enjoy, but be considerate

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

 

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enjoy, but be considerate

Deuteronomy 12:15 “But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your city gates, according to the empowerment Yahveh your God has given you. Those who are pure or contaminated may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer,
Deuteronomy 12:16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the land like water.
Deuteronomy 12:17 Within your city gates you may not eat the tenth of your grain, new wine, or fresh oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your solemn pledge offerings that you pledge; your spontaneous voluntary offerings; or your personal contributions.
Deuteronomy 12:18 You are to eat them in the presence of Yahveh your God at the place Yahveh your God chooses – you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your city gates. Enjoy the face of Yahveh your God in everything you do,
Deuteronomy 12:19 and be careful or else you will neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land.

enjoy, but be considerate

The gist of these instructions seems to be that the Israelites are free to eat whatever they want as long as they are considerate of others, even the animals they kill to eat.

  • Any clean animal is okay, as long as they do not eat its blood.
  • They can eat their tithe meals, as long as it’s done together at the tabernacle.
  • Whenever they eat, they should be careful that Levites are also provided for.

God wants us to enjoy our lives, and his restrictions on us are not intended to stifle that enjoyment, but to ensure that everyone shares it.

Thank you Lord for commanding your people to be considerate.

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his one way

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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his one way

Deuteronomy 12:12 You will enjoy the face of Yahveh your God – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your city gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
Deuteronomy 12:13 Be careful or else you will offer your ascending offerings in all the sacred places you see.
Deuteronomy 12:14 You must offer your ascending offerings only in the place Yahveh chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you.

his one way

Only one place was to be the central point of worship for the Israelites. Only one tribe was to host them all for that worship. The multitude could experience all kinds of diversity and cultural differences, but in their connection to God, they had to be one nation with one God.

They could also do things differently as individuals or as members of a particular tribe, but the tabernacle was not the place to celebrate their individuality. Every aspect of the tabernacle worship was prescribed. The principal that follows us into the new covenant with Christ is this: we can all enjoy the presence of God but we have to be careful to do it his way. His way is Jesus.

Lord, thank you for the way you have provided for us all to come to you.

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his promised rest

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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his promised rest

Deuteronomy 12:8-11 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 12:8 “You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own sight.
Deuteronomy 12:9 You see, you have not yet come into the resting place and the inheritance Yahveh your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 12:10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land Yahveh your God is giving you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security,
Deuteronomy 12:11 then Yahveh your God will choose the place to have his name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your ascending offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your best offerings you solemnly pledge to Yahveh.

his promised rest

Moses describes the nature of the rest that the Israelites were to experience once they set foot on the promised land. It was not a lack of work. There would be plenty of working the land for crops, etc. It was not a rest of leisure. The rest God had in store for them is that of knowing who they inherited from. That is why Moses mentioned the various offerings and the tabernacle worship.

So, Christian, the same goes for you and me. We have a lot of work to do to possess the mind of Christ— something crucial to our mission. But we can also rest from our labor in trying to do it all according to our understanding of what needs to be done. Instead, we only need to take his yoke upon is, and learn from him.

Lord, thank you for your promised rest.

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what worship should be

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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what worship should be

Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, turn to the place Yahveh your God chooses from all your tribes to place his name for his dwelling and go there.
Deuteronomy 12:6 You are to bring there your ascending offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your solemn pledge offerings and spontaneous voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
Deuteronomy 12:7 You will eat there in the presence of Yahveh your God and enjoy everything you do with your household, because Yahveh your God has empowered you.

what worship should be

The tabernacle was designed to be everything that idolatrous worship places were not. It was a place that God chose. The pagans chose their own places. It was structured for various kinds of offerings. Pagans usually followed one ritual. It was a place for the whole household to enjoy and experience. Pagans usually had a designated head to perform the ritual alone.

New covenant worship is also designed to be very different from what the world can produce. We come into his presence, seek his face, and enjoy fellowship with Christ. We share this joyful experience with our family. We leave refreshed and prepared for our mission to the world around us. This is what worship should be.

Lord, lead us to worship you with vital and honest worship.

