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 am Brian it is great to be here with you around the Global Campfire today as we gather and take the next step forward together. We are navigating our way through holy week. Today is Good Friday and we can talk about that in a little bit, but we need to take the next step forward. And our next steps forward together leads us back out into the book of Deuteronomy. A few more days and we will close the book of Deuteronomy and move forward. That will and our reading of the Torah this year but we’re not there yet. Moses still has a few final things to say. Deuteronomy being the final discourses of Moses to the children of Israel before…well…before a new leader takes over and leads the children of Israel forward. And we’re gonna hear about that leader today. So, let’s dive in. Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 1 through 32 verse 27 today.
Commentary:
Okay, we gotta talk about what Jesus is teaching us today from the gospel of Luke. But first, just keeping up with Deuteronomy. What…what we saw today was this…a transfer of power and now Joshua is being elevated as the leader in place of Moses to lead the children of Israel forward in their story as they cross the Jordan River into the promised land.
Then when we get into the gospel of Luke. There’s another requested transfer of power because Jesus is just standing there teaching and somebody yells out of the crowd, “tell my brother to give me my share of the inheritance”, right? Can’t you command a transfer of power here so that I can get what I believe that I deserve? And that was the impetus for Jesus to begin teaching about the circumstance right before him, which launches into a teaching about money and…and possessions. And our cultures are obsessed with both of those things. So, we should pause, step back and pay close attention to what Jesus is teaching us because what He’s teaching us, it is directly related to some of the greatest anxieties in our lives - our money and our stuff. So, Jesus uses an illustration which He is famous for. He does this a lot. He talks about a rich man that had all lot. He had a lot of everything. He had so much he didn’t know where to put it all and he decided that to do is tear down his barns and build bigger ones so that he could have more, like more room for more stuff. But what the guy didn’t know was that he was being a fool, that he was…he was going to die that night. He had put his trust in his stuff and his stuff and his money were not going to help later that evening when his life would end. And Jesus said that’s how it is when a person has material riches but is not rich in his relationship with God. And then He went on to teach that our pursuit of these things, our…our chasing after money or our chasing after our wardrobe or…or food, these kinds of things can become obsessions that pull us and all kinds of weird places. Places where we are constantly compete…competing with one another, comparing to one another to get our sense of well-being. And we can only get a sense of lack because we’re told constantly by the culture that buy this and that problem will be fixed, buy this and that other problem will be perfected. And this ultimately just kind of pulls us into a hurricane of worry and we just…we just spin in circles not knowing exactly what’s going on. Jesus is teaching this to people a couple of thousand years ago, but this is immediate because things haven’t changed so much. We do worry about our money. We worry about if we…if we look presentable, if we look fashionable, if we look like we fit into the culture. We can spend an hour skimming through the Internet trying to find a place to eat. We have so many choices. And Jesus is saying that’s not all there is to life. That’s not what this is about. And He then invited everyone to slow down and look around. Look at the birds. They’re not worried, and yet they have what they need. Look at the flowers. They’re temporary but they’re beautiful and they magnify the glory of God. And I quote from Jesus, “that’s the way God clothes the grass in the field. Today it’s alive and tomorrow is thrown into the incinerator. So, how much more will he clothe you people who have so little faith? Basically, we’re invited to slow down, step back and look at what’s going on, this hurricane of worry that we live in because we don’t think that we have enough of anything. And, so, we obsess about what we do have and try to hoard more. This isn’t going anywhere but in a circle. We’re just spinning. And while we’re spinning in the dizziness of it all we’re forgetting that we actually have a source, a provider who knows who we are and what we need. And if He can care for the flowers the way that He does, can He not care for us? Jesus said, and I quote, “can any of you add an hour to your life by worrying? If you can’t do a small thing like that, why worry about the other things?” He goes on to say, “don’t concern yourself about what you will eat or drink. Quit worrying about these things. Everyone in the world is concerned about these things but your Father knows you need them. Rather be concerned about His kingdom and then these things will be provided for you. Don’t be afraid, little flock, your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.” So, what do we do here? What are we supposed to do? We can see this. We can feel it, but how do we live into it, exactly like we were talking about the beginning. We have to transfer the power. We’re not in control. And us trying to be in control is what has a spinning like a hurricane