Sacrifice of Proportionate Praise

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 16:7-16     2/23/2018

Moses reminded the people of the requirement to meet for the major feasts. These feasts included the Passover, the feast of Weeks and the feast of Booths.

The feasts were to be a time of great joy – an expression of thanks to God for His goodness and faithfulness. The entire family participated, including slaves and guest Levites who lived in the local communities.

Proportional Response

The command was that no one should attend a feast empty handed. Everyone needed to bring a sacrifice as a recognition of the good they had personally experienced in their relationship with God.

Each person’s sacrifice was to be proportional to their blessing. Overwhelming abundance was to be met with proportionally abundant offerings and a great, joyous celebration.

My Response

So it’s my turn. I come to this feast. I’m distracted. I’m thinking about my day. I’m anxious about a million things. I catch myself looking past the moment to what comes next. I “celebrate”.

I say these words but the truth is, I’m not always into it.

But then, in a subtle mercy, I’m reminded, “Or what can one give in exchange for his life?” Matt 16:26

Saved. I am saved.

What is the proportionate response?

“So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love.* But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”  Luke 7:47

One Bread One Body

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 15:20-16:6         2/22/2018 

Moses directed the people to never offer defective sacrifices. Even the first born male from a clean animal could not be offered if it had a serious defect.

Moses also reiterated the command to celebrate the Passover in the month of Abib. It was to be celebrated with unleavened bread. And the location for the feast was wherever the tabernacle was located.

Location of the Tabernacle

Moses directed that the Passover and other feasts should be celebrated only in the presence of God at the tabernacle – wherever the tabernacle might be located.

God had a reason for this. Every major feast was intended to bring the entire community back together. The idea was for all the tribes to physically reunite around the tabernacle. This was a reunion. This was a communion. And as long as they did this, the Israelites remained an integrated people with common customs and culture that emphasized the worship of the one, true God.

Vulnerability of the Law

This was also the vulnerability of the Authentic Community. The temptation for all earthly kings is to use their community for power and gain. And this was the fate of Israel. The nation would one day split over control of the temple. It was a travesty. It was the effort of kings to use worship as a means of controlling the people and bringing wealth to elites. It all but destroyed the community.

By God’s mercy, a remnant survived.

And now we find our communion in the breaking of the bread. The Eucharist. Thanksgiving.

Still around the throne of God and in the company of the Communion of Saints.

“Take and Eat” Matt 26:26

 

Blessings for Slaves

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 15:11-19          2/21/2018

Moses commanded that when a slave was released after the maximum six years of service, the slave owner must send the slave out with material goods. He reminded the Israelites that this is how they were sent away from Egypt. Moses also made a special rite as provision for the person who wished to remain a slave because they loved their master.

Blessings for Slaves

Slavery within the Authentic Community had the quality of internship. It wasn’t possible to keep a slave permanently unless that was the slaves desire. The slave owner bought the slave because slave labor was recognized as extremely cheap. But a Hebrew could only be required to serve as a slave for a maximum of 6 years. And at the conclusion of the service, the slave received an endowment.

It all sounds a bit euphemistic. Like a justification for 18th and 19th century American slavery. But in the ancient near-east world, if a person had no resources, or they little ability to manage their resources, then it seems they very often ended up as slaves. The difference between the common practice of slavery and the Hebrew practice was the effect on the slave. For the Israelites, slavery meant that a person with no means or inadequate training in handling resources had six years to figure things out.

It is with this understanding that Jesus described the servants in the parable of the talents. Each given some relatively small charge. Each given the opportunity for industry. Each rewarded in accordance with their merit.

The story was meant for me. I am a servant. I am a slave.

The story was meant for you. The hope is that someday you will rule over cities.

“At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” Heb 12:11 

Foreign Debt and Unforgiving Servant

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 15:1-10         2/20/2018

Moses commanded the Israelites concerning debts between Hebrews. He directed that all debts were to be forgiven at the end of every seven year period. However, a debt owed by a foreigner remained.

