skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Burn up their idols in the fire. Do not wish for the silver and gold on them. Don’t take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it. The Lord your God hates it. Do not bring one of those hated things into your house. If you do, you will be completely destroyed along with it. Hate and reject those things. They must be completely destroyed. Deuteronomy 7.
This text instructs the Israelites to not only turn from idol worship but also what to do with the idols… utterly destroy them and burn them up. But look what else the text says don’t even keep the melted silver or gold that the idol was made of… get rid of it. Probably don’t even sell the gold and silver… just get rid of it.
In fact we see the exact same principle illustrated in the New Testament…
Many also of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Acts 19.
Some might say… why don’t we take the gold from the melted idols… sell it and give it to the Lord. Or… why don’t we sell these magic books and give the proceeds to the church?
There is a sort of wisdom in that but not godly wisdom… the proceeds from the melted idols and sold magic books would be tainted and not acceptable to God.
What can we learn from these examples and the sin in our lives today?
Suppose you went to the garage sale of a widow and you “beat” her up on the pricing and went home and bragged about the good deal you got and the money you saved. Is the okay to take advantage of widows or the poor? What do you do with the widow’s property that you stole from her? Keep it anyway? Sell it so you won’t be reminded of your iniquity and use the money to buy something else?
What if you had been engaged in “outlaw” hunting on one of the big south Texas ranches and brought home a trophy buck and had it mounted and placed over your fire place. You later realize that you are a thief. What do you do with the deer mount? Keep it and recite to yourself over and over that you are saved by God’s grace? Or do you get rid of the monument to your sin and refuse to even keep or profit from selling it?
God’s people live to a higher standard than the rest of humanity. Part of that is not sinning or even keeping any of the treasure associated with sin. If you’re not ready to do that then you are not worthy of the Kingdom.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
In this verse Jesus cites the two greatest commandments… loving God and loving your neighbor.
Let me suggest that participating in the Lord’s Supper (properly) fulfills both these commands.
Of course Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper so observing and obeying that directive fulfills the Great Command… loving God because we show that we love God by obeying his command.
When Christians congregate together and observe the Lord’s Supper, they are fulfilling the second great command… loving your neighbor as yourself.
Here’s why… God never intended that the Lord’s Supper be taken individually and privately. It is a communal activity observed when all Christians come together to demonstrate the unity of believers to the whole world. Check out Ephesians 3…
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”
When we don’t assemble to take the Lord’s Supper we are violating God’s great command by neglecting his communal intent and we are violating the second command by neglecting our fellow Christians. In essence, telling our brothers and sisters that they don’t even matter.
Assemble together with your fellow Christians to observe the Lord’s Supper properly and in so doing fulfil the two greatest commandments given by Jesus.
Most of you don’t know this but I bring my own personal song book to church every Sunday. It is a leather-bound “Praise for the Lord”.
As a song leader I like to write the date by every song I have led. That’s one of the ways I know if I am leading a given song too many times. When other song leaders lead and they lead a song that I have never led… I mark that song too. That way I have a record of all the songs that the congregation “knows”.
Sometimes a member tells me something about a particular song. For instance I led the song “Beautiful” on May 2, 2010 and David Smitherman told me that was his grandmother’s favorite song. I mark things like that down.
I’ve gone through my whole songbook and marked all the songs I think I know and also have marked the songs I think look interesting so I can learn them later.
I also mark all the songs that were led at member’s funerals. For instance, the songs…”Seek Ye First”, “Does Jesus Care”, “He Leadeth Me”, How Great Thou Art”, “Victory in Jesus”, “Amazing Grace”, “Alleluia”, and “Blest Be the Tie” were all sung at my Dad’s funeral. I can’t lead those songs without getting a little emotional.
Likewise if I want to make various members cry… I know which ones to lead. You see… it’s all right there marked in my songbook.
My songbook is an old friend and I take a lot of comfort in it. It is in a lot of ways my own personal record and I think that one day when I have passed my children or grandchildren would love to have it as a memorial to me.
I guess that’s why I’m not a big fan of paperless hymnal… I could never leave my old friend on a shelf and sing without him and also neglect one day to pass my old friend to a loved one.
