Responsibilities of Fatherhood --
Deuteronomy 6:1-19
Introduction
Deuteronomy 6:4-10 has
been called the Magna Carta of the home which would guarantee the happiness and
well being of the family in the purpose of God. But while it is an important
passage for the home, this passage must not be used outside of its overall
context and purpose or it loses its real impact for the home.
One of the chief purposes of this section of
Scripture is a call to ministry and testimony as the people of God through
obedience to God:
Exodus 19:6-7 and you shall be to Me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation. ‘These are the words that you shall speak to the
sons of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set
before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him.
Deuteronomy 4:6-8 “So keep and do them, for that
is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear
all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people.’ 7 “For what great nation is there that has a god so near
to it as is the LORD OUR God whenever we call on Him? 8 “Or what great nation is
there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am
setting before you today?
Deuteronomy 6 is not
simply a call to obedience for obedience’ sake or obedience for happiness’ sake,
nor is it just a passage with principles for the home. It is a call to obedience
for God’s glory, as an evidence of love for God and for a ministry to the world
through the perpetuation of faith in the Lord from generation to generation.
Personal blessing was promised, but primarily as a by-product of relationship
with the Lord, not as an end in itself.
Moses was a wise teacher of God’s truth. First
he reviewed what the Lord had done for Israel (Deut. 1–4) and reminded the
people of God’s mercy and goodness. Then he reaffirmed the basic principles of
God’s Law (Deut. 5–6), what we know as the Ten Commandments (10:4). In chapters
6 and 7, Moses discussed motives for obedience and explained why the people
should honor God’s laws. He wanted the nation’s obedience to be based on
spiritual principles, not just personal opinions, and to be encouraged by the
right motives. Only after Moses had laid this strong foundation did he apply
God’s commandments to specific areas of Israel’s life.
God gave His Law to build the people
individually as well as the nation collectively. How could over 2 million people
live together and work together, let alone fight the enemy together, unless they
had rules and regulations to govern them? Israel’s civic peace and general
welfare depended on the people respecting the Law and obeying it. Unfortunately,
over the years, some of the religious leaders added so many traditions to God’s
Law that the people felt like they were wearing a galling yoke (Acts 15:10; Gal.
5:1).
The Law was also meant to reveal God and draw
the people closer to Him. If Israel was to be a holy people and a kingdom of
priests (Ex. 19:1-8), they needed a holy law to guide them. Certainly God was
concerned about the external conduct of His people, but He was also concerned
that their hearts be devoted to Him. When you read Psalm 119, you discover what
the Law of God meant to Jewish people who were spiritually minded and devoted to
the Lord in their hearts. They saw God’s righteous Law, not as a heavy yoke, but
as honey (v. 103), light (v. 105), a treasure (vv. 14, 72, 127, 162), freedom
(v. 45), and a source of great joy (v. 14). They delighted in the Law and
meditated on it (vv. 15-16, 23-24, 47-48, 77-78; see 1:1-3). Yes, the Ten
Commandments were engraved on tables of stone, but the spiritual Jew also had
the Word hidden in his heart (119:10-11).
As God’s people today (the church of Jesus
Christ), this is not unlike our call and responsibility (1 Pet. 2:5-12).
Remember, these Old Testament principles, warnings, and exhortations are given
for us today as examples to us and for our instruction and “that through
perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope” (Rom.
15:4).
There are three key notes that form the
background and backbone for this passage in Deuteronomy:
·
Obedience as an evidence of love
and reverence for God.
·
Warnings against forgetting the
Lord.
·
The need of the transmission of
God’s truth to the coming generations—godly parenting (cf. Ps. 78:1ff)
Deuteronomy 6 shows us
how this is to be done or what is necessary if we are to be an obedient people
who do not forget the Lord and who seek God’s Word with careful obedience handed
down from generation to generation.
The Call for Obedience: Communication of Truth
(6:1-2)
Deuteronomy 6:1-2 “Now this is the
commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD YOUR God has
commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are
going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might
fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I
command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.
Deuteronomy 4:10-11 “Remember the day you
stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Assemble the
people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all
the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ 11
“And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain
burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick
gloom.
Moses has already emphasized God’s love for
Israel and the importance of Israel’s love for God (4:32-43), and he will
mention this topic several times before he concludes his address. If Israel
obeyed the Lord, they would conquer the enemy, possess the land, multiply in the
land, and enjoy a long life in the place of God’s blessing (6:1-3).
At least six times in this book, Moses called
Canaan “a land of milk and honey” (v. 3; 11:9; 26:9, 15; 27:3; 31:20), a phrase
that describes the richness and fruitfulness of the land. Milk was a staple food
and honey a luxury, so “a land of milk and honey” would provide all that the
people needed. There would be adequate pastures for their flocks and herds and
sufficient plants in the fields for the bees to obtain pollen. How could the
people not love and obey Jehovah when He blessed them so abundantly?
The experience at Horeb
in Deuteronomy 4 was designed to produce a reverential fear of God in the hearts
of the people so that a covenant between them and the Lord would be possible. In
the Old Testament the fear of God is more than awe or reverence though it
includes both. Fearing God is to become so acutely aware of His moral purity and
omnipotence that one is genuinely afraid to disobey Him. Fearing God also
includes responding to Him in worship, service, trust, obedience, and
commitment.
That day at Horeb God’s omnipotence was
displayed in the fire … black clouds … deep darkness, and the voice of God that
thundered from the heavens. His moral purity was displayed in the Ten
Commandments, called His covenant (Bible Knowledge Commentary).
Of course, the perpetuation or transmission of
faith and truth into the hearts of each new generation was vital to continued
obedience and the privilege of remaining in the land where Israel could enjoy
its blessings and fulfill God’s purposes for them as a priesthood nation to the
nations.
