Rev. Don Campbell
Deuteronomy 5-7
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, March 13, 2019
“EASY TO QUOTE; HARD TO OBEY”
A lawyer came testing Jesus: “‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?’ And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live’” (Luke 10:25-28). The lawyer combined Leviticus 19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5, and Jesus confirmed his answer.
Moses said that the words he commanded should be inscribed their hearts and taught to their children (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). Memorizing and quoting Scripture may be good, unless having Scripture in our heads is confused with having a love for God in our hearts. The lawyers of Jesus’ day quoted Scripture, debated Scripture, and worshiped Scripture; but few of them loved God.
Moses told them what it meant to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind: “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generation” (Deuteronomy 7:9).
Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21). John also wrote, “By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 3:19-24).
The Great Commandment is the same in Luke 10 and it is in Deuteronomy 6; the difference is that we have the Spirit of God who empowers us to love God with all our heart. Hear Paul: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit… For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:1-5; 13-17).
CONNECTIONS 2 Corinthians 3:1-11, 1 John 4:19-21
1. What contrast does Paul draw between the Ten Commandments and the gospel in 2 Cor 3:1-11?
2. What does John say in 1 John 4:19-21 about the relationship of the first and second commandments?
