1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,800 Hey there, this is Jen Wade, part of the core team here at Springs Church. We just want 2 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,720 to say thank you so much for joining us and listening to our podcast. We are praying that 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:18,080 it encourages you and it inspires you. And if you'd like to find out more about Springs 4 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:21,080 Church, please visit our website springschurch.co.uk. Here's today's message. 5 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:30,480 Thank you Lord, you can already feel that you're here with us right now. You might say 6 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:35,880 that that was your presence with us. Lord, thank you that we have the opportunity to 7 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:45,280 worship you and Lord, you respond to that. Thank you Lord. In your name, amen. Amen. 8 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:51,680 Bless you church if you're not already. You may be seated. Wonderful. Cheers Pete. I'm 9 00:00:51,680 --> 00:01:00,880 just going to pop up here for the sake of me walking around and staying still. There 10 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:07,960 we go. Lovely. Afternoon everyone. You all alright? Welcome to the warmest room in Gornal. 11 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:15,040 It is officially not snowing in here right now. It is absolutely roasting. We don't have 12 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:21,200 the camera this afternoon I'm afraid. So if anyone is watching or listening on YouTube, 13 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:26,400 you won't be seeing how sweaty I am. And so that's probably a good thing there's no camera 14 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,760 this week. For those of you who don't know me, hello, my name is Ben. I am one of the 15 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:37,800 leaders here at Springs and it's my privilege to this afternoon be able to bring a word 16 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,760 to you, to bring a message to you. And hopefully this afternoon something that I say might 17 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,800 land with us and might help us this week. Maybe God wants to say something to you this 18 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:53,200 afternoon. Pete last week brought an absolutely brilliant introduction to this series entitled 19 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:59,120 Written in Stone. If you haven't already listened to that, go to YouTube or go to wherever you 20 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:04,120 get your podcasts, Spotify, Apple Music and you can listen to Pete's message from last 21 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,760 week which really kind of set up what we're going to talk about over the next few weeks 22 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:13,440 before Easter. Take a little break over Easter to talk about Easter and then to continue 23 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:20,480 after that as well. Pete talked about how perfect Jesus was and that love God and love 24 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:26,600 your neighbour as yourself underpinned everything that Jesus did. So before I launch into what 25 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,960 I want to say this afternoon, let's just pray. Let's just ask God to be with us and be ready. 26 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:36,000 Lord, I thank you. As we've just said, you have already been here. We have already sensed 27 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,360 your presence this afternoon, whether we recognise that or not. Lord, I just pray that your Holy 28 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:46,040 Spirit would be here. Would there be something within us that would speak to us, that we 29 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,840 would understand that there's more to life than just this, that there's something out 30 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:56,720 there that can help us through everyday life. In your name, amen. Amen. My phone has just 31 00:02:56,720 --> 00:03:01,360 buzzed which means there's probably a score in the Wolves game so I'm just going to just 32 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:10,080 airplane mode that. I won't give any spoilers away. Oh, thanks Phil. So why the Ten Commandments? 33 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:15,160 Why are we talking about the Ten Commandments? A Sunday school teacher was talking about 34 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,400 the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds and was talking about what we should 35 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:26,160 do with our lives and she explained the commandment of honour your mother and father. She said, 36 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,160 is there a commandment that teaches how to treat our brothers and sisters? And one of 37 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:36,920 the boys piped up, thou shalt not kill. Why the Ten Commandments? Well, we're very aware 38 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:42,480 that there's lots of people in the room that may or may not know about these things from 39 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:47,360 the Bible. We don't want to assume that anyone has come in and has a full understanding of 40 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:51,080 what the Bible is and how it works and what it means for us today. So what we want to 41 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:57,600 do is unpack some things that maybe we think we should know but maybe we don't. Maybe sometimes 42 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,760 we're a little bit too afraid to ask the questions about because we feel like maybe we should 43 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:06,880 have done it in our re at school at some point. What we want to unpack today and over the 44 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:14,000 next couple of weeks is what these Ten Commandments mean for us right now in 2023 and what did 45 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:19,080 Jesus say about them as well. So first of all, I'm going to read to you from the book 46 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:25,280 of Exodus. It's in chapter 20. Exodus is the second book in the Bible and I'm going to 47 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:31,880 read from verse one down to six. It says, and God spoke all these words. I am the Lord 48 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:37,160 your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no 