The Foundation for Obedience: Hearing God’s
Truth (6:3-4)
3 “O Israel, you should listen and be careful
to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just
as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with
milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
Covenant (Deut. 6:3)
There was always a danger that the new
generation would become proud and think that God had blessed them because they
were better than previous generations. Moses reminded them that all their
blessings came from the Lord because of His covenant with their fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, it was this truth that opened his address
(1:8, 21, 35), and he would mention it again (6:10; 9:5, 27; 29:13; 30:20; 34:4;
and see Ex. 6:8 and 33:1). God’s gracious promise to the patriarchs gave Israel
ownership of the land, but it was their own obedience to the Lord that
guaranteed their possession and enjoyment of the land.3-2 It’s
unfortunate that after Israel had lived in the land, they took their blessings
for granted, disobeyed God’s Law, and had to be punished for their rebellion.
First they were chastened in the land (described in the Book of Judges) and then
they were removed from the land and taken captive to Babylon.
Believers today need to be reminded that all our
blessings come to us because of God’s eternal covenant with His Son (Heb. 13:20)
and the New Covenant which Jesus made through His sacrificial death on the cross
(Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8–9). We aren’t blessed because of what we are
in ourselves but because of what we are in Christ (Eph. 1:3-14).
Confession (Deut. 6:4)
The orthodox Jewish confession of faith is
called “the Shema” after the Hebrew word which means “to hear.” This confession
is still recited each morning and evening by devout Jews all over the world,
affirming “Jehovah, our Elohim, Jehovah is one.” (See Matt. 22:37-38; Mark
12:29-30; Luke 10:27.) So important is this confession that Jewish boys in
orthodox homes are required to memorize it as soon as they can speak. The
nations around Israel worshiped many gods and goddesses, but Israel affirmed to
all that there is but one true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
The Hebrew word translated “one” (ehad)
can also mean “a unity” as well as “numerical oneness.” It’s used that way in
Genesis 2:24, describing the oneness of Adam and Eve, and also in Exodus 26:6
and 11 to describe “unity” of the curtains in the tabernacle (see
niv). The word also carries the
idea of “uniqueness.” In contrast to the many pagan gods and goddesses, Jehovah
is unique, for there is only one true God; He is God alone and not part of a
pantheon; and He is a unity, which Christians interpret as leaving room for the
Trinity (Matt. 28:19-20; 3:16-17). When Israel began to put Jehovah alongside
the false gods of the Gentile nations, they denied their own confession of
faith. The Gentiles could renounce their false gods and trust the true God, the
God of Israel, but a devout Jew could never put Jehovah on the same level as the
gods of the Gentiles.
Hearing God
The foundation for
obedience begins with listening—with hearing the Word. Hearing is a protection
against scarring or hardening (Heb. 3:7).
These verses are addressed to the nation of
Israel. But in particular, they are addressed to parents—especially to fathers
and grandfathers because of their leadership role according to Scripture, and
because of the responsibility of parents in the perpetuation of faith in their
children. This is clear from the context (cf. verses 2, 7, 20).
Dads, the most important thing you can do for
yourself and your family is to make hearing the Word of God one of the greatest
priorities of your life and the lives of your children. Our children must learn
the importance of hearing and knowing the Word of God formally and informally.
Hearing, knowing, and obeying the Word is critical to our spiritual growth and
walk with God, to our ability as parents, and to the lives of our children.
A little girl, with shining eyes and little face
aglow, said, “Daddy, it is almost time for Sunday school. Let’s go! They teach
us there of Jesus’ love, and how He died that we might all have everlasting life
by trusting in Him!”
“Oh, no,” said Daddy, “not today, I have worked
so hard all the week, I am going to the woods and to the creek. There I can
relax and rest. I must have one day to rest, and fishing is fine, they say. So
run along. Don’t bother me. We’ll go to church some other day!”
Months and years have passed, but Daddy hears
that plea no more: “Let’s go to Sunday school!”
Those childish years are over and that Daddy is
growing old, when life is almost through, he finds time to go to church. But
what does daughter do? She says, “Oh, Daddy, not today. I stayed up almost all
last night, and I’ve got to get some sleep!” (Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of
7700 Illustrations, #1628, Assurance Publishers, p. 431).
Next, the text teaches us
the foundation of obedience and godly parenting is:
Knowing God
The purpose of hearing
the Word is to know the Lord.
“Hear” is the Hebrew shama, and means “to hear and understand, or to hear with
discernment.” Hearing the Word must never degenerate into religious formality or
into merely a religious routine in which we do our ‘nod to God,’ but afterwards
immediately forget God (cf. Ps. 50:22). The text will show us, that our purpose
for hearing the Word and its truth is to really know God intimately and
personally, to so understand the truths of Scripture that they become the means
and guide to a personal relationship with the Lord. We do “not live by bread
alone, (i.e., by the details of life) but by every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God.” We need to live by God’s Word that we might personally know God
and put our trust in Him.
We need to understand how much we lack of the
knowledge of God. We must learn to measure ourselves, not by our knowledge about
God, not by how many verses we can spit out by memory, not by our gifts or
talents or ministry, but by how we pray, by how we commune with the Lord in His
Word, by what goes on in our hearts, and by our level of obedience to what we
know (For a wonderful study on this need, see J. I. Packer’s book, Knowing
God).
The rest of verse 4, “…The Lord is our God, the
Lord is one!” is debated as to its exact meaning. It may stress the unity of
God, or the uniqueness of the Lord (i.e. there is only one God like Yahweh).
Ryrie writes,
Verse 4 is subject to various translations,
though the statement is likely stressing the uniqueness of Yahweh and should be
translated, “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” A secondary emphasis, His
indivisibility, is apparent in most English translations. The Lord’s uniqueness
precludes the worship of any other and demands a total love commitment (v. 5).
This confession does not preclude the later revelation of the Trinity, for the
word God (Elohim) is a plural word, and the word one is also used of the union
of Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:24) to describe two persons in one flesh (Charles
Caldwell Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition, Moody, p. 285).
Verse 4 gives expression
to what was to be the heart of Israel’s confession of faith, namely, Yahweh was
not a pantheon of gods, nor was He one of the gods of the ancient mystery cults.
