For Discussion. How do you feel about rewards from God? Are they important to you? Why or why not?

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1 the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis states, We are afraid that heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. In the Old Testament book of Job, Satan was challenged and Job was tested over the question whether God deserves our love because of the good gifts He gives, or just because of who He is. The answer is obvious, but the acceptance of it is often hard-won. In the end, God must be loved for who He is, not whether He gives us the things we think we deserve. However, we can go to the other extreme and disavow any desire for God s good gifts. So we need balance. God wants us to delight in Him, and He has pleasure in showing us all the wonderful blessings and the fullness of life we will have if we stay with Him. In his book The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis notes how believers often underestimate the full riches God has for His children: "...If we consider...the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures...like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by God has separated us by birth from everything else that might promise fulfillment, to Himself the only One with whom we will know, This is where I belong. He calls to you: Stay with Me. When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ And He shows me His plan for me; The plan of my life as it might have been Had He had His way, and I see How I blocked Him here and I checked Him there And I would not yield my will, Shall I see grief in my Savior's eyes; Grief though He loves me still? Oh, He'd have me rich, and I stand there poor, Stripped of all but His grace, While my memory runs like a hunted thing Down the paths I can't retrace. Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break With tears that I cannot shed. I'll cover my face with my empty hands And bow my uncrowned head. No. Lord of the years that are left to me I yield them to Thy hand. Take me, make me, mold me To the pattern Thou hast planned. For Discussion How do you feel about rewards from God? Are they important to you? Why or why not? If they are important, what kinds of rewards do you want?

2 Leviticus 26:3-13 Encounter Read God s word so He can speak to you. 3 "'If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 6 "'I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you. 9 "'I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11 I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Examine what the passage says before you decide what it means. Read it carefully three times. Underline anything you see as important. Write any questions you have.

3 Explore God's Word by asking questions of what you saw. The notes that follow may help you think through these questions. 1) Scan through Leviticus 26. What are the rewards promised for obedience? What are the punishments promised for disobedience? 2) Motivation can come from reward, fear of punishment, or love. Give some examples of how a parent might use each of these motivators on their children? What are the differences between these motivators? What are the underlying assumptions? When is one better than another? Is one better than another? How are love and obedience connected? (see John 15:9-10) 3) The rewards and punishments of Leviticus 26 are closely tied to life in the land. It is almost like God saying, This is My land. I will only share it with those who love Me. Is that selfish? How do you understand this? Is God vindictive in verse 24 and following? Explain. 4) The land was the place where God had chosen to bless the people, because it was the place where they were with Him in obedience. God s promises to us are not about land, but certainly about life. How do you bridge and connect those promises to us today?

4 Explore (con t) 5) Leviticus 26 doesn t really talk about love, yet love is there in the background. Read Deuteronomy 30:1-6. How does love relate to God s promises of love to us and His warnings of discipline? Think about both His love and our love. When Jesus says, Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you, what does that make you think? How does it make you feel? When God says, I want you to stay with Me, what does that make you think? How does it make you feel? Has it motivated you to obedience? How? Two basic commandments, one negative and one positive, introduce this chapter (26:1-2.) Then follow blessings the Israelites could expect for fidelity to the covenant (vv. 3-13), warnings for contempt of the covenant (vv ), and finally, God's reasons for giving Israel these laws (vv ). God explained that He would discipline His people in order to bring them to repentance and return them to Himself. This chapter proved to be prophetic in Israel's history. Notes On The Passage (Adapted from Thomas Constable, Expository Notes) The benefits of faithful obedience to the law of God would be fruitful harvests (vv. 4-5, 10), and security and peace (v. 6), including victory in battle (vv. 7-8) and numerical growth as a nation (v. 9; cf. Gen. 17:7). The obedient would also experience increasing enjoyment of God's presence and fellowship (vv ). The Hebrew word translated "dwelling" (v. 11, miskan) is the source of the name "Shekinah." Later Jews described God's presence in the most holy place as the Shekinah (cf. Exod. 40:34-38). These blessings were both material (vv. 3-10) and spiritual (vv ). Israel enjoyed them in her years in the land to the extent that she remained faithful to the terms of the Mosaic Covenant. They are reminiscent of God's original blessings in the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen. 1:26, 28, 29; 2:8; 3:8) These punishments would come on the Israelites not for individual errors and sins but for a settled contempt for the whole covenant. They manifested such contempt in presumptuous and obstinate rebellion against the law (vv ). Moses revealed five levels or waves of punishment. If Israel did not turn back to God after the first penalties, God would bring the second on them, and so on. 26:14-17 The "terror" spoken of (v. 16) is probably a description of the Israelites' general feeling in response to the particular calamities that follow. These punishments were disease, lack of agricultural

5 Notes On The Passage (con t) fruitfulness, and defeat by their enemies. 26:18-20 The second stage of barren land might follow (one curse; cf. 1 Kings 17:1). 26:21-22 The third stage would be divine extermination of their cattle and children (two curses). 26:23-26 The fourth stage would be war, plagues, and famine (three curses). 26:27-33 The fifth stage would be the destruction of the Israelites' families, idolatrous practices and places, land, and nation through dispersion (four curses). In her history in the land Israel experienced all of these curses because she eventually despised the Mosaic Law. The record of this failure is not consistent. There were periods of revival and consequent blessing. Nevertheless the general course of the nation proceeded downward In this section God explained that His discipline for disobedience would be to produce repentance and return to Himself by the Israelites (cf. Prov. 3:12; Heb. 12:6) The length of the Babylonian captivity was 70 years because the Israelites failed to observe 70 sabbatical years in the land (2 Chron. 36:21; cf. Jer. 29:10), between about 1406 and 586 B.C Confession springing from humility would restrain God's hand of discipline on Israel (vv ). Apostasy and consequent judgment would not invalidate God's promises to Abraham (vv ). Discipline would be a stage in God's dealings with Abraham's seed, but He would not reject His people or cut them off as a nation. These verses are a strong witness to the unconditional nature of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Lord reminded His people nine times in Leviticus that He had delivered them from Egypt and therefore deserved their obedience (11:45; 19:36; 22:33; 23:43; 25:38, 42, 55; 26:13, 45). Going Further One thing we can do to train ourselves to remember, is to memorize a part of what our Father has said to us. The Holy Spirit can use this to change our thinking so that our heads are more like Jesus. This week, memorize John 15:9-10.