49 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:42,440 other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything 50 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:47,080 in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down 51 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:52,120 to them or worship them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children 52 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:56,200 for the sin of the parents, the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but 53 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:02,320 showing love to a thousand generations, those who love me and keep my commandments. Okay, 54 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:07,680 we've jumped in deep. Everybody okay? There's a lot of very scary language and words in 55 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:11,680 there. We're going to spend a little bit of time this afternoon unpacking what that means 56 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:17,160 and trying to pull down some of the curtains around what that language might mean. But 57 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:23,240 do the 10 commandments still hold true for us today? I mean, yes, our legal system and 58 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,400 our moral system is based around these 10 commandments that we're going to work our 59 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,840 way through. And what I just read to you was just the first two of those commandments. 60 00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:35,760 And those are the two that we're going to unpack today in a little bit. Do we still 61 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:41,760 have to follow the Old Testament law, is what the Bible says, or rules or guidance? Do we 62 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:48,440 have to follow that if we live under a New Testament grace? So if Jesus forgave us for 63 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,640 everything, do we still have to follow all the rules that were written before him? Well, 64 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:58,240 we're going to look in the book of Matthew. It's Matthew 5 verses 17 to 20. Matthew was 65 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,600 written by a guy called Matthew, there are clues in the name. And this is what Jesus 66 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:08,080 said in chapter 5, do not think I have come to abolish the law, the guidance from the 67 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:13,160 Old Testament or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 68 00:06:13,160 --> 00:06:17,480 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the 69 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:23,040 least stroke of pen will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. 70 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,480 Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others 71 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:32,200 accordingly will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and 72 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:36,680 teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that 73 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:41,880 unless your righteousness suppresses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, 74 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:46,360 those were the people who were kind of running synagogues and running, I guess, churches, 75 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:51,740 what we might say in those days, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. 76 00:06:51,740 --> 00:06:57,000 And Jesus was also asked about these commandments, which one is the greatest one? Which one's 77 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:02,260 the most important one? And later on in the book of Matthew, this is what he said, one 78 00:07:02,260 --> 00:07:06,720 of them, an expert in the law, tested Jesus, tested him with this question, teacher, which 79 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:11,280 is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied, love the Lord your God with all your 80 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:17,080 heart and all your soul and all your mind. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor 81 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:22,240 as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. The book of 82 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,000 Mark, which is the book after Matthew, has a slightly different take on it. It's got 83 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,640 a really interesting phrase at the bottom. This is what it says in Mark 12. The most 84 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,880 important one answer, Jesus, is here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the 85 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,440 Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind and all your 86 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:45,120 strength. And the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment 87 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:51,120 greater than these. So did Jesus regard these 10 commandments as important? I think we can 88 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:55,680 say that yes, he probably did. I mean, it says there in that first scripture that we 89 00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:03,200 read that not the smallest letter, not a stroke of pen from that law will be removed. Jesus 90 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:09,120 also summarized the 10 commandments in these two comments. He said, love God and love people. 91 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:14,440 You might have heard us say that a few times before. Jesus was aware that ultimately the 92 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:22,160 standards that God set are too high for normal human beings to achieve. The standard that 93 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:29,480 God commands from us is not possible from us who are, the Bible might say, sinful in 94 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:34,160 nature. That means doing things that are against God. And I don't know about you, but I find 95 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:41,240 myself on a daily basis doing things that I think, don't know if that would please God. 96 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:46,080 I don't know if I should have done that. And maybe you find yourself in that boat sometimes 97 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:52,080 as well. And Jesus absolutely knew that and he was absolutely aware of that. And so what 98 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:57,400 he did was he put himself upon a cross and the Bible says he did that to atone for the 99 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:03,400 sins of the world. When we say atone, it means make up for, it means that God doesn't see 100 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:08,680 our problems and our sins in a negative way anymore, but he sees them in a way that actually 101 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:14,680 draws us towards him and says, come here, I'll help you. I've got something for you. 102 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:19,040 Romans 8 puts it like this in verses two to three. Therefore there is now no condemnation 103 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:23,560 for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit 104 00:09:23,560 --> 00:09:29,180 who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. You're set free from messing 105 00:09:29,180 --> 00:09:35,400 up on these things. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, 106 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:40,360 God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And 107 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:47,880 so he can condemn sin in the flesh. What the law was powerless to do was because God knew 108 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:53,360 ultimately we couldn't keep it. There are over 600 laws in the Old Testament and we're 109 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:59,120 not going to unpack all of them now because that would take a very, very, very long time. 110 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:04,560 But Jesus knew that ultimately we couldn't live up to this standard and so he came to 111 00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:10,880 be the sacrifice. Really interesting question to ask. Well hang on, if there's these 10 112 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:14,560 commandments and there's 600 commandments in the Old Testament, which ones do we have 113 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:19,240 to still follow today and which ones don't count? There's a really interesting YouTube 114 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,280 channel called The Bible Project. The Bible Project have been doing throughout the start 115 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:26,960 of this year unpicking all of these things. And so if you're like me and you're a bit 116 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,600 of a Bible nerd and you want to find out a little bit more about that, there's a set 117 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:35,880 of podcasts you can go and listen to there on The Bible Project. When I was doing a bit 118 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:40,880 of research around this subject, I came across a British pastor from the 60s and 70s called 119 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:47,400 Alan Redpath. This is what Alan Redpath said about the law. The great message of the Christian 120 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:54,640 faith is that we are free from the law's condemnation in order that we may be able to fulfill its 121 00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:01,800 obligation by the power of Jesus within. My obedience therefore is not legal but inspired 122 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:08,080 by love and empowered by God's Holy Spirit. Does New Testament grace allow a lower standard 123 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:14,760 than Old Testament law? The standard under grace is higher. So I just wanted to set the 124 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:20,200 stall at early doors to say yes, these Old Testament laws that were given thousands and 125 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:27,760 thousands of years ago, they still stand for us today. Are they something to beat ourselves 126 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:32,520 up about if we don't manage to achieve them? Definitely not. The Bible says therefore there 127 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:38,360 is no condemnation. We just read it in Romans 8. And we actually understand now that Jesus 128 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:45,580 came to fulfill the law, not to tear it down. And so the standard that Jesus set is even 129 00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:51,360 higher than the Old Testament. But that's not something to tie ourselves in knots about. 130 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:57,920 He is always there every single time we mess up, which I would say is probably daily. I'm 131 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:03,840 going to dig down now into these two first commandments and then next week we'll unpack 132 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:09,600 the third commandment and so on and so forth. So we are in Exodus 20 and this is what it 133 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:15,800 says in verse 2. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land 134 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:22,200 of slavery. See I love this as an opening because God didn't create a moral code in 135 00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:27,920 a way to get a blessing. Let's read what he said there in verse 2. He said, I am the 136 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:33,040 Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. For those of you who aren't aware of what 137 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:39,000 the Old Testament story looks like, these laws were given to a man called Moses. Moses 138 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:44,560 was an Israelite from Israel. But Israel in that time were actually slaves. They were 139 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:49,920 slaves in Egypt. You may have seen the Prince of Egypt movie and that's all about this 140 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:56,800 story in the Old Testament. Moses brought the people out of Egypt. Well in fact Moses 141 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:02,880 led them but God brought them out of Egypt. I love the fact that at the start of the 10 142 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:09,720 seconds God is already reminding them, I have blessed you. Already at the start he is saying, 143 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:16,420 I have brought you out of slavery. You see what I tend to do as a parent is I will naturally 144 00:13:16,420 --> 00:13:21,280 say if Caleb says, oh can we go and draw something, his favourite thing is drawing at the moment, 145 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:25,960 yeah of course we can, after you finish your vegetables. The way round that we do it is 146 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:33,960 we say, yes we will do that thing after you've done this. But God does it the other way round. 