He was the only true God who was one in essence, but clearly revealed in the New
Testament as three in personality.
The point is we must hear the word to learn
about the Lord that we might know Him and live in the light of all that He is as
the sovereign and holy God of the universe and savior of our lives—the God of
redemption and revelation. This is very important. A proper perspective about
God is vital and fundamental to our love and obedience to Him, and our to
ability to trust Him for all of life. Without this knowledge embedded in our
hearts and functioning as the rock of our lives, we will pursue the gods of the
world; we will experience the emptiness of materialism and fall for one of the
many traps of Satan. As we come to know God, we learn that we need no other
god’s—He alone is sufficient to meet our needs and to fulfill our lives; indeed,
He is our SUFFICIENCY, OUR ONLY ONE.
As we study His Word and come to know Him, we
learn to trust Him, and this in turn is transmitted to our children.
Obeying God
“Hear” in verse 4
includes the idea of “to hear and obey.” The point is that we really have not
heard unless we are following through with obedience, acting on the precepts of
Scripture. We must act in accord with Scripture (6:2b-3a, 4), from the heart,
from an intimate understanding and relationship with Him or we have not truly
heard. Note the words, “to keep all, …” “be careful to do it,” and
“hear.” Taking Scripture as our index is the point here: we must realize
that we cannot guide our own lives.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems
right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in
his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that a man’s
way is not in himself; Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.
Note the following
principles:
(1) Knowledge without obedience is never enough.
(2) Knowledge that is without obedience is only
partial knowledge. Indeed, it is knowledge without understanding. It
constitutes information without spiritual understanding and insight.
(3) To truly know the Lord is to desire to obey,
and then to obey!
To have met with the living God is to change.
That means obedience. Otherwise, we have merely had an encounter with ourselves
religiously and emotionally. Parents who refuse to obey God themselves are
teaching their children disobedience. The clearest and loudest words our
children ever hear, are those of our own example.
·
Children who live with critical
parents learn to be critical.
·
Children whose parents scream and
argue learn to do the same.
·
Children whose parents find all
kinds of excuses to miss Bible class and church will find it easy to do the
same.
·
Children whose parents are not
involved in ministry and concerned for others, will likewise be indifferent to
the needs around them.
When Woodrow Wilson was
president of Princeton University, he spoke these words to a parent’s group:
I get many letters from you parents about your
children. You want to know why we people up here in Princeton can’t make more
out of them and do more for them. Let me tell you the reason we can’t. It may
shock you just a little, but I am not trying to be rude. The reason is that they
are your sons, reared in your homes, blood of your blood, bone of your bone.
They have absorbed the ideals of your homes. You have formed and fashioned them.
They are your sons. In those malleable, moldable years of their lives you have
forever left your imprint upon them.
seq level1 \h \r0 The Nature of Obedience: Love
for God (6:5-6)
5 “And you shall love the LORD your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these
words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; …”
Commandment (Deut. 6:5)
Is it possible to command somebody to love?
Isn’t love a mysterious thing that just appears, a wonderful emotion that’s
either there or it isn’t there? No, not according to Scripture. In the life of
the believer, love is an act of the will: we choose to relate to God and to
other persons in a loving way no matter how we may feel. Christian love simply
means that we treat others the way God treats us. In His love, God is kind and
forgiving toward us, so we seek to be kind and forgiving toward others (Eph.
4:32). God wills the very best for us, so we desire the very best for others,
even if it demands sacrifice on our part. Love isn’t simply an exotic feeling;
love leads to action. “God so loved... that he gave” (John 3:16). The virtues of
love that are listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describe how we treat people and
not just how we feel about them.
To love God and worship and serve Him is the
highest privilege we can have, so when the Lord commands us to love, He is
inviting us to that which is the best. But our love for God must involve the
totality of the inner person—“with all your heart … soul … and strength.” It
isn’t necessary to define and distinguish these elements, as though they were
three different internal human functions. In some Scriptures only two are named
(Deut. 4:29; 10:12; Josh. 22:5), while in other parallel Scriptures there are
four (Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). The phrase simply means “all that is within you”
(Ps. 103:1), a total devotion to the Lord. If the inner person is completely
yielded to the Lord and open to His Word as ministered by His Spirit, then the
feelings will follow. But even if they don’t, we must still relate to other
people as the Lord relates to us.
The Extent of Love
We are to love the Lord
totally, “with all our heart,” and to give ourselves to Him unreservedly. This
is the tough one, not because the Lord is so hard to love, but because we are so
prone to self love and selfish pursuits. We are so like the old hymn says,
“Prone to wander Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.”
When we struggle to obey, it is simply and
plainly the age old problem of ‘conflicting masters,’ and ‘treasures of our
hearts.’
Matthew 6:19-24 “Do not lay up for yourselves
treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in
and steal. 20 “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth
nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22 “The lamp of the body is the eye;
if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 “But
if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can
serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he
will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (NASB)
We need, therefore, to
re-evaluate our values and our priorities. We might consider these two
questions:
·
How real is God to me?
·
Is my relationship with Him merely
intellectual?
The secret to loving the
Lord is knowing Him. And the secret to knowing Him is Bible study and prayer. If
we do not love the Lord and make Him the supreme priority of our lives, the
chances are very high that neither will our children. And, only our love for the
Lord will cause us to make the training of our children, or godly parenting, a
priority in our lives. Otherwise, we will tend to neglect our children for our
own pleasures, or business, or other personal pursuits.
How often have we not read of men or women who
have made it big in business, in the theater, in sports, or even in ministry,
yet dismally failed with their children. Dads, our children may become
successful by the world’s standards, but if they do not end up living for Jesus
Christ, in love with Him and concerned for His values, then, in God’s eyes they
are failures and it just may be because we have failed in our responsibility.
We need to be reminded that children have their own volition and can turn away
from godly parenting, but too often it is because we ourselves have failed to
live for the Lord as we should.
