From your Old Testament study, you know that this passage includes the ringing Shema (6:4-5), Israel’s daily prayer: Listen, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone! It’s called the Shema because of the first word in the prayer, translated in English as “listen.” To this proclamation of God’s supremacy, we who belong to Jesus say: Amen! Then we see other themes important to our study of Transformational Bible Teaching.
First, isn’t the verb in verse 5 striking? After such a powerful statement of God’s preeminence, we might have expected the text to read: “You shall worship the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” or maybe “You shall obey the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” Instead, we see that God wanted then and wants now, that we love Him with all of our heart, our soul, and might. True worship and obedience overflows most abundantly from a heart of love. Jesus called this truth the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:35-40 and Mark 12:28-34). God’s longing for a reciprocal love relationship with His created ones permeates His character and His Word. How can we make this great truth come more alive in Bible teaching?
Second, God’s “recipe” for making our relationship with Him living and active can be seen in verses 6-9 which call for (a) variety and (b) sharing life with Him in community. This week, when we talk about different strategies to get people engaged with God’s Word and with each other, keep Deuteronomy 6:4-7 in mind. If we’re not careful, group Bible teaching can slip into a routine that is the same week after week, year after year. Is that what’s best to help believers keep learning and growing and getting excited all over again about their love relationship with Jesus? Is that what’s best to keep fellow saints learning and growing together? Selah. Meditate on these things.
Comments are closed