Passing on the Firm Foundation


Deuteronomy 6:6-7
4“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

As we find ourselves heading into remembering the final week of Jesus’ life here on earth, we look back into the Old Testament and Moses’ words of admonition to The Children of Israel as he prepares to leave them in the hands of their new leader, Joshua. Deuteronomy is his ‘last will and testament’ to a nation that he loves and prays for daily. The theology expressed in Deuteronomy 6:67 is one of the foundations of the whole of Christianity and Judaism. Here we find God’s command to make Him first in our lives, loving Him which leads to loving others, and to be diligent in passing this faith on to the next generations. The Old Testament (and our lives as well in many cases) is replete with examples of what happens when one generation fails to pass on the faith to their children and grandchildren. Idolatry follows quickly on the heels of such failure. But that need not be the case and God has provided you with His Holy Spirit and the tools to accomplish both of these important goals.

When Jesus had a conversation with a lawyer (a representative of the Pharisees and Sadducees), this passage was used with force. We find this passage (which is called “The Shema” by the Jews) quoted several times in the New Testament, including by Jesus Himself when He was being “tested” by the established temple authorities.

Matthew 24:34-40
34But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question to test Him. 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

There’s a reason it’s quoted and held up as important, for these words perfectly summarize the Christian faith into one word – Love. And frankly, that is easy to say and incredibly difficult to do!

These two questions are huge, and we don’t really think about the answers very much because our answers imply a need for action. Try to not to be flippant with your answers, but seriously consider them in your own life.

  1. What does it mean to you to “love God”? How does that play out in your life?
  1. What does it mean to “love others”? How does that play out in your life?
  1. Now the hard part – and maybe this is actually reflected in your answers above. How do we pass this information and the practice of it onto the next generations?  Be as specific as possible. You may even want to lay out a “plan” or some concrete steps. Your answers to this question are increasingly important in our “post-Christian” culture.
You’ve heard these words before. Now let them sink in and change the way you think and the way you act. For the Jews, these words are repeated twice a day, in the morning and in the evening. Take that smart-phone out of your pocket and put a calendar alert on your phone so that twice a day you are reminded of these marching orders. Make an auditory alert so that when you hear that sound, these words roll through your mind. It will change your life.

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