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God Is Your Prized Possession

There Is No Better Inheritance

SYNOPSIS: Like the Levites, the Apostle Peter declares that we are “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9) That’s a pretty big deal: we are God’s prized possession—and God is ours! And there is no better inheritance in this life, and in the next, than in God choosing us to intermediate his holy presence. I’m not sure we have the capacity to grasp that glorious calling, but I think it would be worth meditating on what God has done by his grace in choosing us for that role.

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 18:2,5

The Levites will have no land of their own among the Israelites. The Lord himself is their special possession, just as he promised them…. For the Lord your God chose the tribe of Levi out of all your tribes to minister in the Lord’s name forever.

There were twelve tribes in Israel, each the descendants of Jacob’s twelve sons. Eleven of those tribes were given land as their inheritance. When they entered the Promised Land, God specifically assigned them territory that would be theirs in perpetuity. But there was one tribe that didn’t receive any land—and land ownership was a very big deal in ancient Israel, even more important than land ownership is today. One tribe was singled out for no inheritance of property: the tribe of Levi.

Now that might seem a bit unfair, or a lot. Yet they were given a better inheritance. Not better from the perspective of the carnal mind, but better from the true perspective of heaven. They were given the Lord himself. God had singled out one tribe, the Levites, as his own prized possession in a nation that was singled out from the rest of the world as his prized people. So the Levites were the prized of the prized.

God chose them for the ministry of worship because they had defended his holiness at great risk to themselves during a times of national rebellion. For their costly sacrifice, God set them apart for the sacred duty of ministering the tabernacle sacraments; for set up, breaking down and moving the holy furnishings from place to place; and for intermediating the rest of Israel’s sacrifices to the Lord their God. The Levites were a very special bunch indeed, both in God’s sight and in the eyes of the rest of Israel.

They had no land, but they had God. They had no earthly inheritance, but they had God. They had no other possession, but they had a prized possession to a degree that no one else had—they had the Lord God himself as their ever-present and eternal reward. I am sure that we don’t fully appreciate what that meant in a day and age where we look to the abundance of things and the accumulation of material wealth as the grand prize, but that was a very big deal, indescribably so.

Here is the deal: God is your prized possession, too. Like Israel, you have been set apart as holy unto the Lord; you are distinctly his. But even more so, like the Levites, you have an even greater, more special calling, for you too are set apart as a priest to God. Revelation 1:6 and 5:10, respectively, tell us,

He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

Furthermore, the Apostle Peter taught that like the Levites, and in reality, at even higher new covenant level, you are “A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

That is a pretty big deal, my friend. You are God’s prized possession—and God is your prized possession. And there is no better inheritance, in this life and in the next, than being chosen by God to intermediate his holy presence.

I am not sure you and I have the capacity to grasp the blessed reality of that, but I think it would be worth meditating on what God has done by his grace in choosing us for that role.

Going Deeper: Memorize 1 Peter 2:9 this week. Then mediate on what that means for you. Finally, offer up prayers of gratitude to God for offering himself as your prize possession and eternal inheritance.

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The Powerful Word

I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel

SYNOPSIS: The gospel is the power of God that saves us—past, present and future. For that reasons, not only should we not be ashamed of it, but  we should be actively and even aggressively enthusiastic about it. Why wouldn’t we be? It is the only hope for humanity—which means on a more personal and practical level, it is the only hope for your unsaved loved ones, the people you work with, go to school with and those who live next door to you. It is the only hope for real people you really care about. The Good News, written, proclaimed and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is now waiting to be expressed through your lips and by your life.

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

I echo Paul’s words: I am not ashamed of the Gospel! Why should I be? It is the very power of Almighty God to transform a life for all eternity. The Good News—written, proclaimed and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is what saves us.

The Good News saves us in the sense that we are rescued from our sins and brought into the forever family of God. We commonly refer to that as salvation; being born again. The Good News also saves us in the sense that day-by-day in this present life, we are being transformed by it into the very likeness of Jesus Christ. That is what we refer to as progressive holiness. And the Good News saves us in the sense that when this earthly journey is complete and we stand before Almighty God, we will be welcomed into the eternal kingdom. That, of course, we longingly refer to as our ultimate and final redemption.

