Who invited him?

I know a pastor who told me that the speaker at their general assembly was a person who I know to be emergent.  I have read two of his books and so when I was told who this speaker was I shuttered.  "What is the problem?" I was asked.  So I said that this was a well known emergent leader.
So what is the problem.  This pastor did not know who this man was and I am sure that he gave a very excellent address to the assembly.  However, I wondered how many of the pastors at that assembly knew who this man is and what he represents.  I am not faulting the pastors if they buy his books and use them to shape their theology, after all, the denominational leaders recommended him by inviting him to the assembly.  Denominational leaders have a great responsibility that the truth of the gospel is upheld.  They need to make sure that those they invite to speak to the pastors also hold to a biblical view of the gospel.  They will be held accountable.

Love with Truth

We often hear about truth with love after all the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love but I think it is equally important that we love with truth.  So what does that mean?
First of all the love for the sinner will not mean whitewashing the message of the Gospel but with love proclaim the truth that Jesus is the only way to God and without Him the sinner is condemned to eternal death.
Second, we need to remind people the importance of fellowship with other believers.  You cannot love and not be part of a body of believers.  The local church is where this happens.  Love with truth reminds Christians that they are not to forsake the coming together of the body.
Third, we need to encourage others to walk in the truth.  That means that they must know the truth and that truth is found through the reading, memorizing, meditating and hearing the Word of God. 
When we love our children we want them to obey and respect us.  We know that they show that they love us when they show respect and obedience.  If they say that they love us and then always are disrespectful then we will question that love.  It is the same with the body of Christ.
"It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us."  2 John 4

Save me from your followers

Recently I saw a bumper sticker that read:

There are people today who say that they love Christ but they don't like Christians.  Others say that Christ saves but the church enslaves. 
The Apostle John loved the church.  He believed in the church.  Now some may say that is the church universal but not the local church.  The problem is that the church universal is made up of local bodies of believers.  If you say that you love the church universal but not the local body you are not being accountable to anyone.
The church is where the truth is proclaimed, where the truth is guarded.  When people ignore the local church they have no one to answer to but themselves.  They may argue that they follow the Bible but do they?
The local church is not perfect but to be a Christian means to belong to one another.  How can you do that without the church.  When you read the New Testament take time to notice all the "one another" references.  You cannot obey the "one another's" of Scripture without belonging to one another.

Home

Where is home?  What is home?  Home is a refuge.  Home is where your parents are.  Home is where you are loved for no other reason than because you are part of the family.  You are loved unconditionally.  You are loved because you are loved. 
Two of our sons came home for awhile when they were not feeling secure.  They had never lived in the house that we now live in but they came "home".  It was not the place but it was where mom and dad were and it was where they could have a sense of security, where they could be loved, where they belonged.

Moses tells us that God is our dwelling place.  God is where we have refuge, God is where we have security, God is where we are loved, God is where we can be satisfied.  He is our home.  Our home is where our Father is.

That was the lesson of the first two verses of Psalm 90.  What a powerful lesson.  We don't come to God to escape judgment primarily but to find satisfaction for our souls. 

Return

In Psalm 90:3 we are called to return to our God.  We often think that we are immortal and we have plenty of time before we need to answer to God but Moses reminds us that we have only a few days and his plea to the people is to return to God while there is time.  We are prone to wonder and we need to be drawn back to God.
In Psalm 90:13 the pray is that God will return His mercy and favour to us.  We need His grace and mercy so that we can find significance in this world.

25568

A few years ago Keith Price came to our church in Thunder Bay and he spoke to the youth.  He was about seventy years old at the time and he told us that he had never preached in a t-shirt.  As you can see in the picture he is wearing a t-shirt with the number 25568.   He asked what that meant. 
In Psalm 90 Moses tells us to number our days.  We count our years but we fail to number our days.  The reason we are to count our days is to understand that we are finite but God is eternal.  By numbering our days we get a heart of wisdom.  When we know that our time here on earth is small then we turn our hearts toward eternity.  Moses tells us that our days are seventy years and if we have the strength then maybe eighty.  Seventy years is 25568 days.  On my next birthday I will be seventy years old.

