Thursday, May 26

Thursday

In the future, when your son asks you,  “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?”  tell him:  “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.  Before our eyes the LORD sent miraculous signs and wonders — great and terrible — upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household.  But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers.   – Deuteronomy 6:20-23

“Every home a little church.”  This concept of the home as a little church was made famous by the Puritans over 300 years ago.  They believed the father should be the pastor in his home the same way an ordained minister pastors the church.  One writer called the home “the seminary of the church.”  The Puritans went so far as to publish elaborate directories of family worship.  They were so serious about this that if a father neglected the spiritual training of his family, he could be brought before the elders for church discipline and if he refused to take his proper leadership role, he could be disbarred from the Lord’s Table.  Such an idea seems extreme to us, which I, sometimes wonder, may say more about our laxness than it does about the strictness of the Puritans.

The first 19 verses of Deuteronomy 6 are all about what it means to love and to obey God.  Moses repeatedly urges God’s people to remain faithful to God, to obey His commands, to seek and do His will, to talk about and teach His law, and to love Him with their whole heart.  Then in verse 20 Moses makes a remarkable statement.  He says that there will come a time when your children will ask you about what all of this means. 

Did you catch that?  First of all Moses says, “In the future” – this means that it may not happen right away.  In fact, as many parents know, you may have to wait a long time for your child to “come around”.  Most of us (parents or not) would like a more immediate response.  We would like to think that if we love God and talk about Him, everybody around us will immediately and automatically want to do the same.  But this is rarely the case.

The second part of Moses’ statement is “when your son asks you, what is the meaning of all of the commands of the Lord?”  Notice, who does the asking?  It is the son, not the father.  Of course for the child to ask this kind of question, there must be something to ask about.  In other words, the question of the son is the result of his hearing the Word of God at home and observing the faith of his parents at home.  If there were no faith at home, there would be nothing to ask about!  Remember the command in Deut. 6:5, to love the Lord your God with of your heart, soul, and strength.  This is our first priority!  When this is in place, it is inevitable that there will eventually come opportunities to talk about this love.

This is what the apostle Peter meant when he wrote, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

Finally, Moses tells God’s people how they should respond to questions about the meaning of God’s commands.  He says (in effect), “When they ask you…tell them the story of God’s deliverance.”  Moses does say that we should give them a summary of all of the religious rules.  He does not say that we should give them a theological lesson.  He says that we should tell them the story of how God has delivered His people (us)!  For the Israelites in Deuteronomy, that meant telling the story of the Exodus.  Telling the story of how God delivered them out of slavery and oppression in Egypt.  We however, because of Christ, have a more updated version of the story of God’s deliverance and salvation.  I have always been touched by the phrase in Deut. 6:23, “But he brought us out from there to bring us in…”  God, through Christ, has brought us out of slavery to sin and death and He has brought us in to His kingdom of grace and love! 


Jeff Frazier