Nathan E. Lewis

sermons preached by Nathan Lewis at Chehalem Valley Mission in Newberg and Evergreen Church in Beaverton,
2006 >

April 2 “The Covenant: The Lure of Idolatry� (13)

Moses addresses Israel in Deuteronomy 13 with the purpose of protecting her from idolatry. There are certain types of people who have the potential to lure Israel into idolatry. Moses warns Israel of three categories of people. If you were seeking to protect the church from idolatry, which categories of people would be on your list? Would you list rock stars, professional athletes, and best selling authors? Would your list of the top three most dangerous idolaters be cultists, artists, and university professors? Would you warn people against extreme environmentalists, secret societies, and success coaches? Which groups of people in our community have the greatest potential for luring us into idolatry?
Moses warns against three groups of people: spiritual leaders; family members; and civic leaders. We may be surprised at his choices, recognizing them to have potential for good, for the betterment of our community. Remember, idolatry is replacing the one, true God with any other person, object, or phenomenon. An idol need not be evil in itself. Many idols are good. Nature, money, land, family, sex, vocation, and security are all good yet they are all ranked among the top ten idols of our day. The evil does not lurk in them; the evil is in our idolizing of them. Similarly, these three categories of people are not evil, but good. We need spiritual leaders; we love family members; and civic leaders have been most helpful to us. Nevertheless, the potential of these people luring us into idolatry is high. Moses gives us some insight into why this is the case.
The first person Moses warns against is the spiritual leader. Spiritual leaders help us to connect with the divine. We perceive that they have a stronger connection to the divine than we do and so we follow them. Moses describes two such spiritual leaders: prophets and dream interpreters. Both prophets and dream interpreters claim to deliver to us the very words of God. A prophet hears God speak directly and clearly. The prophet delivers the divine message to its earth-bound audience. A dream interpreter has the ability to translate a dream sequence into a divine message. If I have a dream, the dream interpreter can tell me what God has revealed through the symbols of my dream. The dream interpreter may be one who dreams more than others, able to explain his dreams as clear messages from God. Both prophets and dream interpreters have delivered alongside their divine messages, signs and wonders, validating the divine source of the message. We may be convinced that these signs and wonders are miraculous and so we accept the message as divine. Moses says, “Be careful. Listen to the message. If the message is calling us to worship idols, then this is no divine message, but a divine test.�
Through his prophet, Moses, God has clearly commanded us to love him with all our heart and with all our soul. Through Jesus Christ, his one and only Son, the great and final prophet, we have received the command to love God with all our heart and with all our soul. If any spiritual leaders presents us with a message that would rob God of our worship of him alone, we know that this person is luring us into idolatry and thus does not speak for God. Even if this spiritual leaders is able to charm snakes, heal our uncle’s arthritis or even raise the dead, we will not follow him or her. We will worship God and God alone.
The second person Moses warns against is the family member. Moses describes family and friends using terms of endearment and intimacy. He does not ask us to consider our stepbrother, but the brother our mother birthed. He does ask us to consider the wife we ignore, but the wife we embrace, our true love. He describes a friend as close to me as my soul is to my body. Moses says that my best friend, not an acquaintance, but my close friend may take me aside secretly to persuade me toward idolatry. Moses says that my beloved wife may lace our pillow talk with idolatrous plans. Way to go, Moses. All you are doing in this address is breaking down the trust of our most intimate relationships. Actually, what Moses is doing is building up our trust in God, a trust in God alone, so that we might not become the ones who lures our close friends and beloved family into idolatry. Trust God alone and then you will encourage your loved ones to worship God alone.
Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.� What does Jesus mean by this statement? Is he anti-family? He is addressing our propensity to idolatry, the worship of good gifts from God’s hand rather than the worship of God alone. Family is good, but if you are to follow God, you must put your trust in him alone and worship him alone.
The third person Moses warns against is the civic leader. He describes a civic leader as one who wields influence in his city. The people he has in mind, he calls “worthless fellows.� The actual term he uses is “sons of belial.� The New Testament authors turn the word, “belial,� into a proper noun, a name for Satan himself. The word in Moses’ context describes destruction, especially of communities. In the name of civic and social development, some leaders in the end destroy community.
Have you ever put your trust in an elected official? A political party? A social agenda? Has a person who wields influence and power in the city, state, or nation ever broken your trust? Moses is not warning against those who break campaign promises. He warns against those who would lure us into idolatry. Moses does not warn against those who would raise our taxes or send our children to war. He warns against idolatry. Moses’ only concern in this address is the worship of the one, true God who has commanded us to worship him with all our heart and with all our soul.
