 ~ Proverbs 11:29-31

Old Testament - Today we get a nice recap of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy chapter 5!  We originally read these in Exodus chapter 20 and then again in Exodus chapter 34.  There are some differences in the wordings of the Ten Commandments in each of these chapters, but not enough to worry about.  :)  Check out a quick overview of some of the differences between these 3 chapters presentation of the Ten Commandments at this link.  Bible.org has a great overview of the Ten Commandments, based on Exodus chapter 20, at this link. 

I love Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 through 9 in our readings today!  These verses are known as the Shema - which was named after the first word in this verse and means "Hear."  The Shema became the Jewish confession of faith, which was recited by pious Jews every morning and evening and it is still recited in synagogue services today. They are the last words a Jew says prior to death.  More very interesting information about The Shema from a Jewish website is at this link.  ""Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  Below is an appropriate image for this last sentence of the Shema.  Bible.org's commentary on Deuteronomy chapter 6 is at this link. - 

New Testament - Wow.... Verse 35 in Luke chapter 7 is such a profound teaching of Jesus' for each of us to consider- "But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it." Take a few moments to really meditate on this verse and what it means.  For me this verse is a reminder that sometimes in life we have to move forward in faith on something "wise" we've heard, but maybe not experienced - and then later see that the wisdom is true.  I'm not sure if I'm going to explain myself well here... but my thought is that as followers of Christ, I think we can get lazy in our faith at times.  As just one example - maybe we don't think we really need to tithe to our church.  We know the wisdom of Malachi 3:10, but maybe we haven't really experienced the wisdom of tithing.  So, maybe we need to follow the wisdom first - and then we will later know the full truth and beauty of the wisdom.  Hope this makes sense?  I'd just say that if there is a struggle in your life that God is calling you to leave behind or move forward on - go for it!  If you know you should be doing or not doing something - go with that wisdom you know and then it will "shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it."  Please follow it! 

A nice image of John the Baptist sending two of his disciples to meet Jesus is below, from verses 18 & 19 - "The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, "Are you the Messiah we've been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?"   Bible.org's commentary on Luke chapter 7's readings today, titled "John's Problem with Jesus," is at this link. 

Psalms - Today in Psalm 68 verse 20 we read – “Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.” Do you believe God is a God who saves us? How did / does God do this saving? Do you believe that escape from death comes from God and his Son? I’ve been reflecting on this “death” aspect of our fallen world a bit lately, which has been sad to reflect upon. I had an experience with a few friends very recently where I was reminded of how self-destructive we can be in our lives. I think that without Jesus we can oftentimes not know where to turn for an escape from death – we do not know where to turn from an escape from our own self destructive behaviors. My friends need Jesus. I need Jesus. The world needs Jesus. Our God is a God who saves. From God and Jesus comes escape from death. May this coming Easter season bring us, our friends, and families closer to the God who saves.

Proverbs - I love the imagery in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 30 today - "The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise."  That is a powerful last half of the verse.  Those who save lives are wise...  Are you saving lives?  How?  How might you be able to save lives?  My one quick thought on this is to get involved in ministries that are serving the poorest of the poor internationally.  I honestly believe $1 a day can save a life, if not many lives.  Sponsoring a child through World Vision or Compassion or another worthy organization is an amazing way to save a life.  $1 a day.  Will you invest in a child who needs you today?  Would this be wise?

What verses or insights stand out to you in today's readings?  Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!

Grace,
Mike

Comments

[Ramona]

Deuteronomy 5:1-6:25

Obey God’s commands; listen, be careful to do; walk straight; don’t veer off; deeply respect, etc., words and phrases found all throughout today’s reading. Do you think God is trying to tell us something?

Jesus speaking in the 14th chapter of John states:

If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands. (John 14:15 AMP)

We look at “love” as an emotion, and confuse it with mercy, though mercy flows from love. God says love is a verb and is a “doing.” We determine if someone loves us by what they do for us; God determines love for Him by obedience to His Word. Is there anyway we can reconcile what we call love to God’s definition? God is immutable so He can’t change, it is against His nature. We have to change our understanding of what love is to fit into God’s standard. Loving God His way, which is the only way that counts, brings BIG benefits for us,

And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to [reverently] fear the Lord our God for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. And it will be accounted as righteousness (conformity to God's will in word, thought, and action) for us if we are watchful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:24-25 AMP)

Grace and peace,
Ramona

[Lito]

The 10 commandments is the basic laws in all of society. Yet, human as we are, we cannot completely follow it, which makes all of us sinners. However, Jesus says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Why would others then say that the 10 commandments have already been abolished when He even says, "I come not to destroy the law but to fulfill".

