Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. It's another edition. It's another edition. It's Saturday's edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. It's a good edition. Yeah. Back when I was growing up, my dad would get the paper. In fact, he still might, I don't know. He's that guy he likes the relics of the eras gone by. I was always a fan of Sunday because Sunday the comics were in color. Yeah. And so I would always grab the comic page and they were color and that. Was always something that I loved, but I would have to battle him during the week over the comics because the comics also had the crossword. And so, oh, he would want the crossword puzzle. So sometimes I was like, where's the comics? And he had it because he was doing the crossword puzzle, which I do now too, 'cause I've hit that age. So I do crossword puzzles. You do crossword puzzles on the Apple News app. Oh, I do. News app, daily crossword puzzle. And their, wow. You know the mini one, the big one. Yikes. I'm trying to maintain my brain capacity here, folks. Alright. Is that how you do it? They say that doing crossword puzzles helps battle against things like early onset Alzheimer's and things like that. So, alright. Yeah. Because it keeps the mind sharp and engaged. Well, let me keep your mind sharp and engaged. Please do with some Bible questions that have come in. We've, thank you guys. You know who you are for sending in your questions. We appreciate them and we enjoy talking about them even before we talk about them. Sometimes you spark debate in the conversation before we even hit record. But today we have a qualifying or a clarifying question related to tattling and tail bearing. Here's what it is, and I'm just gonna summarize 'cause he helpfully does that. At the bottom of his email here, he says, my question is whether you think tattling could originate from a sense of justice in your kids, or do you think it's mostly from gossip or some other starting place of sin? In other words, can your kids be tattling for better reasons than simply sinful? I want to get my sibling in trouble. I'm angry at them. I don't like that they had this and I got that. Is it possible that your kids could be tattling, and I'm using air quotes here. Be for good reasons, for better reasons than just sinful starting places. Go. It's possible. Is it likely? That's a different question. Yeah I don't wanna throw my kids under the bus. I love my kids, but we will, let's go ahead. But Annie, let's talk about Annie. No, if I had one. Yeah. Annie, you can just mute this for 60 seconds. Yeah. Don't listen Annie. But my kids are typically tattling because they may have a sense of justice, but they really, their sense of justice is I want them to get in trouble for something that I've gotten in trouble for in the past, or I want them to get in trouble because. I'm gonna get a sense of superiority over the fact that they got in trouble and I didn't. I think that's innate in our fleshliness. I think that's just part of our self-centeredness as fallen people. So I don't mean to be pessimistic, but we need to view our children through the lens of who they actually are apart from Christ and not view them who they want, who we want them to be in Christ. God may save them someday and transform their hearts. And at that point, I don't think they're gonna be tattling because they're gonna have a sense of saying, love covers a multitude of sins. And so if I'm tempted. Tattle in that sense. Probably don't need to bring that one up. If this is something that I really am concerned about this person's godliness and justice. Okay. I've got a Galatians six model to go through, but in their fallen state I'm skeptical at best. Okay. Yeah, I have to agree. If the question, the way it's posed is how I would state it, just as an affirmative thing, it is possible that their desire is for justice. But I do think most of the time it is related to the things you mentioned, pastor pj, I don't think. And my kids are younger, but it's good to hear you have older kids and would agree with me. I don't see them coming to me with a genuine sense of a pursuit of justice. They're looking for themselves to be justified and I even that. Is something I'm trying to help them understand is that there are authorities that are tasked with bringing about justice and of course as an adults there's means to get justice through those authorities, but it's ultimately the authorities that bring about the justice. So in a home, it is mom and dad who God has. Instituted as the ones who carry out justice. And my concern is if my kids become part of that process where there are the informants, then they are in a sense executing justice of their own, which concerns me. Now there's exceptions to that. There's maybe, there's different variances that we can think about that maybe that would be appropriate, but by and large I'm gonna say that, that's a not a place I'm gonna be comfortable going. So to summarize, our kids are little sinners who are likely sinning when their opportunity arises. Is that what you're saying? Yes. You guys are such Calvinists. You guys are such Calvinists. But even if you have a saved, even if you have a saved kid in your house, right? Even if you have a saved kid, I still think that it's helpful to teach them the way that God has instituted this, the structure of things. And I do think that one of the ways that you can do that is by setting these parameters clearly for them. Yeah, that's a helpful way to frame that. I got older kids like you do, but my kids are still old enough where they play fights or they'll do things that annoy each other. And the tattling is far less, and it's usually only one sided. Adam's usually tattling against Jacob or something. I'm just gonna throw it out there. So the way it works. By and large though, we've gotten to a place where it rarely happens. And part of it is that, the older one is outta the house. He's working, he's