City Life Starter

1. The Word: Deuteronomy 6:13-15 & John 15:4-6 (NRSV)

“13 The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear. 14 Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, 15 because the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.”

4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

II. Study Questions

1. Why is it better for the Israelites to die than to worship other gods?
2. What are the “other gods” you give your time to?
3. Do you ever feel like the “God” of the Old and New Testament are different?

American Christian culture tends to hate verses like todays from Deuteronomy. It’s the stereotypical Old Testament verse that declares certain death if you mess up. Our culture’s cuddly version of Jesus doesn’t fit with the strong will of God seen in the Torah. However, once you apply the full perspective of God’s glory and power, his unending love can shine in his many death sentences. God is omnipotent, holy, and worthy of all praise and adoration in the entire universe. He created the entire universe with his voice. He also happened to create these mortal, needy humans out of dust and graciously gave them a planet with the perfect environment to supply all their needs. Now, wouldn’t it make sense for the little humans on one planet inside one solar system inside one galaxy of the billions of galaxies in the created universe to endlessly worship this all-powerful God? But we don’t because we’re just not that smart. He even picked a subset of these humans, the Israelites, to dwell within and keep holy for His entrance into the world! The Israelites were repeatedly reminded that their existence was dependent on Him, yet even they couldn’t worship Him wholeheartedly.

Now that we understand the vast difference in authority between humans and God, doesn’t it make perfect sense for God to know what our life is worth living for? In the many verses mandating death throughout the Law, God is simply communicating that a life worshiping anything other than God is not worth it. So much so, it is better for the world that you perish than live apart from Him. God is telling us to abide in Him, and that any other choice is futile. Though we can often view God in the Old testament as unloving and mean, He is communicating the same message as Jesus regarding the branch and the vine. He loves us and wants us to use our short time on Earth fruitfully, and the best way we can do that is by rejecting idols and yearning for God every day. When we yearn for God, we experience his love and inevitably share it with those around us. If we don’t abide in God, we will worship idols; if we worship idols, we lose the ability to love others because only God is true love; if we can’t love others, then we perpetuate the world’s brokenness, which is the least socially responsible choice we could ever make.