Godly Education in the Home

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, ESV).

For Judaism, Deuteronomy 6:6-9 became the confession of faith recited twice daily in the home and also as the first act of worship in the Jewish synagogue. The name for this confession is the Shema, so named because of the first word in verse 4 in Hebrew. The children of Israel were about to go in and possess the Promised Land. They needed stability and direction to overcome the trials of settling into the new land and resisting the paganism they would encounter. They were to teach diligently the precepts of the Lord God and the importance of loving Him with heart, soul and might. They were instructed to teach His commandments diligently in the home, in the community, at night and in the morning. Writing this passage on parchment (see Exodus 13:1-10, 11-16, Deut. 6:4-9; 11:13-21) and binding it in a special box on the hand (or forearm), on the forehead (between the eyes) and on the doorpost (the entrance gate to the home) was commanded as a way to remind the people to follow the Lord. These were visible reminders to keep the law of God. The doorpost reminder was called the mezuzah and the forearm and headpiece a phylactery. The intention behind the Shema (repeating, wearing and displaying it) was intended for good. The households and everyone in them were reminded of the presence of God and the obligation to love and follow Him. But often the best intentions can become stumbling blocks. By the time of Jesus (and even earlier) these outward displays of inner piety had become a means of boasting of devotion to the law and even by some to be sort of a charm or talisman to ward off evil spirits.

We need to know from the heart that there is only One God. Our love for Him should permeate “heart, soul and might”—a way of including all of life. When Jesus was asked by one of the teachers of the Law what of all the commandments was most important, Jesus answered: “ ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: Hear, O Israwl, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’ “ (Mark 12:29-31). Our churches have grave responsibility to teach the precepts of God, to teach sound doctrine and truth of the Word of God. But God has also commissioned the home to be a place where His Word is taught both by precept and example. “What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say,” is certainly true as children observe parents (and grandparents) and how they teach and live out the truths of God. Pray that heads of our homes will return to the importance of making God known to all who enter and live there. May we dedicate our home as a sanctuary where God’s way is taught and lived out.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, November 1, 2010

Judgment and Mercy

"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:10-13, ESV)

James presents us with a difficult passage here. In Jewish beliefs about the law, a person guilty of breaking one of the laws of Moses was guilty of breaking all of the law. Both murder and adultery were punishable by death. Even when punishments were less severe or when breaking the law could not be so well detected, as''"Thou shalt not covet"--to break a single point of the law was equivalent to breaking all of it. James came out of the background of Jewish reverence for and attention to the law. Jesus in his teachings justly criticized the strictures the Jews had attached to keeping the law. Details often prevented merciful treatment of others, like healing on the Sabbath. James urged Christians, "So speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty." James no doubt was referring to the interpretation of the law which Jesus had summed up when a scribe asked Him which was the most important commandment: "The most important one, ' answered Jesus, 'is this: Hear, O Israel, the Loud our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.'" (Mark 12:29-31). To love the Lord with heart, soul, mind and strength is the aim toward which a Christian strives. If he is thus close to the Lord, keeping the commandments will not be knit-picking at details of the law, but will follow in morally clean living and acceptable deeds. The purpose of the law is to promote mercy and compassion, not to boggle the believer down in legalism. "The law of liberty" is one a person obeys freely, not because he must, but because it is a law of love which followers gladly obey.

Dr. William M. Pinson, Jr. in The Disciple's Study Bible (Nashville: Holman, 1988. p. 1592) says of this passage in James: "Life without mercy faces judgment. Life lived in love and mercy has no fear of God's judgment." The person who shows mercy will receive mercy. James sums us this belief with a memorable epigram: "Mercy triumphs over judgment" (v. 13). It is through God's mercy that we are saved and kept in His love. The reasonable and practical action of the Christian is to keep the "law of liberty" in Christ and to practice mercy in our daily walk. God grant that we keep this principle in mind and practice it.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Sunday, October 17, 2010

Barnabas, Friend and Encourager

“When Saul went to Jerusalem, he tried to join the group of followers but they were all afraid of him. But Barnabas accepted Saul and took him to the apostles. Barnabas explained to them that Saul had seen the Lord on the road and the Lord had spoken to Saul. Then he told them how boldly Saul had preached in the name of Jesus in Damascus.” –Acts 9:26-27 (NCV).

