Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned: Order

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Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.

Deuteronomy 5:1

OUR HUMAN CONDITION

We cannot abide chaos. We want structure. Boundaries give a sense of security. We need order to feel we belong.

Disciple

Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees,

    that I may follow it to the end.

Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law

    and obey it with all my heart.

Direct me in the path of your commands,

    for there I find delight.

Psalm 119:33-35

“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

“If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

Exodus 22:21-27

“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen.Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 19:9-10
  • What are some examples in today’s society of compassion providing for the poor, the alien, the orphan, and the widow?

Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

Deuteronomy 25:13-15
  • In your business dealings, can you think of any place where you are using “differing (or dishonest) weights and measures,” where you falsify or mislead?
  • Give some examples of false and misleading advertising.

“The law of Moses has a deep sense of fairness, of justice.

Why?

Because justice is grounded in the character of God.

God is a just God.”

Disciple

Reflection

  • Given the increasing conflict of demands within the family, how do you think adult children can faithfully honor their elderly parents?
  • What attitudes and actions toward your parents do your children hear and see from you?
  • In a society where sexual promiscuity and adultery are rampant, what can you do to encourage faithfulness within marriage?
  • What can the church do?

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

“Disciples keep God’s law by doing it.”

Disciple

Application

  • Identify some of the words of the law that, through your obedience, bring order to your life.
  • Identify some of the words of the law that, through your obedience, bring security to your family.
  • Identify some of the words of the law that, through your obedience, give you a sense of belonging.
  • Recall a time in your life when failure to obey God’s law resulted in chaos.

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