Thursday, October
26, 2017
The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die and
join your ancestors. After you are gone,
these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where
they are going. They will abandon me and
break my covenant that I have made with them.
Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them,
and they will be devoured. Terrible
trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, ‘These disasters
have come down on us because God is no longer among us!’ At that time I will hide my face from them on
account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods. “So write down the words of this song, and
teach it to the people of Israel. Help
them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them. For I will bring them into the land I swore
to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There
they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods;
they will despise me and break my covenant.
And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as
evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even
now before they have entered the land I swore to give them.” So that very day Moses wrote down the words
of the song and taught it to the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 31:16-22(NLT)
Everyone
who has raised a child knows that sense of foreboding when you warn a child to
stay away from something harmful or NOT
to do this or that. You just KNOW by that awful feeling in
the pit of your stomach there will come a time when curiosity, inattention, or
downright rebellion will bring the consequences to his disobedience.
For Israel
the chief warning was expressed in the first commandment – no other gods! That’s exactly like what my mother used to
say to me whenever she would see me off to school, or if I was going out to
play: Remember who you are, and WHOSE you are. It’s a simple song of warning to keep in mind
that we are created and cared-for by a loving God and we should act like it,
remembering to honor Him at all times and in every action we take.
Israel’s
history bears out their transgression; the first commandment was oft-repeated, and
just as oft-forgotten. The warning song
Moses taught them that day stood as evidence that they were not innocent; their
sin was first-degree, premeditated, and without defense.
Fast-forward
to the current day; what defense could the church offer for our stewardship of
the first commandment? What is it that
takes first place over worship and honoring the Lord God?
In
America four of every five churches are flat-lined in attendance, with no
evident desire to be resuscitated. In
the space of my time in pastoral ministry I have seen the definition of active member morph from members
attending nearly every service and activity (if you weren’t physically ill), to
attending once or twice a month. It
seems something else besides worshiping the one true and living God has our
attention.
The
claim is often made (with ample Biblical support) that the New Testament church
is the New Israel. Considering how lightly we treat the first
commandment I can find no words to deny that with a straight face.
For You
Today
You
cannot be responsible for your neighbor’s choices, but you can (and do) lead
your neighbor by your example.
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