STAY TRUE TO GOD
Do it for God
Deuteronomy 23
Jerry A Collins
2/18/07
SCC
v To what lengths should we go to maintain holiness?
v What can make us incompatible with God?
v How can we participate in God’s holiness?
When we mention incompatibility we mean ‘unable to live together in harmony’. That is an excuse many use to end a marriage or to dismiss a colleague or to fire a coach. Incompatibility can also exist between people and God. For people associated with the blasphemy challenge they can post a video on youtube.com denying the existence of God. Over a 100 people have so far. They are unable to live together in harmony with God so they just deny God. At least the God of the Bible. Of course, this is nothing new. People have been denying the existence of God for generations. But what about from God’s vantage point? God says there are ways He is unable to live in harmony with us. How does that happen? When does it happen? Can we do anything to remain compatible with God? The nature of God is so different from our human condition that the two conflict. Deuteronomy 23 teaches us the necessity of maintaining holiness in our lives to live in harmony with God. We learn about this from the stipulations of holiness God places upon His people in the when they enter into the land.
1. WE MUST REMOVE THE DEFECTS OF SIN TO HAVE INTIMACY WITH GOD 1-2
The context here is the people gathering together for religious purposes. There were two classes of people who could not participate in this assembly and time of worship.
First, those who were castrated,
or emasculated, an eunuch. This was a type of physical
defect as were other physical defects that made one incompatible with the
worship of God in the assembly. Second, were those of illegitimate birth vs 2. The parameters included a child of an incestuous
relationship, the child of a cult prostitute or a child of a mixed marriage—an
Israelite married to an Ammonite, Moabite, Philistine, Canaanite.
In both cases a mutilated person and an illegitimate child spring from a
connection opposed to the divine order of creation. Both of these were
defects—one physical the other relational—that excluded one from public
assemblies of worship in
2. YOUR PAST SINS CAN HAVE FUTURE CONSEQUENCES 3-8
Again the context is with the
people gathering for religious purposes. In this case no Ammonite or Moabite
can come into the assembly to the 10th generation. They did not give
the Israelites water and food when they passed through their lands. They also
hired Balaam curse them. These groups were also descended from the incestuous
unions of
3. PRACTICE PERSONAL AND MORAL CLEANLINESS WHEREVER YOU GO 9-14
Here the context is being clean
when you are in the army of
4. PURSUE DISTINCTIVES RELATED TO HOLY CONDUCT
There are a series of issues that require a response consistent with holy conduct in the nation.
Slaves 15-16 Do not turn over an escaped slave possibly a Canaanite
slave who escaped to you because he was being mistreated in some way. This
would be especially sensitive since it was reminder of
Cultic Prostitution 17-18 Neither the sons or daughters of
Usury 19-20 Do not charge interest to an Israelite but you can charge it to a foreigner. God’s blessing attendant to this. The difference is between a brother and a stranger. It is legitimate to use your money to make money but not to capitalize on the needs of a fellow believer.
Vows 21-23 Make sure you pay what you vow to God. It is okay not to
vow. In fact, Jesus said it was better to not vow (Matthew
No take-home 24-25 You can eat grain or fruit trees in the field
but do not put some in the basket and take it with you. So if you need to use
something that belongs to your neighbor, do not use any more than you need at
the moment.
1.
Do not think any sin is insignificant with God. God concerned about everything,
every area, every moment. Live holy.
2.
You are responsible to pursue the holy life and maintain intimacy with God.