[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 331 – 1 Corinthians 7-9; Matthew 18 summary!]
In Deuteronomy 30, God anticipates a day when the Israelites will turn from Him. He tells them even then if they will return to Him, if they will choose life and good over death and evil, He will restore them. Consistently through the pages of the Pentateuch, we find God giving choices to individuals and to the nation of Israel as a whole. The choices are always simple–not always easy, but always simple: choose life and good over death and evil. The reason the choices are not easy, even though life and good, are simple choices over death and evil, is death and evil often come wrapped up as if they were life and good, or at least as fun and enjoyment. I’ve always said if sin felt like a root canal, no one would sin. But sin often feels good in the moment. The Israelite nation and individual Israelites found this to be true throughout their history, as do we as we attempt to follow Jesus in the 21st century. The lesson we learn in Deuteronomy 30 is God is gracious and forgiving, so when we discover our bad choices and repent from them, God is there to take us back!
In Deuteronomy 31, Moses tells the people he is about to die, and God is replacing him with Joshua. This is made known to all the people, and Moses tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. (We will read these words again at the beginning of the Book of Joshua. The qualifications Joshua needed as Israel’s new leader were strength and courage.) In the remainder of the chapter, we read of God telling Moses the people will turn against Him and go “whoring” after other nations. God uses the image of sexual immorality and unfaithfulness for Israel’s breaking of faithfulness with Him. That tells us how intimately God thinks of His relationship with us. God tells Moses the words He was writing in this account would be a testimony against them. Once again, we are reminded how often words from the Old Testament hold truth for us. As we read these words, and all the words of the Bible, we are reminded how often we have been unfaithful to God. Indeed, we’re reminded throughout the Bible there is no one righteous not even one. Thankfully, the Bible also proclaims God’s grace and forgiveness from cover to cover. Without that truth, we all stand condemned and separated from God, but we have the truth of God’s grace and forgiveness along with the reality of our sin, and thus can always move forward in hope.
Deuteronomy 32 is known as “The Song of Moses.” It is a poignant combination of recalling God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel, and their unfaithfulness to Him in the past as well as their coming unfaithfulness in the future. When the song is complete, God gives Moses the opportunity to climb a mountain and see the Promised Land, but that is as close as Moses gets. His time to die has come, and he is reminded one more time, his unfaithfulness at Mariah was the reason he didn’t get to step foot into the Promised Land. After all Moses endured with the people of Israel, after all the times he interceded for them before God, it can seem a bit unfair that he didn’t get to go into the Promised Land. That’s because we would be comparing Moses’ faithfulness to the people of Israel. By that comparison Moses was “holy.” But God compared Moses’ faithfulness to Himself, and by that standard, no one is righteous. God is always just in whatever judgment He pronounces against us. Thankfully, His judgment is so often tempered with mercy.
As we return to John 3 for a second look, we see the extent of God’s mercy: He sent Jesus to die in our places. Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin, so great is God’s love for us. All He calls us to do is “believe” in Jesus. This believing is no mere assent to the truth that Jesus is our Savior. It is an “all in” commitment to trust Jesus in every area of life, to surrender to Him as Lord. As the Israelites were unfaithful, even in the midst of God’s miraculous intervention, so we can be unfaithful even with God’s great demonstration of love through Jesus. The key is to repent when we sin, and to pray for God to deliver us from temptation so we might not sin. As the Apostle Paul will remind us in Romans, “How can we who died to sin continue to live in it?” Choosing life and good is always best for us. It is always simple, but not always easy. That’s why God’s grace and mercy abound. It’s also how we can live in victory in the midst of so many temptations to death and evil. God’s grace and mercy in Jesus provide us the power of His Spirit to overcome.
Day 331 – 1 Corinthians 7-9; Matthew 18
1 Corinthians 7 offers us the Apostle Paul’s “short course on marriage.” His bottom line is: Jesus is coming soon, so it’s better if you don’t get married. He then goes on to talk about those who are already married, those who are married to unbelievers, and those who aren’t married, but are going to sin if they don’t get married. In it all, Paul tells us if we get married, we “will have trouble.” Paul’s honesty is always apparent, but never more so than in this exposition of married. Paul gets quite practical in saying that a husband and wife are not to deprive each other sexually. He says that a believing husband or wife “sanctifies” their children. He concludes by once again reminding us that being unmarried assures of having more time and energy to focus on serving Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul deals with a matter that was quite important in his day, but not so much in ours: the eating of food sacrificed to idols. While the situation is different, the principles involved are instructive. Paul starts with an overarching principle: Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. In other words, we can become proud when we put the pursuit of knowledge before our practice of love. In the pursuit of truth, we must never forget to live it out in love. The next principle is: Don’t do anything that will cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble. In Paul’s day when a believer ate food sacrificed to an idol, a weaker brother or sister could see that and assume it was okay to not only eat the foot, but worship the idol. In our day, an example might be consuming alcohol. While there’s nothing wrong with having a glass of wine with a meal, or a beer while we watch a football game, a weaker brother or sister might see that and assume it’s okay to consume alcohol in excessive amounts. Having worked with so many people who are in recovery from the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, I maintain Paul’s advice and don’t consume alcohol at all. I don’t want to be a stumbling block for them, and I want them to know someone who goes through life voluntarily without using alcohol. While each of us will apply these principles in different ways, the key is to help those who are “weaker” to become stronger in their faith, by the way we live out our relationship with Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul offers a defense of his ministry. We don’t have the letter the Corinthians wrote to Paul, but he is defending himself from those who attacked his integrity. First, Paul offers a defense of his “right” to be paid for his ministry. He offers a number of examples of why he holds the right. But then he tells us he didn’t exercise the right. He didn’t receive a salary from the Corinthians. He paid his own way. Then he talked about his methods in ministering to Jews, Gentiles, the weak, and others. His method was to become like them to the degree he could to win them to Jesus, but he would not break the law of Jesus in doing so. The model is so important and so powerful. We must always become like those with whom we are ministering to the degree we can without sinning, to bring them to the Lord!
As we return to Matthew 18, we find the disciples arguing over who was the greatest among them. Jesus pointed out this was the wrong question to ask, because in Gods Kingdom the greatest are those who serve the most, those who are like “children.” Jesus then went on to warn us against causing others to sin. He then told us how precious we are to God by telling the Parable of the lost sheep. Next, He told us how to address those who have sinned against us. The method put simply is confront in love and call the brother or sister to repentance. Finally, Jesus offers an extended parable about how God shows us His forgiveness and expects us to forgive others. The parable ends with a strong condemnation of those who will not forgive, because of how much God has forgiven us.