How Not To Be A Religious Person

This lesson is taught in Deut 9.1-29 and serves as a warning against self-righteousness for a spiritual person, or “How not to be a religious person.” It is Yehovah who gives Israel their victories, then (and now). Verses 1 through 6 begin by stating that Israel was not to think in their hearts that Yehovah was giving them the land because they were so righteous. In addition, he is not doing it because of the wickedness of the Canaanite nations only, even though verse 5 says that was a reason, based on Gen 15.16. But in the overall picture, it was part of the bigger plan of God called the Abrahamic Covenant seen in Gen 15.1-21. The Lord is confirming his oath with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Deut 9.5-6. After all, he says, “You are a stubborn people” and not the religious people they think they are. Israel has pulled in the opposite direction God was going many times.

In Deut 9.7-21 Moses recounts what led up to the Golden Calf incident and proof from the past of their rebellion. Then in v 22 he recounts how Israel complained about the manna, and at Massah and Meribah in Exo 17.7, and how they tested the Lord by saying, “Is God with us today?” In Num 11.10-35 we have the quail incident at Kibrot-hattaavah referred to here in v 22. They got the blessing and still complained. In Num 13, at Kadesh Barnea (Wadi Rum today), they refused to go into the land. Moses is reminding them of all this, and how close they came to the Lord destroying them all (v 14).

But, before we are too hard on Israel, we need to understand that we are just like them. We sin, we complain, we question, we murmur, we rebel, we contend with the Lord, and we wonder, “Is the Lord still with me” even after he has done many great things for us. We don’t get our “wants” and that is one of the things wrong with the prosperity movement. It teaches “lust” for material things, the very things that Israel is criticised for.

After all that happened, Moses prayed for the people not to be destroyed (v 25-29). He calls them “thy people, even thine inheritance, whom thou hast redeemed.” Moses is saying, “You chose us, I wish we chose you, but we didn’t.” He wants the Lord to remember Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and not to look at the stubbornness of the people. Moses points out that the Canaanites will say Yehovah was not able to bring them into the land he promised them because he hated them, and brought them into the wilderness to kill them. The Canaanites would think that their gods are more powerful than Yehovah.

So, how do these concepts apply to us? God’s purpose, therefore, in the world is not us, the body of Messiah. All of this is “for us” but it is for the sake of his great name and his promises that he has redeemed us. We can partake and receive an inheritance, forgiveness, the blessings, and all that is associated with these things, but it is not because of our righteousness that any of this will happen. What we need to do is grasp and understand how great Yehovah is and how his plan includes a true believer. The question then becomes, “How did I get here?” All the credit and glory go to the Lord. Go back to Deut 9.26-27 for a moment. Before we are too hard on Israel, we need to remember we are just like them, as we have said previously in this teaching (third paragraph). But we should also remember that God has a covenant with Yeshua and we stand before God based on his righteousness, not ours. We should have the attitude that the tax-gatherer had in Luke 18.13 when he prayed, “God, be merciful to me the sinner (NASB; The Interlinear Bible, Hendrickson Publishers; Bible Hub Interlinear on Luke 18).” He did not say, “a” sinner but “the” sinner, meaning, “If there ever was a sinner, it’s me!”

God chose us, we did not choose him. We are the children of the fathers he made these promises with (Deut 4.37-40, 29.14-15; 1 Cor 10.1-4). He brought us out by his great power and his outstretched arms. He paid the redemption price for us and put the value on us (how much we were worth). We are the work of his hands. We don’t want the Lord to look at us, we are sinners. We want him to remember his promises to the fathers and to Yeshua. We want the Lord to remember the land. Does he want unbelievers on it or people who have a Torah-based faith in Yeshua and will worship him?

So, in light of what has just been said, we are told to pray “In the name of Yeshua” but what does that mean? It means we are praying on account of what Yeshua has accomplished, and with his approval. We are associating ourselves with Yeshua and the covenant. We are reminding Yehovah of the covenant with Yeshua, and we are not asking because of our own merit and righteousness, but on Yeshua’s merit and righteousness.