For those reasons, not only I should not be ashamed of the Gospel—and neither should you—but you and I should be actively, even aggressively, enthusiastic about it. Again, why wouldn’t we be? It is the only hope for mankind—which means on a more personal and practical level, it is the only hope for your unsaved loved ones, the people you work with, go to school with and those who live next door to you. It is the only hope for real people you care a great deal for.

The Good News, written, proclaimed and revealed in the person of Jesus Christ is now waiting to be expressed through your lips and by your life. Other than its proclamation by preachers, that is the most compelling way it gets proclaimed these days—exemplified in word and deed through you. So let’s quit keeping the Good News to ourselves and begin looking for opportunities to slip it into our conversations at every chance we get.

I like how Eugene Peterson translates Romans 1:16-19 in The Message:

It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

The Good News really is good news—and it’s powerful. So proudly proclaim it today! You will be glad you did—and someone who might hear and respond to it will be even more glad you did!

“This is the new evangelism we need. It is not better methods, but better men and women who know their Redeemer from personal experience…who see his vision and feel his passion for the world…who want only for Christ to produce his life in and through them according to his own good pleasure.” ~Robert E. Coleman

Reflect & Apply: Lynn Thomas wrote, “I’ve often thought the first class we should teach on evangelism should probably be, ‘How to Make New Friends.’” Perhaps establishing some new “redemptive” friendships could be your first step toward a more evangelistic life.

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Permissible vs. Blessable

It's Best To Ask, "What Does God Want?"

SYNOPSIS: God may give us what we want, but what he gives and what we want do not guarantee it will be for our best. What is permissible is not always blessable. Rather, we should always and only seek what God wants, and trust that he will then take care of what we want.

the Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 17:14-16

You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, “We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.” If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner. The king must not…

“Like the other nations.” That is an oft-repeated commentary on the mindset of the Israelites. In this case, Israel wants a king, against God’s clear warning. And ultimately, God gave them what they wanted, when what they needed was to trust in his God sovereign leadership.

God had pulled the Israelites out of bondage and ignominy among the nations to be their only God, their one true king, and to give them the high honor of being his distinct people—a holy nation set apart for his purpose. But early and often, they would want to crawl back into the pit from which they were dug. “Everyone else is doing it!” was often the basis of their appeal. “We want to be like them.”

Since God knows the end from the beginning, he anticipated the Israelite’s cry for an earthly king. When they settled into the Promised Land as a nation, he knew they would see that all the other nations had a monarch—even though that wasn’t working out too well for the heathen—and Israel would begin to long for what they didn’t have: a king to rule over them.

Four hundred years after Moses, the Israelites rejected the Lord’s desire to be their sole ruler and asked for a king. At the end of the period when the judges ruled Israel, the people came to Samuel with the request:

“Look,” they told Samuel, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.” (1 Samuel 5-9)

God knew way in advance what was in their heart, and in his permissive will, he would accommodate their worldly desire. That brings us to a teachable moment: Sometimes God gives us what we want, but what he gives and what we want do not guarantee it will be for our best. (Psalm 106:15) What is permissible is not always blessable. In Deuteronomy 17, God anticipated their longing for an earthly king and told them when that time came, he would grant the desires of their hearts. However, his provision would be with several important provisos:

One, the king was to be a man the Lord chose. The king was not necessarily to be the obvious, the smartest, the wealthiest or even the guy that would win the popular vote: “be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses.” (Deuteronomy 17:15) God wanted the Israelites to look to him for the leader that he would choose for them. God wanted the people to trust him in the selection.

Two, the king was not to be dependent on human power. He was prohibited from amassing a huge army with overpowering weaponry. He was to trust in God (see Psalm 20:7), not in the arm of flesh: “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’” (Deuteronomy 17:16) God wanted first and foremost the king’s trust.

Three, the king was not to use his royal position to gain sexual satisfaction. As king, he would have all the power, so he could easily leverage it to gratify his fleshly appetites If he did, God warned that this would be his spiritual undoing—the women he took to himself would turn his heart away from God: “The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 16:17) Both David, and especially Solomon, were royal poster boys of unrestrained fleshly desire. God wanted the king to trust him for satisfaction of his every desire.