Moses observed that if the Israelites obeyed God’s commands there would not be much need for lending and borrowing between Hebrews, but still the land would not lack for needy people. Additionally, the Israelites would find themselves lending to other nations, and even ruling over other nations.

Finally, Moses cautioned the Israelites to lend freely from the heart – and not to lend less near the end of a seven-year period when it was less likely to be repaid.

Foreign Debt and Unforgiving Servant

In Jesus’ parable, a king forgave the great debt of one of his subjects. Despite this, the subject refused to forgive another man a much smaller debt. He even had him placed in a debtors prison.

The debtors prison: according to the law of Moses, a Hebrew could only remain here until the beginning of the next seven year period. However, the man who had been forgiven but who refused to forgive was thrown into the prison until he “paid up” the entire debt.

Through this parable Jesus is saying; the person who is unwilling to forgive is not part of the Authentic Community. His debts remain because there is no forgiveness for the debt of a foreigner.

The person who refuses to forgive has made themselves a foreigner to God.

Forgive and you will be forgiven.

“Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt” Matt 18:34    http://usccb.org/bible/matthew/18:34

Tithe and Community

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 14:19-29         2/19/2108

Moses restated the prohibition against eating insects or the flesh from the carcass of an animal found dead. Although, the Israelites were allowed to sell such a carcass to a foreigner. The basis for this prohibition is the fact that God held Israel to a higher standard than the nations around them. Additionally God prohibited the cooking of a goat in its own mothers milk.

Moses also described the rules for tithing. Tithe 10 percent of the gain. Tithe at the tabernacle. Tithe from the produce of the field and the firstborn of animals. Every third year, the tithe would remain in the local town to support the Levites, widows and orphans.

Tithe and Community

The tithe could be exchanged. It wasn’t the stuff of the tithe per se, it was the commitment to the community. It was about recognizing the value of ministry service. It was about taking care of those who were less financially secure.

Interdependence

Perhaps the strongest essential mark of the Authentic Community is interdependence. Authentic Community is built on each member supporting one another in the supplying of every good thing.

Everyone has something to offer. Everyone has some ministry.

Give.

“nor did we eat food received free from anyone. On the contrary, in toil and drudgery, night and day we worked, so as not to burden any of you.” 2 Thess 3:8

Children of the Lord

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 14:1-18         2/18/2018

Moses emphasized the Israelites’ identity in God. They were, “children of the Lord”. As such, there were behaviors that were entirely inappropriate to that office. These include all forms of self-injury as a way of mourning.

Moses established prohibitions against eating meat from unclean animals. He also defined which animals qualified as unclean.

Children of the Lord

A parent identifies their child in terms of possession. We say, “that’s my child”. And though we express things this way, we recognize that as parents, it’s kind of a one-sided commitment.

We use the terms of possession, but we all recognize that we don’t own our children. As parents, we provide for them. We protect them. We train them. They are a charge entrusted to us by God for this purpose.

Our Father

Jesus taught us to think in terms of God as “Our Father”.

He said, “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him?” Matt 7:11

All provision is yours. All provision is mine.

Ask.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matt 7:7

Embracing a Lie

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 13:9-19         2/17/2018

Moses commanded the children of Israel to wipe-out unbelief in the land. Whether a false prophet or an entire community that has begun the practice of worshipping other gods, he warned them not to tolerate idolatry. As Moses saw it, it posed an existential threat to the covenant relationship with God. Therefore, however idolatry manifest itself, it had to be destroyed.

Embracing a Lie

Embracing a lie is different than simply being ignorant. The children of Israel were never castigated for worshipping the gods of Egypt before the time of Moses. They didn’t know any better. And maybe we could say, they couldn’t have known better.

But then God revealed Himself.