out, ladies, he's up early, that kind of thing. But for our girls, our younger ones, that's an ongoing struggle. Like, why are you telling me this? What, why do you want me to know this? What are you hoping to have happen because of this? And turn around. Go try this again. Come back to me when you have something better to say. It's one of those situations right now, but I do agree by and large, my kids are capitalizing on opportunities to sin and to do so in a way that hurts their sibling. And this is why I love having siblings. I think this is such a good thing for them because it helps them learn how to cope with some of their base or instincts, their fleshly devices that come from their heart. It's a good conversation at minimum, although it's never fun to deal with it. Yeah. As an only child, I don't know if you guys could tell that I didn't really have that opportunity to work that out. Find me that feather. I'm about to be knocked over. Hold on. Where'd it go? Where'd that feather go? Yeah. Alright. But good question. And you may be the exception to the rule. I know he wrote in very specific situations and even in this situation of going, hey, like genuinely didn't even want his brother to be punished and. Awesome. And sometimes there are children that genuinely have that concern for what is right. And I think there's an, in an inherent sense of right and wrong, that can be stronger and some than others. And they really, truly are zealous for that. And at the same time, they're not sitting there going and I want my brother and my, I want my sister to get in trouble for that. I'm just painting with a more general brush here for the majority of families out there, the majority of children out there I do think you, you made the comment about Calvinism, but total depravity is a thing. And I think we see it far more often than we see glimpses of the redeemed state and the common grace is a real thing too. Yeah. Sometimes our kids do do better than we expect. And I think you said recently, pastor Mark, that you should know your kids. Yeah. Know your kids well enough to be able to discern their heart. At best you can anyway. Pray for that. Yeah. Easier said than done. Yes. But it ought to be the pursuit Indeed. Of, of all parents at all ages. Yep. Well, in particular when they're in your house. Hey, let's get to our daily Bible reading for today. We are in Joshua 21 and 22, and then we are in Luke chapter six. Joshua 21, the. Finalization of the settlement of the land if I can put it that way, continues here. And we see the establishment of the Levitical cities. And so God is again still fulfilling everything that he said he was going to do. The Levitical cities are important because remember, the inheritance for the Levites was gonna be God himself. They weren't gonna get tribal land, they didn't have a portion carved out, but within the other tribes, they were gonna have their. Cities there, places where they could reside, where they could establish their presence there. And again, I think what we see here is God's intentionality with that because he was gonna have his representatives scattered throughout the whole land. They weren't all gonna be one in one location. And so the spiritual representatives of God, the Levites, were gonna be scattered throughout the whole. Hopefully that was gonna have a positive impact The way that you think of seasoning, you don't want seasoning only in one part of a dish. You want seasoning spread throughout the entirety of the dish, and so the Levites could do that. Being in all of these various cities, they were to be the experts in the law. They were to be the ones that were primarily concerned with serving the Lord, and they could be in those cities to help those tribes know what they should do when it came to obeying the Lord and worshiping him. It is worth, and maybe it's, maybe you'll throw accusations at me, but it's worth having people who are invested in you in this way. So it's in modern day, it is worth having pastors on payroll to be able to study, to be able to mm-hmm. Know their bibles in a particular way, in a deeper way. Perhaps it's worth that investment and the people of Israel. Or by God's command making that sort of investment. And obviously it's different in the new Covenant, but it's an investment that is well worth pursuing. So the pastors are like, Levites, we're gonna send you to Gunner then. 'cause we feel like we don't have much of a season to presence up in Gunner. That's right. So pack your bags Van Steen and going to Gunner and Van Steen. Yeah. I love that. That's a great, that's a great point. And one I didn't connect with, but I think one thing that's really cool that I didn't notice until it was pointed out to me is that. Joshua 21 is a fulfillment of Genesis 49 verse seven. This is where Jacob slash Israel says, I'm gonna scatter Levi throughout Israel. Hmm. And at that point, you don't really know what he's saying. You don't understand what the content or the meaning of that is. But yet here we are in Joshua 21, where now we see how that works out. It is a scattering. Mm-hmm. And it's not all bad. Mm-hmm. It wasn't a good thing when Jacob said it, but it ends up being a good thing for Israel, that these servants of the Lord are now. Are now scattered all about the land. They're peppered all throughout every territory. And even fascinating beyond that too, is the kotite. These guys are the ones who are gonna have to care for the tabernacle temple, ongoings, the goings on. They're the ones who are the line of the priests, and they're the ones who are sent in that direction. God knew what he was doing, even though it was by lot, God still controlled the lot, which is an, that's an interesting idea. The lot is cast in the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. Sometimes you might see me wear my shirt with dice on it. That's the one I'm thinking about all the time. 