Freedom!
Reflections: Happy 4th of July, a day we celebrate our freedom as a country! Freedom is a theme throughout the bible as well. As the Israelites prepared to enter the Promised Land, God wanted them to cut down all the old idols of worship that enslaved them in the past. As the Israelites celebrated the freedom they had in the new land, they were to freely give God sacrifices as a sign of their worship to God. It was not meant to be legalistic, but a response to the goodness God had given them.
Importantly, God says in verse 8, that they were not to worship God, “as everyone saw fit”. God wanted Israel’s worship to be a sign of their unity together and their service of one God, not a god that each of them created to do for them what they wanted.
Today, we often see this in our country where people worship a god of their own choosing to please their own desires. Just as this nation was founded as one nation under God, men had to sacrifice their lives in order for us to worship and speak freely. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice for us to purchase for us freedom from sin. Freedom from being ruled by our own desires! Freedom to worship and serve God, for whom we were ultimately created!
As you give thanks for the sacrifices of those who were united in the cause of freedom in our country, give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice for you that brought freedom from sin and also eternal life. This sacrifice changes our attitude from everyone doing what they see fit, to offering ourselves as a living sacrifice back to God and doing what pleases him!
Psalm 81:1-5
For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
4 this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
Deuteronomy 12
The One Place of Worship
12 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you. 8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11 Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name —there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. 12 And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. 14 Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you
Luke 7:1-17
The Faith of the Centurion
7 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced. Isaiah 50:7
Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13
Lord, by your saving grace we know we do not need to earn our salvation. Keep us close to you so we do not forget your grace. Remind us whenever we pray the prayers you have taught us. Amen.
Importantly, God says in verse 8, that they were not to worship God, “as everyone saw fit”. God wanted Israel’s worship to be a sign of their unity together and their service of one God, not a god that each of them created to do for them what they wanted.
Today, we often see this in our country where people worship a god of their own choosing to please their own desires. Just as this nation was founded as one nation under God, men had to sacrifice their lives in order for us to worship and speak freely. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice for us to purchase for us freedom from sin. Freedom from being ruled by our own desires! Freedom to worship and serve God, for whom we were ultimately created!
As you give thanks for the sacrifices of those who were united in the cause of freedom in our country, give thanks for Jesus’ sacrifice for you that brought freedom from sin and also eternal life. This sacrifice changes our attitude from everyone doing what they see fit, to offering ourselves as a living sacrifice back to God and doing what pleases him!
Psalm 81:1-5
For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
2 Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
play the melodious harp and lyre.
3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon,
and when the moon is full, on the day of our festival;
4 this is a decree for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 When God went out against Egypt,
he established it as a statute for Joseph.
Deuteronomy 12
The One Place of Worship
12 These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. 2 Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. 3 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.4 You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. 5 But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; 6 there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you. 8 You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, 9 since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11 Then to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name —there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. 12 And there rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. 13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. 14 Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you
Luke 7:1-17
The Faith of the Centurion
7 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced. Isaiah 50:7
Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13
Lord, by your saving grace we know we do not need to earn our salvation. Keep us close to you so we do not forget your grace. Remind us whenever we pray the prayers you have taught us. Amen.
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