in circles. And we know. Like we know. Surrender. Surrender to God. We…like this is a tenant of the faith. We understand this. But understanding it and doing it are different. We’re being invited into freedom. What we’re gonna have to do is transfer the authority, the power. What we’re gonna have to do is have faith and trust God. And that doesn’t mean like trust God and then obsess about trusting God until He comes like…until He comes through. It’s about trusting God as a way of life, as a lifestyle. And, so, we begin to do that by getting in the habit of it until it becomes routine for us, until it is the way that we live. We trust God. It’s our first reaction. We have faith and trust in the Lord our God Almighty, who owns all of this. And when I say all this, like I’m referring to this planet but have you seen what they’re seeing in outer space from this new telescope into deep space? God owns all of that too. And, so, as we begin to trust the Lord for what we need, the burdens that will be lifted and the time that will be reclaimed and the energy that we can reallocate away from worry and stress can change our lives. And when we feel like we’re spinning may we just remember…may we remember all of what Jesus is teaching us but let’s just remember the last thing that He was saying, “don’t be afraid little flock. Your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into that. We confess our lack of trust and our lack of faith. We confess that we do obsess about the circumstances of life. And You haven’t asked us to be oblivious to what’s going on. You’ve asked us not to worry about what’s going on, to trust You with what’s going on. And we confess that we start down that road until we think that You’re just not strong or powerful enough. We…we typically believe You are, but You won’t. You’re…You’re going to withhold and we’re gonna have to jump in there and finish this. That’s the point we actually need to have faith. That’s the point we actually need to trust You. Holy Spirit, come and teach us how to do this. May we remember the words, “don’t be afraid little flock. Your Father is pleased to give You the kingdom.” May we carry that with us as we face the circumstances of any given day. Lead us forward into freedom we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
Okay, so also. I mean we had all of that to talk about. That’s what the Bible wrote for us into our lives today to talk about but also today is a very special day on the Christian calendar. Today is Good Friday. And this is the day that we…we commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus. And not only His crucifixion, but His death, that He died. We have this day on the Christian calendar, and we know what this day means. It’s just so often we…we kinda blow through this day so that we can get to Sunday because we want to celebrate. And, so, we even have a hard time with…with Good Friday celebrations even because we’re celebrating death and that kinda creates a dissonance that we don’t know what to do with and that’s kind of the point. That’s kind of the point. We’ve gone through a season. It's…it’s called Lent and many people observe it. We talked about it back on Ash Wednesday when…when Lent started. We were just getting back from Israel. And I remember Ash Wednesday barely. But I remember it specifically because we were just getting back from Israel and the jet lag was so severe. So, we’ve been going through that season, a season of repentance, a season of sitting with the fact that sin leads somewhere. It’s a path that goes somewhere. It leads to death and destruction. So, we sit with that. We sit with an open heart and open hands with God and just invite the Holy Spirit to rearrange us to put us in a place where we can appreciate what He’s done for us, make Him rearrange the things, remove things from our lives, insert things into our lives, move things around in our lives. We spend the season moving toward that contemplating the cost. And, so, today is the cost. Like it all leads to this. We want to blow through this so that we can celebrate the resurrection which we will do, but it led us here. This came first. Jesus willingly allowed His freedom to be taken from Him in the garden of Gethsemane. He willingly took the lies and the verbal and physical abuse upon himself as he was tried. He carried those things upon Himself, all of our sin upon Himself and took it to the cross and died. Like, that’s the thing. He died for those things. And, so, Good Friday doesn’t really leave us with any room for jumping up and down and it’s a joyous thing. It leaves us in a place where we have to observe what it cost to give us Easter. And, so, I encourage you, whether you’ll be attending a Good Friday worship event of some sort today to commemorate Good Friday and enter into that in some sort of corporate way or whether you’re not. I encourage you to take some personal time today of reflection. This is the day that we honor the fact that Jesus died. This is the day that we honor the fact that Jesus died for me and for you. And as we go through this day, we’re not left with anything, we’re waiting for Sunday. Jesus was laying in a tomb. His body was cooling off. He was dead. It seemed as if all hope was lost and that’s where we are. He’s dead and there’s nothing we can do about it. And, so, we hope. For us we know what we are hoping in and we will rejoice on Sunday. For them, for Jesus friends they had to hope against hope, because Jesus was dead, and they saw His body. May we spend some time in contemplation over that scene today.
Song: