Love and Obey God

December 2, 2018 Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:1 – 9 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 6:1 – 9 “Hear, O Israel: …”, or the declaration better known as the Shema, is the ultimate Jewish statement of faith. It was absolutely important that if one were to come to know the true and living God, they must know this about His divine nature: He is one. There is no council of “gods” or plurality of deities one should seek to worship. The idea of a “group” of gods is a pagan concept. To offer prayers to the god of the moon, the god of the sun, the god of plants, etc. is to not know the only true and living God. The Grecians, the Romans, the Egyptians and many other ancient cultures developed philosophies about religion and gods that led to man seeking favor from nature as though the ecosystem created by God could have life within itself. To bow down to angels, animals, or objects is to seek to worship the creation rather than the creator. It is possible that some may develop their own religion for the comfort of being in control and so that they would not be held accountable to another for their character or their conduct. To own one’s own religion is to become one’s own god. This was certainly the environment in Egypt at the time when the children of Israel were delivered from there by God. Pharaoh was a god in Egypt—in addition to the many other gods that were worshiped by the Egyptians and other inhabitants of Egypt. For four hundred years, many generations of Israelites had been immersed in the Egyptian culture and as a result, they were spiritually confused—even as the Egyptians were. Now that God had separated them from Egypt, they needed a true spiritual foundation to aid them is their relationship with God. What God was doing for Israel had nothing to do with the generation that was experiencing His grace. God was upholding His covenant that He made with their forefather, Abraham. God promised to bring Abraham’s offspring into the land of Canaan as an inheritance. Furthermore, God made promises about being their God and blessing and protecting them. However, those promises required a relationship between Israel and God that was of such a quality as the relationship that Abraham had with Him. In other words, just as Abraham had come to know God personally, so too must Abraham’s offspring have a similar relationship with God. Israel needed to know that what they had experienced in Egypt was manmade and not real. God is not in nature nor is God part of nature. God is spirit and the creator of all that is. There is only one true and living God. To know this is to have the opportunity to pledge all of one’s devotion and worship to the only One worthy to receive it. To know that God is one means there is no need for divided loyalty or worship. All can be directed at the one true and living God. One is free to express all of one’s devotion towards God with all that is within them. One is also free to seek directions from the one true and living God. The Shema provides the foundation needed for one to express love and obedience to God. Robert C. Hudson November 9, 2018

Love and Serve God

December 9, 2018 Background Scripture: Exodus 20:1 – 11; Joshua 24 Lesson Passage: Joshua 24:1 – 3a, 13 – 15, 21 – 24 God gave Israel the Law which defined holiness and provided the divine guidelines for obedient behavior. The Law was given to Israel by God through Moses. The Law described a form of outward righteousness that was to become the standard for Israel. It was delivered to them shortly after their deliverance out of Egypt. Over forty years after receiving the Law, Joshua reminded the nation of Israel of the righteous requirement they had to serve God. Joshua shared with the leaders of Israel his personal commitment to serve God along with his personal commitment to see to it that all of his household (family and servants) would do so as well. The people responded to Joshua that they would also serve the Lord because He is their God. Joshua challenged them and told them they would not be able to serve God because they would transgress His law and serve foreign gods and God would not forgive them for doing so. Joshua pointed out that they had foreign gods among them even at that time. Joshua spoke of those foreign gods as being connected with the Chaldeans—whose land Abraham and his father had been called out of by God. The people insisted to Joshua that they would indeed serve God. Joshua accepted their statement as a testimony against them to be used if they transgressed the Law of God in the future. Then he admonished them to demonstrate the sincerity of their commitment by putting away the foreign gods from among them and inclining their hearts toward God. As God’s leader, Joshua was not deceived by the empty commitments that were made by the leaders of Israel. Joshua was aware that even at the time their verbal commitments were being made, they had idol gods among them. As long as this was the case, their devotion towards God would be compromised. No matter what declaration they might make publicly, their private actions would still be governed by their hearts. If they kept those idols among them, they would worship them. Joshua sternly warned them that God is a jealous God. God does not accept divided loyalty with people going between Him and idols. Joshua reminded Israel’s leaders of the history of God’s relationship with their ancestors. God had blessed their families for many generations and this was enough to prove His goodness and mercy. God, alone, deserved their complete devotion. Only through complete devotion to God would they be able to serve Him. As long as someone is seeking or clinging to idols, it is enough to show that they do not believe God is sufficient for them. To remove all idol gods from one’s life, is to rely totally on God and Him alone. This is an absolute requirement if one is going to serve God. One cannot serve God and be in love with idols. In order to wholeheartedly love and serve God, one has to completely reject idols. That was Joshua’s charge to Israel and the wisdom of it is still relevant today. Robert C. Hudson November 9, 2018