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Category: Deuteronomy (Page 4 of 4)

The Presence of God and the Joy of His People

January 12, 2011 / / 2 Comments

I don’t believe you can find a single communal meal in the Hebrew Scriptures that is eaten in sadness. When God’s people eat together, two things are true, without exception: 1) they eat in the presence of God and 2) they eat with great joy.

Sacrificial meals and covenant meals were a regular part of daily life for God’s people. At the ratification of the Mosaic covenant, to inaugurate the priesthood, at the conclusion of vows, at the renewal of commitments, at the inauguration of kings, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to Jerusalem, to celebrate the end of plagues, to give thanks to God, at the dedication of the temple. The list could go on for pages.

Eat and rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God (Deut. 12:4-7), eat in the presence of the Lord…rejoice before the Lord (Deut. 17-18), eat the offerings in the presence of the Lord (Deut. 14:23), eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice (Deut. 14:26), eat in the presence of the Lord (Deut. 15:20).

At the table, God’s people were “joyful and glad in heart for the good things the Lord had done” (2 Chron. 7:10). They celebrated “with joy…because the Lord had filled them with joy” (Ezra 6:22). Nehemiah told them “Do not mourn or weep…enjoy choice food and sweet drinks…celebrate with great joy” (Neh. 8:10-12).

Sacrifices cleansed the people. The blood spilled on the altar was sprinkled on the stones, on the ground, on the people themselves, to clean them, to sanctify them, to take away their sins. Sacrifices were intended to make a place or a people holy so God could dwell there. God’s eternal covenant with his people is that he will live with them and they will be his people and he will be their God. Sacrifice made that dwelling possible. Without sacrifice, there could be no righteous relationship with God. Following the sacrifice, intimacy with God is not only possible, it’s realized and experienced.

And it’s always celebrated at the meal. At the table.

Peace. Fellowship. Communion. Koinonia with God and with one another because of the sacrifice. Now, that’s something worth celebrating with great joy. Right?

So….

Why do our Lord’s Supper observances on Sunday mornings tend to be quiet, solemn ceremonies marked by individual introspection and feelings of sadness and guilt? Why aren’t our communal meals with our God and one another characterized by interactive expressions of uncontained celebration and overflowing joy?

Have you tried singing upbeat, uptempo songs of praise and thanksgiving as you gather around the table? Instead of burying your nose in your Bible, have you ever tried sharing that special passage with the person seated next to you? A neighborly “clink” of your cups with the people on your pew and a shared “Thank you, Lord!” can express that much-needed communal joy in a simple, yet powerful, way. Try something. Try anything. I just urge you to stop “doing” the Lord’s Supper by yourself in that room full of Christian brothers and sisters and stop being so sad about it.

The Lord’s meal is shared on Sunday, not Friday! He’s not on the cross anymore, praise God! The tomb is empty, hallelujah! The Lord Jesus Christ has paid for your sins and mine! We stand today — right now and forever more! — in a righteous relationship with the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth! He has removed our sins. He doesn’t remember them or hold them against us! It’s as if we’ve been perfect from day one! Because of what Christ already did at the cross and what the Holy Spirit already did at the garden tomb, we belong to God! It is finished! We are his people and he is our God!

Seriously. How in the world are we able to eat the bread and drink the cup without breaking out into huge grins?

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I’ve updated the “Around the Table” page with tonight’s lesson outline and handouts. As you’ve already gathered, the focus tonight is on the presence of God and the joy of his people at the meal. Click on the green “Around the Table” tab in the upper right hand corner of this page to access these class materials and to find the assignment for next week’s session.

Peace,

Allan

Being Church At Home

May 29, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Being Church at HomePray with your kid today. Read the Bible with your child today. Don’t go to bed tonight without talking to your children about our gracious Father and his redemption plans for his people. And stop saying “go to church.” We don’t go to church. We ARE the Church. And we have to show our children that in our homes.

According to Search Institute and the results of a national survey of over 11,000 young people from 561 Christian congregations:

~ 12% of youth have a regular dialog with their mother on faith and life issues.

~ 5% of youth have a regular dialog with their father on faith and life issues.

~ 9% of youth have experienced regular reading of the Bible and devotions in the home.

~ 12% of youth have experienced a servanthood event with a parent as an action of faith.

George Barna research finds the same kind of conclusions. From Barna’s Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions:

“We discovered that in a typical week, fewer than ten percent of parents who regularly attend church with their kids read the Bible together, pray together (other than at meal times) or participate in an act of service as a family unit. Even fewer families — 1 out of every 20 — have any type of worship experience together with their kids, other than while they are at church during a typical month.”

