Deuteronomy 21:1521 Reformation: Bringing long lasting godly changes to our society

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Reformation
Bringing long-lasting godly changes to our society
Deuteronomy 2115-21
Paul J. Bucknell
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Deuteronomy

• A. Reconnecting with Gods Purpose (Dt 1-4)
• B. Reflecting on Gods Person (Dt 5-11)
• C. Refocusing on Gods Way (Dt 12-26)
• D. Responding to Gods Promise (Dt 27-34)

Looking Back, Moving Forward
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Revival or Reformation?
1904 Welsh Revival

• No court cases
• 100,000-150,000 saved
• Mines stopped for a while

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Steps to Change
1950s 1960s --gt
Now
Better
Worse
Heart changes
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Principles and values
Principles
Moral laws are built into our lives and world.
Permanent, embedded into the world
Values
What a person or group feels important to them.
Relative, important for the moment
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Danger of values

• Values can differ from principles
• If differ, brings eventual disaster
• Values are built around individual (consensus)
  opinion
• Easily adopted (agreeable)
• Values tend to deteriorate
• Dangers are not observed until later, warnings
  overlooked
• These values lead to destruction

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Redeemed!
Love in the Law
8 times in Deuteronomy
For the sons of Israel are My servants they are
My servants whom I brought out from the land of
Egypt. I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 2555,
De 56).
21 times in Leviticus

• The laws restrain growth of evil
• The laws preserve what is good

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Ten Commandments - Not! (1-5)
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Ten Commandments - Not! (6-10)
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Common questions

• How do Gods people live in Gods presence?

How do I get close to God?
How can I grow spiritually?
How can I get closer to the Lord?

• How can I have a better life?

How can I not be so lonely?
How can I find peace of heart?
How can I have a better marriage?
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Deuteronomy 2115-21
1) Parental love (Deuteronomy 2115-17)
2) Rebellious children (Deuteronomy 2118-21)
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1) Parental love (Deuteronomy 2115-17)
15 If a man has two wives, the one loved and the
other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved
have borne him sons, if the first-born son
belongs to the unloved, 16 then it shall be in
the day he wills what he has to his sons, he
cannot make the son of the loved the first-born
before the son of the unloved, who is the
first-born. 17 But he shall acknowledge the
first-born, the son of the unloved, by giving him
a double portion of all that he has, for he is
the beginning of his strength to him belongs the
right of the first-born (Deuteronomy 2115-17,
NASB).
Observations

• A man has two wives (loves only one)
• Inheritance problem (sons from both)
• Compassionate issue (favor leads to neglect)
• The father must still will the double portion to
  eldest son

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1) Parental love (Deuteronomy 2115-17)
Issues

• Inheritance issue
• Eldest son and his siblings
• His wife left behind
• Jealousy and hatred
• Love for money
• Cares for those left behind

• Todays world
• Understand problems with broken marriages.
• Care for our parents in their old age.
• Preserve family relationships.

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2) Rebellious children (Deuteronomy 2118-21)
18 If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son
who will not obey his father or his mother, and
when they chastise him, he will not even listen
to them, 19 then his father and mother shall
seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his
city at the gateway of his home town. 20 And
they shall say to the elders of his city, This
son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will
not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard. 21
Then all the men of his city shall stone him to
death so you shall remove the evil from your
midst, and all Israel shall hear of it and fear
(Dt 2118-21).
Observations

• Stubborn and rebellious (attitude and actions)
• Parents dilemma (What should we do? Tried
  everything.)
• Societal problem (crime, isolate through death)
• Advantage (lessen the problem in others through
  fear)

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2) Rebellious children (Deuteronomy 2118-21)
Juvenile courts handled 1.6 million delinquency
cases in 2000,... 43 percent higher than the
level of caseloads in 1985. Since 1960 the
juvenile court caseload increased over 400
percent, from 1,100 delinquency cases on a given
day in 1960 to 4,500 in 2000.

• Cost of US juvenile crime
• Victim costs 62,000-250,000
• Criminal justice 21,000-84,000
• Total 83,000-335,000

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2) Rebellious children (Deuteronomy 2118-21)
Governmental Responsibilities
Mounting social science research confirms what
most Americans already know The breakdown of the
family contributes significantly to many of
society's ills, including poverty, crime, drug
addiction, school drop-out rates, and poor
health. From this same research, Americans also
are learning that when fathers are absent from
their families, the rate of juvenile delinquency
rises dramatically.Americans are less likely to
know that the federal and state juvenile
corrections systems generally act as if this
significant relationship between family breakdown
and juvenile crime did not exist--as if, in other
words, the absence of fathers and married parents
in a juvenile delinquent's life had no effect on
the incidence of juvenile crime.
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2) Rebellious children (Deuteronomy 2118-21)
Issues

• Control of juvenile delinquents
• Costs of isolation/retraining
• Justice (Why only concerned about the criminal
  and not those who suffer?)
• Demand effective treatment
• What about the parents?

Eliminating principles of justice from juvenile
delinquent cases produces a much greater number
of criminal cases.
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2) Rebellious children (Deuteronomy 2118-21)
Parental Responsibilities

• Todays world
• Society will have juvenile delinquents
• Must correct delinquents with harm, costs and
  repeated offenses in mind
• Governments exasperate the situation by not
  strengthening families
• Parents need to consistently discipline their
  children.

• A fool rejects his fathers discipline, But he
  who regards reproof is prudent. (Pr 155).
• Stern discipline is for him who forsakes the
  way He who hates reproof will die. Pr 1510)
• He who neglects discipline despises himself, But
  he who listens to reproof acquires
  understanding. Proverbs 1532
• Understanding is a fountain of life to him who
  has it, But the discipline of fools is folly.
  (Pr 1622)
• Discipline your son while there is hope, And do
  not desire his death. (Proverbs 1918).

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Summary

• Insist your values match life principles
• Love Gods truth it is the path to life
• Purposely step closer to God
• Strive to have a wonderful marriage
• Consistently discipline your children

Revival and Reformation Bringing long-lasting
godly changes to our society