Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-25
Love
Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:1-3
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
When the Israelites migrated to Egypt to escape a famine their number totaled seventy people. Four hundred years later when God freed them from their slavery and brought them out of Egypt they numbered around three million. In spite of their situation God multiplied the Israelites in Egypt to fulfill the promise made to Abraham to make him a great nation.
Now, as God is preparing them for the Promised Land and Moses continues to teach them the laws, judgements, and statutes established by God.
This isn’t just the Ten Commandments given on Mount Sinai that Moses is teaching, it’s a total of 613 commandments that have been taught over forty years’ time. Many of these commands are only applicable under certain circumstances I read that these include 248 positive commands and 365 negative commands.
In our study verses we see positive commands in this; if the people worship God and obey His commands they will enjoy a long life, it will go well with them and they will increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey.
God did not give His people these commands just to be giving them, God gave His commandments so that they would be observed and obeyed in order to protect the family. God wants the best for His chosen people.
Israel’s fate rested on their obedience. If they obeyed the commandment, their life would be long and filled with blessing. If they did not obey, they could expect to be cursed by God.
We are to teach our children God’s commands so that they may fear the Lord God.
I read this: To "fear the Lord" in the Bible means more than just being afraid; it signifies a deep reverence, awe, and respect for God's holiness and power, which leads to humble obedience and trust.
If our children fear the Lord they will obey His commands. Obeying God’s commands shows our love for Him.
Matthew 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
God promised us a hope and a future because God knows our future, because He planned our future.
Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
We read in verse five, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
We read in Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
Jesus said this is the first and greatest commandment. He is emphasizing a complete and undivided devotion to God.
If we can follow this one command with everything that is in us, then every other command will fall in place.
In verse six and seven we are told……..These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children.
We were already told to teach this to our children now we are to impress it on our children.
I share this: To "impress upon" someone is to make them understand or feel the importance of something, often through repeated emphasis. It can also be used to mean creating a physical mark on a surface.
To understand what that means we have to read the following words….. “Talk about them” (God’s Commands).
If we keep reading we are told when to do it.
“When you sit at home,” “When you walk along the road,” “When you lie down and when you get up.”
If we keep reading we are told how to do it.
Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
I don’t know about y’all, but when I was a kid I would much more want to get a spanking instead of a lecture. The spanking was one and done sort of speak. But the lecture went on and on and on. It seem to never end.
For those that got lectures, I will guarantee you can still hear your fathers worlds today, repeating that lecture over and over again. Why? Because it was impressed upon you.
That is partly what these verses mean but it’s more than that. It means you are creating a physical mark for all to see. You are living a life that pleases the Lord.
To help us understand it I share this…….Living a life that pleases God involves aligning your actions, intentions, and will with divine guidance through faith, obedience, and love. This means trusting in God's control, being holy by rejecting sin, and living with integrity. It also includes using your gifts to serve others, being a witness for God, and focusing on spiritual growth through practices like prayer, meditation on scripture, and worship.
We are to live a life that others see Christ in us and keep God’s Word in our mind and on our heart all the time.
Let’s read Deuteronomy 6:20-25
20 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?” 21 tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. 23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.”
Notice the word "when". It is not if, but when your children ask you about your faith in God you should be able to tell them what you believe.
I believe the Living God, created everything we can see, hear, touch, and feel. I believe He created me in His image as He said in Genesis. I believe He created me to have a relationship with Him through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I believe that I am good enough to keep His commands and live the life He wants me to live. I’ve tried and failed. My kids know that so well.
I believe what God said in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God’s plan never did depend on what I could do, it’s always depended on what He did.
I close with this……1 John 4:7-9 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
Jesus Christ is the proof of God’s “LOVE”