Don’t forget we’ll be having Family Sunday School after church!
Psalm 119
Last week, we began opening our worship service with Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the Bible with 176 verses! Psalm 119 is an acrostic poem. An acrostic is a poem where each line begins with a letter that forms a word or, in the case of Psalm 119, starts with each letter of the alphabet in order. Each letter in the Hebrew ‘AlefBet’ has 8 verses dedicated to it, and each verse begins with the corresponding letter.
Psalm 119 on the whole has a very strong emphasis on the Word, commands, and statutes of Yahweh. As we read through Psalm 119, I pray you will delight in the Word of the Lord and in the beauty of this psalm.
This week, we will read the verses for Bet. In English, you won’t recognize the acrostic pattern, but each line begins with a ‘Bet.’
Sermon Text – Deuteronomy 10:12-21
This week, Pr. Schultz will be preaching from Fifth Book of Moses, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is a bit of a misnomer. It comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew of Deuteronomy 17:18. From the the Greek, we would understand Deuteronomy to mean, “second law.” However, from the Hebrew, a better understanding of this verse would be “a copy of this Torah.”
The Book of Deuteronomy does not simply repeat Exodus 20. Rather it clarifies and explains the instructions of God for a new generation of Israelites who were not at Mt. Sinai. The Hebrew names for the books of the Old Testament come from the first words of the book. That would make the name of this book, These are the words. Words indeed. The Pentateuch has the story of God’s people in narrative weaved throughout, but in Deuteronomy, the only narrative section is in Deuteronomy 34 which tells of Moses’ death. The remainder of this excellent book focuses on God’s words in order to prepare this generation to enter the promised land.
Explanation of the Week
The Pharisees ask a Law question. Jesus asks a Gospel question. The Pharisees seek to trap Jesus in His own words. Jesus seeks to “trap” them in the saving reality of who He is as the Messiah (Matt 22:34-46). The Law requires you to “fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul” and to “love the stranger” (Deut 10:12-21). Failure to keep the Law perfectly brings judgment. On the other hand, the Gospel brings the grace of God given by Jesus Christ, that you may be blameless in the day of His return (1 Cor 1:1-9). Jesus is David’s Son yet David’s Lord, true God and true man. He is Love incarnate who fulfilled all the demands of God’s Law on our behalf, that we might be saved from the Law’s condemnation and sanctified in the Gospel’s forgiveness. Thereby we see that “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”