Proverbs 15:17 Better is a dish of vegetables
where love is, Than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel and
quietness with it Than a house full of feasting with strife.
Do you believe what these
Proverbs say? Where are your priorities, dad?
The Nature of Love
“These things are to be on your heart.” “These
things” refer to the things of God and God’s Word.
To “be on your heart” means “to be on your
mind, in the center of your thoughts, and the object of your devotion.” It
means our relationship to God and our obedience to His Word is contrasted to the
tablets of stone. It means our relationship is not to be merely legal and
mechanical, but spiritual and reflective. Love and obedience are:
·
Spiritual—not mechanical
·
Central—Not peripheral
·
Primary—Not secondary
This means we learn to
live and think in terms of biblical principles and the realities of God in
everything we do. The word of God becomes the grid and framework for every
aspect of life, for home, work, worship, or play (cf. 2 Cor. 10:4, 5).
Communication (Deut. 6:6-9)
When we hear the Word of God and receive it into
our hearts (1 Thes. 2:13), then the Holy Spirit can use the truth to transform
us from within (2 Cor. 3:1-3; John 17:17). God “writes” the Word upon our hearts
and we become “living epistles” that others may read, and our lives can
influence them to trust Christ. How we live is important because it backs up
what we say. Moses admonished parents to discuss God’s Word in the home, among
the children, and to allow the Word to guide their minds and hands as they work
throughout the day.
The Word should even control who is permitted to
go through the gate and come through the door into the house. The Jews took
these commandments literally and wore portions of Scripture in little
containers called phylacteries on their forehead and left arm (Matt. 23:5). They
also attached a small container of Scripture, called a mezuzah, to the front
door and on every door in the house. Each occupant touched the mezuzah
reverently each time he or she passed through a door (Ps. 121:8). It was a sign
that the house was to be a sanctuary for the Lord and a place where the Word was
loved, obeyed, and taught.
We can’t help but admire such respect for the
Word of God, but it’s likely that the emphasis of this commandment was obedience
to God Word in all that we think and do rather than the actual wearing of the
Scriptures on the forehead and the arm. At least that seems to be the emphasis
in Deuteronomy 11:18-21. However, we agree wholeheartedly God’s people ought to
make their homes places where God dwells, where the Scriptures are honored, and
we aren’t ashamed of our faith. It isn’t necessary to turn every room into a
chapel, but a Bible on the table and a few Scripture texts on the wall at least
bear witness that we belong to the Lord and desire to please Him.
All of this forms the foundation for the next
point:
The Propagation of Obedience: Teach and Model
the Word (6:7-9)
7 and you shall teach them diligently to your
sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the
way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “And you shall bind them as a
sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “And you
shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:20-25 “When your son asks you
in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the
judgments mean which the LORD our God commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to
your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt; and the LORD brought us from
Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 ‘Moreover, the LORD showed great and distressing
signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household;
23 and He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land
which He had sworn to our fathers. ‘ 24 “So the LORD commanded us to observe all
these statutes, to fear the LORD OUR God for our good always and for our
survival, as it is today. 25 “And it will be righteousness for us if we are
careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He
commanded us.”
This forms a natural
progression. We aren’t capable of truly teaching until we are first following,
hearing, obeying, loving, and being occupied with the Lord ourselves. We must
model the Word as we teach it.
While working on this material, I received the following email from my son, with
a prayer request from my oldest grandson, which perfectly illustrates this
point: “One of Brinson and Aiden's favorite things to do on a walk is pick
dandelions (and drag large sticks around...I wonder where they got that) By the
end of today's walk Aiden has accumulated quite a collection of sticks,
branches, rocks, and dandelions. He continuously would drop one at a time and
have to reshuffle all his treasure in order to bend over and pick the dropped
one back up without dropping the rest. Brinson was
satisfied
with just one large branch and a small stick. Aiden collected every dandelion
that we passed but Brinson would not pick any because they weren't big
enough....he was holding out for a 'really big one'. We got back to our house
and he still had not found a dandelion that met his specs. We decided that we
would pray for God to make a really big dandelion for Brinson to find on our
next walk. At dinner and at bed time Brinson prayed for it. God says that if
we ask in faith he will answer and Brinson fully expects to find his flower from
God on our next walk. I invite you to pray along with us. Somewhere in our
neighborhood tonight God is bringing up a little seed just for Brinson. It will
go unnoticed by everyone except for one little boy...the little boy that it was
made for. God is good and faithful....and I know that he will thoroughly enjoy
watching Brinson search for his gift.
The following
email followed the next day: This morning
Brinson prayed for his flower at breakfast and as he, Aiden and Wendy were
walking into their school he looked down and saw a big, yellow, dandelion by the
door. Obviously, he was very excited and kept it with him all day long. If
only we all had faith like a child.
In Him
Eric Davenport”
There are five ways the text shows us this
teaching is to be done.
(1) Diligently—though
parents have many other important tasks and responsibilities, none are more
important with greater implications than this responsibility. It must not be
taken lightly.
(2) Incisively, Accurately—this
is included in the word “diligently” which means “to sharpen” and then “to teach
clearly, accurately, incisively.” Our teaching must be clear and precise, not in
vague generalities.
(3) Repeatedly—these
verses indicate teaching is not a once-in-a-while or a one-time effort. It goes
on all the time. The secret to learning is repetition.
(4) Naturally—it
is to be done when we sit, walk, lie down, and rise up. In other words, we are
to look for teaching opportunities by word and by example through the everyday
activities of life in the home. Also, compare verses 20 and following for the
practical outworking of these things through the natural curiosity of children.
The home is the natural God-given place to communicate and display the Word of
God. It’s the place “where life makes up its mind.”
(5) Personally—(cf.
4:9). What our children learn in Sunday school and church is important, but we
can’t rely on this alone. This passage is speaking to parents, not the church.
Training is first and foremost the responsibility of the parents (cf. Eph. 6:4
addressed to fathers). Again, this stresses modeling. What one says is rarely as
influential as what one does.