Some final thoughts

Last Sunday was the last lesson on Deuteronomy.  Someone asked me if it was what I expected.  I had to say that it wasn't.  Deuteronomy spoke to me in a powerful way.  It gave me a new appreciation for Moses and his ministry but more that that it gave me a new appreciation for our God.  Moses loved God and he wanted his people, and us his readers, to love God the same way.  I will never look at Deuteronomy the same way.  It is a powerful book.  It led to two known revivals in the Old Testament, it was often quoted by our Lord and by the Apostle Paul. 
Most of all I have a deeper love for our God because of Deuteronomy. 

John Piper and Jason Meyer

In the following interview John Piper and Jason Meyer talk about the transition in pastoral leadership at Bethlehem Baptist Church.  This is worth watching.

Piper and Meyer Talk Succession for the First Time from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Peoples Church

A modern example of a church that passed the leadership to new pastors and yet kept its mission is the Peoples Church of Toronto.  Oswald J. Smith had a heart for missions and when he was unable to go as a missionary he founded a church that would send and support missionaries.  Each pastor following has been carefully chosen to keep the the mission of the church in focus.  There have been four pastors, Oswald J. Smith, Paul Smith, John Hull and Charles Price who is the current pastor.  As the baton was passed from one pastor to the next it was done in a way that continuity of mission was followed.
Leaders come and leaders go but the God of the church remains.  Moses was to step aside but Joshua was to continue the mission.  Moses commissioned Joshua but it was God who called him.
I heard Oswald J. Smith preach when I was twenty one years old.  He had come to our church in then Fort William as the speaker at the opening of our new church.  I do not remember a lot but I do remember that his sermons were about missions. 

Legacy

What kind of a legacy would you want to leave?  A plaque on a building?  A bridge named after you?  Maybe you could have a star named after you.

What was Moses' legacy?  In one word, the Word.  When we think of the law, we think of Moses.  When we begin at the beginning of our Bible we think of Moses.  However, Moses' legacy was more than just giving us the first five books of the Bible it was that the Word was to be an integral part of our lives.  It was to be our very life.  But Moses didn't stop there.  He wanted the Word to be an integral part of our community living.  It was to guide our relationships, our families, our business.  And we were to ensure that the Word was to be taught to generations following us.

What if Moses' only legacy was a statue, a great statue by Michael Angelo, but only a statue.  No, it was much more than that, it is the very Word of God.

What will be my legacy?  I will never write Scripture as Moses did but I can teach the Word.  May it be that my legacy will be that I loved the Word and I loved to teach the Word.

Should I go?

I have never been to Israel and I do hope that some day I will be able to go.  Often I heard it said that walking where Jesus walked helps us to understand the New Testament better.  Though it may help to visualize the places that we read about in the New Testament it does not make it easier to understand.  That goes against Scripture itself.  Moses told the people that they didn't need to go anywhere to understand but they needed to obey.  If going to Israel made people a better preacher or teacher then it should be a requirement but that also would make it hard for people to have that important aspect of their education.  No, Moses makes it clear in Deuteronomy 30:13, 'Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” '  He then adds, "No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."  Deuteronomy 30:14.  The key issue is never place but always obedience.  "For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws."  Deuteronomy 30:16

Someday I hope to travel to Israel and see the places where Jesus walked, talked and did miracles but until then I can still understand and obey.  Going to the place will be a great experience but our faith is based upon obedience and the Word of God.

It is not so hard.

I have heard people say that they don't read the Bible regularly because it is too hard for them to understand.  Is it really too hard.  "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it."  Deuteronomy 30:11 - 14
Did you notice what Moses told the people?  It is not too hard.  You don't need a priest or a pope to explain it to you.  You can understand it yourself.  It is near you.  It is in your mouth, that is, you are to talk about the Word with one another.  It is in your heart.  That is you need to read, memorize and meditate on the Word.  The reason most people have difficult understanding the Word is that they don't want to be obedient to it. 
You don't need to go to a particular place.  The understanding of the Word is not based upon experience but upon obedience.