Deuteronomy 31:1-32:27, Luke 12:8-34, Psalms 78:32-55, Proverbs 12:21-23
Today is the 7th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is awesome to be here with you today ready to take that next step forward as we move through the center of the week. And we are rounding the corner on the book of Deuteronomy as well. A few more days and we will conclude the Torah, Deuteronomy being the last sayings of Moses, the last three discourses of Moses. And, so, we’re…we’re kind of reaching the conclusion and then we’ll be saying goodbye to Moses. So, let’s dive in. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse one through 32 verse 27.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in the gospel of Luke today Jesus is addressing a specific topic, essentially like…like the antidote for anxiety, the cure for worry. And we should like perk up right there and say, “yup. I’m listening. You’ve got my attention. I deal with that.” And we all do to some degree or another and I’ve got my hand raised as well. So, we should perk up. And actually, the way that He speaks about it, it’s a very, very famous passage that kinda concludes, “seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.” And, so, we’ve heard this before likely. But let’s kinda look at the story here. Let’s look at the context and walk through it and see if we can’t get this close enough to home that we can carry it with us, that it can become part of the soil of our hearts. So, at first Jesus is talking about not worrying about how you should defend yourself or what you should say if you’re hauled before the synagogue leaders or the authorities. He’s having a conversation about acknowledging Him. If we acknowledge him before people, then He will acknowledge us but if we will deny Him before people then…then He will deny us before the angels of God. This is what He’s talking about. And then He’s saying don’t worry if this leads basically to your arrest or to your interrogation of some sort. The Holy Spirit will tell you what to say. So, that’s where this whole thing begins. This is the lesson that He’s teaching. And then as the narrative in the gospel of Luke goes somebody interrupts that. Somebody interrupts that conversation and yells out from the crowd, “teacher tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” So, this person, this unnamed person is like trying to hijack the whole thing that Jesus is teaching, trying to hijack this and get his…his wish accomplished from the Lord. The reason that he’s a part of the crowd, which is a self-serving thing. And that leads Jesus to say, “who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?” Ironically, this guy’s request to the Lord Jesus, it sounds kinda like our prayers, right? “Can you tell my brother to do this…can you tell my sister to do this thing? Can you move this obstacle out of my way? Can you move this person out of my way? Can you flood me with this and take that away?” It’s these kinds of issues that seem to have become huge things in our lives, but they are also essentially divorced from our posture toward God, like the posture of God in all things, His kingdom in all things. This request is a very, very pointed request about something this guy wants done but isn’t necessarily the will of the Lord or that the Lord even wants to be involved in it. Because the Lord said, “friend, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And then Jesus continued on, like He always does and exposed what’s really going on. “Watch out”, and I’m quoting Jesus, “watch out and be on guard against all greed because one’s life is not in the abundance of his possessions.” Now the lay of the land is starting to pave its way toward what Jesus said. Jesus got interrupted from a teaching to be hauled into a domestic issue that was an attempt to hijack the whole situation. And he said, “no. That’s not what we’re doing here.” And then He calls out the greed that’s motivating this and then He exposes the greed by saying, “life isn’t just about what you have, about your stuff.” And then as the narrative goals He told a story to illustrate what He was trying to say. And in this story a person who was wealthy had a productive piece of land and he didn’t have…actually his abundance was so great that he didn’t know where to store everything. And, so, he decided he’s gonna tear down his barns and build new barns and store his grain and then after that, after he gets that project done then he’ll say to himself, “I have many goods stored up for many years. I’ll take it easy. I’ll eat, I’ll drink and enjoy myself.” Can we just say that that’s generally the way we live too? Like, “okay. I’m gonna do my best in my working years. I’m gonna try to save up and try to build into retirement and try to work toward that place. There’s gonna come a day that I’m gonna have enough and then I’m gonna be able to stop working and then I’ll…then I’ll stop and enjoy myself and enjoy life and take it easy.” That might sound like a decent plan, but in Jesus story He continues on, “God looks at that person and says, you fool, This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you prepared whose will they be? Then Jesus says that’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” So, in other words in Jesus’ story this rich man decides he’s gotta make more room for more stuff. And, once he has all his stuff in order than he’s going to enjoy life. The thing that the rich person who’s made these plans doesn’t know is that he won’t make it that far. He’s…his life is required of him now. He should’ve probably lived it while he could have instead of spending his whole life preparing to finally live his life. You see how this stuff starts sounding familiar. It’s like were reading of very very relevant current story even though it’s a couple thousand years old because people have been motivated in the same ways for a very very long time. We just have