Understand these statistics are all church kids! These are kids who go to church, whose parents go to church! These are our kids!

A Christian life in the home is much more influential than the Christian life in the church congregation. If that’s true — and I believe it is with all my heart — we need to all be asking ourselves some very important questions about being church at home. Do our children know beyond a shadow of doubt that our dedication to our Lord and to his Kingdom is the most important thing in our lives? Really? How do they know?

Pray with your kids today. Read a Bible passage together tonight. Impress it on your children. Talk about our Christ when you sit at home and when you walk along the road (I think that implies turning off the TV and pulling out the earbuds), when you lie down and when you get up.

Peace,

Allan

Where Are The Kids?

January 13, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Where are the kids?Where are the kids? The local TV stations used to ask us at 10:00 every night. It’s the question I ask Carrie-Anne when I come home after work. Thirty minutes after church when I’m ready to get in the car. In a crowded mall. At the park. When it’s especially quiet in the house. When the bikes are left on the lawn. Where are the kids?

If we ask that question as we’re reading Scripture—where are the kids?—the answer always comes back, “right in the big middle of everything.” Right where God put ’em. Right where God wants ’em.

Matthew 21 – Jesus enters the temple in the last week of his life. The children are there shouting “Hosanna to the Son of CaddellsDavid!” The religious leaders in the temple are indignant. Maybe the kids were clapping, I don’t know. Maybe just the fact that the kids were in the middle of the temple being loud was enough to upset these teachers and priests. Jesus answers their indignation by quoting Scripture. “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.”

Exodus 10 – Before the plague of locusts, God tells Moses he’s doing this “that you may tell your children and grandchildren…”

Exodus 12 – God insitutes the formational Passover Supper with everyone’s kids right there around the table. “When your children ask you…then tell them.”

WrightsExodus 13 – God explains the dedication of the first-born. “On that day, tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me.'” Also, “when your son asks you…,” tell him the great story.

Deuteronomy 4 – God’s giving the Law to his people. “Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Deuteronomy 6 – Same thing. “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” And again, when your son asks you, tell him the stories.

Joshua 4 – Setting up the stones to mark the spot where they crossed the Jordan River. When your children ask you, tell them.

Matthew 18 & 19, Mark 10, Luke 18 – Parents bring their children to Jesus. And he welcomed them gladly. They brought their kids to Jesus so he could touch them and bless them and teach them. And he did. Jesus took little kids in his arms, he placed his hands on their heads, he prayed for them. He warns us not to ignore them or neglect them or discourage them in any way because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to our little children and he’s not willing that any of them should be lost.

In our Scriptures, the kids are always right in the big middle of everything. Exactly where God put ’em. In our Bibles, the Matt&Elizabethchildren are never on the edges, they’re not peripheral participants in the community of faith. They’re not sent to the other room. They don’t eat at a different table. They’re not placed in an “age-appropriate educational environment.” They are critical components. They are integral to God’s plan for his people. They are the centerpiece to our sacred conversations and the core of our holy gatherings.

Where are the kids?

When you’re praying. When you’re reading the Word. When you’re singing praises to God. When you’re at the common table with your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you’re talking about our Savior and the Gospel’s impact on your life.

Where are the kids?

Passing The Baton

January 9, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Raising kids, not grass!In his 1984 Hall of Fame induction speech, Harmon Killebrew recounted the days when his father taught his brother and him how to play baseball out in the front yard. One afternoon Killebrew’s mother admonished his dad from the porch, “Y’all are ruining the lawn!” To which his dad replied, “We’re raising kids—not grass!” 

At the Legacy Church of Christ, we’re raising kids—not grass. We’re raising kids—not immaculate buildings and well-oiled programs. We’re raising kids—not perfect worship services and effective curricula.  We’re raising kids.  

We’re passing on the faith to the children our Lord has entrusted to us. We’re teaching them from a context of grace and love and support and respect and encouragement. We’re attending to the material and emotional needs of our children. And we’re showing them what it means to live a full life in Christ Jesus, as genuine disciples of the Savior, with all the loving instruction, enlightening, warning, and disciplining that goes along with that.  It’s a serious commitment at Legacy; not a casual obligation or an afterthought. The Christian training of our children is not attained by irregular and isolated efforts, but by regular and unceasing repetition in meaningful relationship, as commanded by our God through Moses:  

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” ~Deuteronomy 6:6-7 PassingTheBatonMay our Father bless us as we pass on the faith to our children. And may we experience the thrill of the Apostle John who rejoiced in the knowledge that his “children are walking in the truth.” 

Peace,   Allan 

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