As mentioned in the first part of this lesson,
when parents listen, obey and love, they provide a model for children which
reinforces what is being said in the home.”
Warnings Regarding Obedience: Don’t be like the
World (6:10-19)
10 “Then it shall come about when the LORD
your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11
and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns
which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and
you shall eat and be satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, lest you forget the LORD
who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 “You
shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by His
name. 14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who
surround you, 15 for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God;
otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He
will wipe you off the face of the earth.
16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to
the test, as you tested Him at Massah. 17 “You should diligently keep10 “Then it
shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore
to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid
cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you
did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees
which you did not plant, and you shall eat and be satisfied, 12 then watch
yourself, lest you forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery. 13 “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you
shall worship Him, and swear by His name. 14 “You shall not follow other gods,
any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for the LORD your God in the
midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be
kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
Gratitude to the
Lord (Deut. 6:10-25)
Moses was equipping the new generation to enter
and claim the Promised Land, and he knew that Canaan would be a place of
temptation as well as a place of triumph. For one thing, when they conquered the
nations in Canaan, the Israelites would inherit vast wealth and would be tempted
to forget the Lord who had made their victories possible. The second temptation
would be for Israel to compromise with the pagan nations around them and not
maintain their separated position as the people of the Lord. (Moses will deal
with this second temptation in 7:1-16.)
Most people find it easier to handle adversity
than prosperity (see Phil. 4:10-20), because adversity usually drives us closer
to God as we seek His wisdom and help. When things are going well, we’re prone
to relax our spiritual disciplines, take our blessings for granted, and forget
to “praise God from whom all blessings flow.” The material things that we wait
for and sacrifice for seem to mean much more to us than the gifts that fall in
our lap without our help.
Moses named some of the material blessings the
Lord would give the Israelites in the Promised Land: large prosperous cities,
houses filled with different kinds of wealth, wells, vineyards, and olive
groves, as well as the land itself. Whenever the Jews took water from the wells
or fruit from the vines and trees, they should have looked up with gratitude to
the Lord. Water is a precious commodity in the East and the people didn’t even
have to toil to dig the wells! Nor did they have to plant the vineyards or the
olive groves and then wait for the plants to grow and mature. God used these
spoils of war to compensate the Jews for the wages they didn’t receive when they
were enslaved in Egypt, and at the same time He reminded them of His bounteous
grace.
With privilege always comes responsibility, and
Israel’s responsibility was to fear Jehovah and obey Him (Deut. 6:13), the verse
that Jesus quoted when He replied to Satan’s third temptation (Matt. 4:10). When
we cultivate a reverent and submissive heart, we will have an obedient will and
won’t even want to mention the names of false gods. Israel needed to remember
that the Lord owned the land (Lev. 25:23) and that they were merely His
“tenants.” Their inheritance in the land was God’s gift to His people, but if
they disobeyed His covenant, they would forfeit the land and its blessings. The
Lord is jealous over His people and will not share their love and worship with
any false god (Deut. 5:8-10; 32:16-26).
Moses warned the people not to tempt (test) the
Lord as the older generation had done at Massah (Ex. 17:1-7). We tempt the Lord
when we openly and unbelievingly question His ability or defy His authority by
what we say or do. After He delivered Israel from Egypt, the Lord deliberately
led them through difficulties so He could teach them to trust Him. First they
came to bitter water at Marah and complained about it instead of asking God to
help them (Ex. 15:22-26). Then they got hungry for the “fleshpots of Egypt” and
murmured against the Lord and the Lord provided the daily manna to sustain them
(Ex. 16:1-8). When they came to Rephidim, there was no water to drink, and once
again they complained against the Lord instead of trusting the Lord (Ex.
17:1-7). “Is the Lord among us or not?” was their question, meaning, “If He is
among us, why doesn’t He do something?”
Moses did what the people should have done: he
turned to the Lord for help, and God supplied the water that they needed. But
that place was given two special names: “Massah,” which means “to test,” and
“Meribah” which means “contention, quarreling” (Ex. 17:7; Ps. 95; Heb. 3:7-15).
By their attitude and their words, Israel defied the Lord and proved that they
neither loved Him nor trusted Him. Their bodies were in the camp of Israel, but
their hearts were still in Egypt. If God had not been gracious and
long-suffering, He could have judged them severely; but He knows that His people
are only clay (Ps. 103:8-14).
The Lord tests our faith, not just in the great
crises of life, but even more in the small unexpected events, such as a travel
delay, an irritating interruption, a sudden sickness, or a lost wallet. The way
we respond in these situations will indicate what’s in our hearts, because what
life does to us depends on what life finds in us. If we love and trust the Lord,
we’ll leave the matter with Him and do what He tells us; but if we question the
Lord and rebel because we’re not getting our own way, then we’re in danger of
tempting Him. One of the best protections against tempting the Lord is a
grateful heart. If we’re in the habit of thanking the Lord in everything,
including the painful experiences of life, then the Holy Spirit will fill our
hearts with love and praise instead of Satan filling us with bitter venom. How
many “Massahs” and “Meribahs” are marked on the map of our journey of faith?
Of course, the greatest blessing for which
Israel should have been thankful was their deliverance from Egypt (Deut.
6:20-25). In his farewell address, Moses frequently referred to this miracle,
and in later years, so did the prophets. Had Israel remained in Egypt, there
would have been no nation, no sanctuary, no priesthood, and no hope; but the
Lord delivered them and brought them into their land and fulfilled His promises.
Today, we have a Bible and a Savior because Moses led his people out of Egypt,
an event that was celebrated annually at Passover. Jewish fathers were commanded
to teach their children the meaning of Passover, and of the laws God had given
Israel, so that the next generation would understand how to trust Jehovah, love
Him, and obey His laws. When our children are ignorant of the past, they will
have no hope for the future.