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places we revere

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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places we revere

Deuteronomy 12:2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are taking possession of worship their gods — on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Deuteronomy 12:3 Tear down their altars, smash their standing stones, burn their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and destroy their names from every place.
Deuteronomy 12:4 Don’t worship Yahveh your God this way.

places we revere

It was not simply the fact that there were false gods behind the religious trappings of Canaan. No, God’s instructions were to demolish the places where worship happened. He did not want the Israelites worshiping him in the same way the Canaanites worshiped their idols. The Israelites were to care for Yahveh, not manipulate him for their own wealth and advantage over others. So, it was not just the idols, but the whole religious system that had to change.

Christian, is God only your means of getting what you want, or correcting what you don’t like? Is church where you go to meet people you like — to be someone you are not? Do you think of your church building as a magical place that can change the people in your community if they would only visit it once a week? Then God’s command for you is to tear that structure down. The place itself has become an idol, and you have adapted the religion of the Canaanites.

Lord, give us the wisdom to destroy all the trappings of idolatry from our lives — even the places we revere.

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the land we are being given

Posted on January 18, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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the land we are being given

Deuteronomy 11:31-12:1

Deuteronomy 11:31 You see, you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land Yahveh your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it,
Deuteronomy 11:32 be careful to do all the prescriptions and rules I set before you today.
Deuteronomy 12:1 “Be careful to watch these prescriptions and rules in the land that Yahveh, the God of your fathers, has given you to take possession of all the days you live on the land.

the land we are being given

Did you notice the tense change? In 11:31, God “is giving” the land, and in 12:1, he “has given” it. From God’s standpoint all our salvation and all our inheritance is a gift already given. From our standpoint in space and time, it’s a gift in progress.

Life itself is a gift we have been given, but also a gift we are being given. Every good gift from God comes with a set of built in obligations. Abuse of the gift could lead to losing it.

For the Israelites, the land was a gift from God but also part of their mission to show off God’s holiness to the surrounding nations. That was where the law came into the picture. The prescriptions and rules for covenant living enabled them to accomplish God’s objective for the gift of the land.

In the new covenant, we have the same phenomenon at work. We have been saved by the finished work of Christ on the cross. But we are being saved in space and time. That is why Jesus did not just pop down for a few hours to suffer and die as our sacrifice. His mission involved more than the cross.

We need more than that. We need instructions for using the gift of salvation to accomplish God’s mission for us. Like the Israelites, God wants Christians to live holy lives to draw the nations to him. That was why Jesus spent years teaching us how to live in the land we are being given.

Lord, thank you for our finished salvation, bought by the blood of Christ. Thank you for the words of Christ which teach us how to live in such a way as to lead others to the same gift.

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two summits

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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two summits

Deuteronomy 11:29 When Yahveh your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of, you are to proclaim the empowerment at Mount Gerizim and the affliction at Mount Ebal.
Deuteronomy 11:30 Aren’t these mountains across the Jordan, beyond the western road in the land of the Canaanites, who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, near the oaks of Moreh?

two summits

There is something majestic and surreal about a mountain summit. After all that toil and sweat and exertion, when you finally reach the summit, and see the surrounding country from the advantage of superior elevation, you cannot help but feel different about life.

The Lord chose two mountain summits as the location for the Israelites to perform their first public dramatic presentation of the empowerments and afflictions. The mountains were located within the boundaries of the land they were to conquer. So, all the time they were busy assuming ownership of the land, they were also preparing for this show. What better way would there be for them to learn the consequences of covenant obedience and disobedience?

There is another way, but it is certainly not the better way. We can learn the consequences by failure to live up to our covenant. Then we will experience the covenant afflictions and lose the covenant empowerments.

Christian, listen to the words of Christ concerning our covenant with God through him. Memorize his words. Recite them aloud to yourself and your family. Take the covenant seriously.

Lord, thank you for the covenant of grace, bought by the blood of Christ.

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turning aside from the path

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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turning aside from the path

Deuteronomy 11:26 “Look, today I set before you an empowerment and an affliction:
Deuteronomy 11:27 there will be an empowerment, if you obey the commands of Yahveh your God I am commanding you today,
Deuteronomy 11:28 and an affliction, if you do not obey the commands of Yahveh your God and you turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods you have not known.

turning aside from the path

Appalachian Trail hikers know all about turning aside from the path. Along the trail there are side trails marked with different colored blazes. We take those trails if we want to visit a popular location, get to a shelter for the night, or find water. But it isn’t wise just to head off into an unmarked area. It’s too easy to get lost. Regularly there are stories of people who do just that, lose the trail, and starve to death in the woods.