Four, the king was not to use his position to gain inordinate wealth. Rather, he was to serve God by serving the people, and by doing this, earthly and material blessings would come: “he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.” (Deuteronomy 17:17) The temptation with a king, as with all positions of power, would be to use royal authority to serve self rather than the sheep. Again, the king was to trust in the Lord, not in his position, for material blessing.

Fifth, the king was to lead by God’s law, not human wisdom. When a human being ascends to leadership and the people he leads begin to applaud, like clockwork, ego will rise up and cause his downfall. Israel’s king was to lead by the book—Book of the Law: “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20) The king was to trust in the Lord with all his heart and not to lean on his own understanding.

God wanted the king’s trust. He wants your complete trust, too—now and at all times. Does he have it?

Going Deeper: Power, sex, money—those were the three temptations about which God warned the king. How about you? Are you jockeying for position, pursuing pleasure or chasing money to give your life meaning? God will give you what is best for you as you always and wholly trust him. Surrender your fleshly longings to him.

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Our Enjoyment Of God Is A Sacred Calling

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

SYNOPSIS: Six times in the twenty-one verses of Deuteronomy 16, God told his people they were to celebrate. The Lord commanded the Israelites to establish three giant parties on their national calendar in perpetuity to remind them of their call to party. They were to rejoice in God’s past acts of deliverance, offer gratitude for his guiding hand in the current moment, and look forward in anticipation of his promises. They were to laugh. And not just Israel, but according to scripture, our celebration is a sacred calling, too, So come on, celebrate good times!

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 16:16

Each year every man in Israel must celebrate these three festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters.

Maybe Kool and the Gang were inspired by Deuteronomy 16 when they wrote “Celebration.” They were just paraphrasing Moses’ exhortation when they reminded us, “There’s a party goin’ on right here, a celebration to last throughout the years. So bring your good times, and your laughter too, we gonna celebrate your party with you.” Yeah, celebrate good times, come on!

Six times in twenty-one verses, God tells his people they are to celebrate. According to God, our celebration is a sacred calling. For the Israelites, the Lord established three giant parties that were to appear on their national calendar in perpetuity that would serve to remind them of their call to party. These celebrations reminded the nation that God had done great and miraculous things to bring them out of Egypt, out of slavery, to make them his own distinct people. They were to look back and laugh:

Eat the Passover meal with bread made without yeast. For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast, as when you escaped from Egypt in such a hurry…on the anniversary of your exodus from Egypt…. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, so be careful to obey all these decrees. (Deuteronomy 16:3,6, 12)

The invitations to party also reminded them as they camped on the east side of the Jordan that God wasn’t through with them yet. There was a Promised Land out in front that he was about to give them—and the call to celebrate was in anticipation for the day when the party would be in their new homeland. They were to look forward and laugh in advance as an act of faith:

You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you. You must offer it only at the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored. (Deuteronomy 16:5-6)

And while this call to celebrate implied good times, God gave them an additional reminder that they were to take time to be intentionally happy. He wanted them to remember with joy and gratitude what he had done, and allow those expressions to overflow into happiness as they partied. You might say, they were to offer the sacrifice of laughter to God. Literally, they were to look up and laugh.

This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns. (Deuteronomy 16:14)

Perhaps it is time for you to party with a purpose—that purpose being to celebrate the goodness of God in your life. Maybe you need to be intentionally happy for the mighty deliverance from sin that God has accomplished in your life, or for the good place in which he has established you or in anticipation of the marvelous things ahead he has promised. Like the Israelites of old, it might be good for you to literally calendarize a sacred celebration or two that are dedicated strictly for enjoying the Lord. Come on, laugh a little, or a lot—it is a holy thing pleasing unto the Lord.

Celebrate good times, come on!

Going Deeper: Select a date, put it on your calendar, then throw a party celebrating the goodness of God. Try it, it will be fun!