An attitude of gratitude is a wonderful weapon
against unbelief, disobedience, a hard heart, and a bitter spirit. “Rejoice
evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thes. 5:16-18). Instead of complaining
about what we don’t have, let’s be thankful for what we do have, because God
always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him.
(1) This is a warning against loving the
world (vss. 10-15). There is in this
warning what seems to be almost an axiom. We rarely absorb cultural advances
without also absorbing moral and spiritual values as well. The land of Canaan
was advanced in material culture. Cities were well laid out, and houses showed
good design and construction. Floors of buildings were often paved or
plastered. Drainage systems had been developed. Workers were skilled in the use
of copper, lead, and gold. Pottery was among the finest anywhere in the world.
Extensive trade was conducted with foreign countries, including Egypt, Northern
Mesopotamia, and Cyprus. In technical knowledge, the Canaanites were much more
advanced than the Israelites who had spent the past forty years in nomadic
conditions of the desert.
History show that less developed cultures are
normally absorbed by those more advanced. In years which followed, Israel did
not become absorbed by Canaan, but she did experience profound influence. Had
this involved only material culture, such as pottery manufacture, city
construction, or methods of farming, there could even have been benefit; but
when it came to include ways of thinking, ideas, and especially religious
belief and practice, the harm was great (Leon Wood, A Survey of Israel’s
History, Zondervan p. 169).
There is a spiritual
principle here: In prosperity people tend to forget God and instead put their
trust in material things. This in itself is bad enough, but another problem
always results—we absorb the viewpoints and attitudes of the world around us.
(2) This is a warning against testing the
Lord by rebellion and disobedience (vss.
16-17). This will eventually result in personal and national discipline, always.
(3) This is a warning against losing sight of
godly goals, a warning against failing to live purposely for God
(vss. 18-19). We must never lose sight of why we are here. We are not simply
here as earthdwellers to pursue our own selfish goals. Rather we are pilgrims.
The minute we lose sight of the ‘pilgrim’ mentality, we are in danger of
becoming absorbed with the world. The result is that we fail as parents, because
we have first failed as God’s children ourselves.
Jonathan Edwards was the son of a godly home.
His father was a preacher and before him his mother’s father. Note the history
of the offspring of this godly man:
More than 400 of them have been traced, and they
include 14 college presidents, and 100 professors, 100 of them have been
ministers of the Gospel, missionaries, and theological teachers. More than 100
of them were lawyers and judges. Out of the whole number 60 have been doctors,
and as many more, authors of high rank, or editors of journals.
In fact, almost every conspicuous American
industry has had as its promoters one or more of the offspring of the Edward’s
stock since the remote ancestor was married in the closing half of the
seventeenth century. (Tan, #4182, p. 962).
Separation unto the
Lord (Deut. 7:1-16)
“A people dwelling alone,” said the hireling
prophet Balaam about Israel, “not reckoning itself among the nations” (Num.
23:9, nkjv). From the call of
Abraham to the exodus from Egypt, the people of Israel were expected to be a
separated people, not because they were better than any other nation but because
they were different. They were God’s chosen people. God commanded Abraham to
leave Ur of the Chaldees and go to the land that He would show him (Gen.
11:31–12:4), and when Abraham left that land and went down to Egypt for help,
God had to chasten him (Deut. 7:10-20). Throughout her history, when Israel
maintained a separated position by obeying God’s laws and seeking to please Him,
she succeeded in all that she did. But when she began to compromise with the
other nations and to worship their gods, it led to failure and defeat.
Separation means safety (Deut. 7:1-6)
In Scripture, separation is not isolation; for
if believers are isolated, how can they be “the salt of the earth” and “the
light of the world” (Matt. 5:13-16) and influence others for the Lord? Believers
can be separated from sin and to the Lord and still be involved in the normal
challenges and activities of human life. Abraham was allied with some of his
neighbors in Canaan and together they defeated the invaders and rescued the
people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 14); yet Abraham never lived or worshiped as
his neighbors did. Jesus was the “friend of publicans and sinners” (Matt.
11:19), and yet He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb.
7:26). Jesus had contact with the real world and its people but He wasn’t
contaminated from that contact. True biblical separation is contact without
contamination. We’re different from the world but not odd. When you’re
different, you attract people and have opportunities to share the good news of
Christ; but when you’re odd, you repel people and they slam the door on your
witness.
God promised to drive out the pagan nations and
deliver them into the hands of the Jewish army. With the Lord’s help, Israel
would defeat those nations and destroy them and everything connected with their
religion.3-4 Israel was to keep herself separate from these nations.
The Lord would not permit intermarriage, political treaties, or any toleration
of or interest in the pagan religion of the land. The reason was obvious: any
link with the godless Canaanite religion could lead Israel into alliances that
would undermine their relationship with the Lord and invite His chastening.
Israel is God’s chosen people and treasured possession, and their separation
from idolatry in Canaan was important to the nation’s spiritual health and
political future.
As an example of the kind of caution Israel had
to exercise, the same God who allowed Israel to spoil the Egyptians warned them
not even to covet or remove the precious metals that covered many of the
Canaanite idols (Deut. 7:25). It was logical to destroy the idols, but why not
keep the gold and silver? Since idolatry is associated with the demonic (1 Cor.
10:14-22), bringing idolatrous gold and silver into the camp of Israel would
defile the camp and open the way for satanic attack. Of itself, neither the gold
nor the silver was evil; but because it had been associated with demons, the
precious metal took on a new character that made it useful to the enemy. Anyone
who used that metal, even to make a beautiful thing, would be dealing with
something that was associated with evil.
Separation means blessing (Deut. 7:7-16)
The Lord’s choice of Abraham and Sarah was an
act of sovereign grace. They were idol-worshipers in Ur of the Chaldees when
“the God of glory” appeared (Acts 7:1-3; Josh. 24:1-3). They had no children and
yet were promised descendants as numerous as the sands of the seashore and the
stars of the heavens. They later had one son, Isaac, and he had two sons, Esau
and Jacob; and from Jacob’s twelve sons came the twelve tribes of Israel. When
Jacob’s family gathered in Egypt, there were seventy people (Gen. 46), but by
the time they were delivered from Egypt, they had become a great nation. Why did
this happen? Because God loved them and kept the promises that He made to their
ancestors.