And once some truth has been revealed, then choosing to deny what’s known has additional consequences. Moral consequences.

I am the Way and Truth…

Jesus made a claim. He said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” (John 14:10) He went even further and said, “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30) And with these claims, He offered evidence: “believe because of the works themselves.” (John 14:11)  He deliberately used the Truth Principle of multiple witnesses to establish his claims – to make true what He had said.

And with this kernel of truth, I have been given the freedom to follow the truth. I am free to do the works of God. This is a freedom I could not claim without embracing this truth.

Without faith, there is no freedom that moves me toward righteousness.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” John 14:6

Lying Prophet 

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 12:31-13:8          2/16/2018

Moses forbid the children of Israel from worshipping God in the way the Canaanites had worshipped their gods. He did this because the Canaanites offered abominations to their gods. In particular, they were renown for offering their own children as altar sacrifices.

Moses also warned the people about lying prophets. He taught that even if someone successfully predicted future outcomes, but then also encouraged people to worship false gods, that person should be rejected from the community.

Lying Prophet

The Law of Moses generally accepts a person as a prophet if they have demonstrated the ability to anticipate future outcomes. Predictive power is power. But a person with this ability, who is not devoted to God is to be rejected. We have the tendency to see the prophetic as mystical – someone with extraordinary power to anticipate or even alter future events.

But here we are living in the modern age. We have this modern scientific capacity to anticipate remarkable outcomes. We have science and science is powerful at predicting the outcomes of all sorts of events. But the science that explains how things happen is curiously and deliberately silent on why things happen. This omission has crushed the faith of many.

It’s About Value

It’s about value. Maybe more to the point – it’s about what I value.

I have spent a big part of my life working to make a name, make money, or have power. I have been more or less successful. Even so, I have found an emptiness in every one of these pursuits.

I always come back to the same question: to what end? All of this means little if I have no sense of why I’m here in the first place.

The power of successful prediction is awesome. But this power, in the absence of a love for God is more dangerous than ignorance of either prediction, or God.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:57-58

Life and Blood

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 12:21-30          2/15/2018

Moses reminded the people of the laws concerning sacrifices as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. They were allowed to eat meat wherever they wanted. But they could only eat the meat of sacrifices at the tabernacle. And they were never permitted to consume the blood.

Moses explained that if the people followed God’s commands then they would live and prosper in the land forever.

Life and Blood

God gives life. The life is in the blood. When death to the body comes, then the life returns to the ground, to the creation, the God of creation. To want to somehow hold on to that is less than the possibility of your life.

The Blood of Christ

You’ve been grafted on, after all. And now your life isn’t an atom of blood momentarily distinct from the God of creation. Your life comes to you through the engrafting, through the life, through the spirit.

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me” John 6:56-57

Meat and Levites

Synopsis     Deuteronomy 12:12-20         2/14/2018

Moses instructed the people to only seek the presence of the Lord in the tabernacle. God would direct it, Moses promised, to be amongst the tribes. Only there should the people go to meet God. It was only there they were to take their sacrifices and offerings.

Moses encouraged the Israelites to enjoy their time at the tabernacle. The entire family should go together. And, because the Levites had no portion of their own, Moses urged the people to bring a Levite to celebrate with them.

The True Presence of God

The availability of God’s true presence in the tabernacle was the glue of the Israelite community. One God; one place to worship God in His true presence; One priesthood to mediate the relationship. The shared experience of God in His dwelling place, bound the community.

This presence gave the children of Israel their unique sense of identity. The availability of God to the people perpetuated the community through multiple generations. All of whom shared in this common, familiar experience.

True Presence

The Authentic Community continues to hang on the True Presence of God. Jesus came. True Presence: A new manifestation of a covenant that existed before time.

Somehow, in bread and in wine, we have communion. It is a common experience. It is a place of worship. The Eucharist is an essence that supports our identity and perpetuates the grace of God across generations.

“And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matt 28:20