'cause you like gambling. I don't, oh God. God is gambling here. Maybe not God. The priests are gambling. But God controls the role of the dice here and he puts them exactly where he wants them. He scatters them and it's a, at first, a bad thing, but it's now redeemed for God's glory to serve the people of Israel. Really cool. Well, on chapter 22, those eastern tribes that we were talking about a little bit I think in yesterday's episode, they're gonna go back home. They have finished their job. They fulfilled their promised their oaths to the Israelites. They came over, they helped them get settled in the land and drive out everybody there. So they're going back home, but they're gonna go back home before you do that. Yes. Can I ask you a question about the bottom of 21? Sure. Huge. And I, yeah, we're gonna talk about that, but I need you to address this. Yes. Verse 44. The Lord gave them rest on every sign. Just as he had sworn to their fathers, not one of all, their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands, not one word. Of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed, all came to pass. What do you think about that verse? It's, talk about that. I think it's true to the extent of their obedience to the Lord that the, those that they went against, they, they weren't withstood. And so I think what this helps us to see is those cities that they, it says in the text, they failed to drive them out. It would indicate to me that they failed to drive them out, not because those cities were victorious over them, because then I think we would call into question the promises of God. I think if those, if Israel was saying, we're gonna be obedient to God. And as he said, he's gonna drive them out before, so we're gonna go drive them out. I think then we would say, okay, if they weren't driven out, then God failed. But I think the fact that it says they, they did not drive them out, they failed to drive them out. I think that shows that it's that Israel said we're not gonna bother with them, or we don't want to, or we're too afraid to go up against them. And so I think this verse indicating as far as the promises of God and Israel's faithfulness to do what God. Asked them to do or commanded them to do. Not a single one failed. But Israel failed because Israel didn't trust the Lord in all of the promises that he made. And that's why there were still some enemies that remained in Israel. Now, I don't think those enemies were the burn the saddle at this point. They, I think, had an inherent fear of Israel to where there was rest on every side. There wasn't war, even as Pastor Mark pointed out with with. One of the inheritance in a couple episodes ago this week, there was rest on every, the land had re rest for war, and I think that was taking place. So I don't see a conflict here, but I do understand why you're asking it. The only thing that makes me wonder is I agree with you, but you, we are, if we take that understanding, we are reading an understanding that comes from other passages and other parts of even Joshua into this. The way this is stated though is pretty definitive, but again, I agree with you, but that is one thing that causes me pause. Yeah, it does. It does read. With a certain sense of finality. But the thing is I can't read the whole book of Joshua without being confronted with, well, this isn't exactly. Yes, it's true, but it's not true because it they struggled in all these areas. This is one of those places where you have to read your Bible carefully. I like the idea of reading my Bible with the awareness of both the immediate context and the larger context, and it helps us avoid some errors of understanding. If you only ever read one Bible verse in, great, Coco likes to say, never read just one Bible verse. If you read the. Context. It gives you a sense of how God intends for us to understand this. And I think Pastor Pge your, I think the way that you're talking about it is the way that we have to understand it, even though it reads with such a power. In fact, this is one of the reasons why some people will say, well, see, there's editors in the Bible. It's written by different people at different times. And here's a good reason why you can believe that. Because someone came in here and edited this into it, saying they, they fulfilled all of it. And then someone came in after the fact and put all the failures inside. I don't think you need to do that. I think you just need to accept the fact that this author has intentions that are bigger than just the immediate verse that you're looking at. You have to look at the whole to understand the part. You have to understand the part to understand the whole. It's a both ways kind of conversation in order to faithfully handle the text. I hope this is a good example to you. We're not done with this 'cause we're actually gonna see something like this again in a chapter or two. Can I go to chapter 22 now? I think yeah, you can do that. Is that allowable? It's allowable. Okay. Well actually one more thing. Just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. No. So in chapter 22 the trans Jordan tribes are going back across the Jordan River there, but they're gonna go back with a charge that is going to say to them, Hey, be careful to do what the Lord has commanded you to do. In other words, don't drift from the Lord. You are putting yourself intentionally at risk. And we maybe there's a comparison here to, to somebody who wants to move somebody. Is a key part of our church and here, and they're going, Hey we're gonna move away. We're gonna go over here. One of the things that we will always do as your pastors first and foremost is say, don't go to the east of the Jordan. Don't go east of the Jordan. And also hey, where are you gonna end up at church? And I appreciated this. I just had a conversation yesterday with a couple here in the office as I was talking to them and they were saying, Hey, can, we'd love to get some counsel because we're considering moving there's a