Deuteronomy 25:13-16 “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small. 14 “You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. 15 “You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 16 “For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly is an abomination to the LORD your God.

Don’t deceive your fellow Christians in any way; they are your brothers and sisters.

Don’t deceive non-Christians in any way; your job is to invite them into the family.

Deuteronomy 24:16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.”

The law has repeatedly emphasized that the community as a whole is responsible for the actions and well being of the individuals; however, this passage notes that no single individual is responsible for another person’s actions.

The whole community was responsible for the actions of each member of that community and each member was responsible for his or her own actions.

In today’s church I believe the body is responsible for each individual in the community (inside and outside the church); but, no single individual bears that responsibility. Our churches must focus more on this responsibility of caring for others.

The Pareto Principle states that 20% of the people do 80% of the work. What can we do to more evenly distribute our workload? Only by using the talents and abilities of the unengaged 80% can the church fulfill its mission of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with all of their community and all of the world.

Deuteronomy 23:12-14 “You shall also have a place outside the camp and go out there, 13 and you shall have a spade among your tools, and it shall be when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and shall turn to cover up your excrement. 14Since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you.”

It’s kind of a freaky idea to have God walking around in your camp. I mean you would have to live your life totally differently if you were living with God 24/7…

Deuteronomy 22:1-2 “You shall not see your countryman’s ox or his sheep straying away, and pay no attention to them; you shall certainly bring them back to your countryman. 2 “If your countryman is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall remain with you until your countryman looks for it; then you shall restore it to him.”

We, as Christians, are called to proactively look out for the needs of our fellow Christians. We are to seek out needs and meet them before others ask. Just because we will not anticipate all needs does not mean we get a pass from anticipating what needs we can.

How often have I failed to help out a fellow Christians just because I don’t know them? If they are my brother or sister in Christ, then we are family and I need to care for their needs. Fear is a poor excuse to not care for family.

Don’t wait for their prayer request; don’t wait for an email or phone call alerting the church body to a need. Look for those in the family who are in need and meet those needs.

I am horrible at this and I need to be better. The first step is recognizing my failure. The next step is letting go of my self-centeredness and start caring for my Christian family.

Deuteronomy 21:1-9 “If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. 3 “It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 “Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. 6 “All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 8 ‘Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. 9 “So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Each member of the community of God was responsible for what happened within their community. This corporate accountability is a recurring theme throughout the law of God. In this case, the blood of the murdered man is on the hands of the community. The community, as a whole, is required to seek forgiveness from God and must atone for the sin.

There is also a level of corporate accountability within the church of today. Each of us, individually and as a church body, is responsible for the community in which we live. We are responsible for caring for and ministering to the people in our towns and cities. We are individually and corporately responsible for the well-being of all the people in our towns and cities.

We as Christians need to be meeting the physical needs of the people in and on the edges of our secular community; otherwise their blood is on our hands.

We as Christians need to be meeting the psychological needs of the people in and on the edges of our secular community; otherwise their blood is on our hands.

We as Christians need to be meeting the spiritual needs of the people in and on the edges of our secular community; otherwise their blood is on our hands.

Deuteronomy 20:10-16 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. 11 “If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. 12 “However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 “When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. 14 “Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. 15 “Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby. 16 “Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

I struggle with these passages. I struggle with a God who encourages and enables the massacre of cities. I struggle with a God who promotes and encourages war and destruction. I struggle with a God that is so dissimilar to the God I know and worship.

I understand the urge to say there must be two gods. I understand the desire to say that there was a vengeful God of the Old Testament and a loving God of the New Testament. I understand; but I think that’s wrong.

Somehow, the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are one, eternal, unchanging God. The same yesterday, today, and forever.

I do not understand it yet. Maybe I never will.

Deuteronomy 19:2-6 you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess. 3 “You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the LORD your God will give you as a possession, so that any manslayer may flee there. 4 “Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he kills his friend unintentionally, not hating him previously– 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies– he may flee to one of these cities and live; 6 otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger, and overtake him, because the way is long, and take his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.

The Israelites are taking a step away from an “eye for an eye” mentality and toward a mentality of “love your neighbor”.

