Download Jesus replied, You shall love the Lord with all

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Is OT & NT Worship
Essentially
Identical
in its underlying theology?
©2014 Barry Liesch
Biola University
La Mirada, California 2
Worship in the OT
Don’t evangelicals tend to “blow off” worship
in the OT?
David Peterson. Engaging with God: A
Biblical Theology of Worship
Devotes 56 pages to OT
Nearly 200 pages to NT
Does the OT have more (or less) to say
about worship, devote more (or less) space
to worship, than the NT?
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Worship in the OT: Contextually Different
Worship 4000 years old!
A specific tribe/nation with…
a different language
a different culture
a different economy (agrarian), government
in a different era
in a fixed, circumscribed, location
Why spend so much time with it?
What could it possibly have for us?
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Worship in the OT
When we read the OT for its own message,
and not merely as a foil against the NT,
we discover that the underlying
theology is identical.
Daniel Block
A reason to study it!
Let’s investigate that.
But you ask, Isn’t OT worship primarily about
sacrifices and external worship?
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The Requirement
Shema
Deut 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The Lord your God is one. You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your might.
How does the verse proceed/develop?
Monotheistic?
From the inside out?
Heart = inner being  Soul = whole person 
Might = resources
Three widening, concentric circles?
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The Requirement
Lawyer asked what is the greatest commandment?
Jesus replied, You shall love the Lord with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest
commandment.
And the second is like it: You shall love your
neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments depend all the law and the
prophets.
Matt 22:37-40
How do verses develop? Similarities with Shema? 7
The Requirement
And now Israel, what does the Lord your God
require of you, but to fear the Lord God, to walk
in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord our
God with all your heart and with all your soul,
and to keep the commandments and statutes of
the Lord which I am commanding you today, for
your good.
Deut 10:12, 13
Where are the verbs? How many?
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The Requirement
And now Israel, what does the Lord your God
require of you, but to fear the Lord God, to walk
in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord our
God with all your heart and with all your soul,
and to keep the commandments and statutes of
the Lord which I am commanding you today, for
your good.
Deut 10:12, 13
Where are the verbs? How many?
5 of them? These verbs occur repeatedly in OT!
Fear, Love (dispositions of the heart)
Walk, Serve, Keep (active expressions, doing)
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The Requirement
You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve
him and hold fast to him, and by his name you
shall swear.
Deut 10:20
You shall therefore demonstrate love for the Lord
and keep his charge, his statutes, and his
commandments always.
Deut 11:1
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart
and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your
God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the great,
the mighty and awesome God.
Deut 10: 16, 17
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Basis of Requirement
Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and
the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is
within it.
Deut 10:14
He is your praise. He is your God who has done for
you these great and terrible things that your eyes
have seen.
Deut 10:21
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Not Impressed by Mere Externals
What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to walk humbly before your
God.
Micah 6:6-8
What might Evangelicals expect instead?
To steadfastly perform the OT rituals?
To scrupulously present offerings, sacrifices?
In OT theology, true piety is not demonstrated
primarily by impressive ritual, but by doing
justice, by walking humbly before God.
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Not Impressed by Mere Externals
Samuel:
Has YHWH as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as obeying the voice of YHWH?
Look, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen
[is preferable to] the fat of rams.
I Sam
15:22
Can you think of applications for us today?
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God Not Impressed by Mere Externals
Amos 5:21-24
I hate, I despise your feasts
And I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and
grain offerings, I will not accept them;
And the peace offerings of your fattened animals I
will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters, and
righteousness like an ever flowing stream.
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Jesus Not Impressed by Mere Externals
Woe to you scribes and Pharisees
Matt 23
…they do all their deeds to be seen…they love the
place of honor… to be greeted with respect…
…you clean the outside of the cup and plate, but
inside they are full of greed and selfindulgence…on the outside [you] look righteous
but inside you are full of hypocrisy…
…you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have
neglected the weightier matters of the law:
justice, mercy and faith. You blind guides! You
strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
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What picture do you get of OT worship?
What is primary?
What is secondary?
Does this change your picture of OT worship?
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