job situation, things like that. And I said, well, what about church? And they said, well, we've looked into churches in this area that we're considering moving and we've looked at two or three of them and there's some solid churches there. They knew where they were gonna go. And we have a concern for that. And that's why we really want to encourage our people not to move too far away because the. Further away you are from what's taking place in the community and the body of Christ, the harder it is to be an active part of it. And the more it's gonna be tempting to, to drift away from some of the commitment to the body of Christ. And I think we see that a little bit here with the warning to these trans tribes. Hey. Don't drift. You're going back across the Jordan, don't drift from what God is doing here in the Promised Land. This is the promised land. This is where Israel's supposed to be, don't drift. In fact, they even feel a sense of that danger because they build that altar when they get over there to say, Hey, we don't want you guys to forget about us either. And so I think chapter 22 is a good reminder for us that being close to what God is doing is a good thing and there's not good churches everywhere. True. Yeah. That's an assumption you can make moving somewhere. Yeah, I've made that assumption. Yeah. I've moved to places and just made the decision based off of the job offer or this or that, like this one. And I haven't, and I haven't I haven't thought about that. I've assumed, I've assumed right, that that's just gonna be there. It's just an automatic, but it's not a guarantee. Right. And you can have a church, I don't know. Lemme just try to say this in a loving way. You can have a church doctrinal statement that's on point, like, yes, I agree with that. This, the preaching can be so good and so great. But there's still something different about being among the people and feeling what that feels like and getting a sense of the people. In fact, someone recently complimented us instead. I've been around a lot of churches, but you guys have a really good community here. This is a good thing. I notice it. I feel it. It's more than just superficial hiyas and goodbyes. And I was thankful for that because I think we, we think that, we think, yeah, we've got a great church, we've got a great community. It's helpful when an outsider says that to you. And I just wanna encourage you, if you're thinking about. Taking up your tent and moving it somewhere else. Just be thoughtful about putting in a lot of time and energy into finding the right church home and knowing that it's more than just the doctrinal statements and the preaching. And I think chapter 22 is such a good reminder because that proximity is important. We think that because of our technology, it's not as big a deal. It still is though. It's physicality is so important when it comes to being part of the body of Christ. Yep. All right, well, let's flip over to Luke chapter six. And there's a lot going on here. Luke's condensing a lot in our reading with what he just kinda rapid fire goes through, through here. And he even talks about some of the beatitudes here. And there's a difference between, or at least a, some suggests there's a difference between the sermon on the mounts, which we read in Matthew and the sermon on the plane, which some people attribute this to being here in Luke chapter six. So, note, pastor Rod, you were preaching through Matthew with our student ministry right around the time that you and Lewis made the transition there. But I'd love to get your insights on, do you think this is two different occasions that Jesus is teaching similar material, or do you think this is a, the same thing recorded different times Once by Luke and once by Matthew. So we're reading the Gospel of Luke, which is one of the synoptic gospels. You think about the word sin synonymous, sin syncopation. I dunno. That's the only sin that came to my mind. Now, SYN usually means something that's alike. Another thing. And so the synoptic gospels share the same content. By and large, Matthew, mark, and Luke all have a lot of commonalities. Now, the question that we have to ask is, are we reading commonalities that are meant to say same time, same place, and just the same content? Or are some of these commonalities found in different places? And I would agree that, or I would argue that the beatitudes that we're reading here, rather the the sermon on the plane is a different time and place, although the content's the same. And that would make sense. If you're an itinerant rabbi and you're going from place to place, you're gonna have your similar sermons that you're gonna preach. And it's a different audience. So the content's gonna be slightly different. But I do think this is a good example of, though it's a same topic, it's different audience, different time, different location, mark. I agree. I concur. You're, thank you. You're synonymous with him. You're, you're with him in that. Yeah, I am simpatico. How about, let's back up beginning of our reading here. Why is the Sabbath such a big deal? Let's kick that around for a second. They try to trap Jesus a couple of times here. The first time it has to do with the disciples picking heads of grain and they're gonna accuse the disciples of harvesting. And they're gonna say that that was work. They're breaking the law. This is part of the oral law, by the way. This is not the recorded law. And they're gonna say they're working. And so we're calling them guilty for breaking the Sabbath. And then after this, there's a man with a withered hand that comes into the synagogue. On the Sabbath and they're trying to, again, see what Jesus is gonna do. Will he break the Sabbath by doing work on the Sabbath? Why does the Sabbath matter to them so much? And why do we not treat the Sabbath the same way that they did? The Sabbath to them is very important because it goes all the way back to the Old Testament where God