Thoughts
on Devotions – LD34 (Part 1)
Q.
92
What is God's law? Q.
93
How are these commandments divided? Q.
94
What does the Lord require in the first commandment? Q.
95
What is idolatry?
DeYoung,
in The
Good News We Almost Forgot,
titles
this chapter “Delighting in the Law and in the Lord.” He says
that it is worth noting that the authors of the Catechism put the
exposition of the law in the section on gratitude. This can be the
case because Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the law, giving
us a very different relationship to the law. We are under grace –
that is not a license to sin, but instead we are declared righteous
in Christ and, as the people of God, use the law as a blueprint of
how we live in response to that truth.
Monday:
The first section of the Catechism shows us why we need a Savior; the
second section tells who God is and the salvation he has provided. We
now enter the third section, which discusses how we live in gratitude
in response to God's salvation. The focus in this section is on the
10 Commandments and the Lord's Prayer – two ways of showing
gratitude are obedience and prayer.
Psalm
50:14-15, 23
Present to God a thank-offering! Repay your vows to the sovereign
One! Pray to me when you are in trouble! I will deliver you, and
you will honor me!”... Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me.
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.”
Tuesday:
Before
the Israelites entered the promised land God made a covenant with
them with stipulations – the Law – showing how they were to be
holy and live in accordance with his will. He would be their God,
this was how they would live as his people.
Deuteronomy
4:5-14
Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my
God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in the land you
are about to enter and possess. So be sure to do them, because this
will testify of your wise understanding to the people who will learn
of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very
wise people.” In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to
them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? And what other
great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law
that I am about to share with you today? Again, however, pay very
careful attention, lest you forget the things you have seen and
disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your
children and grandchildren. You stood before the Lord your God at
Horeb and he said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I
can tell them my commands. Then they will learn to revere me all the
days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children.”
You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain
ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud. Then the
Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but
you could not see anything - only a voice was heard. And he revealed
to you the covenant he has commanded you to keep, the ten
commandments, writing them on two stone tablets. Moreover, at that
same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances
for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess.
Wednesday:
At
first glance the 10 Commandments may not seem too hard. 8 of 10 are
stated in the negative – what not to do. To actually live them out,
however, requires to do the opposite – not to kill, but to love and
do what we can to promote the good of others.
Romans
13:8-10
Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who
loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “Do
not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,”
(and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love
your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor.
Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Thursday:
God
does not just want us to woodenly obey a bunch of rules – he wants
our heart. He wants us to be good as he is good. The rich young ruler
who came to Jesus said that he had kept the commandments form his
youth, but when Jesus asked him to give up his wealth and follow him,
he was not prepared to go that far.
Matthew
19:16-22
Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must
I do to gain eternal life?” He said to him, “Why do you ask me
about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to
enter into life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he
asked. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do
not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,
and love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “I
have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your
possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have
treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man
heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.
Friday:
The
10 Commandments are an summary of God's moral law. We are to use
God's law, and the broader law of love, as a guide to our living in
gratitude. God says – you are my people, now go and live as my
people – e.g., be holy as I am holy, love as I love. The Holy
Spirit within us gives us a desire to obey to please God.
Galatians
5:13-14, 22-24
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use
your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through
love serve one another. For the whole law can be summed up in a
single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as
yourself.”... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who
belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires.
Saturday:
Sometimes
the 10 Commandments are spoken of as having 2 “tables” - the
first being how we are to love God, the second focusing on how we
love our neighbor. Jesus said that the whole law could be summed up
in love of God and love of neighbor.
Matthew
22:34-40
Now when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they
assembled together. And one of them, an expert in religious law,
asked him a question to test him: “Teacher, which commandment in
the law is the greatest?” Jesus said to him, “ʻLove the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind.ʼ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is
like it: ʻLove your neighbor as yourself.ʼ All the law and the
prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Reading
between the lines...
Jesus
goes (goes to the cross) to prepare a place for us. The place is to
be with him and to be with God. Eternal life is being with Jesus,
seeing his glory and sharing in his love. John describes the last
supper as a intimate closeness in the celebration of the Passover,
and that is the relationship that we too can look forward to – that
is heaven.
John
14:1-4
“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe
also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Fatherʼs house.
Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make
ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I
will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you
may be too. And you know the way where I am going.”
John
17:24
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am,
so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me
before the creation of the world.