We must not overlook the parallel between Israel
and the church. All who are born again through faith in Jesus Christ are “chosen
in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). This salvation
came to us “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy” (Titus 2:5). One of my seminary professors once said, “Try to explain
divine election and you may lose your mind, but try to explain it away and you
will lose your soul.” Like Israel, the church is God’s chosen people and His
treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:5, 9);
and like Israel, we are called to be a light to the lost world (Matt. 5:14-16).
Privilege always brings responsibility, and
Israel’s responsibility was to obey God’s commandments, for then He could bless
them as He promised. God’s covenant was a covenant of love, and He would show
His love by blessing them if they obeyed and chastening them if they disobeyed.
The Lord would bless them with children and grandchildren and increase their
numbers greatly. He would also increase their crops and livestock so they would
have enough to eat and a surplus to sell. Because of their obedience, Israel
would escape the terrible diseases they saw in Egypt as well as the plagues that
God sent to the land.
All these blessings on Israel would bring glory
to the Lord. The other nations would see the fruitfulness of the land and the
people and ask, “What is the reason for this?” The Jews would then reply, “This
is the blessing of the Lord on His people!” It would give the Jews opportunities
to share the truth about Jehovah with unbelievers and perhaps persuade them to
trust the true and living God. Their national blessings would also give parents
the opportunity to teach their children the importance of obeying God’s Word.3-5
This section of the Law opens with, “You shall
conquer them [the nations] and utterly destroy them” (Deut. 7:2), and it closes
with the same admonition (v. 16).3-6 Moses will repeat this warning
several times in his farewell speech, because he knew how easy it would be for
Israel to compromise with the enemy, fraternize with them, and eventually
imitate them. Most Christians today live in pluralistic societies in democratic
nations and don’t have the authority to annihilate everybody who worships a
false God, nor should they want that authority. Our task is to love those we
disagree with and seek to win them to faith in Christ. But at the same time, we
must maintain a separated position and not be contaminated by the ideas or
activities of the lost world (Ps. 1:1).
The key passage in the New Testament on
separation is 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1. In it Paul points out that there are both
negative and positive elements in biblical separation. Because of what we are in
Christ—righteousness, light, the temple of God—we have nothing in common
spiritually with unbelievers whom he describes as unrighteousness, darkness, and
worshipers of idols. Separation is simply living up to what we are in Christ. If
we separate ourselves from sin, God will be able to deal with us as obedient
children. He will commune with us and bless us. “Let us cleanse ourselves” is
the negative part of godly living, but “perfecting holiness in the fear of God”
is the positive part, and the two go together (Deut. 7:1).
We aren’t supposed to isolate ourselves from the
world (1 Cor. 5:9-13) because the world needs our witness and service. We
cooperate with different people at different times for different reasons, but
we’re careful not to compromise our witness for Christ. We do some things
because it’s for the good of humanity and other things because we’re citizens or
employees. But whatever we do, we seek to do it to the glory of God (vv. 19-20).
Promises from the
Lord (Deut. 7:17-26)
The first motive Moses mentioned for Israel’s
obedience was love for the Lord (6:1-9), because love is the greatest motive in
life. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15,
nkjv). The second motive is
gratitude (Deut. 6:10-25), for showing gratitude is one way of expressing love.
We must never forget what the Lord has done for us. The third motive is
separation from sin and unto the Lord (Deut. 7:1-16), for we want to live up to
all that God has called us to be. He’s called us to be a holy nation, a chosen
people, a people to bring to bring glory to His name; and we can’t fulfill any
of those honorable callings if we don’t separate ourselves from what is wicked
and cleave to the Lord.
But these three motives all depend on faith in
the promises of God, for “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb.
11:6). Israel wasn’t operating on what the world calls “blind faith” because
they had God’s covenant promises to encourage them and the long record of God’s
care to assure them. God’s people don’t live on explanations; they live on
promises. At the end of his life, Joshua reminded the people, “And you know in
all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the
good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you” (Josh. 23:14,
nkjv).
God was faithful in the past (Deut. 7:17-19)
The older generation didn’t believe that victory
was possible in Canaan (Num. 13–14), so they rebelled against God and eventually
died in the wilderness. But the new generation should have had no problem
believing God’s promises after all that He had done for them. The Lord defeated
Pharaoh and humiliated all the gods and goddesses of Egypt. The Lord also helped
Israel defeat the Midianites; Sihon, King of Heshbon; and Og, King of Bashan. He
enabled the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh to settle their families east of
the Jordan while the men of those tribes prepared to march into Canaan and take
the land. Ever since Israel had arrived in the area of the Jordan, not one
nation had been able to stand against God’s people, because God’s people trusted
the Lord. The same God who gave victory in Egypt and in the territory east of
the Jordan could also give victory in the land of Canaan.
God would go before Israel (Deut. 7:20-21)
The terror of the Lord went before Israel and
brought fear to the hearts of the people of Canaan (Josh. 2:11; Ex. 15:16). The
news about the defeat of Egypt, the opening of the Red Sea, and the slaughter of
the nations east of the Jordan couldn’t help but paralyze even the strongest in
the land. Bible students don’t agree on what is meant by “the hornet” in
Deuteronomy 7:20 (Ex. 23:27-30; Josh. 24:12), but it’s likely that it was the
familiar stinging insect that swarmed into the land and attacked the people. The
Canaanites were a superstitious people who saw omens in every unusual happening
and they may have interpreted this strange occurrence as an announcement of
defeat. Insects are sometimes used as metaphors for nations (Isa. 7:18), and
some students understand “hornets” to refer to invading nations that God sent
into Canaan prior to Israel’s arrival. These local wars would weaken the
Canaanite military defenses and prepare the way for Israel’s invasion. Whatever
the interpretation, and the literal one makes good sense, two facts are clear:
God goes before His people and opens the way for victory, and He can use even
small insects to accomplish His purposes.
The assurance that the Lord was with His people
as they invaded the land (Deut. 7:21) should have encouraged the Israelites to
be brave and obedient. Forty years before, when the older generation rebelled at
Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13–14), Caleb and Joshua used the promise of the presence of
the Lord as an argument for courage and obedience: “The Lord is with us: fear
them not” (Num. 14:9). The distinctive thing about the nation of Israel was that
the Lord was with them (Ex. 33:12-17). The assurance of God’s presence goes all
the way back to Isaac (Gen. 26:24) and Jacob (Gen. 28:15) and was often repeated
to Israel when they needed encouragement (Isa. 41:10; 43:5; Jer. 46:28; Hag.
1:13; 2:4); and this wonderful assurance has been given to the church today
(Matt. 28:18-20; Heb. 13:5-6).
The British expositor G. Campbell Morgan told of
visiting some elderly sisters when he was a young pastor and reading Matthew
28:18-20 as part of his ministry to them. The phrase “Lo, I am with you always”
struck Morgan with power and he said, “Isn’t that a wonderful promise!” One of
the ladies replied, “Young man, that isn’t a promise—it’s a reality!” How true!
“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Ps. 46:7, 11).
God had a timetable for the conquest (Deut.
7:22-23)
Obeying the Lord means doing the right thing in
the right way at the right time for the right reason, which is to the glory of
God. “Do not be like the horse or like the mule,” warned David (Ps. 32:9),
because the horse wants to bolt ahead and the mule wants to lag behind and balk.
God has a time for everything (Ecc. 3:1-8), and when Jesus ministered here on
earth, He followed a divine schedule (John 11:9; 2:4; 7:6, 8, 30; 8:20; 12:23;
13:1; 17:1). Happy is the believer who can honestly say, “My times are in thy
hand” (Ps. 31:15).
As they gradually made their way through the
land of Canaan, winning one victory after another, the Jewish people would grow
in their faith and learn better how to trust the Lord. But by following God’s
timetable, they would take better care of the land (Ex. 23:28-30) and prevent
the wild beasts from multiplying rapidly and becoming a threat. According to the
record in the Book of Joshua, it took Israel about seven years to get control of
the whole land. First Joshua cut straight across Canaan and divided the land
(Josh. 1–8); then he conquered the nations in the south (Josh. 9–10) and then
those in the north (Josh. 11). But this still left “mopping up” operations for
the individual tribes, some of whom never did eliminate the enemy from their
territory (13:1; Judges 1–2). These pockets of paganism brought great temptation
and trouble to the Jews and led to divine discipline.
God expected the nation to obey Him (Deut.
7:23-26)
“Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-20)
because true faith always leads to obedience. “By faith Abraham... obeyed” (Heb.
11:8). People may talk about faith, analyze faith, and seek to explain it, but
until they do what God commands, they will never understand what faith is all
about. The people of Israel had to obey God’s clear command to wipe out the
heathen nations and their religion. Everything in the land was to be devoted to
God and nobody had a right to claim it. The detestable things were to be
completely devoted to destruction so they wouldn’t become snares to the Jews.
Anybody who stole a devoted thing from God and took it home would also be
devoted to destruction, which is what happened to Achan (Josh. 6–7).
But it wasn’t enough for the Jews simply to obey
the command to destroy what God had condemned; they must obey from their hearts.
They were to “utterly detest” and “utterly abhor” the abominable things they
encountered in Canaan (Deut. 7:26). No doubt Achan helped to destroy many
abominable things when Israel conquered Jericho, but he decided that some silver
and gold and beautiful garments weren’t really abominable, so he took them
(Josh. 7:20-23). He would rather have the spoils of war than enjoy the blessings
of obeying the Word (Ps. 119:14, 72, 127, 162), and it cost him dearly. King
Saul made this same mistake and lost his crown (1 Sam. 15).
As we grow in grace, we learn to love and enjoy
what pleases God and to despise and reject what displeases Him. It’s not just a
matter of our will obeying God’s commands; it’s also a matter of developing a
heart that enjoys obeying God (Eph. 6:6). It’s possible to do God’s will in such
a way that others get the blessing but we don’t! This was true of two of God’s
prophets, Moses and Jonah. Moses arrogantly smote the rock and God provided
water, but Moses lost the privilege of entering the Promised Land (Num. 20).
Jonah eventually obeyed the Lord’s will but he didn’t do it from his heart, and
became a bitter person (Jonah 4). This brings us back to the first motive Moses
discussed—love for the Lord (Deut. 6:1-9).Love makes obedience a blessing and
not a burden.
It’s good for God’s people to pause occasionally
and ask, “Why are we doing what we’re doing?” Is it to please ourselves or
others, or to impress the world? Are we doing the will of God because we want
Him to bless us? Or are we “doing the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6)
because we love Him? To obey God just to avoid punishment and receive blessing
is a selfish motive that follows the philosophy of Satan (Job 1–2), but if we
obey God out of love, it pleases His heart and He will give us what is best and
what glorifies Him the most.
Like Israel of old, the church today must move
forward by faith, conquer the enemy, and claim new territory for the Lord (Eph.
6:10-18; 2 Cor. 2:14-17). But unlike Israel, we use spiritual weapons, not human
weapons, as by faith we overcome the walls of resistance that Satan has put into
the minds of sinners (John 18:36; 2 Cor. 10:1-6; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12). The
apostolic church had no buildings, budgets (Acts 3:6), academic degrees (Acts
4:13), or political influence, but depended on the Word of God and prayer (Acts
6:4); and God gave them great victory. Can He not do the same for His people
today? Jesus has overcome the world and the devil (John 12:31; 16:33; Eph.
1:19-21; Col. 1:13; 2:15); therefore, we fight from victory and not just
for victory. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).