Our passage today concludes the laws that the people of Israel were to obey.
- Clean Laws – Our passage begins with laws about who may assemble before the Lord and laws about keeping the camp pure. God is in the camp, so the camp must be holy. God dwells within us, so we must keep ourselves clean within – we are to be holy as God is holy. Are you striving for holiness?
- Poor Laws – Many laws show God’s concern for the poor – the sojourner, the widow, the orphan. While the approach may change, God wants us to care for those in need. How are you reflecting in your life God’s concern for the poor?
- Universal Laws – Many laws flow straight out of the 10 Commandments and so are binding on us. These include laws prohibiting prostitution (7th), breaking vows to the Lord (9th), kidnapping (8th), and dishonesty in buying and selling (8th).
- Giving Laws – Finally our passage ends with instructions for Israel to bring their first fruits and tithes to the Lord in gratitude for his provision and to care for the needy. This giving is to be a time of worship and rejoicing. What is your attitude when you give to the Lord?
Every member should grow up and use a towel, not wear a bib. They should not be immature consumers but eager servants.
I commend to you the importance of fullness in prayer…. I am afraid the private devotions of many are most painfully scanty and limited; just enough to prove they are alive and no more. They really seem to want little from God.
The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world.
Biblical truth reforms and restyles the believer’s life.
Above all else, worship is an encounter with the living, true, holy, sovereign, triune God of the universe. He chooses to meet with us by His Word and Spirit, and there is nothing as meaningful, rich, and glorious on earth as the church gathered together with its Lord and Savior in worship.
We find here that Christianity is not about becoming religious. It is not about conforming to a list of rules. It is not about adopting a philosophy. It is not about financial prosperity. It is not about becoming a nice person. It is about becoming a new person. It is about going from death to life. It is about going from darkness to light.