Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Notes
Transcript
Keeping as Teaching
Keeping as Teaching
At the beginning of time, Man was placed in the garden of Eden with this purpose:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
So- before the fall of the world humanity had purpose: working and keeping.
The Hebrew word for Keep is Shamar
It means to Keep, Guard, or watch over. Now this is a fascinating thing to think about. What if instead of thinking about teaching as mere instruction or memory work we reframed it as a means of guarding and watching over our lives?
Last week we had a conversation about learning, about soaking up all that God has revealed.
This week we are talking about teaching about relaying the will that God has for us.
In Dt. 4 Moses is entreating the nation of Israel to hear one last thing before the enter into the promised land.
For the last four chapters he has recounted to them their endless mess ups.
It’s really a pretty good dressing down- He does it not just chronologically, but also geographically and tells them about ALL the things they did that were dumb.
Deuteronomy chapters 1-3 reads like a diary of mistakes.
That’s one way to think about it- like he is belittling them. The other way to consider what Moses is doing is Guarding them. Keeping them from their own self destruction.
Have you ever had an older wiser person retell you a story about that time that they put gas in a diesel engine? These cautionary tales are helpful.
God’s people need not just the rules but the wisdom behind the rules. To maintain their stature in the land they need to guard themselves just as they would their property, their land, and their families.
Teaching as Guarding
Teaching as Guarding
As much as I have a distaste for the Hobby Lobby version of Christianity- the Afghan Blankets with 1 Peter 4 on it “Love covers all” or a lampshade of Isaiah 60: Arise Shine for your light has come. I do believe their intent is honest.
These imitate a type of teaching.
Deut 6 Gives us some specific means of Pedagogy:
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by 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.
See this is for all of Israel to do. The wisdom of God belonged to all of Israel and it was the entire communities job to pass off or hand down the content of their faith.
But it’s that last part that is fascinating to me- the doorposts and gates. If we are to guard our land then wouldn’t it make sense for us to utilize the doorposts and the gates- the entrances to the land?
What things have you allowed into your homes, your lives that are grieving your spiritual formation?
-TBH for me it’s sleep. The doorway to the day- Dawn. Crowded by the desire to sleep.
-What are we teaching our children- What are we teaching our neighbors about our God?
The Jewish tradition has a thing called a mezuzah, It’s literally a thing that you attach to your doorpost and it actually holds the words from Deut 6:4 called the Shema.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Teaching then is walking in and out of your house and being reminded of who God is. Every time you leave it is a calling for you to remember who your King is, who you live under. Every time you reenter your home it forces one to consider what they are introducing into their home. It’s a sort of doorbell camera to monitor who or what it is that you let into your home.
In fact, after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden- did you catch this?
This guarding shows up in a surprising way in Genesis 3. After the fall of Adam and Eve, they are cast out of the garden and what does God do?
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
God sets an angel to work- to Guard the promised land.
Teaching and Guarding
Teaching and Guarding
Friends here’s the shift - in Mark 13 3x Jesus commands us to be on our guard. You are the thing worth defending and teaching. You are the precious inheritance. You are now the keepers of the promises of God. You are publishers of the good news of Christ. You hold the truth and the keys to the kingdom of God.
2 Timothy exhorts the church:
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
We at Concordia take this literally, we have a regular pattern to our worship. Liturgical worship isn’t particularly flashy but it is formative.
Further this Fall I want to encourage you all to make Sunday Bible class a regular habit. Church is a 2 hour activity.
Teaching the faith to our hearts and our inheritance is our Christian duty. All of Israel was tasked with imparting the faith. So are we.
This year we’re trying a new thing where for a period we will all be in the room so that we can impress the faith upon their impressionable hearts and minds. This will be a challenge- no doubt but it is OUR CHALLENGE. It is not something we get to outsource.
We’ll have a big word of the week- a theological term to learn and digest
We’ll have a verse of the week to meditate and learn throughout the week.
There will be a brief time of catechesis and learning of the basic doctrine of the faith.
Then we’ll break into kids and adults and do some age appropriate learning.
Church, God has come to give you all things. Don’t let these gifts be stolen from us. Like Israel, God has given you the land, and now in these last days He has given you His Son.
This week spend a moment in any of your activities asking “What is this teaching me?”
Now may the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.