Week 1 - Invitation
This week in summary| Day 1 : How to Negotiate with God | Deuteronomy 5 |
| Day 2 : Invitation | Deuteronomy 6 |
| Day 3 : Caution | Deuteronomy 7 |
| Day 4 : Prepare | Deuteronomy 8-9 |
| Day 5 : Review | Deuteronomy 10-11 |
| Day 1 : How to Negotiate with God | Deuteronomy 5 |
| Day 2 : Invitation | Deuteronomy 6 |
| Day 3 : Caution | Deuteronomy 7 |
| Day 4 : Prepare | Deuteronomy 8-9 |
| Day 5 : Review | Deuteronomy 10-11 |
When God makes a deal with people it’s called a covenant. A covenant is similar to the deal between parents and children. Parents provide food, shelter and guidance. Independent of the parents’ provision, the children abide by a certain standard of behavior. Even if the children fail on their side, the parents continue to provide. The parents do what they can to help the children succeed. In reality God’s deals are more like two independent promises. One promise from him to us is clearly on his shoulders. The other promise from us to him is on our shoulders but He also gives us what we need to keep up our end of the bargain. Even if we fail to keep up our side, God will continue to hold up his side offering immense support and motivation to see us accomplish great things.
Scripture reading this week covers one of these special deals between God and the descendants of Abraham. Nearly 500 years after Abraham the family has grown into a small nation. God is giving them a land to call home after they’ve been wandering homeless for a generation. This fulfills a promise God made to Abraham long ago. Moses is the current leader of this nomadic nation and before they take possession of the land they are stopping to review their land grant deal with God.
The message of Jesus begins with an invitation: “repent, the Kingdom of God is here.” This was the message of John as he prepared his kin for the arrival of Jesus. This was the message of Jesus’ students as they continued promoting the Kingdom after Jesus’ departure.
In this message they announce that the Kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is everything and everyone everywhere that lives in line with God’s will. Everyone outside the Kingdom lives in rebellion to God following after any number of different ideals and desires. The announcement of the Kingdom of God is the announcement that something or someone here is in submission to God’s will. You stand in the presence of an agent of God. What will you do?
This brings up a unique opportunity: You can join God’s Kingdom. This is the invitation: you can bring your life in line with God’s will with all the benefits, blessings and peace that God offers. More significant by far: life with God. The alternative is you can continue to take your chances and seek your own. While this isn’t strictly a one-time offer, your choice now is a solid indication of your choice in the future. Don’t put this off, seize the opportunity.
Finally, the message is to repent. This is the call to action and invitation. To repent is to change your mind and your allegiance from whatever you once swore fidelity replaced by God. It’s a fitting call for those who are changing their citizenship to Heaven. But it’s a costly call. Repentance demands that we forsake all other loyalty to country, family, spouse, every vow, honor and resource we have is given to Jesus to use or discharge as he sees fit. We are called to turn traitor to all we held dear and betray every relationship, redeemable only as He sees fit.
When someone joins the Kingdom it expands. God’s will is manifest through the new citizens as they submit their lives to the will of God. Now the Kingdom goes where ever they go. The tide of vicious calamity that characterizes the world’s approach to life is rolled back as God’s Kingdom rises up in the hearts and the influence of the people who choose Him.
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
-Jesus’s Prayer
When Jesus calls us to follow Him, what’s the alternative? What happens if we say no to Jesus? Short answer: bad things, very bad things.
And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you will perish. Deuteronomy 8:19
This is not a threat; it’s a warning about the nature of reality. Being separated from God leads to destruction much like separation from oxygen leads to death. When we choose to live separated from the source of life, the only possible outcome is destruction. This isn’t a punishment. God wants us to have life. If we turn our back on God we turn our back on life. Jesus clarifies:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
The warning about worshiping other gods isn’t because we might pick up some cultic worship of an ancient pagan deity. “Other gods” have much more familiar faces like: money, power, popularity and social acceptance. The most common replacement for your ultimate devotion and allegiance is to you. To repent and follow God, you have to evict your favorite object of worship - yourself.
If you choose to replace God, no matter how you replace him, the destruction will come in one of three forms. Jesus faced all three and shows us how we can overcome each.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:16-17
“Desires of the flesh” indulge in all kinds of appetites and sensual gratification. This path happens when normal elements of life are taken without moderation or restraint. They include gluttony, inappropriate sexual gratification, alcoholism, and all kinds of addictive behaviors. “Desires of the flesh” seeks immediate gratification instead of waiting on God’s timing. It doesn’t trust God because it doesn’t believe that God’s provision is enough.
Jesus faced this temptation and responded by quoting a message from God. “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
Jesus trusted God to sustain everything he needed in life. Even more amazing he said this after 40 days without food. He didn’t even use his own words to express his position. Jesus quoted a message of God to underscore how much he was trusting God to provide.
The second path to destruction is “desires of the eyes.” It is characterized in all manner of attention getting bells and whistles. It includes shiny bling, accessories, immodesty, eye-candy and publicity stunts. “Desires of the eyes” screams out ‘People look at me!’ The problem is that “desires of the eyes” cares more about the opinion of the populace than it cares about the opinion of God. It makes the crowd into a god and we worship the crowd.
Jesus faced this when he stood at the highest point in the crowded center of the largest city in Israel. He had a guarantee from God that if He jumped angels would appear and catch him midair. Talk about a publicity stunt.
Jesus again responded quoting the last line of another well-known message from God. “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test.”
Jesus knows that God’s attention is enough. Whatever you do in life be satisfied simply that God knows. His attention and approval should be enough. Do rightly by God and all other opinions don’t matter.
The third path of destruction is the Pride of life. This includes honors, prestige, titles, accomplishments, abilities, stature, connections, and family ancestry. All the things we boast in can destroy us when we consider ourselves more important than God.
Jesus stood on top of a mountain. From his vantage point he could see roads leading to all the empires of the earth. The devil himself offered to give Jesus his authority over every nation on earth. The offer was legitimate. On earth the devil had taken all the authority as a usurper king. Jesus was about to launching a counter invasion from Heaven. The devil was willing to give Jesus the whole thing right then and there if Jesus would just worship him. Whatever you take pride in it can’t compare to the complete conquest of earth.
Jesus resisted this temptation quoting from God’s message, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” There is nothing of greater worth than God. There is no accomplishment greater than what God had done. There is nothing you can do that is greater than the work God has for you. Take pride in God. Boast in what He has done.
Jesus knew that all value, all significance comes from God and any view that diminishes God diminishes the self even more. He called us to change our view and put God back on the throne. “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
How often did Jesus quote a message from God to resist the paths of destruction?
Which path of destruction does not trust God to satisfy?
Which path of destruction replaces God’s approval with someone else’s approval?
Which path of destruction values the self above God?
Which path of destruction is most tempting to you?
What can you do to avoid destruction by following Jesus’ example?
Look over the personal life vision and purpose statement that you developed during the first section inPursuit of Jesus.
Have you noticed any of these traits in the past few months?
From what you’ve learned what adjustments might you need to make?
List some of the lessons and action steps you took during the twelve lessons in section 2 inPursuit of God. What trends do you notice?
Do any of the action steps or lessons correspond with your life mission statement? How?