September 30, 2013
SAY YES.
Deuteronomy 12:1-14
Gary Stroope
Central Truth
Obedience to God is based on us trusting that He knows what is best for us and that He has an excellent plan for His children.
Key Verse | Deuteronomy 12:1
"These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth." (Deuteronomy 12:1)
Deuteronomy 12:1-14
The LORD's Chosen Place of Worship
1 These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. 4 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way. 5 But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation 1 12:5 Or name as its habitation there. There you shall go, 6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9 for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11 then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. 13 Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, 14 but at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.
Dive Deeper | Deuteronomy 12:1-14
God asked His people in this passage to act by destroying the places of pagan worship. Then the list of actions of how and when they are to do corporate worship continues. Let's be honest -- most of us don't wake saying, "I'm good with anything, God, just tell me what You want." We are natural rule breakers and want to know what, why, and the result. Then we might skeptically consider His words.
In grade school, I spent time facing the corner alone, writing on the blackboard, "I will not make spaceship noises." Occasionally, I even got smacked on the bottom by the principal for a long list of infractions (different time in history, huh?). God calls us to obey Him and trust that He has a plan that includes us, but ultimately is bigger than just me. God will always be completely sovereign over how we should live and how we should approach life.
So with regards to other gods, nope. With regards to do what seems best to each man, nope (Deuteronomy 12:8). In this passage, it deals with making the living God the singular focus of our worship.
One gift of growing older is having a long list of stupid choices and painful consequences that can be a strange record that God knows what He is doing. You also have a long list of God's kindness to rule breakers. If we stop long enough, we discover God is not trying to cheat us, and He is not incompetent or weak. It has encouraged my heart to no longer run from His words or take them lightly. It is the realization that our mighty God can be trusted and that life is being renewed in my heart even in the midst of my imperfection. This truth causes me to simply say, YES. How crazy that I would ever trust myself over His perfect nature, wisdom, and actions.
It is the discovery and personal understanding of His nature and perfect leadership that causes me to approach Him in worship daily and together with His church in a humble, joyous manner. Holy. Perfect. Trustworthy.
Discussion Questions
1. What has His Word clearly asked you to do that you have not acted on?
2. Why will you not trust Him and obey Him this very day?
3. What has God clearly asked you to do that has brought life to yourself and to others?
Thank God for failures that remind you that doing what seems right to man brings death.
Thank God for His kindness to forgive us (1 John 1:9).