Imagine the ideal civic leader, one who beautifies our community with green spaces, attracts fortune five hundred companies, improves our schools, and cuts the crime rate. Imagine this picture perfect leader announcing on prime time television, “Let’s go and serve other gods.� We are to serve God alone and so we must allow even a good leader to lure us into idolatry.
Having considered these three groups, which have the potential to lure us into idolatry, I must now address the penalties of the law. Moses commands the death of the prophet and interpreter of dreams, who lure Israel into idolatry. These false prophets have taught rebellion against the God who has liberated Israel from bondage. Moses says, “You shall purge the evil person from your midst.� Moses commands the death of any family member and friend who lures Israel into idolatry. Israel is not to pity or spare the loved one, but instead, Israel is to stone that person. The person most intimate with the idolater, who heard the whispered suggestions of idolatry, must cast the first stone. Such a penalty will be a deterrent. “All Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness.� If civic leaders sway an entire city to worship other gods, then the entire city is to be put to the sword, devoting the entire city to destruction. The inhabitants are to be killed and the spoil is to be burned. The city is never to be re-built.
How do you react to these penalties? Many people reject the law of God considering these penalties to be cruel. What is the difference between these penalties in the Hebrew Scriptures and the penalties in the Kuran, the Scriptures of Islam? Jon Krakauer, author of the best selling, “Under the Banner of Heaven,� in his prologue, reminds us that Mormonism the great religion founded in America, quickly becoming the first worldwide religion to emerge since Islam. This American religion, Mormonism, is just as barbaric as Islam, including laws commanding the death of infidels, her prophets commanding polygamy. How is the Bible of Christianity any different? Our Bible not only includes the New Testament, but we also confess that the Old Testament is the Word of God delivered for our good. What are we to do with these commands, these penalties, these laws that seem to be harsh, barbaric, inhumane?
Would you believe that the gospel is the answer to how we should understand and respond to these harsh penalties? Firstly, the penalties of the law, operative in Moses’ day, had the purpose of liberating Israel from idolatry and from those who would promote idolatry. Israel would be free as long as she was completely devoted to the one, true God. The freedom of the gospel is latent in the law. What about mercy? Where is the mercy of the gospel? Does not the gospel offer divine mercy to the worst of sinners, even those who promote idolatry? What if my spouse repents of luring me into idolatry, must I stone her? Doesn’t the gospel move me to forgive her?
The law of God presents God’s justice. The sin of promoting idolatry is indeed punishable by death. These stiff penalties fit the crime. The law not only administers God’s justice, but it forces all who have broken it to plead for God’s mercy. The law not only makes provision for mercy to be shown to repentant lawbreakers, it is leading us, through God’s redemptive history, to his throne of mercy. The law given by Moses is leading God’s people to the fulfillment of the law in Christ Jesus. All of us who have broken the law, not only have room to beg for mercy, we are directed by the law to discover Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the law. He has fulfilled the law through perfect obedience, winning the blessings of the covenant. He has fulfilled the law by taking upon himself the penalties, the curses of the covenant. The penalties that we deserve for our crimes against God, Jesus Christ, our representative, has received them. On the cross Christ suffered the death penalty which we deserve.
The gospel is directly connected to these harsh penalties in the law. The gospel is good news in that it proclaims us to be free from these harsh penalties. The gospel does not declare that we have been spared the slapping of our hands for promoting idolatry. The gospel declares that we have been spared the death penalty.
Today, we still need the law of God to remind us of the seriousness of our crimes and the penalties God is just to assign to us. These penalties are the black backdrop for the brilliant coming of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
Do you remember the story of the Jewish leaders who brought to Jesus the woman caught in the act of adultery? They say to Jesus, “The law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?�
Jesus replied, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw the stone at her.� Is Jesus soft on sin? Has he added mercy to the justice of the law? Mercy is not a new concept post-law. Mercy is written into the law as we have seen. Before I cast the first stone putting to death my spouse whose pillow talk has been laced with idolatrous suggestions, must I not be sure that I have not whispered idolatrous overtures into her ears? He who is without sin cast the first stone. The law indicts us all! Jesus reminded the teachers of the law in his day that the law of God condemns all of us to death. Thus the law paves the road to mercy. Jesus said to the woman, who had broken the law of God, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?� She said, “No, one, Lord.� Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more.�

April 23 “The Covenant: Food Laws� (14:1-21)

Why would anyone cut himself/herself? (1) Why does God’s law prohibit mutilation of our bodies?

Some of my Mexican friends say, “Carne es carne,� meaning “meat is meat.� Why does God’s law distinguish between “clean� and “unclean� meat.

Why would God’s law prohibit the eating of an animal that has died naturally, but allow an Israelite to give or sell the animal to a non-Israelite to eat? (21)

Can you find a good explanation for the law prohibiting the shaving of one’s forehead for the dead (1), or for the law prohibiting the boiling of a young goat in its mother’s milk? (21)

What do any of these laws, including the food laws, have to do with the gospel?

The Coming of Christ has radically changed the administration of the law. The meaning of the law has always been the gospel. Christ is at the center of the gospel and so his coming causes this gospel to become clearer and widespread, flowering out to the ends of the earth.
Jesus says, “This is the new covenant in my blood….� His satisfaction of God’s justice through his death on the cross as the final and perfect sacrifice for sin radically changes all of the law specific to sacrifice. These laws do not become obsolete, but instead they retain their vital role in pointing to the necessity of the perfect and final sacrifice. They teach us more about Christ, the paschal Lamb. Nevertheless, since the coming of Christ, we are no longer bound to obey these sacrificial laws.
Christ’s fulfillment of the blood sacrifice has impacted all of the laws informing worship. While the laws ordering worship in the Old Covenant are useful to us, teaching us much about true worship, these laws no
Longer bind us to a particular liturgy, calendar, configuration, or prescribed rites.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ has radically changed our use of the law. Consider the fourth commandment. We no longer worship on the seventh day, but on the first. There is scanty biblical citation in the New Testament for such a radical change…. But there is a huge theology of the resurrection that is inescapable. The resurrection changes everything, giving to us new life and a new day. In the Old Testament there is scanty biblical citation for the resurrection…..In the New Testament, the resurrection plays a prominent role in shaping the theology and practice of the apostles….
It is accurate to say that not one bit of the law is left unchanged by the coming of Christ. All of it has been radically changed. It has not been abolished, as Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.� His fulfillment of the law has radically changed every jot and tittle of it.
Our text this morning presents some of the food laws. This is a good place for us to begin to inspect the radical change that Christ has caused in the law. The vision granted to Peter in Acts is one of the clearer presentations connecting the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, showing the purpose and the meaning of the law continuing and expanding, yet much of the practice radically altered.
These food laws teach us fundamentally that God is concerned with every aspect of our lives. How are we to make use of these laws today? We live on the other side of Christ’s resurrection, not to mention in the last days following Peter’s vision.

May 7 “The Covenant: The Tithe� (14: 22-29)

