May 22, 2018 - Suggested Reading Deuteronomy 25 for May 27th’s message on 1 Corinthians 9:1-23 in the 1st Service

“For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?”

1 Corinthians 9:9 (NIV)

It has been said that the Word of God is like a diamond, in that while it is beautiful from a distance, it becomes more beautiful as you get closer to it, 

and that each time you look closer at it and change your angle of looking, you will see beauty you hadn’t noticed before.

When we read Deuteronomy 25 we understand that this chapter is written for the Israelites thousands of years ago, for the purposes of regulating their lives in the promised land living under God’s rule which we call a theocracy. We wince when we read of the 40 lashes, we feel compassion for the widow and her predicament, we wonder how a brawl involving married couples could break out while living in a theocracy, and we are appreciative of the rule of measure, and wish it could be used at our grocery store- they seem to flip and flop between metric and imperial measure just to confuse us into spending more! We wince again at the last 3 verses, and wonder how the genocide of the Amalekites could bring glory to God, and yet we know God enough to trust His good purposes, Saul stumbled at this command to his detriment, but Samuel and David didn’t to their blessing. This chapter is about honouring God in our relationship with others - it is about justice, for it begins and ends with justice, and it is about family-  there is much to be gleaned for ourselves about honouring God in our relationship with others as we look closely at it.Paul saw something in the instruction about the ox, he saw that this verse was the only verse that didn’t specifically address people, and the Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that this verse is speaking about allowing people to eat from the proceeds of their work, and if your work is in the spreading of the gospel then the people benefitting from your work should feed you. The Lord said the same thing to His disciples when he sent out the seventy. Truly this chapter is about honouring God in our relationship with others.