Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Knowing and doing God’s Word are two legs of what ought to be a three-legged stool. To know God’s Word is key. To obey God’s Word is essential. But to share God’s Word is critical. Not sharing God’s Word is like keeping secret the single most important truth in the world.
The simple truths of God’s Word are meant to be shared not hoarded for our personal consumption alone. The text before us reminds us of the need to share God’s Word in what may be called “concentric circles of concern,” beginning with oneself, one’s family, and then with your neighbors.
Obedience to God’s Word brings blessings (Deuteronomy 6:1-3). As I Samuel 15:22 notes, it is better to obey than to sacrifice. We are called to obey God’s Word. But you cannot obey what you do not know.
Kevin Shrum
And unless the Word of God is made known obedience is impossible. This is why as God’s people entered the promised land (v.1) they were to know and to keep God’s Word (v. 2). Knowing and doing God’s Word brings blessings (v. 3).
The blessings associated with God’s Word does not mean we will avoid trials and troubles.
Instead, it means that God’s Word will guide us each step of the way, whether it be through seasons where the grass is green or while we’re trodding the valley of the shadows of death. Knowing, doing and sharing God’s Word work together to accomplish God’s purposes in us.
God’s Word produces love for God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). We are called to love God. But we are not naturally inclined to do so unless something supernatural has occurred in our lives. It is called the New Birth (John 3:3) produced by God’s Word (I Peter 1:23).
When God’s Word changes us — the written word and the living Word, Jesus Christ — we are enabled to love God. We are not only enabled to love God, but we are enabled to love God comprehensively — heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:34-40). God’s Word not only produces doctrinal clarity, but spiritual compassion.
To love God’s Word is to love the God of the Word. And to love God is to love the things God loves — His glory, truth and the lost.
Word produced love is to be shared Deuteronomy 6:6-9). As God’s people entered the promised land, God called His people to put the Word of God in their hearts (v. 6) so that what came out of their hearts and through their mouths might be saturated with God’s Word.
We, too, are to mimic this pattern of behavior. We are to teach our children God’s Word (v. 7). We are to communicate God’s Word when we’re in casual conversations, when we’re walking through the journey of life, and when we rise up in the morning and before we go to bed at night (v. 7). God’s Word must become a part of how we communicate to others.
Sharing God’s Word has fallen on hard times. In our hyper-politicized, cancel culture we have become shy about sharing biblical truth. God’s Word has always been controversial. But when we share it with honesty, love and clarity amazing things happen (Ephesians 4:15). So, let’s know, obey, and share God’s Word. B&R
