16.10 One God: Worship the One What are Microblades? Microblades are very small, yet very sharp collections of memory verses on key Biblical topics. Each Microblade takes a month to memorize at a rate of just 1 verse per week. How to use your Microblade: Memorize the weekly verse Read supporting commentary Answer study questions Reflect on the email devotional (beginning first Monday of the month) Recite to a hearer all verses at month s end Report to us the last week of the month at 888.569.2560 or contact@scripturememory.com to claim your reward Next month s Microblade topic: ONE ANOTHER. P.O. Box 550232, Dallas, TX 75355 888.569.2560 contact@scripturememory.com scripturememory.com Memory Verse Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD. Deuteronomy 6:4 KJV Commentary In Deuteronomy, God gives the Second Law through Moses, a careful review of the original Law, rehearsed and amplified for the benefit of Israel s new generation preparing to take possession of the Promised Land. After a short review of Israel s history (Deut. 1:1-4:44), Moses gives and elaborates this Law (4:45-26:19). Blessings for keeping and curses for breaking the Law then follow (27:1-30:20), and the book concludes with God s final words of assurance and warnings through Moses (31:1-34:12). Our memory verse, the famous Shema (Hear!) passage, has been quoted by Israelites for millennia as one of their foundational texts on who God is and how He is to be worshipped. November 2016 Week 1 Page 4 November 2016 Week 1 Page 1
Commentary Continued Hear, O Israel. This word hear means listening with the ear but also connotes listening with attention, interest, and understanding, hence the Holman translation, Listen. Remember that Israel is Jacob s covenant name corresponding to the emphasis in this passage on God s covenant name, Yahweh (Gen. 32:28; Exod. 3:13-14). We are who we are by virtue of God s calling and covenant in our lives. God is known to us by means of a covenant relationship. This address comes right after the Ten Commandments have been repeated for the new generation entering the Promised Land (Deut. 5:1-21), a passage that also begins with Hear, O Israel (5:1). The LORD our God. As in most English translations, the name LORD in small caps translates the divine covenant name Yahweh. Yahweh is our God. For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death (Psa. 48:14). The possessive pronoun our applied to God reveals something precious; Yahweh belongs to us (and we to Him), by no other right than that He has given Himself to us. The principle of mutual belonging is illustrated in marriage. The LORD is one. There is only one God, and He is one in His being though existing eternally in three Persons. Application Questions 1. Do you listen well to God s Word, the Holy Spirit, and God s appointed ministers in your life? What is the opposite of a dull, hard, distracted heart? 2. Why does it matter that we serve one God and not many gods? 3. Can you say from your heart, the Lord is my God? Do your words and actions agree? November 2016 Week 1 Page 2 November 2016 Week 1 Page 3
16.10 One God: Know the One Memory Verse What are Microblades? Microblades are very small, yet very sharp collections of memory verses on key Biblical topics. Each Microblade takes a month to memorize at a rate of just 1 verse per week. How to use your Microblade: Memorize the weekly verse Read supporting commentary Answer study questions Reflect on the email devotional (beginning first Monday of the month) Recite to a hearer all verses at month s end Report to us the last week of the month at 888.569.2560 or contact@scripturememory.com to claim your reward Next month s Microblade topic: ONE ANOTHER. November 2016 Week 2 Page 4 P.O. Box 550232, Dallas, TX 75355 888.569.2560 contact@scripturememory.com scripturememory.com Commentary And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3 KJV John wrote his gospel that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31). To this end, John deploys a well-chosen set of Jesus signs and sermons designed to reveal Him as the Promised King of Israel (John 1:49), the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29), the Son of God (10:36), and the infinite Word Who is Himself God (1:1). But the dialogues and discourses of Christ shared by John also teach some of the richest truths about how believers come to know and walk with Christ. John s gospel often gives a perspective not found in the other three gospels, especially in the in-depth dialogues of Jesus with His disciples. November 2016 Week 2 Page 1
Commentary Continued Nowhere is this more evident than in the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17), a goldmine of truth on the Holy Spirit and the believer s spiritual life. Jesus teaching on abiding in Himself comes in the middle of this rich conversation of Jesus and the disciples, which took place right before Jesus betrayal and arrest. Application Questions 1. With John 17:3 in mind, explain eternal life as if to an eight-yearold child. John 17 records Jesus high priestly prayer, an amazing utterance full of revelation of God s sovereignty in salvation (17:2, 6, 10, 12), Christ s preexistence with the Father (17:24), and His zeal for our unity (17:21-23). And this is eternal life. Christ has just prayed for the Father to glorify Him through the bestowment of eternal life on His people (17:1-2). Eternal life is literally life of eons, which is life without end. He now defines eternal life in surprisingly personal terms. 2. What will you do for God boldly today--knowing He is the only God and the true God? That they may know You. Reading the whole Bible drama of mankind s ruin and redemption, beginning in Genesis, does it surprise us that eternal life amounts to a personal relationship rather than some kind of medical marvel or fountain of youth? Note that know is in the present tense indicating a continuous, ongoing reality. The only true God. Deuteronomy 6:4 and its revelation that God is One underlie Jesus statement here. Other so-called gods are not true gods. Other supernatural beings exist, but the one true God is in a class by Himself. And Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Knowing God requires knowing Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (John 1:18). Jesus says to Philip, He who has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:9). Again, salvation comes down to a relationship. It s a Person, not a plan not some cold denomination but a living, breathing Man! (Michael Card). The verb translated sent is related to the word for apostle. Jesus Christ is God s Apostle, His sent One. Knowing Him is eternal life. 3. Why did God send Jesus? How does this make a difference in the way you live today versus how an unbeliever lives today? November 2016 Week 2 Page 2 November 2016 Week 2 Page 3
16.10 One God: United in One What are Microblades? Microblades are very small, yet very sharp collections of memory verses on key Biblical topics. Each Microblade takes a month to memorize at a rate of just 1 verse per week. How to use your Microblade: Memorize the weekly verse Read supporting commentary Answer study questions Reflect on the email devotional (beginning first Monday of the month) Recite to a hearer all verses at month s end Report to us the last week of the month at 888.569.2560 or contact@scripturememory.com to claim your reward Next month s Microblade topic: ONE ANOTHER. November 2016 Week 3 Page 4 P.O. Box 550232, Dallas, TX 75355 888.569.2560 contact@scripturememory.com scripturememory.com Memory Verse Commentary One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:6 KJV The Spirit-breathed words of Ephesians beautifully declare the accomplished facts of God s great work in Christ (Eph. 1-3), then boldly calls believers to walk worthy of that heavenly calling (Eph. 4-6). God has blessed believers with every spiritual blessing, choosing them to be holy and blameless, predestining them to be His children, sealing them with His Spirit, and guaranteeing them an inheritance (1:3-14). Believers have been made alive with Christ and raised up to sit with Him in heavenly places where, in the ages to come, God will show them the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness to them in Christ Jesus (2:1-7). Ephesians rich portrait of the Christian life flows out of the super-rich blessings bestowed on believers by Christ from the riches of His grace. November 2016 Week 3 Page 1
Commentary Continued Ephesians has much to say about how to walk worthy of Christ by means of the Holy Spirit (1:14, etc.). In light of all this grace in Christ, Ephesians 4 calls for unity amidst diversity in the use of Christ s various spiritual gifts (4:1-11). United believers using diverse gifts grow up to look like Jesus Christ (4:12-16). As Paul turns to address the practical outworking and walking of the Christian life, he begins with a call to Christlikeness. Christlike character is humble and willing to bear with those whose features and faults might test our patience. The unity coveted by Paul and commanded by Christ (John 17:21) requires zealous labor to preserve oneness of spirit. But notice a key distinction: Christian unity is not manufactured by us; it s given by God. It s a gift to be guarded (4:3). Thankfully, this unity enjoys a real objective basis in the nature of the God who gives it. There s one body, one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13) and one hope to which we re called. There is one God operating in and through us all. Application Questions 1. The next time you disagree with a fellow Christian, what difference will it make to know that he/she serves and is accountable to the same God and Father as you? 2. How does this verse encourage your prayer life? One God. Again, Paul echoes the Old Testament s insistence on real monotheism. God s people can be one people because He is one God. And Father of all. All of God s people, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, male and female, share one Father. God is the Father of all mankind but in the creative sense rather than the relational (Acts 17:28; Luke 3:38). 