147 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,960 God says, no look what I've done for you. I've brought you out of slavery. In this book 148 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:42,240 it's saying I brought you out of Egypt, I brought you out of the slavery that you were 149 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:49,240 in and now look at the freedom I have for you. So already in verse 2 God's already saying 150 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:54,360 that he does it the other way round to the way that people would do it. Verse 3 says, 151 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:58,960 you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the 152 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:04,400 form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below. That was verses 153 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:10,760 3 and 4 there. So there's two commandments to unpack this afternoon and what it would 154 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:15,120 be really easy for me to do is list a bunch of things off, don't do this, don't do this, 155 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:19,080 don't do this, don't do this and do do this, do do this and do do this as well. Might be 156 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:25,720 if you do do do's in there. But I wanted to bring a little bit of sense of the why. I'm 157 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:32,720 a primary school teacher by trade. I spend my 7.30 till 5ish just in case anyone thinks 158 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,600 we only work school hours. Looking after kids and teaching them and trying to inspire them 159 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:43,840 in the ways of life. One of the things I do on the first day when I get my new class is 160 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:49,400 we make a set of class rules. Now obviously there are the school rules like if you punch 161 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,600 somebody, you're going to have to go and be excluded. Or if you mess up in the toilets, 162 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:59,080 we're going to have to send somebody with you to escort you to the toilets. Did anyone, 163 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:02,960 was anyone naughty at school and had to be escorted to the toilet? I've got one honest 164 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:11,520 person in here. But the class rules that I like to make are a little bit more around 165 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:16,400 the conduct we have in my room. So I'll say one of the ones we've got this year is discussion 166 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:20,720 is good. Another one that we've got is we don't have to be everybody's best friend, 167 00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:27,160 but we do have to be everybody's friend. We do have to be kind as a choice always. And 168 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:32,960 so we go through these things at the start of the year, not because I need extra rules, 169 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:38,840 but because I want to bring a sense of identity to the room. A sense of identity to the children 170 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:44,840 that are going to be with me for a full year. When we're in this room, this is how we behave 171 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:50,880 and this is what we do. And this is why we behave in that way. It brings a sense of identity, 172 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:56,760 a sense of togetherness. We're a team in my room. So if someone's struggling with something, 173 00:15:56,760 --> 00:16:00,440 I know I've got three children that could go and help that person straight away. It 174 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:07,840 doesn't all depend upon me as teacher. So you shall not have other gods before him. 175 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,840 You shall not make an image of other gods. If there's lots of you shall not, how about 176 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:20,300 a you shall. You shall have an identity rooted in your love for God. If it says you shall 177 00:16:20,300 --> 00:16:25,760 not make images of other gods, you shall not worship other gods. The you shall is you shall 178 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:32,240 have an identity rooted in your love for God. Let's talk about this slavery thing that Israel 179 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:37,440 went through for a minute because Israel was in the middle of an identity crisis. Israel 180 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:43,520 had been in slavery for many, many, many years. And these laws were given to Israel about 181 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:48,920 three months after they came out of captivity. Don't know how many major life changes you've 182 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:53,600 been through, but I would say three months is about the time it takes to settle down. 183 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:59,000 When we moved house, it was three months until all of the boxes had finally been unpacked. 184 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,120 When we had our first child Caleb and our second child, Evie, it was about three months 185 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:07,520 before we felt like we could actually get dressed and leave the house at an appropriate 186 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:14,920 time. Three months is about the time it takes to bed in, I would suggest. Israel had been 187 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:20,760 in slavery in Egypt. So their identity had been stripped down. They had been made to 188 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:27,380 serve the Egyptians. They'd been made to worship Egyptian gods. They had been made to worship 189 00:17:27,380 --> 00:17:35,600 Egypt's political agenda, building new cities and new palaces. So when God redeems his people, 190 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:43,280 he takes them out of the middle of nowhere where they've got no land and no social identity. 191 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:49,680 What's God trying to do here? Here, he's giving commandments to remake the people. He's giving 192 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:56,920 commandments that the laws represent the way that Israel's communal identity story, their 193 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,880 values are going to be reshaped. They're going to be remolded. And so when God gives these 194 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:07,900 commandments, it's not about simulating moral perfection. It's not about a list of rules 195 00:18:07,900 --> 00:18:15,640 that you've got to follow. But what it is about is about creating a lifestyle that reflects 196 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:26,320 God's image. It isn't about making God happy. It's about showing everybody what this looks 197 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:31,080 like, what does living in the image of God look like. You see, the book of Genesis says 198 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:37,160 that there is already an image of God on this earth. It says in Genesis 1, the first chapter 199 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:41,320 of the Bible. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God. He created 200 00:18:41,320 --> 00:18:48,440 them, male and female, he created them. So there is already an image of God within this 201 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:55,400 earth. And so what God was trying to do was create an identity that reflected that appropriately. 202 00:18:55,400 --> 00:19:00,160 You've been taken out of slavery, you've been taken away from the things that you were having 203 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:06,480 to worship and having to do, and you were forced to do this. But now, this is how we're 204 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:11,520 going to be. This is what we're going to do altogether. The 10 commandments are about 205 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:17,260 bringing identity, both by preserving the sanctity of his own worship and the responsibility 206 00:19:17,260 --> 00:19:25,200 that humans have to bear his image. So when humans, when we make idols or worship things 207 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:31,380 that aren't God, we're not only investing our time in created things, where the reverence 208 00:19:31,380 --> 00:19:36,960 and the glory should belong to God, we're robbing ourselves of our own dignity as his 209 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,180 image bearers. 210 00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:45,640 When I say this word, idol, that's been thrown about a few times. I did actually talk about 211 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:52,240 this a little bit two weeks prior. But the word, the word idol may mean something in 212 00:19:52,240 --> 00:20:00,120 the way of God. It could be anything within your life. Maybe a job, maybe your finances, 213 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:05,400 maybe a relationship, maybe a computer game, maybe something as silly as the way that you 214 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:11,200 spend your leisure time. But if there's something in your life where you're giving the glory 215 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:17,280 to that instead of God, the Bible would say that is not a good thing for you. It would 216 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:25,560 say that that doesn't reflect the image and identity that God has for you in your life. 217 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,640 So when it says, have no other gods before me, a more literal translation would actually 218 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:36,640 say no other gods to my face. The Bible wasn't originally written in English. The Old Testament 219 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:40,640 was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. And we've had translations 220 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:47,760 of that over many years. And our language is very much a language of phrases. And so 221 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:53,040 instead of saying, I'm angry, I would say, oh, I'm seeing red. Oh, I'm absolutely raging. 222 00:20:53,040 --> 00:20:59,760 We add phrases in English to create new meanings. Whereas in the Old Testament and the New Testament, 223 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:05,600 one word could have so many different meanings and it was so much richer in terms of words. 224 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:13,320 And so if this actually means no other gods to my face, well, last time I checked, God 225 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:20,280 is everywhere. So I think everywhere would be to his face. This means God demands more 226 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:26,420 than just to be added to our lives. We don't just add Jesus into a life we already have. 227 00:21:26,420 --> 00:21:34,640 We give him our lives. We give him everything, our all. Jesus said this in Matthew 16. Jesus 228 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:40,040 said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take 229 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:45,960 up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it. But 230 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:53,160 whoever loses their life for me will find it. So if the Old Testament standard was, 231 00:21:53,160 --> 00:22:02,280 do not make idols of another god, the New Testament standard is give me your life. What 232 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:08,560 about the second part of these two commandments? Sonny said 10. I'm not doing all 10 today. 233 00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:11,800 The second commandment that we're looking at this afternoon is a bit tricky. This is 234 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:15,480 where some of the difficult language comes in. I want to maybe help us understand this 235 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:22,440 a little bit this afternoon. Exodus 20 verses four to six. You shall not make for yourself 236 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:28,200 an image in the form of anything in heaven or above or on the earth beneath or in the 237 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:33,320 waters below. In other words, don't create pictures and images of things that are probably 238 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:40,760 not true or helpful. Do you notice every slide today has got a little picture of Jesus somehow? 239 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:44,800 What the Bible is saying is stained glass windows are wonderful. We don't need to go 240 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,400 and throw bricks through any stained glass windows, please. We're not talking about those 241 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:53,000 sorts of things. What we are saying is if there is an image or a thing in your life 242 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:58,600 that is taking worship away from God, that is not a good thing. Then let's read this 243 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,760 little bit here, this tricky bit. You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I 244 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:07,560 your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and 245 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:11,960 fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of 246 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:19,560 those who love me and keep my commandments. Just to flick back to images of Jesus, it 247 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:24,920 might be a personal thing. One of my bug bears in my Christian life is that I have an unhelpful 248 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:30,080 image of what Jesus actually looked like. In my own brain, because of the books I read 249 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:36,240 maybe as a kid, Jesus was a white guy with long brown hair and a big long beard and Jesus 250 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,460 looked quite handsome. As the Bible actually says that he was nothing extraordinary to 251 00:23:40,460 --> 00:23:45,040 look at and he was, well, he was from the Middle East. So he wouldn't have looked anything 252 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:52,120 like you or I or he wouldn't have looked white in any way at all. Jesus would have been, 253 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:57,480 he was a refugee from Egypt early on in his life. Sometimes the images of Jesus that we 254 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:03,440 actually have can be unhelpful in unpicking what that might mean for us today. But I don't 255 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:10,880 want to go into that too much because John 4 verse 24 says, God is spirit and his worshipers 256 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:16,600 must worship in spirit and in truth. So when we're worshiping God and we're worshiping 257 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:21,680 Jesus, we're not worshiping a picture, we're not worshiping an image, we are worshiping 258 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:27,960 in spirit, the Bible says. But verse five and verse six of that verse where it talks 259 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:34,560 about God being a jealous God, that's a bit sticky. That's a bit tricky because if you 260 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:39,000 actually know the other 10 commandments, spoiler alert for Lindsay's message when she does 261 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,640 this one in April, I think it is Lindsay, I did write it down, 30th of April you're 262 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:48,680 doing this one. One of the 10 commandments is do not be jealous. It says do not cover, 263 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:54,200 do not want other people's things. So how does that marry up? If this verse is saying 264 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:58,400 God is a jealous God and then five verses later it says don't be jealous, what are we 265 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:05,120 talking about? Well, again, I'm coming back to that thing of we work in phrases, whereas 266 00:25:05,120 --> 00:25:11,680 the Bible worked in individual words at the time and so the specific word used here in 267 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,920 verse five when it says I am a jealous God, it's actually talking about something called 268 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:23,320 sanctified jealousy. Sanctified jealousy, a better translation would be zealous love. 269 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:33,000 Zealous meaning passionate love. Zealous means showing great energy or enthusiasm for a thing. 270 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:38,920 Because jealousy when it's talked about later on in that same passage is actually talking 271 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:46,240 about wanting or desiring or coveting other people's things, their lives, their relationships, 272 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:51,240 wanting other people's things and comparing ourselves to them. God has nothing to compare 273 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:57,280 himself to. He is God. And so when he says he is a jealous God, he doesn't mean jealousy 274 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:03,560 like we understand it. He means that he is so passionately in love with you that he can't 275 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:11,520 stand it if you're not there with him as well. 2 Corinthians 11 verses 2 to 3 talks about 276 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:17,560 this as well. So this is written by a guy called Paul and he has an incredible story 277 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:21,760 in the New Testament, ended up writing the majority of the New Testament. But this is 278 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:27,480 what it says about this godly jealousy. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. 279 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:35,200 I am promised you to one husband to Christ. I have promised you to one husband to Christ. 280 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:40,360 Maybe that's a bit tricky to get our minds around today. But the message version said 281 00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:48,120 this, this is a paraphrase of the same verse. The thing that has me so upset is I care about 282 00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:55,800 you so much. This passion of God burning inside of me. That is a really great way to think 283 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:01,640 about the way that God is jealous of you. I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. 284 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:08,560 The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much. This is the passion of 285 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:15,440 God burning inside of me. You see the heart of these two commandments is not behaviour 286 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:25,080 modification. Jesus is not after you changing your behaviour. What he is after is to bring 287 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:31,480 an identity and a purpose to our lives. So yeah, the two commandments say do not have 288 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:38,200 idols, do not create an image that is of another god. I think we can probably think about in 289 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:42,840 our own lives, is there anything that's getting in the way of our relationship with God? Are 290 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:48,160 there any idols that we may have? Things that take up our time, things that take up our 291 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:58,320 money, things that take up our thinking space. But I wonder if it's actually more than that. 292 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:03,960 If it's actually God is after more than just a behavioural code here. He wants to bring 293 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:11,680 you a sense of identity and purpose and a way to live your life that is fulfilling. 