different customs and clothes, but our motive are the same. So, one of the things that begins to emerge here is that all of the frantic activity that we expend on trying to arrange for certain securities. And it’s not that securities…like that’s not the point. The point is that we have lost our tethering to what God is speaking and then the collaboration that we have in life with God, the collaboration and the relationship that will bring us all that we ever will need physically, mentally or spiritually. And rather we focus on one thing, trying to care for what is most near around us, trying to protect ourselves. And the more that we accumulate then the more that we have to manage and maintain. And as that expands, and we’re sort of like looking more and more prosperous than what we have is just more and more work that brings more and more anxiety and then that idea of actually getting to live someday gets pushed further and further away until we push life away and reach the end of life and all we did was arrange for life but never lived it. We simply lived with the worry and anxiety. We were just only ever preparing for things. That’s the context for how we get to Jesus’s famous words. And now I want to quote Jesus famous words. I just want Jesus words to be Jesus words instead of me trying to say them in different way. I just want them to be what they are because they’re clear. And now that we have this context, we should be able to locate ourselves in the story. And, so, we need to hear from Jesus. And this is what He says to that kind of scenario. “I’m telling you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat, or about the body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing. Look at the ravens. They don’t sow, they don’t reap. They don’t have a storeroom or a barn. Yet, God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than birds? Can any of you add a single moment to his life by worrying? If then you’re not able to do, even a little thing why are you worrying about the rest? Consider how the wildflowers grow. They don’t labor. They don’t spin thread. And yet I’m telling you, even Solomon in all his splendor wasn’t adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and gets thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more do you think He’ll do for you? You of little faith. Don’t strive for what you should eat and for what you should drink. Don’t be anxious. For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things. But your father knows that you need them. Seek His kingdom and these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid little flock. Your Father delights to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money bags for yourselves that won’t grow old an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” I don’t feel like I need to say that in different words. I think we just leave it there. I experience anxiety just like the rest of everybody else and worry and all of the things that are human on this planet. I get sucked into all the different vortexes like everybody else. Like it’s so easy to get hijacked all the time when everything is demanding our attention, and everything is telling us there’s a problem and we need to spend money to solve it. Like at some point maybe Jesus is telling the truth, you don’t have to be involved in all of that. Your Father already knows. You can seek first the kingdom and everything you need will be given to you. Which begs the question, then how do we seek the kingdom? How do we seek a kingdom that is apparently in and among us but is invisible? Like I think that that journey begins in the same way that Jesus has been telling us since we cracked open the book on January 1st - open your eyes, open your ears. Make that a priority, that you begin to cultivate the ways to see God’s kingdom at work. Then we realize, O it’s not invisible at all. It’s everywhere if I’m looking for tr. See, we need to remember the concepts that we’ve learned in the Old Testament. There is clean and there is unclean. And what is clean is godly. There is darkness and there is light and that which is of the light is of God. There is love and there is indifference and God is love. We can see if we will open our eyes. And once we begin see…even if it’s just one thing, that’s where the kingdom is then that’s where we head. This kingdom is all over the place and it is within us and it is our job to reveal it by living it. We are the example. And when all we do is live our lives from crisis to crisis and anxiety attack to anxiety attack, and worry to worry, are we living? Is the abundant life of the gospel? Maybe we need to realize that letting go of all of the things that keep consuming us and opening our eyes and ears to seek God’s kingdom first gives us a completely different perspective and a completely different way to be. Let’s think about that. Let’s meditate upon that. This is important. Like, this isn’t like some nice metaphor or some nice sweet Christian concept. These are the words of the Savior. This is His advice on how to be here. This is how it’s supposed to look. What downside…I say this so often…what’s the downside here? Because we’re already full of anxiety and worry and we’re already considerably distracted. So, what’s the downside? If it doesn’t work, we’re just no worse off. If it does work, then we have eyes to see perspective and clarity on the path.
Prayer:
Jesus…O Jesus we need You in this. We see how You are in the world. Like we see this in the narrative of the Gospels and it’s so intriguing and so compelling and yet even when we claim we’re trying to be Christlike, if we’re honest we are consumed by the things of the world. And You’re just saying, “open Your eyes. There’s another way to see. There’s a real way to see. Help us. Help us God to open our eyes and ears that we might see and seek first Your kingdom. We pray this in Your mighty name. Amen.