The Israelites had God’s light and cloud to follow to keep them on the right path, physically. But they needed the covenant laws to keep them on the right path morally. If they obeyed, they would keep getting stronger. If they disobeyed, the would be afflicted. The physical evidence would follow the spiritual condition.

Are you still on the right path, or have you strayed? Do you feel empowered today or afflicted? It is not too late to get back to the covenant path you agreed to when you came to Christ. Go to the Gospels and read the words of our Savior. It is his commands we agreed to obey.

Several years ago, I did a short study of the Commands of Christ. I recommend starting with those passages. Following the commands of Christ is not difficult, but you cannot accidentally stumble onto the correct path. It has to be intentional.

Lord, draw us back to the right path by the covenant commands of Christ.

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third string

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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third string 
Deuteronomy 11:18-25
Deuteronomy 11:18  “Place these words of mine on your hearts and throats, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads.
Deuteronomy 11:19  Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 11:20  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates,
Deuteronomy 11:21  so that as long as the sky is above the land, your days and those of your children may be many in the land Yahveh swore to give your fathers.
Deuteronomy 11:22  You see, if you carefully watch every one of these commands I am commanding you to follow – to care about Yahveh your God, walk in all his ways, and remain faithful to him –
Deuteronomy 11:23  Yahveh will take possession of all these nations before you, and you will take possession of nations greater and stronger than you are.
Deuteronomy 11:24  Every place the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the open country to Lebanon and from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Deuteronomy 11:25  No one will be able to stand against you; Yahveh your God will put fear and dread of you in all the land where you set foot, like he has promised you.
third string 
When I was in High School, we had an impressive football team. It won all kinds of championships. The kids on the team who were not so impressive were put on the third string. If the team was really swamping its opponents, the coach would put the third string in, so they they could get some play in.
The Israelites were like God’s third string.  They didn’t have to be stronger than their enemies. They did not need superior numbers or more powerful weapons. They didn’t even need superior wisdom or education. Their secret weapon was something nobody would expect. All they had to do was love God and be faithful to him.
The secret is out. The world knows about our secret weapon, so it is going to throw every possible obstacle in our path to keep us from victory. It wants us to doubt his existence. It will try to convince us that God has abandoned us. It will busy itself dividing us so that we focus on trivial things instead of being faithful to Christ. The world fears faithfulness.
We can be faithful because God has gone before us. There is not one inch of territory that he calls us to invade that he has not already conquered. He has already gone before us with his powerful first string, and mopped up with his second string. But he wants his lowly third string to get some play time in as well.
Lord, we are ready to invade this world with your gospel. We are not the best, or even second best. But we are confident you can use us.
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breaking the cycle

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Jefferson Vann
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breaking the cycle

Deuteronomy 11:13-17

Deuteronomy 11:13 “If you carefully obey my commands I am commanding you today, to care about Yahveh your God and worship him with all your heart and all your throat,

Deuteronomy 11:14 I will provide rain for your land in the proper time, the autumn and spring rains, and you will harvest your grain, new wine, and fresh oil.

Deuteronomy 11:15 I will provide grass in your fields for your livestock. You will eat and be satisfied.

Deuteronomy 11:16 Be careful or else you will be enticed to turn aside, serve, and bow in worship to other gods.

Deuteronomy 11:17 Then Yahveh ‘s anger will burn against you. He will shut the sky, and there will be no rain; the land will not yield its produce, and you will be destroyed quickly from the good land Yahveh is giving you.

breaking the cycle

God’s grace brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land. He rained down from the sky and brought them a good land— flowing with milk and honey. All the Israelites had to do in return was to obey a few basic laws. Then the nations around them would see that all that blessing came from the God who gave them the laws. That is why obedience was their mission.

But if they were to turn aside from that obedience, to worship and serve other gods, the mission would be a bust. The Israelites would be interrupting the cycle. The sky God would shut the sky.

Christian, have you interrupted the cycle? Do you feel like God has shut you out because you have failed him? You may be right! Don’t fight him. Come back to God in repentance again. He is still the God of grace. He can forgive again.

Lord, forgive us for breaking the cycle. We want to glorify you with our lives. Forgive us again!

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