What
is the way, the truth and the life? Jesus is the way – the way come
down to us. It is not our initiative and ascent to heaven. It is
Jesus coming to us and once we are one with him in returning to the
Father. The question is not “am I on the way to God”, the
question is “am I in Jesus” - if we are in Jesus we are not only
on the way, but we have arrived. The same with the “truth” - it
is not a special logic we have to learn – it is Jesus. If we ask,
“do I know God”, the question is “do I see Jesus for who he
is?” Jesus is the life – to be in Jesus is the fulfillment of all
of these things.
John
14:4-9
And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said, “Lord, we
donʼt know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus
replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me. If you have known me, you will know
my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.”
Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not
known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How
can you say, ʻShow us the Fatherʼ?
Jesus
describes our connectedness to him as a branch being part of a vine.
When we trust in Jesus we are grafted into his fruitful vine. His
“sap”, the Holy Spirit, nourishes us. The vine/branch image
describes our oneness with Jesus – like a bride and a groom, like a
body and a head. We cannot pursue life and flourishing apart from
Jesus. We are one with Jesus and he is one with the Father.
John
15:9
“Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in
my love.
John
15:4-5
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot
bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can
you unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches.
The one who remains in me - and I in him - bears much fruit, because
apart from me you can accomplish nothing.
This
is a verse that is often used at war memorials. The verse here refers
not to the sacrifice of others but of Jesus' sacrifice for us. Love
must be seen in action – Jesus' love is shown as he gives himself
for us. God's love is not given in an abstract sense – it is seen
on the cross. God's love is not a happy smiling on us, which might
not be believable as we realize the depths of our sin. Jesus
sacrifice meets us in the pit and plumbs the depths of our sin. The
cross demonstrates that Jesus enters into our unloveliness and
endures it and its consequences. In spite of our sin he has called us
friend and has laid down his life for us.
John
15:13
No one has greater love than this - that one lays down his life for
his friends.
We
do not commemorate Jesus meal – we are commemorating his death on
the cross. Salvation is portrayed throughout the Bible as a feast, a
wedding feast with Christ as the host. We are called around the table
to dine with the family. There is no greater picture of our
fellowship with God than being invited to eat with him. Before Jesus
is the host of the feast, he is the “main course”. Jesus took
bread and then gave thanks – he took our flesh and then lived a
life of thanksgiving (that we failed at). After he announced that the
bread was his body and gave thanks he broke the bread. The blessed
one is broken and gives to his disciples. Jesus feeds us with his
self-giving love.
1
Cor. 11:23-24
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the
Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and
after he had given thanks he broke it and said, “This is my body,
which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
The
mission of Christ's life was his death. Jesus is the “main course”
- he is broken that we might be nourished. Jesus asks us to eat of
his body, of his sacrifice – we “take advantage” of his
sacrifice. In the OT, the sacrifices were offered, but then were
eaten. The Passover was the same – it was a sacrifice and then
became dinner – first its blood shielded from judgment and then it
sustained the people on the journey. Jesus is our sacrifice as well
as our fellowship meal and sustenance. Jesus was consumed and
exhausted on the cross for us – he is sacrificed and we get the
feast. God has designated blood as the means of atonement (see
Leviticus). Man has a picture of God as grudging and demanding and is
holding out on us. Instead, on the cross we see God pouring himself
out for us. Satan is the miser, we are the selfish ones – God is
giver even though it cost him everything.
Matthew
26:26-27
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he
broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is
my body.” And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to
them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,
Psalm
27:2
When evil men attack me to devour my flesh, when my adversaries and
enemies attack me, they stumble and fall.
Leviticus
17:11
for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have
assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for
the blood makes atonement by means of the life.
Acts
20:28
Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he
obtained with the blood of his own Son.
Abba
is not only an intimate term, but one of respect. Who gets to call
God “Abba” - it implies a family connection. As family one gets
to inherit. Who has that connection? The Son of God. The Bible
records 3 “Abba, Fathers” - the first is in the garden of
Gethsemane. The second is in Galatians in which the Spirit prays
Christ's prayer in us and through us based on our connection with
Christ. In Romans, Paul says that the Spirit now teaches us to pray
“Abba, Father” for ourselves. Filled with the Spirit and adopted
by the Father we are able to join in calling God “Abba, Father”.
We are the children of God most high!
Mark
14:35
He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this
cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Galatians
4:6
And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!”
Romans
8:15
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear,
but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba,
Father.”
