LifeWay Explore the Bible Series for February 26: Be positive

With this lesson, we end our study on Deuteronomy. Three significant things happen in the last two chapters of the book. First, Moses speaks a blessing over the people of Israel. Second, Moses dies. Third, the leadership of Israel passes to Joshua.

All three events point to one central theme: God’s work goes on. This is a lesson about looking beyond ourselves and our current work and worship. It is a lesson about looking to the future and faithfully preparing for it. It is about encouraging others to join the continuing work of God in the world.
    
When Moses speaks a blessing over the people of Israel, he knows his time is short. He also knows God’s plan will not come to an end with his passing. God’s work is bigger than he is. Moses has been blessed to be a part of God’s work, but God’s work has always been greater than his own ministry. With his death approaching, Moses turns his eyes to the future. In so doing,  he prepares those who will continue on for the work that is to come. We see it in his blessing. We see it in the transition of leadership.

Teachers, are you preparing your classes for the future? Are you blessing your class members with opportunities to grow, to serve, to teach and to evangelize? Are you speaking blessings over them collectively and individually, encouraging them in their faithful service and in the work of God?

Classes, have you considered that the work of God is bigger than your class? Have you prepared for the future by enabling and encouraging others toward ministry? Have you challenged yourself as a class to start new classes? Have you given the blessing of your love and support to those in the class who feel called to teach?

Churches, have you turned your eyes to the future? Have you encouraged others toward ministry? Have you spoken a word of encouragement to younger generations? Have you given the blessing of leadership to those who currently are not leading but could? Have you started new missions and new churches in anticipation that they will one day stand on their own and continue the work of God?

The New Testament uses the word “discipleship.” That is what I see in these final chapters of Deuteronomy. Moses is preparing and blessing others to do the work that he has been doing. He does so vocally.

People need to hear words of encouragement and love. People need to hear the call to serve. People need to hear the trust you have in them. If we are going to be Great Commission Christians, we must do what Moses did. We must prepare and encourage others to do the work of ministry. It is not enough for us to do the work. We must do the work, and we must instruct, equip and encourage others to do the work as well.
    
Moses’ death should remind us of our own mortality. Unless Christ comes again first, all of us will die. This may seem like an odd point to make in a lesson titled “Be positive,” but it can force us to think beyond ourselves and what we can do.

What happens to the class, the church or the ministry when we are gone? What legacy will we leave behind? Who will follow in our steps? Will we have built little kingdoms, classes, churches and ministries around ourselves, or will we have helped the classes, churches and ministries God has entrusted to us find their places within the larger work of God’s kingdom?

Moses’ death reminds us the kingdom is not just about us. God’s kingdom and God’s work are bigger than we are. God’s ministry is everlasting, and God allows us to play temporary roles. But what comes after us? Do we leave behind prepared teachers, leaders and servants? Will the leader to whom the responsibility falls step into the role with our blessing?

It often is true that others see how God is working through us before we see it ourselves. I remember as a teenager being told by a youth leader that he saw God using me as a leader in our youth group. Leadership was not something I had ever really thought about before. It was not something I sought, but the spoken words of that leader helped set me on a path that would lead eventually to vocational ministry.

Speak words of blessing to each other. Look for how God is at work in someone else, and tell them what you see. Pray for each other, and consider the future. Who can you encourage today that may be a Joshua tomorrow?
    
In Oscar Romero’s poem, A Future Not Our Own, he speaks of our kingdom efforts. He says: “This is what we are about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.  … It is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results. … We are prophets of a future not our own.”

That’s the final message of Deuteronomy.