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Rom. 8
Identify at least 3 (there are more) results of living in the Spirit. What could you do to be more led by the Spirit? Paul has come full circle; back to his original point from Romans 2. That point being that the Jewish believers could not condemn the Gentile believers for not being circumcised according to the Law of Moses. “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns?” (Rom. 8:33-34a). Paul spent the past seven chapters explaining how it is God’s Spirit, not the letter of the law, that makes us righteous, and that we receive God’s Spirit through faith in Jesus, God’s promise, rather than through any effort of our own. He also revealed another truth that started coming clear to me this morning as I thought about all of this.
Paul made it clear that we are no longer subject to the Old Testament law. He also made it clear that that same law is not irrelevant or meaningless. Consider circumcision, which Paul made a very long and clear point of explaining is not required. More to the point is that physical circumcision is not required. So here’s the thing I see about the Law of Moses. It was an external, physical representation of what takes place in our hearts when we receive God’s Spirit through faith in Christ.
Consider Jesus’ words in Matthew 15. “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them….but the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” (Matt. 15:11a, 18). Then consider Paul’s words from Romans 2. “No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.” (Rom. 2:29). If, then, this is true of circumcision and for what defiles, is it not true for the rest of the law? Go back to Matthew 5-7 and read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He addressed a lengthy list of specifics from the Law, taking them from a mere physical act to a condition of the heart. This certainly gives me a different perspective next time I consider how those Old Testament laws might apply to my life!
Num. 1-2
What are the Levites’ tasks? Why aren’t they included in the census (relate to the purpose of the census)? Why do you think God put the tent of meeting and the Levites in the middle of the camp? A few interesting observations from these first two chapters of Numbers:
- The tribe of Judah, blessed as God’s chosen line through which to fulfill His promise (see Gen. 49), was by far the largest of the twelve tribes, to the tune of about 12,000. God placed them at the head of the camp. Judah’s tribe set up “on the east, toward the sunrise” (Num. 2:3a), which is the direction the Bible associates with God’s coming to us. And his tribe was the first to set out when they broke camp.
- The census counted men of war. The Levites were not included in the census because they belonged to God and were to remain holy. Involvement in war would have defiled them.
- The tent of meeting was in the center of the camp because God is always to be at the center of His people and each one of our lives.
- God placed the Levites between His presence in the tent of meeting and the rest of the people. He set them apart as holy to God and they acted as mediators between God and His people. God instructed the other tribes “to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it” (Num. 2:2a). By placing the Levites in between, God created even more distance between His holy presence and those not set apart as holy. He did this “that [His] wrath will not fall on the Israelite community.” (Lev. 1:53a). How blessed we are to now have a High Priest – Jesus Christ – who, rather than separating us from God so that we will not die, reunites us with God so that we will live.