“Barnabas accepted Saul and took him to the apostles…explained to them that Saul had seen the Lord…” Because Barnabas befriended Saul of Tarsus, he became a strong encourager at a critical time in Saul’s life. After all, Barnabas was dealing with what we could say, tongue-in-cheek, was a “basket case,” Saul who would become Paul the Apostle. If you do not remember how the “basket case” entered into Saul’s early life as a Christian, read Acts 9:22-25. Saul’s very life was saved by lowering him in a basket over the city wall of Damascus at night. There is no record that Barnabas was there, helping with this act to save Paul’s life. But in Jerusalem, a strong believer, Barnabas, whose name means “son of prophecy” or “son of exhortation” a former Levite from the isle of Cyprus, was Saul’s staunch advocate, supporter and encourager. Saul needed such a friend in his early ministry when his life was changing from persecutor to proclaimer and when many distrusted this new, zealous missionary who had once pursued Christians with a vengeance to imprison them.

Barnabas is mentioned twenty-three times in the book of Acts and five times in Paul’s epistles. It is interesting to trace these references to a man of God and an encourager of others. Not only did Saul (Paul) benefit from this man’s encouragement, but so did young Mark and others. On Paul’s first missionary journey, Barnabas assumed the role of leader. We read about Barnabas as encourager and leader in Acts 13 and 14.

Later in the spread of the gospel and the churches, Paul commended Barnabas, who by then had taken Mark and formed another missions team. Barnabas, like Paul, found ways to support himself financially on his missions, a principle Paul advocated.

We all need a friend and encourager. Jesus said the law and the prophets could be summarized in “Love the Lord God with all the heart, understanding, soul and strength…and your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12: 30-31) Barnabas was a man in whom these principles of Christian love were exemplified. Is someone waiting for your love, encouragement and help? Richly we have received; let us likewise give.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Monday, April 19, 2010

John the Baptist, Forerunner of Jesus

“It is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way—a voice of one crying in the desert, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” –Mark 1:2-4 (NIV)

John the Baptist was one whose foreordained ministry was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. Cousin to Jesus, John was the son of Zechariah in his old age, a priest from the line of Abijah. John’s mother, Elizabeth, was of the priestly line of Aaron. John had been predicted by prophets Isaiah (Isa. 40:3) and Malachi (Mal. 3:1).

John was a character to remember, a striking and nomadic figure, one who drew persons to his prophetic preaching and to his unusual lifestyle. Even his dress was significant: camel’s hair and a leather girdle. John had a following of disciples. Scholars believe he may have been of the sect of the Essenes who preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, but no authentic proof to date, other than his form of baptism for repentance by immersion, has been found that John was an Essene.

Have you ever thought how in God’s providence the most unlikely people are sometimes used to accomplish His will? Who would have thought this man, dressed in camel’s hair and with a diet of locusts (no less!) and wild honey, would be the one to point the way to the coming of the Messiah? Evidently his voice rang out like thunder as he announced, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie! I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7).

And Jesus did come to John at the Jordan River to be baptized. John did not feel worthy to baptize Jesus. Certainly this holy, Messianic cousin of John did not need baptism unto repentance, for He was the sinless Son of God. Why then Jesus’ baptism by John? Volumes have been written speculating why: To mark the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (which it did), to identify Jesus as the Son of God (to which John’s testimony, the dove and the voice from heaven all attested at his baptism). Matthew states in his gospel that John’s baptism of Jesus was “to fulfill all righteousness” (Mt. 3:15), whatever that means. Again, scholars have sought to explain how Jesus’ baptism could ‘fulfill all righteousness’. Did it identify Jesus with sinful humanity, the only way possible for the spotless Son of God to be the unblemished lamb, the sacrifice for the sins of the world? It is good for us to think on these deep ways of God and to ponder the role of John the Baptist in the life and ministry of our Lord.