As we have been reading through God’s law we have made three surprising discoveries: 1) We have discovered that God is interested in every aspect of our lives; 2) We have discovered that every part of God’s law is good for us; 3) We have discovered that God’s law is surprisingly flexible, highly applicable. All three of these observations can be easily made from our morning’s text, which instructs us in bringing our tithes to the Lord. “Tithe,� means “a tenth.� Our text is only one of several in God’s law that instructs us in bringing one tenth of our income to God. Quite a few people stop right here, having heard that a “tithe� means “one tenth of their income,� they do not investigate any further but conclude that God is like every other king exacting exorbitant taxes from his subjects. But all of us have gone a bit further in reading the text this morning, making these three surprising discoveries of God’s holistic interest in our lives, the good purpose and end of his law for us, and the surprising flexibility and applicability of his law.
God is interested in every aspect of our lives. This includes our work, our business, our profits, our money, our property, our entire estates. Every so often I hear someone say, “All that preacher ever talks about is money.� I can imagine some preacher talking too much about money. I am an expositional preacher, which means that I choose a book of the Bible and preach through it. I rarely skip chapters or paragraphs. When the Bible talks about money I talk about money. God is interested in every aspect of our lives. He is interested in our money, our sex, our sin, our governments, our speech, and our thoughts. This is good news. The God of the Bible is not a disinterested Creator who reads an annual report about life on planet earth. He is actively involved in world affairs. He is interested in every aspect of our lives.
God is not merely interested in every aspect of our lives, he desires to be intimately involved in our lives. The tithe laws are designed to bring God close to us through fellowship, through feasting. Moses instructed Israel to bring an annual tithe of grain, wine, oil, and the first born of the herd and flock. What is the purpose of these tithes? A feast for God and his people! Look at (26): “And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.� The tithe pays for fellowship. The tithe facilitates the gathering of God’s people together to celebrate his loving presence with us. The church is not merely a school or a worship center. The church is a feasting community, a group of people rejoicing in God’s presence. The tithe pays the bill for this.
One problem some people may have with the tithe is that they view it to be their money given to benefit someone else other than themselves. But this is not the case. The tithe is money given to benefit those of us who offer it to God. The tithe laws, like all of God’s law, are good for us. They are designed to benefit us. Often times a feast is only offered to those who can afford it. Have you ever attended a political fund raising banquet at $100.00 or $1,000.00 a plate? This is a good way to raise money. But it is not a good way to gather the people of God regardless of each person’s income. The tithe allows the poor, the middle class, and the rich to provide the feast and to enjoy it together. The person who made $100.00 this past week could chip in $10.00 to provide the feast while the person who made $600.00 this past week could chip in $60.00. Once the feast is prepared both these individuals are seated equally as those who rejoice in the presence of the Lord. No announcements are made: “Fred gave $100.00 to purchase the prime rib tonight and so he is seated at the head of the table and will be served first. We are sorry to say that Gladys only chipped in $5.00 and so she will not be welcome in the dessert line tonight.�
If there is any institution in this world that should break down economic distinctions it should be the church. The tithe allows for everyone to provide and to feast.
The feast described in the law is sumptuous. What shall we serve at the feast? Listen to Moses: “Whatever you desire – oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves.� Such a feast is good for us! Meat is good for us to eat. Wine and strong drink is good for us to drink. Not on a daily basis, but on a schedule of special feasts, it is good for us to satisfy the cravings of our appetites. The law is good for us. Isn’t it ironic that religious Christians who have been in the habit of adding man-made rules to God’s law, have added rules that directly oppose the laws God has written down in his holy scriptures. God says that we should use the tithe to satisfy our appetites with wine and strong drink at the feast, if we wish to do so. But religious man says, “Christians should not drink wine let alone liquor.�
The tithe is not only good for us, but it is also allows us to help a good number of other people.
In (28-29) a second tithe is mentioned and its purpose is to provide for the Levites and for needy people. In Deuteronomy 26 Moses supplies more instruction concerning this second tithe. If I were writing Deuteronomy, I would cluster all of the tithe laws together, making a nice neat structure. We must remember that Moses, the author of Deuteronomy collected in writing a series of public addresses he delivered to the second generation of Israel during the two-year period of preparation prior to entering the Promised Land. In at least two of his addresses Moses presented the tithe laws. I wonder if anyone in Israel’s camp said, “This Moses is always talking about money.�
This second tithe is collected every three years and it is placed in the storehouse. This second tithe provides for the Levite, a member of the tribe of Levite, which was set aside to manage the tabernacle, facilitating worship for the entire community. The tribe of Levite is the only tribe that was not given land in the Promised Land. They were set aside from the cares of making a living from the land. A cursory reading of our text reveals an agrarian based economy. Eleven tribes were given land so that they could farm and ranch thus providing for their families. But the Levites were set aside to do the work of setting up the tabernacle, cleaning it, maintaining it, making sure it was ever ready for the worship of Yawheh, the Holy God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The tithe provided for the Levites.