294 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:17,560 To love God above all else in our lives. That's the heart of these two commandments. Love 295 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:25,200 God above all else in our lives. This is our primary identity. To be beings that belong 296 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:33,040 to him. To be beings that love him and therefore we reflect his image out into the world. 1 297 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:38,080 John 4 verses 15 to 16, there's a couple of verses here that are going to come up together. 298 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,760 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 299 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:48,160 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love 300 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:55,000 lives in God and God in them. Luke 4 verse 8, Jesus answered, it is written, worship 301 00:28:55,000 --> 00:29:00,320 the Lord your God and serve him only. And then two beautiful phrases from Psalms that 302 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:05,680 kind of help us to think about what this love might look like. Whom have I in heaven but 303 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:13,120 you and earth has nothing I desire besides you. And then the old classic hymn that we 304 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:19,080 used to sing when I was a kid. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants 305 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:25,840 for you my God. 1 John 5 verse 2 to 5, this is how we know that we love the children of 306 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:32,320 God by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God to keep his 307 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:38,120 commandments are not burdensome for everyone born of God overcomes the world. There's no 308 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:43,280 need to beat yourself up if we don't match the standard. This is the victory that has 309 00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:48,560 overcome the world even our faith. Who is it that's overcome the world? Only the one 310 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:56,760 that believes Jesus is the son of God. So if the world is full of distractions, how 311 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:01,400 can we live up to this standard? How can we try and fulfill these commands? How can we 312 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:08,360 love God above all else? As I bring this into land, I would suggest that that probably looks 313 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:13,320 different for each one of us. The way that you love God might look different to the way 314 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:23,520 that I do. What I do know is that a continued, a long lasting love is a choice. Feelings 315 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:30,480 fleet away. Feelings and emotions are not good masters. You may think about it as a 316 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:37,200 spark that starts a fire, but that fire to be sustained will need to be topped up with 317 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:44,720 fuel to keep burning. And that is a choice. And so I do believe it would be remiss of 318 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,240 me to give you a list of things that we've got to go and do because that's not the heart 319 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:55,600 of the 10 commandments. The heart would be love God above all else. Is loving God your 320 00:30:55,600 --> 00:31:04,840 daily choice? Every day we need to choose God. Jesus in the book of Luke, chapter 22, 321 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:09,200 at a time of really high anxiety for him, he knew that he was going to be put on the 322 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:15,840 cross. Jesus cried out these words, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. 323 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,920 I don't want to go and do this. And yet he says, probably one of the most powerful verses 324 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:28,560 in the Bible, yet not my will, but yours be done. Jesus knew that at that very moment, 325 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:35,560 he was going to be taken across to be crucified, an incredibly painful death. But what Jesus 326 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:41,160 said in that moment is not my will, but yours. What a wonderful thing that at that moment, 327 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:49,520 Jesus chose, he chose to follow God. And so that would be my prayer for us as I bring 328 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,040 this into land right now. And we're going to have the band come up and maybe we need 329 00:31:53,040 --> 00:32:00,320 to think about a little bit of what our idols may be. If we need to take some time to ourselves, 330 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:04,640 is there anything that's in our lives that is in the way? But if you take one thing away 331 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,800 from this afternoon, what I would love for that to be is that the 10 commandments are 332 00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:15,640 not about behavior modification, but they're about bringing us a sense of identity and 333 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:23,520 purpose in our lives. John 14 verses 15 to 17, if you love me, keep my commands and I 334 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:30,040 will ask the father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. 