John was a martyr to the faith. It seems that soon after Jesus’ public baptism, John was arrested (see Mt. 4:12). John may have had doubts while he was imprisoned by Herod. John, from prison, sent his disciples to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who was to come (that is, the Messiah), or should we expect someone else?” (Mt. 11:3). Jesus paid a high compliment to John the Baptist: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…he is the Elijah who was to come.” (Mt. 11:11, 14). Jesus sent word back to John, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” (Mt. 11:4-6). John’s awful death by beheading is told in Matthew 14: 1-12.

When Jesus heard of John’s death, he withdrew from the crowds and went to a solitary place (Mt. 14:13). Perhaps Jesus went there to mourn, to pay proper respect to His cousin who had played such a prominent role in Jesus’ own life. But the press of the crowds and their hunger did not give Jesus adequate time to mourn John. Immediately He performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000. And when he tried to withdraw again, the storm came up, the disciples were on the boat paralyzed by fear and Jesus had to go to their rescue, walking on the water.

Some believed Jesus was John raised from the dead. We read about this in Mark 6:14-16 and Mark 8:28. John the Baptist had a far-reaching influence. In Ephesus was Apollos, a man of God who spoke with great fervor “who knew only the baptism of John,” (Acts 18:25). Another band of disciples there, likewise, had received John’s baptism (Acts 19:3). It was easy for Paul the Apostle and Priscilla and Aquilla to further instruct Apollos and the other Ephesian disciples and baptize them in the name of the Lord. (Acts 19:5).

John aptly stated his role in comparison to Jesus the Christ: “You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ He (Jesus) must become greater: I must become less” (John 3: 28, 30). And in stating this to those who asked John about Jesus, John gave the principle that all disciples, then and now, must follow: “He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less.”

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Love God, Love Your Neighbor

Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’

Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” --Mark 12:28-31 (NKJV)

Please refer to yesterday’s devotional thoughts, “Love God—A Command.” We discussed loving God with all the heart, soul and might. Jesus added in Mark’s account as he quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 that we should love God with all of our mind. This indicates that it takes our thought processes, our mind, to love God fully, as well as with the heart, soul, and strength (might). The prophet Isaiah wrote (26:3) “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (NKJV). Loving God with the mind means seeking to honor Him in our thoughts. Any vile or untoward thoughts that invade our mind are not of God. Keep your mind stayed on God (fixed upon, fastened securely to). To love God completely is the first commandment, Jesus said, and that involves our four-dimensional being—heart, soul, mind and strength.

“And the second, like it, is to love your neighbor as yourself.” We learn from the parable of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:29-37) who our neighbor is. It is anyone in need of help to whom we can minister. Thinking about loving my neighbor as myself, I begin my arguments with the Lord. That’s too hard to do. If my neighbor is hungry, I am asked to feed him. Too many people are hungry, I argue. I can’t feed them all. Find those you can feed, and share with them, the Lord urges. If my neighbor is in ragged clothes I need to clothe him. If my neighbor is like the injured man in the Good Samaritan parable, I will bind up his wounds, take him to a place of refuge, pay whatever is necessary for his care. If my neighbor reviles me, I will not seek revenge but I will forgive him. Oh! How hard Jesus makes it for us to love our neighbor as ourselves! And then this thought dawned on me: If I love God with my heart, soul, mind and strength, He will be helping me to remove all my doubts and arguments about loving a neighbor as myself. I will see my neighbor through eyes of understanding, through the eyes of God-inspired compassion. Then it will be much easier to love my neighbor as myself because my own selfishness will be swallowed up in devotion to God. A love will blossom forth that sincerely wants to go to the rescue of those in need.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, February 4, 2010