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The Kingdom Logic of Illogical Generosity

Giving To The Poor Insures God's Blessing On You

SYNOPSIS: “Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for God will bless you in everything you do,” says Deuteronomy 15:10. Alleviating poverty is not the government’s responsibility, nor is it “the church” role to “do something” about the poor. Rather, you are the answer to the pandemic of poverty in your community. Christians—you and I—must be generous where we can and with whom we can. We must give freely, responsibly and strategically to help anyone within our power to help. And as we become the conduit of kingdom generosity toward the poor, God has ordained it that we will never run out of resources to give away.

The Journey // Focus: Deuteronomy 15:7-10

If there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

God has a plan for the poor, and it will work. Really! The plan will seem illogical to most, but such is the upside-down logic of the Kingdom of God. What is the logic? The generosity of God’s people. The alleviation of poverty in the big, wide world starts with generosity toward the world near you.

It is really too bad that that poverty in our day has become such a political and sociological football. The problem of the poor would be dealt with quite effectively if we would simply adopt how God told the ancient Israelites to treat the poor among them. Rather, in America, one side says that poverty is the fault of the poor, that they just need to buck up and be responsible, that giving a hand out only perpetuates their poor ways. This “people must be responsible for their own lives” approach however, can be very hard-hearted toward something that is near to God’s heart.

Then on the other philosophical side, many say that the wealthy must be taxed at higher rates so that the government can provide more programs, more handouts, more entitlements to alleviate poverty in America. In much of that “it’s the rich’s fault and the government’s responsibility” approach, we are very likely to be guilty of hurting with our helping. Furthermore, it leads to an attitude that responsibility to help the needy is someone else’s: the government, the rich, the church’s, “they”.

Under the Old Testament law, it was very clear that God did not want any poor to be among the Israelites as they settled into their Promised Land: “There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession.” (Deuteronomy 15:4) Poverty would stand as an affront to the God who desired to bless all of his people.

Furthermore, when fellow Israelites fell into poverty, God said that it was the responsibility of their neighbors to help lift them out. They were to freely loan them money, at a reasonable interest rate, and then be willing to forgive the loan at the end of the pre-established seventh year of debt elimination—even if the loan was made toward the conclusion of those seven years:

At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. This is how it must be done. Everyone must cancel the loans they have made to their fellow Israelites. They must not demand payment from their neighbors or relatives, for the Lord’s time of release has arrived….  Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. (Deuteronomy 15:1-2,9)

As the Israelites took this posture toward the poor among them, and there would be poor among them (“if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you”, Deuteronomy 15:7), God promised that they would live under his enormous blessings, both in their economy and in their world impact:

You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. 6 The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you. (Deuteronomy 15:5-6)

Now of course, there were significant differences with ancient Israel and where we find ourselves today. Israel was a theocracy, we are not. They didn’t have easy credit and rampant materialism like we do. Most people didn’t foolishly misspend their way into the poorhouse. The poor were not typically addicted to alcohol or drugs or suffer from mental disorder like we find in a significant portion of the homeless today. They didn’t just tolerate laziness and dependence on government subsidies like we do, they had ways of dealing with chronically irresponsible people. So yes, there are differences that would make dealing with poverty more challenging in our complex society than it was for Israel.

However, the generosity of God’s people, both to alleviate the poverty of the poor near to you as well as the blessings of God that will come upon you for your generosity is still in play today. So rather than making poverty the government’s responsibility, or always thinking that “the church” should do something about it, be the church. Be generous where you can and with whom you can. Give freely, responsibly and strategically to help anyone within your power to help. If each of us take it upon ourselves to eliminate the poverty of another, we can make a dent in the larger problem of the poor in the world today.

Become a conduit of kingdom generosity and you will never run out of resources to give.

Can you imagine what would happen in our society if untold numbers of Christians became conduits of God’s generosity? My sense is that we would be well on our way to eliminating poverty in our day.

Going Deeper: Who is within your power to help? Today, be generous toward them in whatever way you are able. God will bless you for it.