in fact commanded it and your children probably know the command to, to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. So it is appropriately, it some sense, something that should be significant to these people and they should care about it. What we're seeing though, and what you're, you've alluded to is that they are using the Sabbath in some inappropriate ways, in ways that God did not intended for it. Pretense originally. Yeah. And they're also using this topic to try to ensnare Jesus. So we don't, when it says honor the Sabbath we take, that we would set aside. That's not something that we're beholden to anymore. See, this is where I think we, we can overplay our hand because it's one of the 10 commandments. Yeah. I don't think we can forget how big a deal that is. We're saying one of the 10 commandments no longer abides or no longer applies to us in the same way that it did to them. And we are saying that yes, we are, but it's a big deal. Yeah. So you ought to be careful. We need to be careful in the way that we talk about that in recognizing that this is a big shift in the way that we understand the law of God. The Sabbath pointed to the Sabbath rest that Jesus himself would initiate by his death and his resurrection. What were you gonna say, pastor Mark? I cut you off. I don't remember, but. Based on what you just said now, so should we be keeping the Sabbath? Some would argue that we should, and they still have church on Saturdays. Are you part of that sum? I will sometimes go to those church. I'm just kidding. I don't. I'm okay with Saturday Church, but I would not make it a law. And that's where I think we would diverge with some and. Certain denominations within our ranks, and there's even questions about whether or not those people are even within the faith, right? In a true sense, because they're adding something that has to be done to your salvation. They're called sabots. But you might know them under different names. Seventh Advent Seventh Day Adventists. Right. They're saboteurs in that they believe you have to go to church on Saturday. And they would say, well, look, the Old Testament says, so it's, above all else, keep the Sabbath. Right? You just quoted it. Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. We've diverged and we do that in part because of the tradition established by the New Testament Church when they met on the Lord's Day. It's called the Lord's Day 'cause that's when the Lord raised from the dead, and that began a new trajectory for the church. Later on, Paul would say, there's neither new Moon nor Sabbath. Some of those Sabbath day regulations and the observances have been fulfilled in Christ to the extent that we are no longer bound by those. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't. I still honor the principle, which is there's one day a week where we gather for worship and to honor the Lord. And again for Israel, it was Saturday for us. It's now Sunday. I think the book of Hebrews is super helpful too. Hebrews chapter four specifically, he deals a lot with the subject of rest, and he says in Hebrews four, four, he is somewhere spoken of, the seventh day in this way. And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. And again, the passage, they shall not enter my rest. Then he says, since therefore it remains for some to enter it. And then he says we need to strive to enter it. And he says in verse eight, if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works. So I think the writer of Hebrews there is even saying the Sabbath is now fulfilled in the future rest that we're gonna have in eternity with the Lord. And so that was always what the Sabbath, I think was make the point to, is that the rest and the rest that we were one day gonna have from. Everything now that Christ is here, Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath that's fulfilled in him. And this future rest becomes the Sabbath rest that we're anticipating now. So we're no longer perpetuating the earthly shadow of it because we have the substance in Christ and we are now already not yet enjoying that rest even in Christ as we look forward to being with him in the future. One of the other things that might be helpful for you, just as you read your own Bible, is all the other commandments, all the other 10 commandments of the other nine are reiterated in the New Testament in one form or another as commands, and the exception would be the. Specific command of the Sabbath and keeping that specific day. So just as you read your Bible, look for those sort of things because that's important and it's important for you to even be able to identify what is Old Testament versus what is New Testament. Not just in terms of where your page is split in your Bible, but in terms of how God is working. Yeah. That's good. That's good. Well, let's pray then. We're done with this episode. Lord, help us to read carefully, even just thinking about this episode of these questions that we have. I pray that we would read carefully, that we would read thoughtfully, that we read well Lord, that we would consult, study Bibles and commentaries and ask good questions of the text and be able to rest in the answers that you give us. We know that there's a lot that we can't understand. The secret things do belong to you, but I pray that we would at the same time. Lord, not just read lazily or not just read in such a way that, that we're not really thinking about the implications or thinking about the hard stuff. And so help us, Lord, to wrestle with those things. And Lord I pray at the same time that you'd protect our faith as we do wrestle with them and keep our confidence fully in you. And so we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. We'll keep reading that way and keep reading the Bibles and we will catch you again tomorrow for another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. Bye. See ya. Bye.

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