Is justice based upon out come or intent? In an outcome based justice system, if I accidentally kill or cause the death of another, then my life should be forfeited. In a justice system based on intent, my life is only forfeit if my intention was to kill another; there may still be consequences for unintentional action, but death is not one of those consequences.

Is your sense of justice based upon outcomes or intentions? How does this affect your view of society, politics, capital punishment, war, and discipline?

Should you work toward changing your sense of justice?

Deuteronomy 18:18-22 ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22 “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”

There are two warnings in this passage: a warning to those who do not listen to God’s prophets, and a warning to those who pretend to be God’s prophets.

It is a dangerous thing to ignore God, even when he speaks through other people. It is an even more dangerous thing to speak for God when God has not spoken to you.

How do we tell the difference between the two types of prophets; the true prophets of God and the presumptuous usurpers? We wait to see if what they say becomes true.

Deuteronomy 17:1 “You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any defect, for that is a detestable thing to the LORD your God.”

Whatever you give to the Lord, make sure it is your best. Otherwise, it’s probably better just not to give.

Deuteronomy 16:21-22 “You shall not plant for yourself an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 “You shall not set up for yourself a sacred pillar which the LORD your God hates.”

Asherah was a Semitic mother-godess, often worshiped as a fertility god. The image of Asherah was often carved into tress or poles.

This passage was written to Israel and was part of the law established for the Jewish people. With that said, does it speak to contemporary Christians? Should we have crosses or flagpoles where we worship? Or is that taking it to far?

I come from a religious tradition (Friends/Quakers) that historically rejected all adornments to its worship space. A meeting house was just that, a plain house in which to meet. There was no decoration, no adornment, no instrument, no cross, no flag; just benches. The goal was to keep focus on the leading of God, and not set up idols for worship.

Can a statue be an idol? Can a painting be an idol? Can a guitar be an idol? Can a flag be an idol? Can a cross be an idol?

If so, what should we do about it?

Deuteronomy 15:9-11 “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you. 10 “You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings. 11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’

The poor are with us still, and it is still our responsibility to care and provide for those in need.

Our hearts should not be filled with thoughts such as: the government will care for them so I do not have to, or if they would just make an effort they would not be poor.

These base thoughts are counter to what God has called us to do. We are to care for those in need regardless of whether we feel they deserve it or not.

We need to give and not let your hearts be grieved in the giving because what we do we do for the Lord. God will bless our work. God will bless us. It is okay if people take advantage of us, because the one they are truly taking advantage of is God. Let God worry about it.

Put all of your energy into caring for others needs, whether they deserve it or not.

Deuteronomy 14:22-27 “You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. 23 “You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 “If the distance is so great for you that you are not able to bring the tithe, since the place where the LORD your God chooses to set His name is too far away from you when the LORD your God blesses you, 25 then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 26 “You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 “Also you shall not neglect the Levite who is in your town, for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

I find it interesting that God begins by describing which animals are clean and which are unclean and then moves into a discussion of tithing.

Perhaps more interesting is the reason the Israelites are called to tithe: “so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.”

Fear of the Lord is not “being afraid” of the Lord. Rather, fear of the Lord is knowing your place in relationship to God and living properly with God in your life.

We tithe to show respect to God. We tithe to demonstrate that we are under God and we owe God.

A tithe may benefit the community, or the priests; but these are secondary. The primary purpose of a tithe is to work on the tither’s heart and soften it so it can be in right relationship with God.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 “You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 “But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

False prophets are not a new thing. One of the easiest paths to power is to claim supernatural knowledge from God. I think it is fair to be suspicious of anyone claiming to speak on God’s behalf (this would include pastors). Blind acceptance can and will lead to a horrible outcome.

God does not work in secret and God does not reveal his plan to only one person. If we can learn anything from the Bible it is that God reveals himself over and over again. If someone claims to be speaking a word from God, it is not wrong to wait for God to confirm that word. A degree of cynicism can be good.

Deuteronomy 12:2-9 “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 “You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. 4 “You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God. 5 “But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. 6 “There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 “There also you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.

Idolatry is kind of a big deal for God. And this is probably one of the aspects of God which is easiest for us to understand. If you were the creator of the universe, and your creation decided to worship something else, how would you respond? If my kid’s started calling someone else “dad” there would quick and firm correction; same thing with God.