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Being Cool Is Never A Blessable Motive

For The Glory Of God Alone Is

SYNOPSIS: When our motive for doing anything is because it is cool by the world standards, perhaps the case could be made that we are bowing to man-made idols. When God goes to such great lengths to pull his people out of their heathen culture in order to make them into his own holy nation, a people that stand out in the world as distinctly belonging to him and distinctly different than the world, why would they then revert to worldly ways? Why walk as close to the edge of worldliness without stepping over into it instead of pressing into the core of holiness unto the Lord. Why not press into the center of God’s will, which looks more like Jesus and less like the world?

The Journey// Focus: Deuteronomy 14:1-2 (Living Bible)

Since you are the people of God, never cut yourselves as the heathen do when they worship their idols nor shave the front halves of your heads for funerals. You belong exclusively to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you to be his own possession, more so than any other nation on the face of the earth.

To be forthcoming, I have never had either purple hair or a Mohawk. I don’t have any piercings. And I have never seriously entertained the notion of a tattoo—although if I were ever brave enough to get one, I would consider the iconic “Mother” tat embedded within a sailor’s anchor. (You probably have to be of a certain age to appreciate that!)

I don’t have any of those and don’t really want to, but just to be clear, neither do I have anything per se against quirky hair, body piercings, and tattoos that rival Michelangelo’s work. Some people can pull it off; I would look like a doofus. I know plenty of amazing people who have some or all of the above, whose Christian character and kingdom impact is without question.

So what’s the point? I simply want to get you to think about the verses I selected where God prohibits the Israelites from either getting a body piercing or their hair cut in some kind of weird style. Similarly in Leviticus 19:28, God told his people never to get tattoos or engage in cutting: ‘You shall not cut yourselves nor put tattoo marks upon yourselves in connection with funeral rites; I am the Lord.” Now it would be fair to protest that this prohibition is only in the context of funerals, but I believe the clear sense here is that if God didn’t like it under those circumstances, he probably didn’t approve of it under normal conditions. You can disagree with me on that, but that is how I see it.

Obviously, many believers don’t see it as I do. In today’s world, a growing number of them do all of the above—attention-getting hairdos, very obvious tattoos, cutting, and more piercings than you can shake a stick at. But I don’t think that is the main point here; it is not so much the activity that we should focus on, it is the motive: “As the heathen do.” Most other Bible versions have translated it, “Since you are the people of the Lord your God.” Either way, the message is clear: you belong to God, not to the world. So don’t copy what you see around you.

When our motive for doing anything is because it is cool by the world standards, perhaps the case could be made that we are bowing to man-made idols. When God went to such great lengths to pull his people out of their heathen culture in order to make them into his own holy nation, a people that would stand out in the world as distinctly belonging to him and distinctly different than the world, why would they then revert to worldly ways? Why would they take on patterns and behaviors of the sin-filled culture from which they had been rescued? Why would they admire the latest style or trend or hip factor from the nations that were hostile to God? Why go along to get along? Why walk as close to the edge of worldliness without stepping over into it instead of pressing into the core of holiness unto the Lord.

That, I believe, is the main thing here—what we ought to consider as we seek a relevant application from this passage. Why live on the edge of sin? Why not press into the center of God’s will? Now let me also quickly add that if you are a believer who already has one of the things mentioned above, don’t sweat it. God starts with where you are and then moves you down the road to Christlikeness. Just make sure in the journey forward from today your motive is to be more and more like Jesus.

Now for old school Christians who tend to look in disdain on a younger generation that expresses itself with piercings, tattoos, and purply-spiked hair, how about what we do to keep up with the Joneses? What about needing to drive the latest car we can’t afford or having more square footage in our house than a Roman legion required or getting the latest $800 iPhone when the one we have is barely six months old? Do we do exactly what we accuse the young and restless of doing? Is there really all that much difference?

Again, my point in this devotional take on Deuteronomy 14 is simply to get us to consider where we may be flirting with culture rather than striving for greater Christlikeness. The next time you see someone sporting some sort of body art that you don’t appreciate, take a good, long look at your own motives. Perhaps, in that moment, the Holy Spirit is calling you to a closer walk with Jesus.

That is God’s goal for you, by the way: that you would look more and more like Jesus while looking less and less like the world.

Going Deeper: Here is a hard but good prayer to offer to your Lord today: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” (Psalm 139:23-24)