This second tithe also benefited the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow among the Israelites. The law of God is good for us and makes us good for others. If there is any institution in the world that should show kindness to the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow, it should be the church. The law of God teaches us to care for these needy people. The tithe allows us to relieve the needs of these people, who have been disconnected from other sources of income. No one should have ever been hungry in Israel. No one should ever be hungry in the church. When the church gathers to feast, foreigners, orphans, and widows should be welcome to sit alongside those of us who can tithe, to rejoice in the Lord. The prophet Isaiah captured the heart and welcome of God as he cried out, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.�
We live in a world of life insurance, civil adoption, and green cards. Provision is made for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. In the world of Moses, hardly any safety net was in place for these needy categories of people. If a woman lost her husband, she was bereft. God’s law graciously provided for her. If a child’s parents died, he was left to die or he became a child of the streets. The ancient kings did not write laws to protect these children. Ancient nations viewed foreigners to be the enemy and the crossing of a border was a life-threatening step. But God’s law provided for the orphan and instructed Israel to kindly welcome and provide for the foreigner. Today in the USA and in the West, such kindness and provision has been established in the church and outside the church mainly through the law’s influence, the light of God’s common and special grace. We take for granted the heritage of Christianity in the west. Hinduism does not make provision for the widow and the orphan. Mao’s China has been a failure at feeding the hungry and welcoming the foreigner. For centuries tribalism in African nations have slit throats and dug shallow graves but the light of the gospel is rolling back the kingdom of darkness daily. Islam provides for the widow, orphan, and alien only because Mohammed preserved in the Koran much of God’s law recorded by Moses.
The law is good for us, it is good for the church, it is good for nations and the entire world. The tithe laws make us good for ourselves and for others. While we have read with trembling the severe penalties connected to some of God’s law, no punishments are assigned to the tithe laws. But God does connect a blessing. We tithe to care for the needy “so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.�
Thirdly, we discover in our text the flexibility and applicability of God’s law. Most people who talk about tithing talk as if these laws are rigid. But when we actually read the law, we discover a surprising flexibility. If an Israelite lives a distance from the tabernacle causing the transport of grain, wine, oil, and animals to be difficult. He may convert his goods into money. Upon arrival to the tabernacle, he may then purchase anything he desires to contribute to the feast. No wonder the children of Israel sang Psalms as they traveled to the worship site! They were going to a feast. We may think that with God, there is only one prescribed method to obeying one particular law. But God’s law often provides freedom in obedience. Just as Moses was a catalyst in the historic transition from oral tradition to written language, so God’s law reflected economic transition from real goods to currency. The tithe laws were carefully crafted so as not to be a burden to Israel. The tithe is not a tax. It is not a penalty. Thus the tithe laws are flexible and thus highly applicable. These laws are even flexible in the instructions for which foods are appropriate for the feast. The food laws in the first half of Dt. 14 appear to be detailed. Clearly some animals are clean, good as food, and some animals are unclean, unfit for human consumption. But when it comes to God’s people feasting, the tithe laws have no language of prohibition. We correctly assume that the meat of the feast would follow the food laws. But the instructions are indeed surprising in their liberality: “Whatever you desire – oxen, sheep, or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves.� Such freedom exists not only in God’s loving heart but also in his holy law. God’s law does not cramp our style and thwart our freedom, but rather, God’s law promotes and preservers our freedom.
With this proper view of the law, we no longer find it difficult to see how the law moves us to the gospel. We no longer view the law and gospel to be in opposition. We discover that the intended end of the law is the gospel and that the gospel is offered to us in the law. Hints of the gospel are embedded in the law and several outright declarations can be found. But what does the tithe have to do with the gospel? Christ Jesus has died and risen to new life to unite us to God. The work of Christ makes a way for us to enjoy fellowship with God. The tithe laws show us that this gospel of fellowship with God has been God’s heart and plan from the very beginning. The purpose of the law is to welcome us into communion with God. As God’s people, the law teaches us how to fellowship with God. We would be hypocrites according to the law if we enjoyed God’s love for us but never displayed God’s love to the alien, orphan, and widow. We would be hypocrites according to the gospel is we enjoyed God’s love but never extended it to the needy person. The gospel commends to us a life which includes the collecting of our goods and currency to feast, rejoicing in God’s presence, and to relieve the needs of our community.
Christ did not die on the cross so that we might chant, “The dwarfs are for the dwarfs.� Jesus never said, “God helps those who help themselves.� The idea that we don’t have any responsibility to help illegal aliens is not a biblical idea. The gospel compels us to provide for the alien in our midst. One of the apostles said that in doing so we might be entertaining angels! We lose the gospel if we remove generosity from it. Divine generosity is the gospel. God our Savior has generously showered upon us his love, peace, hope, and joy. The tithe laws teach us to reflect divine generosity. When we feast, we do so in the spirit of generosity. When we help the needy, we do so generously. Why? Because the gospel is generous and our lives reflect divine generosity to the glory of God.

May 14 “The Covenant: Economic Empowerment (15)

Moses addresses the lending of money, leasing of land, and employment contracts. The purpose is to economically empower the poor person. This economic system is founded upon God’s blessing. Those whom God has blessed become instruments of his blessing of others. This system is also founded upon human freedom and generosity.
The entire economic structure is founded upon God’s blessing. The second generation of Israel was preparing to enter the Promised Land. God was giving to them the land as an inheritance to possess and he had promised to bless them in this land. Moses writes in (4), “There will be no poor among you.� Eleven of the tribes of Israel would be given land and thus all the tribal members would receive God’s blessing. The tribe of Levite would not receive land, but God had commanded the other eleven tribes to provide through the tithe for the tribe of Levite, set aside to perform the duties of the tabernacle. Thus God’s gift of a productive land would provide for the entire nation. His blessing of Israel would be so great that she would be able to lend to other nations. Though she was small among the ancient Near Eastern nations, she would be rich by God’s blessing. Indeed Israel, economically empowered, would rule other nations. The entire economic structure is built upon God’s blessing.
Moses presents the foundation of God’s blessing by instructing Israel to be generous. In (10) Moses says, “You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that your undertake.� God not only establishes Israel through his initial gift of a fruitful land. But he continues to bless Israel by rewarding generosity with blessing added to blessing. This additional blessing of God will come to the Israel who diligently works and expands his business. God’s blessing of human industry is the reason for human generosity. The very reason God has blessed our hard work is so that we can generously give to others. Moses writes in (11), “For there will never cease to be poor in the land.� Wait one moment: In (4) Moses says, “There will be no poor among you,� then in (14) he says, “For there will never cease to be poor in the land.� Though minor, this seems to be a contradiction. Actually there is no contradiction but a constant flowing opportunity for economic empowerment. God commands Israel to use his blessing of her to economically empower the poor so that there will be no poor in the land. Israel is to be continually obeying this command. Just as Israel would complete arrangements to care for the orphans and widows, death would introduce a new cluster of orphans and widows. As foreigners immigrated, Israel would have a steady stream of opportunities to help the poor. God continues to bless Israel so that she might be a blessing to others.
Finally, concerning God’s blessing, Moses says in (14), “As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.� Israel’s help of the poor is in direct proportion to God’s blessing of Israel. In this way God controls the timing and the amount of economic empowerment his people provide. This statement frees God’s people from guilt and greed. We may often feel guilty for not doing more to economically empower the poor. As God blesses us, we are given all we are required to give to others. We may be also paralyzed by greed, refusing to help the poor. But as the Lord our God has blessed us, so we are to give to those in need. Rather than drowning in guilt and greed, each of us may regularly assess God’s blessing of us and contribute to the needs of the poor.
Along with God’s blessing, human freedom is foundation for the economic system of Deuteronomy 15. Every seven years creditors are to release their neighbors from their debts! In a world of 30 year mortgages, seven years is truly freedom! This law promoted the setting of terms for payoff in seven years or less. Longer terms could be set with foreigners. But within the nation of Israel, all debts were paid off or cancelled on a seven years cycle. What happens when one of your brothers becomes poor? You should help him by lending money or leasing land to him, so that he can work hard to build his estate. If he needs your help in year one of the seven-year cycle, then you have maximum time for repayment. But if your brother needs your help in the seventh year, what are you to do? He has less than 12 months to repay and so you may be looking at gifting to him most of the loan or lease. This doesn’t seem to be fair if the purpose of the loan is for you to make some money on interest. But if the purpose is the economic freedom of your brother or sister, then your gift serves its purpose. In (10) Moses says, “You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that your undertake.�
In the ancient world slavery was the norm for masses of the laboring class. God’s law provides a better way than slavery. An Israelite must contract with his laborers, employing them for no more than six years. The ancient world made no distinction between “slave,� and “employee.� A hired hand, paid or unpaid was under the command of his master. God’s law prohibited such a contract for labor to extend beyond six years. Every seventh year, all laborers were to be released. Israel is to remember that she was enslaved in Egypt for 400 years! Israel should never come close to oppressing anyone else as she was oppressed in Egypt. If one of your employees is willing to serve you for a longer period than seven years, then the two of you may perform this ceremony of piercing his ear at your door post. This economic relationship is based upon a loving devotion between the two of you and the entire household, that is family and other employees. It is also based upon the slave’s satisfaction with the payment and benefits he receives from you, his master. If he is not satisfied with the payment and benefits, he is free at the end of six years.
In our modern languages we have distinguishing terms. “Slave� refers to those who are oppressed, owned by masters like animals and tools. “Indentured Servant� refers to those who have contracted to work for six years to receive in the end land and tools to build his/her own estate freely. “Employee,� refers to a person who contracts to work for another person receiving payment and benefits. Those of us who are employed sense from time to time how thin the line is between “slave,� and “employee.�
God’s law is for our freedom in every part of life. Not only does the law apply to male servants, but also to female servants. All too common in the ancient world was the enslavement of women for all of the wrong reasons. Sadly, it is true of our present world in the 21st century. In fact, National Geographic is one of many who are publishing about slave trade in the 21st century. A recent article begins with this statement: “There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in the four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.� BBC News has estimated 12.3 million slaves presently oppressed in the world with 31.6 billion in annual profits from forced labor. God’s law commands that women be treated the same as men in the economic system. Contracts must be made with male and female with economic empowerment as the goal for all who would work for a master.
In (18) a little more information is given to us concerning this system. These “slaves,� which we would call “indentured servants� contract to work for a master for six years. They are paid half of what the master would pay a hired servant. What is the purpose of this system? The economic empowerment of the poor. This is a work program for the poor. This is a clearly marked path from poverty to economic freedom through hard work. Thus God’s law provides incentives, namely labor at a reduced rate, to every person who would employ a poor person for six years. The poor person receives shelter, food, clothing, and half the common wages. The poor person receives training and work experience, and the hope of a permanent contract as a hired servant at the conclusion of the six years. The servant, male or female may choose to work for the master who entered into the six-year work program or may choose to seek a new employer. Thus the economic system is based upon human freedom. Moses says that the creditor releases the debtor “because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed.�
The economic system is also founded upon generosity. When a brother becomes poor he is met with generosity. Moses says, “Do not harden your hearts…open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need.� This is the beginning steps of generosity. Moses informs the community that a loan may morph into a gift depending on the seven cycle. He warns Israel against giving grudgingly to the brother in need. Moses concludes this section, “Therefore, I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land.� God’s law commands our generosity.
If an Israelite had an indentured servant, at the conclusion of six years, he was to free his servant. But he must not let the servant go empty-handed. Read (14): “You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.�
God’s law commands our generosity. The purpose of our generosity is to establish others who have submitted to work diligently, part of the well-laid path out of poverty into fruitful living. This generosity flows from our remembrance of God’s generosity in redemption. Our God is the Lord who redeems his people.
The apostle Paul, writing his second epistle to the church at Corinth, reports the generosity of the Macedonian church. He concludes his report with these words: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.� Paul uses economic imagery to describe the incarnation and redemptive work of Christ for us. The Son of God left the glories of heaven to take upon himself human flesh. Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem us. The apostles use this economic word, “redemption,� which refers to liberating a person hopelessly enslaved because of his insurmountable debts. This redemption occurs when the liberator purchases the slave from his debtors. The Apostles describe the saving work of Christ in these terms of debt and economic freedom.
Do you know what Liberation Theology teaches? In a nutshell Liberation Theology teaches that economic empowerment is the gospel. But the gospel of Deuteronomy, of Jesus, and of the Apostles is so much more than economic empowerment. The language of economic empowerment is used in the Holy Scriptures to describe the greater redemption of humanity from sin and death. God not only rescues us from financial debt, he rescues us from eternal death. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Ephesus: “In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us….�

May 28 “The Covenant: How do You Measure Time?� (16)
How do you measure time? The calendar currently in worldwide use is the Gregorian calendar, constructed to give a close approximation to the tropical year, which is the actual length of time it takes for the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun. In 1582, by decree of Pope Gregory XIII, the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian calendar. European peasants bitterly opposed the new calendar, thinking that it was designed to cheat them out of a week and a half’ rent. Pope Gregory XIII by decree assured them that October 4, 1582 would be directly followed by October 15, 1582. France, Spain, Portugal and Italy adopted the new calendar. In 1587, Hungary adopted the calendar. Germany did not adopt until 1700 followed by England in 1752.
The Gregorian calendar sets the first day of the week as Sunday, to commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Is this how most of us measure time? I thought that the first day of the week was Monday and that the weekend was Friday afternoon through Sunday night. Is the measurement of time purely a scientific exercise? Why has the Church set the calendar for the modern world? Is the Church controlling time for the masses? The Gregorian calendar is one of the results of the Church recognizing scientific order and using it for the good of the community. Prior to the Gregorian calendar, the Church was mostly interested in the Church calendar of holy days and in keeping the canonical hours of the day. The Medieval Church called people to pray eight times daily, beginning with Matins at sunrise.
Matins (Second Coming) Theme of feast displaces the hour theme
Lauds Praise: spiritual resurrection Resurrection of our Lord
Prime Preparation for the day’s work
Terce Come, Holy Ghost Descent of the Holy Ghost
Sext Lead us not into temptation (sin) Christ on the Cross
None Perseverance Last things
Vespers Thanksgiving Last Supper
Compline Contrition
Protection for the night Heavenly banquet
Our Lord in Gethsemane
Most of us know that Muslims pray five times a day, kneeling on a prayer rug and facing Mecca.
The Jews offer three daily prayers – sunrise, noon, and evening. How do we measure the passing of a day?
Moses prepares Israel to enter the Promised Land providing instruction on setting the calendar. Feasts govern the calendar for God’s people. Moses supplies more specific calendar information in his other writings. In this public address before us, Moses mentions three feasts as a basic structure for the annual calendar.
The calendar year for Israel began with the first month of Abib, governed by the first feast, Passover. On the fourteenth day of Abib, Israel would begin the seven-day feast of Passover. Have you ever celebrated a seven-day feast? Israel’s calendar year began in the spring with the feast that reminds the people of God freeing them from slavery in Egypt. What a great start for any year: remembering and celebrating God’s redemption in our lives! I’m not suggesting that we change our calendar. Rather I am encouraging us to remember every New Year’s Day, and every morning that our God has liberated us from sin and death. Our first thoughts are of God and his grace toward us.
The two main elements of the feast Passover are the paschal lamb and the unleavened bread. The blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled on the doorposts so that the angel of death might pass over the house. The unleavened bread, was, in Moses’ words, “a sign and a memorial� to God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt, the house of bondage. In (3) Moses calls the unleavened bread, “the bread of affliction.� Both of these signs powerfully point to Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, as he saw Jesus approaching him at the Jordan, said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!� The apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth: “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.� (I Corinthians 5: 7-8). Christ Jesus is the Paschal Lamb, the final sacrifice satisfying God’s just demands for atonement. The blood of Jesus Christ shed for you assures that sin and death no longer have a hold upon you. Just as the angel of death passed over the blood-sprinkled doorposts, sparing the first born of those homes, so all of us who are united to the firstborn Jesus Christ, who has shed his blood for us, are kept safe.
The “bread of affliction� also points to Jesus. After Jesus fed bread to the five thousand, Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down form heaven and gives life to the world…. I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.�
The manna, God’s gift of bread to Israel in the wilderness is a sign pointing to Jesus, the true bread of heaven. But Jesus also claimed to be the “bread of affliction.� As he celebrated the Passover with his disciples, “he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you.’�
The first feast of Israel’s calendar points to Jesus Christ. Let us mark our days celebrating Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. On the first day of the week, let us commemorate the Resurrection of Jesus. Let us partake of the bread of affliction and drink the cup of atonement. Let us rejoice in the promise of new life in the risen Lord.
The second feast of Israel’s calendar mentioned in this address is the Feast of Weeks. This is the first harvest festival. The date for the feast is imprecise by our standards. Israel is to count seven weeks from the time the sickle is put to the standing grain. At the conclusion of these seven weeks, the Feast of Weeks begins. In his book, Leviticus, Moses supplies more precise calculations for the date of the Feast of Weeks, fifty days after the conclusion of Passover. This feast is also known as The Feast of First Fruits. At the center of this celebration is the collection of the freewill offering. As Israel is blessed in the first harvest, she gives freely and joyfully to God. This feast includes all categories of people in the community: family, servants, Levites, foreigners, orphans and widows.
This feast, in Jewish dispersion throughout a Grecian world, became known by its Greek name, Pentecost. At Passover, Jesus was crucified. Fifty days later, at the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out in great measure, not only upon the disciples, but upon a diverse crowd of Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappodocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia. The crowd included Egyptians, Libyians, Cyrenians, Romans, Cretans and Arabians! This diverse gathering is the fulfillment of Moses’ instructions to Israel to gather the entire community including foreigners to the Feast of First Fruits. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon Peter and the disciples so that each of these foreign groups heard the gospel preached in their own native language. Three thousand of them were baptized and added to the Church. Just as the coming of Jesus, especially his atoning death, has fulfilled Passover, so the Holy Spirit poured out upon this diverse group of people has changed Pentecost forever. The first fruits can no longer be thought of in purely economic terms. The first fruits are people gathered from every tongue, tribe, and nation, gathered as the one people of God. They are the first fruit offering of Jesus Christ, offered to his Father in heaven.
The third feast is similar to the second. This Feast of Booths celebrates the conclusion of the second harvest in the autumn. For seven days, Israel rejoices together. Like the Feast of Booths and Passover, Israel gathers to a central location, the worship site chosen by God, to celebrate God’s blessing. Israel’s year began with remembrance of God’s deliverance from slavery, followed by at least two feasts celebrating God’s blessing. What an appropriate way to mark one’s time! Let us gather together to rejoice in the presence of God who blesses us. One of the many names for the God of Israel is Jehovah-Jireh, which means, “The Lord provides.� At the Feast of Booths, the children of Israel would go to the central worship location and construct makeshift shelters. They would camp in these shelters to remember Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness. Such a contrast to their fruitful life in the Promised Land would evoke even more gratefulness unto God. In the autumn Israel would take seven days to reflect upon the history of God’s providence, rejoicing in his blessing.
Generally, the secular world has measured time by marking the drudgery of our work or by annual reports of profits and losses. Some of us mark each day by punching the time clock. Some of us dread Monday looking forward to Friday. For many of us one day is like any other – we dread them all. Who would ever think of measuring time by the marking of feasts? Who would structure the calendar by setting aside days of rejoicing? The Person who would measure time in such a strange and delightful fashion is God. He made us and he numbers our days. He controls the times and the seasons. In the fullness of time the Son of God became flesh, suffering all the miseries of our time and space, so that we might freely enter his eternal Sabbath rest.
The seven days of Passover are fulfilled. The fulfillment of Pentecost has spread like wildfire around the world. Now, in these last days of the world, in the autumn of redemptive history, we reflect upon God’s providence, waiting for the final day to dawn. With great anticipation we wait to hear the voice of the great multitude to roar like many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to God. For the marriage feast of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready…Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.� God has ordered our time to fix our eyes upon Christ Jesus and this coming feast where we shall rejoice in the presence of our God forever.