Preaching the Word: Deuteronomy—Loving Obedience to a Loving God
Overview
The book of Deuteronomy is a call to obedience—the proper response to God’s faithfulness and love. Consisting primarily of speeches that Moses gave to the Israelites shortly before they entered the Promised Land, Moses’ words proclaimed God’s covenant faithfulness in hopes of motivating the Israelites to obey God despite the coming temptation to conform to the Canaanite culture. The challenges they faced then are remarkably parallel to those facing Christians today as we grapple with the issue of obedience in a world that offers other attractive ways of life. We wonder: How can we be faithful to God? And how do we help our children and the people we lead to be faithful? This book tells us how Moses tackled these challenges and, as Paul confirms in the New Testament, Deuteronomy serves “as an example … written down for our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11). Ajith Fernando unpacks the relevance of Deuteronomy and captivates us with rich anecdotes from his 35 years of ministry to first-generation Christians in Sri Lanka. He offers concrete examples of how the truths contained in Deuteronomy can be applied, and he teaches us that obedience is the necessary response to the God who loves and saves us.
Top Highlights
“Why am I so excited about Deuteronomy? Primarily because in this book Moses is attempting to do something that is still so important for all Christians. He is close to death, and they are close to entering the promised land without him, the one who led them for forty years. Deuteronomy gives Moses’ farewell addresses to them. His aim is to motivate them to go forward and conquer the land and to help them to be faithful to God amidst all the challenges to such faithfulness that they will face. He warns them of challenges, he encourages them to a life of holiness, and he tells them the consequences of living and of failing to live such a life. All the time Moses was aware of the temptation the people would have to compromise their faith by assimilating aspects of Canaanite religion.” (Page 22)
“Verse 5 shows that God’s Word is to be obeyed out of a personal relationship with him. Wright says, ‘Such reductionist views of revelation ignore the reality that truth in human experience is both propositional and personal and deny the biblical emphasis on both. Deuteronomy 6:4–5 is one whole sentence; nothing could be more ‘propositional’ than 6:4 and nothing more ‘personal’ than 6:5.’ When we read the Scriptures we learn truths about God, and we also deepen our personal relationship with him. Both our intellect and our emotions are involved in this process.” (Pages 257–258)
“Earl Kalland helpfully comments that this verse ‘is not a study in faculty psychology. It is rather a gathering of terms to indicate the totality of a person’s commitment of self in the purest and noblest intentions of trust and obedience toward God.’” (Page 259)
- Title: Deuteronomy—Loving Obedience to a Loving God
- Author: Ajith Fernando
- Series: Preaching the Word
- Publisher: Crossway
- Print Publication Date: 2012
- Logos Release Date: 2012
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. O.T. Deuteronomy › Commentaries
- Resource ID: LLS:PRWD05DE
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-10-27T04:59:41Z
Ajith Fernando (ThM, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the teaching director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka after serving as the ministry's national director for thirty-five years. He and his wife, Nelun, are active in a church ministering primarily to the urban poor, and his ministry includes counseling and mentoring younger staff and pastors. He is the author of twenty books published in twenty-four languages. Ajith lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with his wife, and they have two adult children and four grandchildren.