Resources: Lesson Manuscript, PowerPoint, and Devotional
Franklin Heights Church Connect Groups: https://franklinheights.org/connect/groups/
Review: Last week we looked at how we’re so blessed to be called as God’s people! I mean think of that God called you to Himself in the salvation he offers and you responded, “yes, Lord! Save me!” As His redeemed people, forgiven, we’re compelled to be in His Word and to walk in the wisdom therein.
Title: Love
Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-25
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Introduction: In this week’s lesson we see that: Theme: Our relationship with God is defined by love.
Intro: Growing up, things around the house are sometimes labeled for kids to passively learn reading and associate them with objects, household items like light switch, chair, table, door, and so on. God does the same thing in helping us learn and grow, labeling things so that we can learn the lesson for later on.
Main Points:
- Fear the Lord (Deut. 6:1-3)
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules[a]—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.”
- Chapter 5 covers the 10 Commandments.
- Now Moses is shifting his focus to the first commandment from Deut. 5:7 requiring that God’s people have no other gods, and have a proper fear of the Lord. This isn’t a bully-esque type of fear, but a fear that puts God in His proper place in the way we think, feel and act: you’re God and holy and in charge. We’re not. We’re Your creatures and are to worship and revere and fear and love you.
- There’s a reward for obedience: a long-life. As God promised Abraham in Genesis 15:1; 26:4, God’s promise is remembered and echoed and celebrated here that God would bless them and they would prosper in His Promised Land if they put Him first.
- The description of God’s reward is a land flowing with milk and honey, which speaks to the lavish nature of God’s love and blessing on His people. God is not holding out on you, and he wants you to experience His good plan. Ephesians 1:7-8 puts it this way: “7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”
- Application: Please know the lavishing extravagant love of God for you. A lot of individuals can’t reconcile fearing God and experiencing His lavished love on them, because of the pharisaical religiosity that was crammed at them. But we see here, God’s love for His people and His people’s fear of Him truly work best hand in hand.
- II. Devoted (Deut. 6:4-9)
“4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[b] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
- Verses 4-9 is one of the most important Old testament passages, the “Shema,” quoted often by orthodox Jews and quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39 when He said to the lawyers question of who was his neighbor-who he was technically obligated to love-, Jesus replied with the Shema, “37 And 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. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- The singularity of the Triune God as “one” Is used here.
- The Shema calls us to love completely with all of our being: “heart” meaning will and intellect/mind; “soul” an individual’s being and desires. “strength” means passion and what we prioritize. This is the whole person.
- They were to repeat it over and over again to teach and train their children. Verse 7 emphasizes we should this verbally and verses 8-9 emphasizes we should do this locationally so that intentional reminders of these truths are readily accessible.
Application: It’s similar to a believer today who is trying to experience victory over a particular sin, making their smart phone screensaver a helpful verse that encourages them.
III. Righteous (Deut. 6:20-25)
“20 When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’”
- A rhetorical question that the lesson asks is worthy of our consideration as we look at this final point: “How does our behavior reflect what we believe about God?”
- We’re currently headed into a governor’s election and there is a huge emphasis on how we vote impacts policies. How we behave impacts what we believe about God.
- Parents were to tell the story and they were given specific guidelines for how the story was to be told. They were to start with their Egyptian bondage with a focus on the “…mighty hand [of the Lord and His]…signs and wonders…” along with what He expected of His people, obeying and revering Him, followed by experiencing his blessing.
Doctrine: Our key doctrine for this week is Family.
Lifeway says, “Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth.”
- Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
- 2 Timothy 1:5, “5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.”
Gospel: I Corinthians 15:3-4, “3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”
Gospel Conversation Transition Statement: A lot of people who we cross paths with will share that they didn’t experience a loving, nurturing childhood or homelife. We need to express, “While I haven’t dealt with a tough childhood, homelife, I have had my share of childhood brokenness. May I share with you the hope I have found in Jesus?”
Big Takeaway(s):
- Believers demonstrate a genuine love for God by obeying His commandments.
- God deserves the central and preeminent place in our lives, and everything else revolves round Him.
- Remembering God’s past faithfulness helps us to follow God’s commands today.
Discussion:
- How do we show people that we love them? How do we show God that we love Him?
- How can you show your spouse that you love them? Can you identify your wife’s or husband’s love language? Gary Chapman’s book purports 5 love “languages:” (1) Touch, (2) acts of service, (3) kind words, (4) gift giving, and (5) quality time.
I appreciate the 5 love languages because while they’re not necessarily “Bible,” they are intentional, and if there’s anything we should be intentional about nurturing and cultivating, it’s our marriages. It takes work, hopefully more positives than negative learning experiences, and it’s a process.
- How do you pass on your faith to your children and grandchildren?
- What is one of your big takeaways from God’s Word here?
Please share your takeaway within your group and add your takeaway it in the comments.
Caleb Walker 
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