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Deuteronomy 6:4-9 4“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6These words that I am giving you today are to be

in your heart. 7Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and

when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Bind them as a sign on

your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9Write them on the doorposts of your

house and on your city gates.

EXPLAIN

Leaders: Feel free to use any of the “Explain” materials to guide discussion as it is needed or to expound on a certain area of the text as it comes up during your Life Group time, but the purpose of this section is to deepen your own personal understanding of the Word. Your members have access to all of this material as well.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 was, for the first century Jew, the apex of all Scripture. It is the first Scripture a Jewish boy or girl learns when they can speak. It’s the first thing on their lips in the morning. As we look at establishing a godly household, we can use the Shema to understand how we can set our homes up for godliness and leave a lasting legacy for years to come.

A note on Deuteronomy: The Hebrew title for Deuteronomy, Devarim, comes from the opening phrase of the book: “Eleh ha-devarim," which means, “These are the words.” Devarim refers to spoken words—the spoken instruction from God. But we get our English title from the Greek Deuteronomion, which means "Second Law." This might be a bit misleading, for it could cause us to think that this book contains new information. What Deuteronomy contains, however, is God's reminder to His people: “You’re about to be in the land of blessing upon blessing; do not forget where you're from. Do not forget what I've said."

v.4 Shema is the Hebrew word for “Hear" or “Listen.” What it connotes is deeper, though: it means to listen with the intention of obedience. In essence, if you hear and do not obey, you have not heard at all.

Following the command to hear is a peculiar group of words focusing on God and calling Israel to give Him and Him alone their allegiance. Some scholars have argued about the proper way to interpret the second half of verse 4, since the construction in Hebrew is

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difficult: four nouns with no verbs at all. Michael Grisanti points out three truths that arise from verse 4, no matter where one inserts a form of “to be”: (1) God is Yahweh, the faithful, covenant-making, and covenant-keeping God. He is God, the sovereign Creator. (2) He is also "our God,” the God who entered into an intimate and special covenantal relationship with his nation, Israel. (3) Not only is He incomparable, but He is the only God for the Israelites and they are the people on whom He has set His love.

v.5 Here, Moses shows us what love in light of covenantal allegiance looks like: it demands the entire being. Daniel Block explained that covenantal love “seeks the well-being and the pleasure of one’s covenant partner, often without regard for oneself.” Moses specifically notes loving God with all of our heart, soul, and strength not because that represents the whole of human personality but to demonstrate just how far-reaching this kind of commitment is. Israel’s, and our, allegiance to God is to totally consume every aspect of our being.

vv.7-9 By pairing “sit…..walk” and "lie down…..get up,” Moses refers to both those actions and all of the actions in between them (see our expression “from A to Z”). The idea is that God's people should take opportunities to speak these truths in every part of their lives. Teach them to your children, saturate your home with them, speak them as effortlessly as you breathe. The overwhelming point of this section is not that Moses is prescribing the scenarios in which believers should talk about God’s truth, but that it should be “the topic for ordinary conversation in ordinary homes in ordinary life from breakfast to bedtime, whether we are busy or not” (Grisanti). A godly home will be built, and saturated with, God’s truth.

APPLY

Your Leader Guide will have material that the participant guides do not have. The bolded material is what the people in your group will have, the other material is only for you to help guide discussion.

This guide can be as strict a script or as general a resource as the leader needs it to be.

Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9 out loud as a group and answer some questions about it:

1. Tell about a time when you had to do something entirely new—a new job, a new city, etc. What was most difficult about it? What was most exciting? Why do you think that Moses was instructing the Israelites to do these things as they were

entering a new land? Beginning something new is daunting—it certainly was for the Israelites. They were about to enter a land they could call home for the first time in a generation, they were about to encounter a major change in leadership, and they were stepping out in faith to take something God had promised them. That’s why it was so important that they keep what they could control—their own households—focused on the things of God. By remembering what God has done and said, they could have a firm foundation to launch their new lives well.

2. Read Matthew 22:34-40. Why do you think that Jesus said today's passage was so important? How does making God your first priority affect the way you handle difficulties? How do the two commands Jesus references in Matthew 22:34-40 summarize the whole of

God’s Law?

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The Law was crucial to the Israelites. There are entire psalms written about how much God’s people love His commands! But every one of them can be boiled down to the two that Jesus mentioned in Matthew. Love God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself. If you are committed to doing these two things, the rest of the law will follow. God is not interested in someone who keeps His law like a checklist; He wants those who worship him in Spirit and in Truth. If we focus on loving God with our whole heart, the rest will follow.

3. Verses 7-9 paint a picture of a household fully devoted to God’s Word. What does it look like today to devote your household to the Lord? How do you balance keeping a godly household with the busyness of our lives? What are practical ways you can keep God’s Word front and center even with a lot going on?

So often it is easy to let the things of God slide in order to make room for the dozens of concerns accompanied by everyday life. There are bills to pay. There are problems to address. There are gatherings to attend. There are schedules to manage. But devotion to the Lord is not like these things—it’s not an add-on to the busyness. Instead, it is the filter through which everything else is managed. Moses instructed Israel to keep God’s Word in their hearts and to repeat them often. The same is true for us: spending time with God and seeking His face on our own is not its own separate compartment of our lives, but is the thing we were built for.

4. Verse 7 describes someone who repeats God’s Word in every part of his or her day. How can you naturally incorporate talking about God into your everyday life? How does keeping God’s Word at the front of your mind affect the way you live? Why is it dangerous to have godly speech without living a godly life?

If the Lord is the first priority in your life, talking about Him is not something you have to make a conscious effort to do; it overflows naturally and will line up with the way that you live. May it not be said of believers that they preach about a God of grace but they don’t extend it. May it not be said that we talk about loving God but we don’t love our neighbors or those who don't look like us. Live in such a way that people take stock of your whole life—your words and your actions—and see only the Lord shining through you.

5. What hinders you from teaching others—your children, your friends, your family—God’s ways? What can you begin doing now to invest God’s Word into someone else?

RESPOND Consider the following and respond either publicly or privately, depending on the dynamic of your group.

Does your household resemble the kind of household described in Deuteronomy 6:4-9? What is your responsibility in making it look that way?

Encourage one another through email, text messages, or coffee dates throughout the week to build up and encourage each other.