3. How do you promote unity in your church? Who is above all. God rules all Creation as well as His people. His sovereignty extends to all things (Psa. 103:19). And through all. God pervades all things. He works in believers to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). He works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). And in you all. This transcendent yet immanent God indwells believers, giving them a unity that is both real and profound. God s oneness is the basis of our unity, a unity that embraces all who have been born of the Spirit, regardless of race, heredity, church, or station in life (John 3:6; Gal. 3:26-28). November 2016 Week 3 Page 2 November 2016 Week 3 Page 3
16.10 One God: Saved by One What are Microblades? Microblades are very small, yet very sharp collections of memory verses on key Biblical topics. Each Microblade takes a month to memorize at a rate of just 1 verse per week. How to use your Microblade: Memorize the weekly verse Read supporting commentary Answer study questions Reflect on the email devotional (beginning first Monday of the month) Recite to a hearer all verses at month s end Report to us the last week of the month at 888.569.2560 or contact@scripturememory.com to claim your reward Next month s Microblade topic: ONE ANOTHER. P.O. Box 550232, Dallas, TX 75355 888.569.2560 contact@scripturememory.com scripturememory.com Memory Verse Commentary For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5 KJV Paul s inspired letter to Timothy gives the young pastor of the church in Ephesus a manual for shepherding God s people. I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). First Timothy covers all kinds of subjects including warnings against heresies and other rabbit trails (1:3-5; 4:1-7), instruction on the uses of the Law (1:5-11), a bit of Paul s own testimony (1:11b-17), guidelines for prayer and worship (2:1-15), criteria for choosing elders and deacons (3:1-13), warnings against the love of money (6:5-10), and a personal charge to Timothy to fight the good fight of faith (6:11-21). November 2016 Week 4 Page 4 November 2016 Week 4 Page 1
Commentary Continued For there is one God. First Timothy 2 shifts gears from Paul s opening greetings and personal testimony (1:1-20) to instructions for church life. Through Paul, God calls Timothy to lead his congregation in prayer (2:1-3). Then, the conjunction for shows that God s unique, unparalleled, and peerless nature provides the basis for Christian prayer. God is in a class by Himself, without equal, sui generis. He alone has a claim on our fervent prayers for all men (1 Tim. 2:1). Since God has no true rivals, we may focus all our praise, confession, and intercession on Him; we need not divert our attention to any other source, divine or human. Steeped in Jewish practice, Paul no doubt alludes to Israel s great creed: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! (Deut. 6:4). Writing to a pastor in an exceedingly idolatrous city (Acts 19:23-28) in a Greco-Roman culture overflowing with deities of all kinds (Acts 17:16, 22-23), Paul cannot help but re-assert monotheism. There is but one God. And one Mediator between God and men. Christians worship a saving God, who desires all men to be saved (2:4); for this reason, God sent Jesus Christ as Mediator. Thayer s Lexicon defines this word (mesites) as one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or to form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant. Men here translates anthropon, meaning humankind in general rather than the male gender. Application Questions 1. What effect does it have on your prayer life to know that there s only one God? 2. What other mediators does the world try to use? Why will these mediators fail? 3. Who do you know that relies on a false mediator? Will you tell that person about Jesus? The Man Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is Himself anthropos, and as the Christ, He is also Lord and God. He is thus perfectly qualified to mediate between God and men. 4. Are you thankful for Christ s mediation? Express it afresh today. November 2016 Week 4 Page 2 November 2016 Week 4 Page 3