335 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:35,280 The spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows 336 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:41,120 him, but you know him for he lives with you and he will be with you. The Holy Spirit is 337 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:47,520 here right now to help us with our lives, to help us keep these commands so that our 338 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:53,240 identity is rooted in God. It's not about trying to change people's behavior from the 339 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:59,720 outside in, but it's about God changing us from the inside out. So we're going to have 340 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:04,520 a time in a moment in time right now where we're going to hear some songs and sing some 341 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:09,600 songs. Maybe in this time you don't want to sing a song. Maybe you just want to take a 342 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:15,600 moment to reflect upon something that God said to you this afternoon maybe. God's been 343 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:20,200 tugging at you to say, this is in the way. This thing in your life is in the way of me 344 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:25,200 and you and I want to remove it. I believe God wants to remove those things right now, 345 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:30,920 but he also wants to take away any sense of guilt that we can't reach this standard and 346 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:37,460 what he wants to bring us is a sense of identity and purpose. So I'm going to pray two prayers 347 00:33:37,460 --> 00:33:44,400 to close. The first prayer is for anyone in the room that maybe feels like something's 348 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:48,280 connected this afternoon and maybe there is an idol in your life. There is something that 349 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:53,040 God wants to pull down. Maybe you've struggled with this sense of guilt and God wants to 350 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:57,560 remove that this afternoon as well. So I'm going to pray that prayer first and then I'm 351 00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:03,120 going to pray a second prayer and this second prayer is maybe for someone who maybe you 352 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:08,520 wouldn't call yourself a Christian. Maybe at the moment you're thinking that you would 353 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:16,360 like to make that decision. Maybe you want to say a prayer to welcome God into your life 354 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,800 and so that was going to be the second prayer that I'm going to pray. Maybe just have a 355 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:26,720 think about if that's for you right now. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you that you did not make 356 00:34:26,720 --> 00:34:32,400 a list of rules for us to have a guilt trip over. You didn't make a list of things that 357 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:38,240 we have to follow and have to obey otherwise we're not good people. No. What you did was 358 00:34:38,240 --> 00:34:45,880 you paid for all of that on the cross and then you said come to me. Lord, I thank you 359 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,280 that there is no condemnation in you. There is no guilt but Lord right now if there is 360 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:55,160 something in our hearts that's in the way, Lord I pray right now that you would help 361 00:34:55,160 --> 00:35:01,000 us remove that. Would you help us Lord identify what that thing is that maybe is in between 362 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:09,720 us and you. I believe right now that thing can be taken down by the power of God. In 363 00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:17,280 your name. Amen. And as we keep our heads bowed and we keep our eyes closed I'm going 364 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:24,920 to pray a prayer for someone this afternoon who wants to commit their life to Jesus, to 365 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:30,520 accept Jesus, to welcome him into their heart. At the end of the prayer I'm going to ask 366 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,720 you to do something really brave. So at the end of the prayer if everyone's eyes are still 367 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:39,520 closed and their heads are still bowed I would just ask that if you say this prayer could 368 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:44,080 you look up and make eye contact with me. We don't want to make a big scene of it. We 369 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:49,080 don't want to embarrass you but at the end I'd love to just come and say hello to you 370 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,800 and give you a Bible and maybe talk about what that meant for you. So we're going to 371 00:35:52,800 --> 00:36:02,080 pray this prayer right now. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm sorry for the things that I've done that 372 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:07,480 were against you. Maybe I knew they were against you and maybe I just didn't know that that 373 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:12,640 was not what you wanted for me. I'm sorry about that Lord. Lord please come and help 374 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:19,600 me. Come and live in my life. Come and save me from an eternity without you and bring 375 00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:28,760 me into an eternity with you. Lord thank you that because you ask, because I ask, you're 376 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:37,200 able to come and help me. Thank you that you are the Lord God Almighty. Amen. If everyone 377 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:42,240 keeps their head bowed for another second or two I would just ask if anyone prayed that 378 00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:47,080 prayer would you just look up and make eye contact with me. I'd love to come and have 379 00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:58,120 a chat at the end. Amen. Amen. Wonderful. Thank you Lord. Hey church let's spend a bit 380 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:03,800 of time responding to God. Maybe there's something in your heart that you know you need to remove 381 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:08,760 or you need to pray about. We're going to have a chance to sing some songs but let's 382 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:16,560 reflect upon what's been said this afternoon. Bless you. 383 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:20,000 Thanks again for listening. To hear more of our messages make sure to subscribe to our 384 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,920 YouTube channel and our podcast channel for past preachers. If you feel like you've got 385 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:27,240 something out of today's message why not share it with your friends and spread the good news 386 00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:31,680 of Jesus. We are praying for you. We love you. So please if you need anything at all 387 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:46,840 check out springschurch.co.uk. God bless.