October 15th, 2021

Year 2 Day 207


Pray (ACts)


Read - Deuteronomy 26:5-11


Message - Alan Burke


Ever since the mechanisation of farming, of trade agreements between nations, and as we a people have moved further and further away from livelihoods that are reliant on the land, as our children are just as likely to think milk comes from Tesco than a cow, we can be tempted to think that we are self sufficient. We rely on ourselves, on what we have done, we look to technology and science for all the answers. There is though a lesson for us here in Deuteronomy, for the people here were reminded of who God is and what he had done for them. They were to rejoiced in all the good things that the LORD their God had given to them and their household (11).


For he was and is the creator and sustainer of the entire universe, who holds it all together by the power of his word (Hebrews 1:3) we are reliant on His providential care just as Israel were, in all of life, in every aspect of it, for he is the one who supports and sustains it all. We are dependant on him to bring forth each new day, for the rain the sun shine, for each and every breath, and in the knowledge of that should lead us to rejoice, rejoice in the harvest in the LORD of the harvest. 


The offering of first fruits here in this passage does not apply directly to us, but for us the standard of what we are to give to God is much greater for we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. When we know who God is and what he has done, we should give according to our means (1 Cor 8:11) using all that we have, our entire lives in his service. Yet look at us, we have bought into the lie that has been sold by our consumeristic society, instead of being willing to give it all to God we are more preoccupied by what we have and what we get out of ‘religion’, instead we should be willing to give our all to the Lord who has give us his grace, not reluctantly, not under compulsion but as a response to Him. 


We should desire to use what God has given us for his work and for those in need. Remember Jesus words, it is more blessed to receive than to give, no, thats what our society thinks, no rather Jesus words were of course, “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. As Jesus said, earthly treasure rusts, it is eat by moths and sometimes stolen by thieves (Matt 6:19-21) we need to acknowledge that all that we have, the harvest our wealth, our time, our abilities, everything we have comes from God. 


In Romans 12, after Paul has just explained the redemptive acts of the Lord God, he reminded us how we have been saved, and then he outlines who we are to live living in the mercies of God, living in a way acceptable to him that is our reasonable service that is in response to the grace that we have been shown.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q87 What is repentance unto life?
Repentance unto life is a saving grace, (Acts 11:18) whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, (Acts 2:37–38) and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, (Joel 2:12, Jer. 3:22) doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, (Jer. 31:18–19, Ezek. 36:31) with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience. (2 Cor. 7:11, Isa. 1:16–17)