SonRise Community Church Morning Sermons

SonRise Communtiy Church

SonRise Communtiy Church

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2d ago

Can You Handle the Truth?

SonRise Community Church Morning Sermons
Sep 27

Swiper No Swiping

We live in a day where truth is treated as relative. For something to be true, someone just has to believe its true, and that can change from person to person. Whats true for you is true for you; whats true for me is true for me. Sounds nice, doesnt it? Here's a test. Think about the Ten Commandments in light of relative truth, specifically the eighth commandment in view for us today where God forbids theft. Picture a conversation with someone who insists truth is relative from person to person, that were all free to write our own rules about right and wrong. You know how to change their mind in a few seconds? Steal their wallet and watch what happens. The same person who just told you truth is relative will suddenly believe, with great conviction, that its very wrong for you to steal from them. At that point you could say, If truth is relative, theft may not be virtuous for you, but it is for me. So who are you to tell me Im wrong? Probably not the best way to go about it, but you see what I mean. Whatever our mouths say we believe about truth, whats actually true always remains true. Gods law is written on our hearts, because were made in His image. So we all know, instinctively, that stealing is wrong. Or as the popular childrens TV show Dora the Explorer so often said to the character Swiper, Swiper no swiping! Today were going to see theft firsthand. Two headings to work through together today. See first The Negative Command Exodus 20:15 says, You shall not steal. As weve seen in the past, we see again today. Two Hebrew words makeup the entirety of the 8th commandment. No theft. Short and to the point. Standing alongside the past few commandments we see more of what it means to love our neighbor. Love to neighbor requires: that giving to honor to our authorities is sacred (fifth commandment), that we hold our neighbors very life as sacred (sixth commandment), that we hold their marriage as sacred (seventh commandment), and where were arrived today, in the eighth commandment, that we hold their property as sacred. What is thievery? What is it to steal? Most of us immediately think of something like Harry and Marv from Home Alone, right? As humorous as those two are, theft is far from funny, it is a vile sin. Theft can be defined simply as taking something from another without permission. That definition works, but we must also say that theft can take many forms, and the root of any form it takes lies the wicked desire to take away from our neighbor what rightly belongs to him.[1] Sometimes theft occurs because someone desires something they dont possess, and so they take it from another who does. Other times, theft occurs, not so much because someone desires something they dont have, but because they desire to have more than their neighbor has. Perhaps more sinister, sometimes theft occurs because someone desires, not to have something, but desires that their neighbor does not have something. Enter the 8th commandmentwhere we learn it is not Gods will for us to have anything that we obtain by dishonorable means. But rather, that it is Gods will for us to respect the property of others.[2] Lets trace this out in the Bible. We first see theft in the Garden. There in Genesis 3 the woman saw, desired, took, and ate. This fruit did not belong to our first parents, it was forbidden fruit, belonging to God alone. He had not given permission to eat from that tree, He had commanded and warned against it. Then the Devil slithered in and promised blessing if they took and ate the forbidden fruit, that they would be like God if they did, and that God was cruel to withhold such a blessing. They were convinced. But when they took the fruit, disobeying God and taking the Devil at his word, sin and death entered in; and in so doing Adam and Eve committed the first act of thievery, and became historys first thieves. Later on in Genesis 31 Rachel took Labans idols while fleeing Labans household with Jacob. Not far after we see Joseph stolen away by his brothers and sold into slavery. Soon after that we see it here in the 8th commandment, put into law for Israel. And shortly after we see the consequence of theft stated. One example is Exodus 22:1-4 where the principle of restitution is laid out, that thieves must repay a certain amount based on how much they stole. Fast forward to Joshua 7 where we see Achans theft. After the victory at Jericho, Achan stole some of the plunder for himself and buried it in his tent, bringing ruin on himself and his family. Of course we could speak of David not merely committing adultery with Bathsheba but stealing her from her husband Uriah in 2 Sam. 11. But we could also then speak of Davids son Absalom, stealing the hearts of the people away from David in 2 Sam. 15. When Jesus comes He spoke about the sinfulness of thievery in many places, the traveler on the road was beaten and robbed in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the narrative surrounding Zaccheaus, and lets not forget the horrid example of Judas, who despite being with Jesus and hearing all His teaching, remained a thief among the disciples. Church, there is much in the Bible about theft. But I suspect, more than a few of you are still feeling pretty good about yourselves, thinking the eighth commandment might just be one youve not broken. I mean, you don't break into houses. You don't shoplift. You dont commit armed robbery. Lets go deeper. The heart behind theft is present in us all. Truly theft is present in us whenever we think, my gain matters more than your loss. In general, here are three ways we break this commandment. Common Theft This is the obvious one, robbery, pickpocketing, shoplifting, of course those are theft. This is common theft, I think we understand this category. But theres also Transactional Theft Whats in view in transactional theft is the stealing away of something from another that is usually built into some kind od exchange with another for something done. Slacking off on the clock instead of doing the work you're being paid for, fudging an expense report, borrowing something you never intend to return, treating a rental like dirt because its not your responsibility to care for. This theft is all transactional. Leviticus 19:13 forbids withholding a workers pay overnight. So if you hire someone for a job at a certain wage, you owe them exactly what you promised, on time, in full. To underpay honest work is to steal, whatever the contract says. Deuteronomy 25 and Proverbs 11 forbid the same thing on the other side of the counter, giving a customer less than they paid for, whether thats watering down a product, structuring a loan to trap someone who doesnt understand it, or any deception like that in any sale. This is exactly what turned Jesus over the tables in the Temple, the house of prayer had become a place where the vulnerable were quietly abused. This same principle of transactional theft goes all the way up to the top. Stealing isnt only something individuals do to each other, its often legislated into law.[3] Long ago the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau said fences are capricious things. Karl Marx once said the whole idea of property is a bourgeois privilege. Yet without the reality of personal property the 8th commandment would be unintelligible. Many governments have legislated giving away the personal property of others, but ironically and rarely do they ever legislate the redistribution of their own belongings. Whatever name it goes under, capitalism, socialism, Marxism, etc., any economic system that steals from some to give to others breaks the 8th commandment. At its darkest, transactional theft also brings into view the theft of personhood. Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 24 speaks to this calling the one who steals and sells a human being will face the penalty of death. Seems to be low hanging fruit to say, these Israelites who were former slaves, should realize how wicked stealing other people is.[4] Yet fast forward into more modern history, slavery has been alive and well in far too many cultures. From ancient Rome, to the Aztecs, to Islamic cultures, the Vikings, the Koreans, and we ourselves justified the practice of slavery in various ways. Whether it goes by the name slavery, human trafficking, or kidnapping, or whatever, when a vulnerable person is controlled and exploited for someone elses gain we must call it what it is, sin. There is common theft, transactional theft, and now see Hidden Theft There are a few forms of theft most of us never think to call by that name. There is theft of reputation, where we slander someone behind their back, and robbing their good name to inflate your own. There is theft of honor, where we refuse to honor those in our lives to whom honor is due. There is theft by plagiarism, using someone elses work, in the classroom, the office, or the pulpit, without giving credit. And there is theft thats spiritual in nature, meaning, every time we sing a song promising to live a certain way on Sunday and walk out those doors and live however we want the rest of the week, or when we keep for ourselves what God has asked us to give cheerfully and sacrificially. All of this is theft, whether or not its ever discovered by others. A few more forms worth naming plainly, because none of us are past them: pirating a movie or a piece of software instead of paying for it, quietly padding your hours on a timesheet, not reporting income you know you owe taxes on. None of it feels like stealing in the moment. But thats exactly the danger. As Martin Luther put it in his larger catechism, a person steals not only when he robs a mans safe or his pocket, but also when he takes advantage of his neighbor in the market, in a grocery shop, butcher stall, wine-and-beer cellar, work-shop, and, in short, wherever business is transacted and money is exchanged for goods or labor. This commandment leaves almost nothing of daily life untouchedfrom a toddler swiping a toy
Sep 20

Fire in the Fireplace

I really like fire. Whether at a campsite or on the couch, to me fire is a thing of wonder. I like building it, I like staring at it, being warmed by it, even jumping over it when its relatively safe to do so. Anyone with me? Let me ask you a question about fire: in a home where is fire good? A fireplace. In the fireplace, fire isnt just good, its very good. It warms the whole house. It gathers and draws others in. It pushes back the cold. Fire in the fireplace is a gift. Next question, in a home where is fire bad? Anywhere else. Fire out of the fireplace doesnt warm a home, it burns a home down. This morning I start with fire because the root of adultery is exactly thata flame, a flicker, a spark that leads to a great blazing fire. When this fire is kept in the fireplace of marriage, it warms a whole life. But let that fire loose outside marriage, it only does one thing very well: it destroys. This commandment begs some hard questions. Are any of you in these fires right now? Maybe youre already involved in or planning to begin an adulterous affair? Making youre planning a secret meet up sometime soon, even loosely, just to be somewhere alone with someone you shouldnt? Or, maybe youre enjoying those extended glances where you lingering in a coworkers eyes, or maybe youve gone back and reread their texts a few times too many? Or, maybe youre indulging in explicit images online, or chatting with someone you shouldnt? I dont ask these questions to shame anyone here. But to prepare you for to hear the seventh commandment today. So if you answered yes to any of the questions just nowstay with me, and keep listening. There is a deep rebuke here to hear and heed, but theres more grace here than you think. Weve got two headings to work through today. See first The Negative Command In the original Hebrew the seventh commandment is stated just like the sixth commandment, with a brief and brutal simplicity. These commandments only contain two words, No murder. and No adultery. Lets begin simply, and just ask the question, what is adultery? Sadly, it can take many forms. I think a broad definition is helpful, perhaps we could put it like this: adultery is giving that which belongs to your spouse alone to someone else. This could be romantic affection, desire, and devotion, whether or not it ever becomes physical. Or we could say, adultery is relating to another person in a way that dishonors the marriage covenant, whether physically or emotionally, inwardly or outwardly. All in all, adultery and adulterous actions dont always require a bed. The key ingredient in view is one giving away what belongs to spouse alone. This is the pattern. God defined marriage. We don't get to redefine itnot to two women, not two men, not one man and his neighbors wife, and not one women and her neighbors husband. By crossing these lines, the adulterer isnt just breaking a rule, theyre bowing to the altar of self instead of God. Thats clear. There was a time when this was not clear. In 1631, the royal printers in London ran a new edition of the King James Bible. Somewhere in the printing process, one word got left out from Exodus 20:14. Just one, the word not. So, the final version of the seventh commandment as it stood in the text was, Thou shall commit adultery. Once this was discovered the printers were fined and stripped of their license. The King hired and sent out groups of book hunters to track down and destroy as many copies as they could find. History remembers it as The Wicked Bible. Today only fourteen copies survive in museums.[1] Our Bibles dont make this mistake, so this commandment ought to be clear to us as well. Lets trace how this was dealt with in Scripture. Adultery existed before the giving of the Law, perhaps most notably were the adulterous attempts made by Potiphars wife toward Joseph near the end of Genesis. Like this situation, wherever adultery occurs, dreadful things follow. We find it next in the seventh commandment. Its included elsewhere too. Leviticus 20:10, If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Deuteronomy 22:22 repeats the sentence almost word for word. That the death penalty is present as a consequence shows us how far back this transgression goes, it goes all the way back to creation. Before the fall, in Genesis 1-2, God joined male and female into one flesh, and what God joined together, no one is to separate. One man, one woman, becoming one flesh. Israel broke this commandment many times physically. In Numbers 25, Israelite men joined themselves to pagan prostitutes, who lured them out of the camp to join in pagan worship. More famous is Davids adultery with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. In this moment David stays home when he should be at war. He gets lazy when he should be diligent. He let his eyes wander when he should have guarded them. These adulterous thoughts led to actions that produced a physical affair. He called for a woman he shouldve left alone, took her for himself, only to try and cover it up by deceiving her husband, ultimately leading to the death of her husband, the death of their child, and the disruption of the Kingdom. We could also speak of Proverbs 5-7 where the wise father repeatedly warns his son of going near the adulteress house. She is portrayed as alluring, enticing, seductive, and deadly. The father clearly warns his son, that all who go down to her house will only find death. Thats some of how Israel broke this commandment physically. But they also broke it spiritually. What do I mean? God uses the imagery of adultery to rebuke His people for being idolatrous in heart. So while not committing physical adultery, Israel often committed spiritual adultery. The golden calf is such a moment, when they made their own image and worshipped it instead of God. In Jeremiah 3 God asks Israel, throughout all the land, on what hill have you not been ravished? you have the forehead of a whore, yet you refuse to be ashamed. In Ezekiel 16 God says something similar, rebuking Israel for their adulterous hearts which had repeatedly turned away from Him to idols. And the whole book of Hosea puts this on display as God likens Israel to the prostitute Gomer, and rebukes His people for having hearts that continually run after other gods, as Gomer continually ran after other lovers. And when Jesus comes He raises the bar. In Matthew 5:27-30 He says, You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away... And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. Jesus isnt contradicting the seventh commandment here, Hes raising the bar by pointing out its true meaning. Lust in the heart is far more than a mere thought, its adulterous at root. Paul continues to expand on this by giving a number of warnings against adulterous living, saying at one point that those who indulge in such sin live as if theyre pagans who dont know God (1 Thess. 4:1-9). Bottom line Church? Whether its physical adultery or spiritual adultery in view, theres no small version of this sin. Its all dishonoring to God and deeply hurtful to others. Thus, hear and heed the command. Hear God love you by warning you against that which will destroy you. Adultery is a fire that destroys. Know it. Embrace it. Flee from it. But pastor, I have such strong desires and temptations. It doesnt matter, are you not more than your feelings? Are you not more than your temptations? Are you more than an animal in heat? Of course you are! Youre an image bearer, remember it and act like it. Though desires might be great, sexual desire is not a craving were free to satisfy in any manner that pleases us. Sometimes obeying this command will mean we must change something. It might look like finding a new group of friends, or forgoing certain forms of entertainment for a time, or indefinitely.[2] Sometimes obeying this command means you unlearn bad habits and learn some new ones. There is no excuse. Self-denial is a real discipline we must pursue until it become our habitual practice, and self-control is a real fruit of the Spirit God has given all His children. Church, obedience to this command is right. Hear and heed the negative command. But dont only do that. Hear and heed the The Positive Command Heres something important about how Gods commandments work. When He tells us not to do something, Hes also telling us to pursue something in its place. Yes there is the Thou shall not but there is also the Thou shall to each commandment. Weve seen what the seventh commandment calls us away from, now ask a different question. What is God commanding us to pursue in the seventh commandment? The answer to that question is simple I think. The Heidelberg Catechism we recited earlier told us plainly, we must not only detest adultery but must also live chaste and disciplined lives, inside and outside of holy marriage. Or in other words, since the sin of adultery is what is to be avoided, the virtue of faithfulness is what we must pursue. Faithfulness to God in singleness and faithfulness to God and spouse in marriage. Or as H.B. Charles Jr. puts it, the seventh commandment doesnt just restrict pleasure, it relocates it.[3] God isnt anti-pleasure. Hes the one who invented it, and in this commandment Hes telling us where pleasure is safe to run wild. So how do we actually pursue the virtue of faithfulness? Three ways. 1) Keep Christ as Your Highest Satisfaction Married or single, your first desire must be Christ. You were made for the glory of God before you were made for marriage, which means no person on the planet was ever built to satisfy you completely
Sep 13

MURDER!!!!!!

So as we gather this morning, the text before us is this idea of murder. Many people have highlighted they love the sermon title name. It's "Murder!!!!!!" With six exclamation points, so we are really diving into the murder theme. Part of it is the fact that, as a society, we have a mild obsession with murder. There's an entire television network dedicated to murder, just murder documentaries. Eighty-three percent of Americans over the age of 13 have consumed murder-related content over the last year, whether that be a book, a podcast, a series on television, a Netflix documentary. But 83%. So if we take the average attendance on a Sunday morning of both services, there's roughly 15 people who have not done so. It's a very small group who has not. I know some people who spend their Sunday evenings just obsessed with murder documentaries. It happens. People love them. Forty-two million Americans listen to a murder true-crime podcast every month. So a little over 10% of the U.S.this is their monthly diet. There are 75 current documentaries that deal with murder or murder-related things on Netflix currently, and iTunes and Spotify list roughly 23,000 murder true-crime podcasts available for your enjoyment today. That is our society's obsession with murder. One of the surveys highlighted why people are so obsessed: the thrill of the chase, the thrill of what's gonna happen. Who is the murderer? It's all about the person. So within this, our society doesn't actually care about the fact that people are murdered. We aren't interested even in the ones who are murdered, but rather the entertainment of finding out what happened. We love a good mystery, a whodunit. But as I've said before, when you get to the end of some of these seriesI will partake in one; I enjoy a good true-crime podcast every now and then, or a documentary on Netflixwhat you often see is if there's a four-part series, by the end of the series you've probably forgotten the victim's name or much about the person at all. But you know everything about the murderer. You know their neighbor, you know their mother, you know their third aunt, second cousin. Somehow you know everyone because they've all been interviewed like 12 different times about how they just did not see it coming. "They're the sweetest per" So you know everything about the murderer, but somehow the victims usually, not always, get lost along the way, because ultimately, we don't really care about that. We're sad murders happen, but really we just want to know why. What's going on? It's a sad state of the world that we live in. We've lost sight of the person. As we dive into our text today, this command ultimately is reflecting on the nature of the image of God and the destruction of that image. Ultimately we begin with this prohibition against taking out the image of God or abusing the image of God in others. As a society, we've become obsessed with these entertainments, or we've become obsessed with watching media about it. Many of you probably over the last month have consumed plenty of news reports on trials and other things, and everyone's got an opinion on what should have happened or what might have happened or why these people are wrong. "I watched two minutes of a trial, but I know everything about a trial." All of these ins and outs. We all have opinions. Part of it's because, as we'll dive into it, we all like to get worked up. It's part of our sinful condition. Our society knows it. That's how our society makes money. We thrive on anger. Anger is popular. Anger is what makes money, and this is part of what we see is also an aspect of murder. So as we unpack all of these things that are in view today, as we get deep into the heart of "Are we murderers? How is murder seen and lived out in our lives?" and ultimately, as we see as a world, "How have we belittled the image of God?"that is what brings us today to the Sixth Commandment. So again, the Sixth Commandmentas we will unpack it here, straight to the point. It's very quick. We see these four: "You shall not murder." That's pretty straightforward, right? We can wrap this thing up in like 10 minutes. But no, there's so much more that we're gonna unpack this morning, because there's so much more behind this text. There's so much more that the whole Old Testament ties into this text, because this is but the beating heart of so many other things that the Scriptures will unpack when it comes to how we treat one another and how we treat image bearers. I. The Commandment So, as we come to the commandment, it begins, as I said, with four simple English words: "You shall not murder." For those with a good modern English translation, that's what is before you. Again, what we've seen over the last few weeks: we spent the last five weeks looking at the first five. If you break them up, the first three are straight verticalman to God. How do we worship God? How do we not worship him wrongly? No carved idols, none of those things, not using His name in vain. Very highhow we worship God. The next two are the transition. They have both a vertical and a horizontal element. Keep the Sabbath day and keep it holy, because it's to the Lord, but also it gives rest to all people. There's a both/and. And then last week we talked about authority: listening to, obeying parents. "Honor your father and your mother," which also has a hierarchical idea of honor not only to your parents; it's also a reflection to honor of God. So there's this dual purpose in those. But now we have this transition to the last five, and the last five are very rapid-fire commandments. They're very short. The last one gets a little long because it lists like 19 different things that you can covet, but pretty much: don't covet. We'll summarize it for you there. It's very straightforward. These are very rapid fire, but there's a lot behind these simple words. Even as we come to our text, "You shall not murder," there's a lot that we will unpack today. Ultimately, as you look at these texts as a whole, we see this in the New Testament: we are called to love Godwhich you see in the first fiveand love our neighborthe second five. It's kind of how this breaks up for us. Part of that is because one reflects a worship of God himself, and the second has an honoring of the image of God found in man. Were honoring God's image found in mankind, because God's image is not destroyed at the Fall. It is marred, but it still remains on his creation. We see that in Genesis 9 when the command is given that anyone who murders someone, their life must be taken because they've destroyed the image of God. So Genesis 9, which is after the Fallwe're six chapters later, many yearsthe image of God is still relevant in the text. And so that plays out forward as how we treat one another reflects how well we think about the image of God in mankind. So again, we come to our text before us: "You shall not murder." In the Hebrew, it's actually two words. This is the shortest of all of the commandments, and it's simply lo tirsha. That's it. I might have butchered the HebrewI'm sorry for those Hebrew scholarsbut it's two simple Hebrew words. "No kill." No kill. It's great. You got it? Now again, as I said, most of you all have modern English translations that say, "You shall not murder." For those good King Jimmy usersyou got some good old King James in this"Thou shalt not kill." That's those who grew up in that world. That's where I grew up. "Thou shalt not kill" is what I memorized as a kid. Kill is close to what it says. Murder is close to what it means. Both. As we unpack this word, it's actually a word used only 46 times in the Old Testament. It's not used often because it has the connotationif we were using a better translationyou shall not unlawfully take another person's life. That is probably a better, more full definition. It does not roll off the tongue as well, though. You shall not unlawfully take another person's life. That is the Hebrew meaning behind the text. So it has this defining characteristic that murder in our text is more than just killing someone out of anger and volitionally taking a life. There's more going on. Our English language unfortunately just doesn't do a good job bearing the weight of what this means. So again, we take the first one: you shall not murder. We're all good with that. You should not, out of anger, spite, jealousy, take another person's life. We can all agree, hopefully. Absolutely that is not what we should do. We should not act in malice. This is different than other uses of this wordother Hebrew uses of the word for killing. There are things such as execution. Again, Genesis 9 highlighted those who kill someonemurdererstherefore are killed. It's a different word the second time, because it's dealing with lawful execution for those who have committed this crime. Different. "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," because God made man in His own image. So that's the Genesis 9 picture. It's a different word. So very simply: don't murder people. Don't willfully plot their death. Don't act in accordance with your sinful hate to lead to someone's murder. It's very straightforward. This is not difficult. We don't murder our children. Don't have abortions. Don't lazily pull the plug on your elderly parents because they're an inconvenience. These things seem obvious, but we still need to say them again. These things are not things that we should be doing. Do not be lazy in your thinking. Do not be flippant in these things either. The image of God is seen in man and should be treated and given dignity as such. Some of this we'll unpack later. It's why we do many of the ministries that we are a part offlows from this love for God and the image found in man. It's why we have Heather Hills, why we serve the seniors in that facility down there. It's why we're encouraged by the work of Hop
Sep 6

The Weight of Honor

If you were to name some of the most wicked sins a person could commit, what would make your list? Listen to Paul's own list in Romans 1:29-30, They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malicefull of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousnessgossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Some of you are thinking,I dont think disobeying your parents belongs in that lineup.Yet sandwiched between haters of God and inventors of evil we find disobedient to parents. And Paul says it again in 2 Timothy 3:1-2, Understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents. Twice, in two different letters, Paul puts disobedience to parents in the list describing how wrong the world has gone. Church, the fifth commandment reveals a general principle, that respect and honor are owed to every authority God has placed over us. And God, in His wisdom, so ordered it that the very first classroom for learning this principle would be our homes, with the very first authorities we ever meet, our parents. Before we go further, I need to correct two assumptions most people bring to this fifth commandment. First, many hear honor your father and mother and think only of children. They picture a child, sitting before their parents, who are telling them to clean their room. Is that what the fifth commandment is all about? Now, children need this text, more than they know, no doubt. But if children isallyou think this command speaks to, youve missed it. The fifth commandment is not the children's sermon of the Ten Commandments. No, you never graduate from this commandment. Youll always be under authorities in this life. Yes, we begin with our parents, but then we along with our parents we encounter other authorities in life: teachers, bosses, pastors, police, government, ultimately ending with God Himself. Second, many have a negative attitude towards authority, some even go as far as to say the very first time we hear of authority in the Bible is after our fall into sin in Gen. 3:16 when God says Adam shall rule over his wife. So, like the physical consequences of childbirth and wearisome labor in a world of thorns and thistles, many believe the authority of one human over another is a curse of the fall.[1] I can understand such a view, but it simply isnt correct. Authority of one over another wasnt a consequence of the fall, no way. Before the fall we see Adams headship over Eve as she is made from him and then given to him as a gift to have and hold, to love and lead, not as dictator but as her own husband. Can authority between husband and wife, or any authority in this world grow corrupt and be manipulated in the wrong direction? Of course it can. But the mere exercise of authority is not the same as the abuse of it. All in all, nobody in this room this morning is exempt from the fifth commandment. We find the commandment in Exodus 20:12, which says, Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Two headings this morning to see and embrace: The Command, and The Promise. See first The Command The very first thing we must say about the fifth commandment is that its a transition point, or a hinge point. The first four commandments are called the first table of the law, which teaches us how to love God: no other gods, no idols, no blasphemy, keeping sabbath. The final six commandments are called the second table of the Law, which teaches us how to love our neighbor: no murder, no adultery, no theft, no lying, no coveting. Yet notice what begins the second table, the commandment to honor your father and mother. This teaches us much. All our love towards our neighbor is founded on the parent-child relationship because its the first relationship any of us have, and because it shapes every relationship that comes after it. Clearly here we see the significance of the family. In v12 there is one father, one mother, and children who are to honor them. Thats the design. Why does this matter so much? Because obedience to parental authority is, fundamentally, obedience to God Himself. You cannot call yourself a follower of Christ and treat your parents authority as optional. Obedience to parents was so serious in the OT that God prescribed the death penalty for children who cursed their parents (Ex. 21:17, Lev. 20:9). In the NT Jesus rebukes the Pharisees who arranged a system where one could think theyre obeying the fifth commandment while leaving their parents uncared for (Matt. 15:3-9). Why such severity? Because in dishonoring our parents, we dishonoring God, which is no small thing. Think about the authorities in your life right now. Theres God, who deserves your worship above all else. Theres the government, who have been placed over us to bear the sword of steel. Refusing to submit to them, whether or not we like whos currently in office, is refusing to submit to the Lord put them there (Rom. 13:1-7). Theres the churchs pastors and elders, who God has placed over us to bear the sword of the Spirit. Refusing to submit to them is, refusing to submit to the Lord who put them there (Heb. 13:17). Theres teachers, who ought to be shown a great deal of respect while youre in the classroom. Theres employers and bosses of all kinds, who arent to be mocked but listened to and obeyed as well. And theres the elderly, who arent to be warehoused and forgotten in an institution, but honored and cared for till the end. Where does all the honor were to show to these authorities begin? The fifth commandment says, at home. Thus, the home is to be the proving ground where we learn the art of honoring for the first time.[2] And how important it is to learn it there. Because if a child doesnt honor authority at home, we should not be surprised if that child doesnt honor authority anywhere else. Show me an employee who is lazy, dishonest, and impossible to correct, and nine times out of ten, youre looking at a how that person related to authority as a child. Clearly this commandment, while beginning at home, extends far beyond it. How kind of the Lord, then, to build this into our lives here in the fifth commandment. And how urgent it is for us, then, to relearn the ways godly family life.[3] The Hebrew word for honor in v12 iskabod. It literally means weight, or heaviness. Its the same word the authors of Scripture use to describe Gods glory. You hear that? Gods very glory, beauty, reputation, the sheer gravity of who He is. Thats this word. And here in the fifth commandment its applied to our parents. What does this do to the command? It brings a weightiness to it, a gravity to it, a high importance to it. This is one of the Ten Commandments after all, which remember, is not a suggestion. I think we get the weight of honor commanded here. But lets ask a different question now. What does living this out look like? What does carrying this weight look like? In his Bible commentary Matthew Henry, lists many ways to carry out this commandment. Here are a few of them.[4] Respect What is this? To respect is to have and maintain an inward esteem for our parents that shows up outwardly in how we relate to them. This looks like speaking kindly of your parents in public and private instead of mocking them behind their backs. It looks like listening when they talk instead of checking your phone, or rolling your eyes at them. This takes work to maintain and the work usually gets harder, not easier, as we get older because the older we get the more we think we know and the less we think our parents know. Proverbs 30:17 says we disobey the fifth commandment to our peril, The eye that mocks a father, and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures. Honoring our mother and father looks like respect. Obedience This is so often seen as a bad word by Christians, left only for things like dog training. Obedience is not resentful or forced coercion, or a bare compliance without love which is its own kind of dishonor. Obedience is cheerful, willing, and immediate compliance. Ephesians 6:1 affirms this saying, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Matthew Henry says it like this to kids, Come when they call, go where they send you, do what they ask you to do, and refrain from what they forbid.[5] Proverbs 6:20-22 puts it beautifully, My son, keep your fathers commandment, and forsake not your mothers teaching. Bind them on your heart always, tie them around your neck. When you walk they will lead you, when you lie down they will watch over you, when you awake they will talk with you. Perhaps we have forgotten, or havent ever thought of it, but our parents have usually walked through terrain we havent. Theyve made mistakes theyd love to spare us from. To drown out their voice with the noise of your own opinions is to dishonor them and ensure your own folly. Honoring our mother and father looks like obedience. Submission This word is also usually seen as a negatively, as a strong word where one party forces their will onto another. Is that what this means for the parent child relationship? No. Rather, this word speaks to what will leads ought to lead children. In themselves they want this or that, to go here or there, yet in it all they are to submit to their parents will. The hardest arena this occurs in is discipline. Hebrews 12 makes the case: no discipline feels pleasant in the moment, but it trains us, it teaches us, and one of the greatest lessons we learn in it is how God Himself disciplines those He loves. If parents love their children, theyll discipline themif children love their parents, theyll submit to them. If youre a parent who refuses to discipline your children,
Aug 30

The Everlasting Sabbath

Recall where weve been the past 4 weeks. In the prologue to the Ten Commandments God sets the tone. Before commanding us to do anything, God tells us Hes our Redeemer and that were His redeemed. Our identity is shown to be secure in Him based only His work of redemption. After giving us a sure identity, then we see Him command a specific activity. What kind of activity? The first commandment instructs us to worship the correct God. The second commandment instructs to worship the correct God correctly. And the third commandment instructs us to worship the correct God reverently. After these three commandments, how is everyone doing? Anyone feeling that youve already struck out? Three commandments given, three commandments broken. If youre feeling that way, great! Youre experiencing one of the exact reasons God gave us His law. God did not intend the Ten Commandments to be a ladder we climb to work our way up to God. Rather God intends the Ten commandments to be a mirror to show us our need for a Savior. Today the trend will continue as we come to the fourth commandment. Hear it for yourself. Exodus 20:8-11 says this, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. In order to understand this commandment, lets take a comprehensive look at it. By that I mean four things: -First, lets go back Genesis 1-2 to see how God rests at the end of the creation week, setting down the pattern to be followed. -Second, lets linger on this fourth commandment itself in Exodus 20, observing how Israel was to obey it, amid the world around them. -Third, lets move ahead to Christ, to witness the fulfillment of the commandment in Him, to see how the Church is to rest. -Fourth, lets go all the way to the end, to speak our coming everlasting rest in the New Heavens and the New Earth. God Rests Genesis 2:1-3 says, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation. Here in Genesis 2:1-3 we see Day 7 of the creation week in all of its glory. Specifically, in v1 we find the concluding statement that the heavens and the earth are finished. In v2 we find the result of God finishing this work in God resting. And in v3 we find God blessing the seventh day by making it holy. Thats Day 7. In this its almost immediately recognizable that Day 7 is different from the rest of the creation days.[1] There are no opening words Then God said as we see on the other days. There are no concluding words about Day 7 having an evening and morning. This is the only day to be blessed and made holy. The word seventh is repeated three times here while the other days usually only mention the number of the day once. And Day 7 has no corresponding day to it like the others do. Meaning, days 1, 2, and 3 go together because on those days God created all the kingdoms of the world (the sky, the sea, the land), and day 4, 5, and 6 go together because on those days God filled all those kingdoms with their respective kings (the birds, the fish, the animals and man). Yet here is day 7, standing forth in a category by itself. Its worth asking the question: whats so special about Day 7? Simply put, on Day 7 God finished the work He began. Not everything He was planning to do, is doing, or will ever do, no. Rather it is the specific work of creation in view. Which means creation is no longer in the process of being created.[2] It is finished. Entirely. This is told to us directly in v2, that on this 7th day, that God finished the work that He had done, and thats when it adds the detail in view for us today, that God rested on the seventh day from the work He had done. So it seems to be clear, that Gods resting comes as a result of Gods creating work being finished. What about this rest? Does God need rest? Of course not. Sure, few things can be as refreshing as a power nap. But, God resting here on Day 7 doesnt mean God took a nap, or closed His eyes and went to sleep, no. God needs no rest, nothing depletes Him, He never needs to be refilled, or needs a break or a breather.[3] God resting on the seventh day also does not mean that God all of the sudden became aloof, distant, or indifferent about what was going on in creation, as if he finished and then stepped away and no longer cares about creation, no.[4] Whats it mean then? All of this rest language in Gen. 2:1-3 is about God finishing and completing His work of everything that is. After finishing this great work, He rests, but even in His rest, He still rules and reigns in His providence, wisdom, and governance over all things. But He did more than just rest, didnt He? He blessed the 7th day and made it holy. That Gods blessing is on His creation is what sets it apart as holy, most likely. This means He consecrated the 7th day, sanctified 7th day, set the 7th day apart, and separated 7th day from the other days. Do not miss, God called all the others days good, even very good on day 6. That He calls this 7th day holy, seems to mean this 7th day has a higher purpose. What purpose? To provide us a pattern. God worked six days creating all creation, then God rested. And by marking the seventh day out as holy we could say God was creating a distinction between work days and rest days, but we would do better to say God is making a distinction between ordinary days and holy days.[5] That is where the sabbath principle begins. Which leads us to our next heading Israel Rests This day 7 rest God enters into in Gen 2:1-3, in time, would then become a pattern for the people of Israel in the fourth commandment. We began with it, now hear it again. Exodus 20:8-11 says, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. In this fourth commandment we see the sabbath is a call to rest. Thats where the word sabbath comes from, the Hebrews word sabath means to cease or to rest. We know, from Genesis 2, that this rest is as old as creation itself, and by resting from work on the sabbath day Israel would be imitating Gods own example from creation in working six days and resting on the seventh.[6] In that sense, many call this a creation mandate, because the fourth commandment is rooted in Gods own example in the creation week. This repeating pattern was to be cemented in the lives of Gods people. So much so, that if the sabbath was regularly honored by them as a holy day of worship and rest it would serve to make them holy as well.[7] This rest was not only built into their weekly rhythms by the fourth commandment, rest was literally where they were heading as a people. God had promised them that He would go with them into the promise land and give them rest (Ex.33:14), and God did just that. Yes due to the unbelief of this generation, they were cursed to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, but afterwards God would bring the next generation into the land Himself and by doing so He gave them rest. But would the land prove restful? In a sense it did, this was the promise land after all, but in another sense true rest remained out of reach. When they entered the land God commanded Israel to clean house throughout the land of Canaan so that they would have rest. This, they didnt do. So rest, again, remained aloof. If you continue following Israel through the rest of the OT Israel ebbs and flows in their life with God, enjoying a taste of true rest under a good king, while experiencing true restlessness under a bad king. Meanwhile, prophet after prophet kept calling the people back to the Law of Moses and this Sabbath pattern. Yet, sin would reign in them, so much that God removed them from the promise land by allowing them to be carried off into exile, where they had no rest. Years later after they came back into land under the decree of Cyrus, under Ezras and Nehemiahs leadership, a restlessness seemed to cling to them as they eagerly awaited to arrival of the Messiah. The Church Rests The Messiah would come, but He was not what Israel expected. Jesus continually challenged the religious people and religious leaders of His day pointing beyond the letter of the law to the heart of the law, teaching that true obedience to God was not just an external conformity but an internal transformation of the soul. Jesus always pointed deeper, and many times He would use the fourth commandment to do so. Perhaps the most famous remark from Jesus on this is Mark 2:27-28 when He said, The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath. Meaning, were not meant to serve the sabbath, it is meant to serve us. This hit home because the Pharisees had inverted this relationship, going much too far in their regulations of sabbath keeping. Here Jesus reverts the pattern back to health, where the Sabbath is Gods gift, a gift to serve man, not sit above man. Well, on Jesus would live and teach, saying much about true rest. Most powerfully in Matt
Aug 23

The Divine Copyright

I like the name Adam, I always have. My parents chose well. I like my last name, Powers. Its a strong name, literally, though at times it has brought me the occasional Austin Powers joke. My middle name is another story, I have not always liked it. Perhaps some of you dont even know it. My full name is Adam Whitney Powers. I have known a handful of Whitneys in my life, and yes most of them were female and you can imagine why I disliked Whitney when I was young because, clearly, I am not female. But in time I came to love my middle name because it isnt a name you hear everyday, its unique, its rare, and has grown special to me. Here's the thing about names: we instinctively protect our own, because our names belong to us. If someone misquotes you, misrepresents you, drags your name through the mudyou feel it, AND, you correct it because you care about it. Every business, every inventor, every songwriter gets this too. Thats why copyright exists. We cant just take someone elses name, work, or identity, and use it however we please. There are laws against that. All rights reserved. Apply this to God and His name and we could easily say, His name has a divine copyright.[1] Thus, we cannot do with it what we please. Thats what the third commandment is all about. If the first commandment teaches us to worship God exclusively, and the second commandment teaches us to worship God correctly, this third commandment teaches us to worship God reverently.[2] Hear it from the text. Exodus 20:7 says, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. The simple takeaway today is this: Gods name really matters, because His name is who He is. You see in Scripture, a name is more than just a name. Back in Exodus 3, when Moses asks God at the burning bush, Who shall I say sent me? God doesnt merely give Moses a label or a title. He says,I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you. God gives Moses a name to tell Israel. And Gods name, I AM, reveals who He is. I AM means God is God, the self-existent eternal God of aseity who has no needs, but has come in grace to rescue His enslaved people. Every time this name occurs in the Bible were brought back to these glorious truths about who God is. The third commandment isnt protecting God's feelings. Its protecting His reputation, His very character. Because of this, many throughout history have seen broad applications in the third commandment. Be reminded of what we just read aloud together from the Heidelberg Catechism Q99: What is Gods will for us the third commandment? That we neither blaspheme nor misuse the name of God by cursing, perjury, or unnecessary oaths, nor share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders. In a word, it requires that we use the holy name of God only with reverence and awe, so that we may properly confess Him, pray to Him, and praise Him in everything we do and say. So the third commandment cuts both ways. God is concerned how we misuse His name, and God is concerned how we use His name. Negatively speaking, God commands us to not use or defraud His name. When we do this its called blasphemy. Positively speaking, God commands us to speak and live in such a way that brings glory and honor to His name. When we do this we glorify God. Lets dive in. Two headings today, see first The Misuse of Gods Name Throughout the Bible you can categorize the instances of misusing Gods name into categories: 1) Sorcery This refers to one who invokes the name of God to summon Gods power for personal use through an some manner of incantation. In Ancient Near Eastern culture (the world of Exodus 20), every nation other than Israel practiced these things, using incantations for the purpose of removing sickness, defeating enemies, foretelling the future, and seeking to exercise control over others through the use secret magical powers. Deuteronomy 18:10-14 says, There shall not be found among youanyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. God didnt allow sorcery for Israel because He had given them something better and more sure, His very Word through His prophets. This is one of the reasons King Saul was rejected as being king over Israel, because in 1 Sam. 28, rather than seeking the Lord and His guidance, Saul went to the witch in the city of Endor for guidance. Saul rejected the clear counsel of God and preferring the wisdom of a witch. In Acts 19 we also see this. There seven iterant Jewish exorcists saw Paul driving out demons and healing in the name of Jesus, and they had the idea of doing this themselves. Not for the sake of spreading the gospel, or healing the sick, no, their idea was using Jesus name to do similar miracles and become famous. But when they tried this they not only failed, they were beaten up by the demons, and were thrown naked out of the house of the demon possessed man. The contrast between these seven wannabe wizards and the Apostles became so clear that fear fell on all the people and the name of Jesus was magnified among them. Lesson? Gods people arent to be marked by sorcery. Were not to go to psychics, palm readers, tarot card readers, crystal ball gazers, or Ouija boards. It was blasphemous back then. Its blasphemous now. 2) False prophecy Whereas sorcery invokes the name of God wrongly, false prophecy declares a false word from God and therefore misuses the name of God. False prophets did this throughout the OT and false prophets do so now around the world by saying, Thus says the Lord and follow it by saying something God never said. This violates the third commandment because everything God says is tied to the reputation of Gods name. We dot his too. We associate someones word with their whole person, saying Bobs word doesnt mean anything, you cant trust him. What someone says is tied to who they are. So naturally, when someone says God said something He never said, Gods name and reputation are blemished and the Word of God is belittled. In every age Gods people have faced and struggled with false prophetsand the Church is still dealing with these charlatans today. Lesson? We must test everything we hear. If someone says Thus says the Lord and then says something God has said, all good. But if someone says Thus says the Lord and then says something God never said, we ought to reject such teaching as false. This means we maintain a correct position in regard to Gods Word. Rather than standing over it in judgment as if we know better than God, we must sit under His Word in submission. Generally, when someone says, Thus says the Lord or God told me and thats not followed by Scripture, we have every reason to doubt that statement. False teachers not only hurt people, they blaspheme the name of God by attributing to God things He never said. 3) False oaths What made the instance with King Saul going to the witch in Endor so evil was not only that Saul went and sought out the guidance of the local fortune teller, but that he used a false oath to secure her services. She was skeptical when he came visiting, he was the King of Israel after all. So she probably thought his coming to her was a trick or rouse or something, but Saul reassured with the following words, As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. This is an outright lie. Leviticus 19:12, You shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God, I am the Lord. Lesson? Dont blatantly lie to people and use God to justify your sin. To do so is to blaspheme Gods name. 4) Cursing Cursing abounds today. From TV, social media, movies, and everyday conversations, cursing is the language of dishonor. Its easy to call out common curse words in our culture but whats really in view here is when someone curses and includes the name Jesus, or Jesus Christ, or God to add shock or force to a sentence with zero thought of God. This is breaking the third commandment. To do this is treat the very name of God as if it didnt matter at all and only exists as a tool to add emphasis to our vulgarity. Its impossible to justify this kind of language as acceptable. Sure at times you may need to add force to your words, but can you not do so with tone or other choice adjectives instead of Gods holy name? Do you do this? What comes out of your mouth in a traffic jam? What comes out of your mouth when you stub your toe? Whatever comes out reveals whats taken root inside. Jesus said this in Matthew 12:34, For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 5) Hypocrisy Heres the one were most likely to miss, because it isnt about our mouths at all. Its about our lives. In his commentary Matthew Henry lists the ways we take Gods name in vain AND topping his list is something that might surprise ushypocrisy. Hypocrisy, is claiming the name of Christ while living in a way that denies His name. Jesus said in Luke 6:46,Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? Matthew 15:8-9, This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me Titus 1:16, They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works... Church, to pray and not practice, to profess and not obey, to preach one sermon with your mouth and live another sermon with your lifethis is taking His name in vain in the deepest sense. Think about what it means that youre called aChristian. In a very real sense, we are, every moment, carrying His name with us in all of
Aug 16

God on His Own terms

Every one of us in this room, is by nature, a god-maker. In Genesis 1:27 we read God made man in His own image. But ever since the fall, weve been trying to return the favor by making God inour image. That's the whole point of the second commandment. Worshiping the right God isn't enough. We must worship the right God in the right way. The first commandment forbids worshiping a false god. The second commandment forbids worshiping the true God falsely.The first commandment is all aboutwhowe worship. The second is all abouthow we worship. And the how really matters. Simply put, were commanded here, to not come to God on our own terms, but on His. Here's what makes this commandment sharp for a room like this one. None of us walked in tempted to bow before a carved statue. We dont melt down jewelry to fashion a calf. We do something far more sophisticated and far harder to see. We build a version of God in our minds, decorate it with the attributes we find appealing, and then bow to that instead of God. Our image is invisible, which makes it more dangerous, not less. A golden calf can at least be smashed. A calf built in our own imaginations, crafted out of our own assumptions is much harder to smash, but it must be! Two things are forbidden in the second commandment: makingan image for worship andbowingto that image; construction and veneration. Thats what the second commandment is all about, taking God on His terms, not on our own. Exodus 20:4-6 says, You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. There is a lot to work through here. So, Ive made a few headings to help us work through this. See first The Pattern Before we get towhyGod commands this, lets begin by moving ahead to witness how quickly Israel breaks this commandment. In Exodus 32 (not that long after this moment here) Moses is up on the mountain, Israel doesnt know when or if hell return, and the people begin yearning to worship. As wonderful as that seems, it turns sour real quick. The people bring their gold to Aaron, ask him to make an image, he doesnt refuse, he puts the gold in the fire, and fashions it into a calf. But notice a crucial detail. They didn't ask Aaron to fashion them a new god. They desired to worship the LORD who saved them from Egypt. Thats great! The problem was that they just wanted to worship Him intheirway, on their own timeline, and in a form that made sense to them. Once the calf is finished Aaron said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD (Exodus 32:5). He doesnt announce a festival to a foreign god. He names the calf after the LORD Himself and calls the people to worship Yahweh through it. Thats precisely the sin of the second commandment in its purest form. Not swapping gods, but reshaping the true God into a form the people could see, control, and dance in front of. Thats the human pattern to see. It was Israels pattern at Sinai, and its our pattern now. Many of us wont go after a false god, but well sure settle for a false way of worshiping the true God. Were idol factories, every one of usnot because were unusually wicked, but because we are unusually impatient with a God we cannot see or control. If this generation of Israelites that was redeemed out of Egypt could drift this fast, so can we. The Reasons Lets go back to the second commandment. In Exodus 20:4-6 we find the second commandment, and we find reasons why God gave this commandment. Reason 1: God is a jealous God. This is the first reason the text gives us as to why God gave the second commandment, is that God is a jealous God. Which means, God wont have His people bowing down to anything that is not Him because God will not give His glory to another. Many people take offense at God being a jealous God but its good news that God is a jealous God. To say God is jealous God is like saying Im a jealous husband. I wont share my wife any of you here, or anyone in this world. The alternative is dreadful, unloving, and wicked. I wont share Holly with anyone, out of all the women on the planet God has told me this one is my wife, and all the others are my sisters. Not only will I not share Holly with anyone else, I will go to great lengths to protect her from what is harmful to her. This is the joy and privilege and calling of every husband. So, every husband who isnt a jealous husband doesnt really love his wife. To an infinitely greater degree, God is a jealous God who loves His people with an exclusive love. He wont share us with anyone, and He will go to great lengths to protect us from harm. Because He is this jealous over His own He commanded them to not make any image of Himself or anything in existence (heaven above, earth beneath, water under the earth) for the purpose of worshiping. Thus, as His people, let us obey His command and give God no cause to be jealous. Those who break this command invite Gods wrathful visitation. See that in in v5? Those who craft an image invite God to visit them in wrath, and deal with them as their sins deserve. Nadab and Abihu experienced this in Leviticus 10 with their priestly sacrifice. They offered unauthorized fire that God hadnt commanded and knew Gods justice. So too, those who obey this command invite Gods merciful visitation. See that in v6? Those who are content to take God on His terms, as He has revealed Himself to us, will know His mercy. Reason 2: God is Spirit. In John 4 Jesus tells the woman at the well that God is spirit (John 4:24). This means God cannot be seen, He is invisible. So, the moment someone fashions an image of God, they not only havent captured the essence of God, theyve traded God for something smaller. Isaiah 40:18 says it like this, To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare Him with? This is why Paul, when preaching to the philosophers on Mars Hill in Acts 17, told them that God is not like gold or silver or stone, or an image formed by the art and imagination of man (Acts 17:29). Pauls point was that no carved thing, however beautiful, could ever rightly image forth the true and living God. Reason 3: God is majestic beyond capture. When the apostle John beholds the Lord in Revelation 1, the words he uses to describe arent words that describe a face. Instead John uses the words like lightning, thunder, fire, the roar of many waters. Glory that can be painted or carved isnt glory. Romans 1 agrees as it says sinful humanity, claiming to be wise, traded the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal creatures, birds, animals, and crawling things (Romans 1:22-23). When this happens the tradeoff always runs downward. Every image we substitute for God, however sophisticated, shrinks Him. Thats the real danger of the second commandment. To make an image of God is not merely disobedience, its a downgrade. Reason 4: God has already provided His own Image Israel didnt need a carved image to worship God. God gave them His Law, prophets, priests, and kings to teach and lead His people. More so, in the fullness of time God would provide His own image. The true image of God would come in the Jesus Christ the Son of God. Colossians 1:15 calls Christ the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1:3 calls Christ the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature. Israel was commanded to not make an image because God would, one day, supply His own, in the Person of His Son. Indeed, to see Him is to the see the Father (John 14:9). These then are all the reasons standing behind the giving of the second commandment. The History Israel wasnt the last community to face this temptation, every generation of Gods people has always faced the temptation to craft an image of God, we are god-makers by nature remember? Its worth walking through how Gods people throughout the ages have handled and mishandled this commandment, because the mistakes are and lessons learned are deeply practical. The Israelites should have known better. Egypt, and every one of the pagan neighbors, filled their worship with images of all kinds. In that context God called His people to be differentnot only in whothey worshiped but how they worshiped. This was the call, but Israel didnt always get this right. The golden calf incident shows us as much. Similarly, the Church has not always gotten this right either. From roughly the fifth to the fifteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church filled its cathedrals and monasteries with statues and images of all kinds. Mary, the saints, and more. Now, Roman Catholicism taught, and still teaches, that the people should not worshipthese images, but shouldveneratethem. They see a difference in those words, but we do not. To venerate is to revere, to honor, but its also to adore, to worship. This is problematic to say the least. It gets worse. To support their teaching on their images, Roman Catholicism has reordered the Ten Commandments to do away with the second. They fold the second commandment into the first and then split the tenth commandment into two just so they still have ten.This isnt an accident. Its an example of tradition being prioritized over Scripture to justify sinful practice. As much as I wish the Reformation cleaned all this up when it first broke out, it didnt settle the question. They disagreed about the use images, specifically, images of Jesus and His cross. Many of them banned all images from worship. They would argue like this: 1) no image of Christ is neutral, 2) every artistic interpretation is wrong somewhere, and 3) well end up worshiping the image because were prone to idolatry, even if were unaware of

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SonRise Communtiy Church
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SonRise Community Church
Years Active

2024 - 2026
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50
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Explicit
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© SonRise Community Church
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SonRise Community Church Morning Sermons

Religion & Spirituality

Religion & Spirituality

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