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Community Prayer and Praise:
Hello, my Daily Audio Bible family this is Joy Bubble from Washington. I want to call and give Mattie who called in the other day a little bit of encouragement. First of all, that is amazing. Great job at being at your last semester of grad school. That is an incredible accomplishment. I’m a student myself so I totally understand the feeling of being spread thin and kind of having a lot going on and feeling overwhelmed and I just wanted to encourage you. Philippians 1:6. I pray for you being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. And just wanted to pray for you. Lord I pray for Mattie and I thank You for all that she’s worked so hard to accomplish. I pray that You will just fill of her cup and give her joy, the joy of her Salvation, and I pray that You’ll renew her spirit and give her the strength to carry on and to finish strong. And I pray that You will just be with her and give her the community that she so deeply longs for that has been difficult to come by during these times Father God. I pray that You will just touch her heart and that You will be with her and we love You and we praise You and we’re thankful…we’re so thankful for Your faithfulness and everything that You do for us and I pray that You’ll just continue walking with each and every one of us and show us Your faithfulness today. We love You and we praise You in Your name Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah. Amen.
Hi DABbers this is Emily of Jim and Emily formerly of Texas of and of Adabe of LA of Texas and currently of Cardiff and first I want to thank China for what she said the other day when she spoke because that was right when she talked about transfiguration and showing God’s glory and that was right before I was going to my stepfather’s funeral. A lot of you have been praying for my mom Jane and for Dudley her partner. And he passed away on March 10th of cancer in the hospital peacefully. And now my sister Sarah and my nephew Garreth who don’t know the Lord, in fact who are very anti-Christian, are out here to help my mother pack up and go back to California and she leaves the end of this month. And this is very hard for me because we’ve tried to show her Jesus over the past year, especially in this pandemic this past year and a half and she still is so stubborn and she’s 89 years old. And, so, I’m asking you. I heard Victoria soldier pray and I thought please, please pray, please pray for my mom. Please pray for me Emily. I have ADHD and my rejection sensitive dysphoria just gets in the way. So, pray for my family guys. Pray for me to shine that trans figurative love of Jesus to my family. Thank you.
Good afternoon DAB family it is so wonderful to…just to listen to everyone. I’m Roxanne from Greenville NC. It’s probably my third time calling in. I just want to say thank you to all of you who I get to hear encourage and pray for others. And I’m just so thankful to God for this new family. Father God I thank you for each one that calls in. Even though I don’t know everyone Lord, I haven’t met them Lord, I thank you that this is my family, that we can encourage and be there for each other, that we would just continue to love on one another, continue to encourage one another. We thank you Lord that you brought us together as a family. Lord it’s Saturday April 3rd and we are in between as Brian has discussed. And Lord we’re just so grateful to be able to celebrate the risen King on Sunday. Happy Easter to everyone. Lord I just continue to just thank you so much. Just…all I have is gratitude. And I’m continuing to pray for Victor, for the man who called in for his friend Victor on the ventilator. We just continue to pray for God to be his lungs and to be his expectorant to remove the pneumonia and for Mattie. God is going to continue to do a marvelous thing in you and just surrender your heart and everything will be OK. Thank you all. I love you guys. Have a happy Easter. In Jesus’ name I pray for everything. Amen.
Hey guys this is Sunny in Florida. It’s been a while since I called. Just wanted to give an update on my wife’s situation. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. We went through two cycles or types of treatments of chemotherapy and didn’t really completely work. So, we’re looking at another option. And, yeah, it’s a big decision. And, so, I would just ask for prayer for our marriage for this decision of what to do next and that we would trust God through it all, that we would continue to, yeah, lean on Him and try not to fix it ourselves, especially me. Pray that I would lean or if you guys could pray that I would lean on to God in this season and not my own strength that would be…that would be very appreciated. Love you guys. Have not stop listening. Listen every day. I’ve been on Daily Audio Bible app for about a year and some change and really appreciate the community. But yeah, if you could just please lift us up in prayer. We have to make a decision soon as to what to do next. It’s a long couple months ahead of us as we do this new treatment and pray that we would persevere in the Lord. Thanks guys. Bye.
Hi DAB family this is Caitlin. I was calling it to ask for prayer because on Wednesday this week my husband of seven years, we’ve been together 10 years, he asked me for a divorce, and I am more devastated than I can even put into words for it. I’ve been praying for over 2 years that God would do a miracle in our marriage, but my husband just is not willing to let God work in it. And we have 4 kids. We have two five-year-old’s a 3-year-old and a s7-month-old and this is going to be really hard for them. So, I just ask for prayer for my babies and prayer for me as I’m grieving this tremendous loss and that I would just be able to cling to Jesus moving forward and know that the God of comfort is with me and close to the broken hearted. And I just pray He guards the hearts of my children and makes this be as smooth and peaceful as possible. I can already see Him working in it but also, I’m so sad. Yeah, I would just really appreciate your prayers.