Little's Blog Things

[CB]

Little's Blog Things (Lito), welcome to the OYB Blogroll:
http://www.chipbennett.net/wordpress/index.php/2006/03/littles-blog-things/

[John]

Lito,

Good questions. Some have come up before, but some people may have missed them or joined the blog late. Of course, repetition helps the learning process :)

The commandments or the "Law" pointed out sin. There were blessings associated with keeping the Law, and curses (punishments) associated with breaking the Law. Sacrifices were prescribed to make atonements for sin of breaking the Law. As you point out - there would be a lot of sacrifices :)

To be accurate the full passage from scripture is:

Matt 5:17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." NIV

Jesus came to fulfill the prophets words of a Coming Messiah. So how did Jesus fulfil the law? For this I defer to the Believer's Comementary which explains it better than I would in a post:

"The law had attached to it the penalty of death (Gal. 3:10); and to break one command was to be guilty of all (Jas. 2:10). Since people had broken the law, they were under the curse of death. God’s righteousness and holiness demanded that the penalty be paid. It was for this reason that Jesus came into the world: to pay the penalty by His death. He died as a Substitute for guilty lawbreakers, even though He Himself was sinless. He did not wave the law aside; rather He met the full demands of the law by fulfilling its strict requirements in His life and in His death. Thus, the gospel does not overthrow the law; it upholds the law and shows how the law’s demands have been fully satisfied by Christ’s redemptive work."
---- MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments . Thomas Nelson: Nashville

So what changed after the Crucifixion and Resurrection. By becoming followers of Christ we no longer have to worry about the curses of the Law or making atoning sacrifices. Christ made that final all encompassing sacrifice for us.

Now the commandments are written in our regenerated hearts, and if we love Jesus we will obey them.

"Yet, while the Christian is not under the law, that doesn’t mean he is lawless. He is bound by a stronger chain than law because he is under the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21). His behavior is molded, not by fear of punishment, but by a loving desire to please his Savior. Christ has become his rule of life (John 13:15; 15:12; Eph. 5:1, 2; 1 Jn. 2:6; 3:16)." - ibid.

Specifically, nine of the ten commandments are mentioned in the New Testament. Not as law, but as training in righteousness for the childen of God.

1John 2:6
"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." NIV

Jesus walked "sinless". Because of the war between flesh and "regenerated" spirit we will still sin. But it will not affect our salvation, and it will not affect our fellowship with God - if we pray, confess, and ask for restoration of fellowship.

However we still must TRY to walk sinless, even more importantly we should want to walk this way because of He who abides in us.

[Paul]

I just like the way our Lord, "daily bears our burdens".

Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
Selah

I think the word Selah means pause and reflect. So let us pause and reflect on this.

[John]

Matt 11:19
"But wisdom is proved right by her actions." NIV

Luke 7:35
"But wisdom is proved right by all her children." NIV

Chip got me thinking on this: In the Greek text these two verses are exactly the same, but translated differently.

Nonetheless, it was discussed a while back where a school of thought substittutes Jesus' name for wisdom in "Proverbs".

What if you do that here:

'But Jesus is proved right by his actions'

'But Jesus is proved right by all his children'

[Note: Don't get bogged down on "her" in original translation. Gk. "autos" can be his, hers, its. It is pronoun in agreement with noun it refers to in sentence. Wisdom was feminine so it was "hers", Jesus is masculine so it would be "his" in above.]

[John]

John The Baptist

Just read:

John's Problem with Jesus
(Luke 7:18-35)
By: Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M.

at the link Mike provided above.

I would highly reccomend taking the time to go through his commentary.

In the conclusion, there are some thoughts that we should all take to heart, including me (maybe especially me :)

[Anka]

33For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' 34The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' 35But wisdom is proved right by all her children."
Recently,I have had to think about believers who point their fingers to those who eat certain foods,who drink wine.I thought to myself,if Jesus was so much against drinking wine,why didn't he have grape juice during the Lord's supper.Well doing a little research I found that one of the reasons prophets before Jesus were banned from wine was so people wouldn't think they were drunk when in truth the Spirit of the Lord had come upon them..Even then,John the baptist was labelled "demonised"since he couldn't be labelled drunk...and Jesus since he ate other foods apart from locust,wild honey and wine...(he couldn't have been called drunkard if he was seen drinking juice or water)was labelled glutton and drunkard!!
My thoughts are,those who want to know the truth will find it,those who don't will fight about trivial matters like food,drink,doctrines and like John the baptist...tend to fall away on account of prejudice.
I pray for Christians to be united,where I'm at now we disagree about spiritual gifts,wine,tithing,worship(pious or with shouts of joy),spiritual gifts....the list continues along with the finger pointing.
I pray we all learn that our walk with God is personal...we give account of our lives so we should search the scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to tell us what God really wants of us.A kingdom divided against itself can't stand,can't we all agree to disagree on certain issues and love each other with our differences.I'm learning that loving one another and bearing our burdens also means that when I disagree with a christian on an issue,I should shut up(by God's abundant grace:))and let the Holy Spirit set us straight.As Jesus himself said,wisdom is proved right by her children....let our fruits speak.
God bless you all