Transformer - 02/15/2015

Writing the Law for Yourself

When Moses was giving his last instructions to the children of Israel, he told them that the king of Israel should “write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priest” (Deuteronomy 17:18). Moses then gives several reasons for why this should be done and how it would benefit the king.

This personally written copy of the law was to be read by the king “all the days of his life” (17:19). The king was to “learn to fear the Lord his God” (17:19). He was to carefully observe “all the words of this law” (17:19). If he did this then “his heart [would] not be lifted up above his countrymen.” He would not “turn aside from the commandments, to the right or to the left.” The result of this obedience would be that “he and his sons [would] continue to live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel” (17:20).

There are several benefits from writing for himself a copy of the law. This copy of the law would be his personal effort. Time spent in writing it would mean he was taking ownership of the law of the Lord. As he would “push the pencil” across the page, more of the body was involved in writing the text. In a sense it would become a part of his life, a part of him.

While writing the law he would be observing all the grammatical components of the sentence structure. He would observe the quotation marks that draw more attention to the one speaking, the commas separating all the items linked together and even the sentences ending with an exclamation point, seeing the emphasis the author wanted the reader to experience.

After writing the law he would know exactly what is said. He would not be relying on someone else to tell him what the text says. This would then help him to obey what the text instructs. By frequently reading what he had written, he would constantly be reminded of what God expected a person to do.

It is interesting to note that Moses says when the king writes the law for himself then he will not “turn aside from the commandments.” By having written the law for himself, it would serve as an encourager to do what God has said do.

Interesting also is to observe that one of the benefits from writing the law for himself is that the king would “learn to fear the Lord his God.” This fearing of the Lord is seen by the king observing what the Lord has commanded.

All of these benefits and blessings would be applicable to us today. What if we took the time to write the Bible for ourselves? What if when we began a study of a passage, we took the time to write it out? To some extent this may be accomplished by typing the words on a page, but there seems to be a difference in typing and writing. But what if we typed out the passage so that we would have a “worksheet” for our notes, notes which could be more extensive than what would fit in the margin of our Bibles? A worksheet on which one could be adding more notes the next time he studied this particular passage.

Would not our own copy of the law serve as an encouragement to us to do what God has said do just like it would this king? Would it not help us to see truly what God has said? Try it. If God thought it would be good for the king of Israel, maybe it would be good for us? - cgm

Thinking on the Word...

The Church’s Attitude Towards Members Who Repeatedly Sin - 1 Corinthians 5:1-2

The thoughts and ideas presented by Paul to the Corinthians may be very contrary to the thinking of most Americans. In the opinion of most church-goers, the thought of dealing with a church member who is sinning in the way prescribed by the apostle, is repulsive. They may conclude this is not love. This attitude may be prevalent because they do not understand the underlying purpose for such action.

May it be said in the very beginning that Paul’s purpose is to save the man, eternally. He wants the man to go to Heaven (cf. v.5). He wants the man to repent of this sinful behavior and live like God wants him to live. Paul also wants the church, in its assembled state, to be free from this sinful “leaven” lest it influence the whole group.

Let’s notice the attitude of the Corinthians toward this one “among” them. The assembled Christians at Corinth had “become arrogant” and they had not “mourned” about the activities of this brother. Paul expected the Corinthians to be grieving because one of their members was engaged in sexual immorality which “does not exist even among the Gentiles.” Paul’s point may be that if the Gentiles thought it was wrong for someone to have “his father’s wife,” then surely the Corinthians would have known that it was sinful and not to be tolerated.

Various reasons could be given as to why the Corinthians thought it was better to overlook this type of behavior but Paul was not endorsing their conclusion. Paul says this person should be “removed from [their] midst.” In the following verses he gives his rationale for his statement.

Before looking at those reasons, let’s pause long enough to think about the attitude a church should have towards a member who is sinning and will not repent. The group needs to be filled with great sorrow over a member’s ungodly behavior; a feeling as if one of their members has died. There should be a feeling of extreme loss, so much so that it makes one lament greatly. Such feeling should be motivated by the fact that this behavior is not pleasing to God and unless corrected will result in condemnation, thus missing Heaven. - cgm

Words of Wisdom

“The one who despises the word will be in debt to it, but the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” - Proverbs 13:13

What is our reaction to the word of God, to His commandments? Do we despise them or do we fear them? Solomon gives us the results of both actions.

One Hebrew linguist gave the definition of despise as being one who would “trample with the feet.” We understand this phrase as meaning one who has little regard for something which is told to him. He considers it insignificant. This type of person will be “in debt” to the words given and ultimately will be punished or destroyed because they did not pay attention to the word.

The meaning of the word fear is to be afraid or to act in such a way that is motivated by a huge respect for the one speaking. Because of this respect they are afraid of what will happen to them if they do not follow the commands. This type of person will be rewarded. They will have peace within because they know they are not in any danger from the one giving the commands. They will escape any destruction to them personally.

Christians should have this type of fear for the word of God; for His commandments. They should respect God enough that they are afraid that if they do not keep His commandments, He will punish them; they will not go to heaven.

One should do the things the Lord has commanded because they love Him, but let’s not forget that having a proper “fear” of the Lord is a great motivator. Christians, as well as non-Christians, need to understand what will happen to them if they do not follow the commands of the Lord. We need to comprehend how severe our punishment will be if we despise the word of the Lord.

If Christians truly have the same “fear” of the Lord as Paul then they will be trying to “persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11) to become Christians just like he did. He did not want people to be in debt, but to be rewarded. Fear the commandments and be rewarded! - cgm