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Deuteronomy 6 |
| Posted by Administrator (charlie) on Feb 16 2009 |
- Introduction
There have been love songs since there has been music. Some of the classics from my day are
Love is a many splendored thing. How about a little Andy Gibb: Love is higher than a mountain. Love is thicker than water. Or some Barbra Streisand, Love soft as an easy chair; Love fresh as the morning air. Love is in the air everywhere I look around Love is in the air every sight and every sound.
You think the people would have had enough of silly loves songs. But I look around me and I see it isn’t so. Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs; what’s wrong with that.
Love songs are passé but love is not.
- Describing the Biblical Text
This text continues the theme of the previous chapters in enjoining the Israelites to faithfulness in their occupation of
He has just reiterated the 10 commandments and is now giving them the Shema which is what verse 6 and following is called.
This is a very important passage in the history and in the development of the Old Testament.
Even in Jesus day this was an important passage to the Jews of Judea.
- Narrate the Contextual application
As we look at this text we see something that is very important to any Christ follower and that is loving God.
This is a passage when quoted by Jesus becomes the greatest commandment and it is the centerpiece of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life which so many have read and subsequently forgotten.
In the injunction to love God, this passage makes it clear for us what that really means and we will explore that this morning
- Life Application (thesis)
In summary then we will explore this idea.
Our obedience is a demonstration of our love for God.
- SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Let’s view three demonstrations of that point this morning.
Loving God is shown with the whole person.
When I am doing premarital counseling, I always pull out a rubber band and demonstrate to the couple who is getting married that their relationship has more than one aspect to it.
I will then stretch the rubber band into a triangle to show three parts of a relationship that should remain in balance in order to have a good marriage.
Those areas are spiritual, Emotional and Physical
These three areas of intimacy correspond exactly to the areas of life in which we see the Israelites called to love The Lord God.
Heart, soul, and might are certainly representative of the whole ness of our being.
The heart is the very center of who we are, the essence of our being and the nature of who we are.
The soul represents our emotional nature and how we think and feel.
It is in the soul that we connect to others and it is in the heart that we reason.
Our might represents who we are physically.
It is that which we do using the strength that we have.
So, our whole being is made up of our faculties, our feelings and our feats.
Our heart is our mind, our soul is our emotional and relational center and our might is simply what we do.
Allow me to point something else out to you this morning.
Listen to verse 4
Hear, O
The Lord is our God – The word God her is the Hebrew word Elohim which is plural yet we are told that the Lord is one.
I think that this simply mirrors our being in that we are three parts yet we are one being
Think about that God is in three persons
The Father is the seat of His being and the Son is the relational part of the trinity coming to earth as a man dressed in Human flesh.
The spirit is the might of God bringing the power of God down to earth that we might see His mighty works.
We might then say that as we are created in Him image and likeness a part of that is the fact that we have three distinct parts of our nature just like God is a three person unified being.
There is an old saying that goes if you are going to do something you need to do it right.
Well, if we are not serving God with our whole being, we are not serving him in the right way.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with our whole being which simply means to serve and worship Him in every thing that we do think or say.
So what do we need to do?
We need to examine our thought life and make sure that our thoughts honor God
We need to look at our relationships and be sure that our relationships honor God.
We need to look at our deeds and that includes where we work and what we do there.
If these things don’t honor God as we examine them, then it is time to change the way we think, the people with whom we associate, and the things we do.
So loving God is shown with the whole person and Loving God is shared with half pints.
I am so excited about next week when we get to baptize Braley Dula.
A big part of the reason that she was able to trust Christ as such a young age and comprehend what she is doing is because she has been trained at home and in this church.
Look at verse 7
We have had this very same idea earlier last year when we talked about the Passover but it does bear repeating because it is so very important.
We would read in the New Testament that we are to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition or in the instruction and discipline of the Lord.
That is so very important to understand
The idea of to nurture involves the entire process of raising a child or rearing a child if you are from the Low Country of SC.
This really means that the Lord is a part of bring up a child at every step and in every decision.
We have chosen to home educate our children because we did not want them to be wards of the state through being indoctrinated by government schools.
That is a choice that we made and we feel like it is a most important choice.
We have sacrificed a lot to maintain our home school.
We cannot have two full time incomes consequently we don’t have the Wii or the flat screen TV.
Our newest car is 9 years old.
We are not down on or begrudge people who choose to send their kids to government schools because that is a personal and a spiritual choice.
We know that parents can inoculate their children against the secular rationalistic thinking that is promoted in the government school system and many parents do so successfully but that is not where the Lord has led us.
We just believe that we can do a better job at home or in a cooperative setting.
Yet, the day may come when economics and circumstances might force us to put one or both kids in a government school.
We pray not and we hope not but our kids will know no matter what we have done that we have loved and trusted the Lord in our decision.
We have a responsibility to teach our kids about the Lord and that is what we will do no matter what life may hand us.
Our third demonstration is this.
Loving God is sharpened with our hands and minds.
Look at verse 17-18
They are all about keeping the law and thereby pleasing God.
Know his law and keep his statutes.
That is our mind and our hands at work.
We must now the law of God and we must follower his statures.
It is not so we can be saved, but it is to please Him.
And how can we obey Him if we don’t know Him.
Do you know him?
His very law has exposed us all as sinners
Have you ever stolen anything?
Have you ever coveted anything?
We would all be lying if we said no.
The tragedy is that sin separates us from God.
It is not just a mere estrangement; it is an eternal consequence of condemnation.
The Bible tells us that those who are left in their sin are condemned ore receive death as their reward yet those who trust in Christ are blessed with eternal and abundant life and are called children of God.
John 3 tells us He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God
Are you ready to believe in Jesus right now?
Are you ready to trust Him as your Lord and savior and to spend eternity in heaven?
Trusting Christ as your savior puts you on the road to keeping the greatest commandment.
Last changed: Mar 23 2009 at 2:46 PM
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