Honor god with all of your life, and give him the glory you owe as a part of God’s creation.

Deuteronomy 11:13-21 “It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, 14 that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. 15 “He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 “Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. 17 “Or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the LORD is giving you.

18 “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 “You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.

What is the relationship between faithfulness and blessing? Is it the case that if we follow certain rules we will be blessed by God?

That certainly seems to be the case for Israel. Prosperity was directly linked to faithfulness. However, even for Israel this did not mean that there would not be difficulties. There were still battles to fight, and natural disasters to overcome. For Israel, faithfulness to God meant that they would be ultimately successful even in the face of trials.

Christians are not Israel. We do not receive the promises made to Israel. We are not under the covenant made between God and Israel.

God promises Christians that faithfulness will be rewarded with a fully restored relationship with God. We have the opportunity to receive grace (and a restored relationship with God) through our faith in Christ.

We are not promised prosperity and anyone who tells you otherwise is preaching a gospel other than Christ. We follow a savior who suffered through trials, who was tempted, who was persecuted, and who was killed. Why should we expect any different?

The good news is that we follow a savior who conquered death and is seated next to God. We can expect the same, if we have faith.

Deuteronomy 10:17-22 the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. 18 “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. 19 “So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. 20 “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and you shall swear by His name. 21 “He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen. 22 “Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Deuteronomy 9:4-6 “Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. 5 “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.

Do not think that we are any different. God does not bless us because we are righteous. God does not bless us because we are faithful. God does not bless us because we deserve it.

God blesses us because we have aligned ourselves with God and God is faithful to fulfill the promises he has made to those who have sought him out.

Deuteronomy 8:2-7 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. 4 “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 “Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 “Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land

I believe that God has a Promised Land for each of us. God has a place (not necessarily physical) that we have been promised and to which we are being led. It is the place that fulfills your purpose in life; the place for which God made you.

But I know very few people who can enter their promised land without first going through a season (or many seasons) of discipline.

We are not disciplined because God hates us. We are not disciplined because we are evil. We are not disciplined because we are incompetent. We are disciplined to bring us to a point where we can bring out the best in our promised land.

It is a tough thing to admit that admit that you may not yet be ready for the thing God has called you to. But it is important to remember that the season of discipline your find yourself in, is part of the journey toward your promised land.

Deuteronomy 7:6-10 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

This may be one of the most important ideas that a Christian can take away from the Old Testament; the idea that God is faithful.

If God is faithful then we can believe what is written in John 1:12 “But as many as received [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God.”

If God is faithful then we can believe Jesus in John 14:3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

If God is faithful then we can believe Mark 9:7 “Then a cloud formed, overshadowed [Jesus, Moses, and Elijah], and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!’”

If God is faithful then, if we have received Jesus, there is nothing that can keep us away from God.

Deuteronomy 6:4-19 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, 12 then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 “You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. 14 “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, 15 for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth. 16 “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah. 17 “You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 “You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers, 19 by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

Jesus uses this passage when he is asked to give the greatest commandment; he tells the people to love the Lord their God. In referring back to this passage Jesus was implying all of the other things that Moses wrote down here: there is only one God, that God is the only God worthy of worship, and we are responsible for raising our families to know and honor that God.

But Jesus adds something. Jesus adds something that is not explicitly stated here. Jesus says to love your neighbor as well. To some extent loving your neighbor is emplied here in Deuteronomy; but, only if your neighbor is an Israelite. If your neighbor was “an enemy of Israel” then Israel was called to drive them out of the land.

Jesus made our faith more focused on the needs of the world around us. That makes sense. If we have found Jesus then we have been brought out of the slavery of sin, we are living in a communion with God that we did not earn, we are awaiting a future home in heaven that we do not deserve. If we have found Jesus then praise of our heavenly Father should be on our lips at every moment.

But, if we have found Jesus we have a responsibility to love those who are still looking for him. We are to love those who are still in slavery, who have not yet “come out of Egypt”. That is why Jesus added that we are to love our neighbors, rather than try to defeat them. If we can share a small portion of the love Christ has showered on us, then maybe they will realize who Jesus is, and decide to join his family.