Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.
It's our hope that these sermons will draw you
more into the life of following God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming
and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am
in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find
us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,
Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this
sermon. God bless. But I pray that we would be
those who run to you and find that your yoke
is easy and your burden is light. That we would
find life in you. That we would find following
you to be the great joy of our lives. The great
desire of our souls. I pray Lord that as we turn
to commandments law that in this process it might
be it might be the words of Psalm 19 might be
true to us that that your law is more to be desired
than gold and and that we find it sweeter than
drippings from the honeycomb that we find your
communication to us something that is better
than anything else that we could desire in this
life. Life with you, God. Lord, some of us come
with a lot of skepticism towards that, and all
of us come with degrees of doubt and degrees
of faith and wondering about the truth of your
Word, and I pray that you would speak to us this
morning. That it might be more true having been
with you after this service, that your law is
lovely, that your words are wonderful. God, do
that, please. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. If you were here last week, or if
you weren't, I'm going to tell you, what I suggest
to you last week is that the resurrection changes
people, changes people. changed the disciples,
Thomas, Peter, Mary, just the disciples as a
whole. And also it changes those still who are
brought to life in Christ, who are brought into
his resurrection Easter people. Thomas's doubt
becomes a belief and it actually becomes a going.
I don't know if you know this, but many believe
that Thomas actually went all the way to India.
Let's believe that he went all the way there
to preach the good news of the resurrection And
no doubt sometimes his life was there was doubts
in it and belief as ours are But his life was
changed by meeting the resurrected Christ Think
of Peter So if you know that Peter famously denied
Jesus three times before the cock Crowed, right?
His three -fold denial was changed there in the
Gospel of John to not a three -fold denial, but
a three -fold confession of love. No, I love
you, Lord. And then of service, feed my sheep.
He was changed. The resurrection changed him.
It changes us. Our denials often can move towards
statements of love. Think of Mary's weeping,
right? We considered that a little bit last week.
Mary goes to the tomb to bring these spices that
would cover the stench of a rotting body. She's
weeping over the empty tomb, not knowing where
her Lord is, where He has been taken. Yet here
weeping at the end of that passage comes to a
proclamation. That's what it becomes. I have
seen the Lord. The resurrection changed her.
The resurrection sent her out. And of course
the disciples as a whole too, we talked about
that, right? Their locked up fear in that upper
room becomes a going. I'm sending you out, receive
the Holy Spirit. What I'm saying is that the
resurrection changes people. The fact of what
God has done for his people in the cross and
the empty tomb changes people. So each Easter
tide, which is like a church way of talking about
just the season after Easter. Typically that's
thought of as the time from Easter up until Pentecost
which is 50 days afterwards which Pentecost will
get there is the remembrance actually of the
giving of the law because Pentecost happens 50
days after the Passover in the Old Testament
But when we've had these times together, we've
often, actually every year that I've been here,
and this is my 11th Easter tide season with you
all, we've taken a topical series together in
this season. Normally, we kind of go through
the Psalms and the summer and the Old Testament,
New Testament, the fall, and then the gospels.
Then we do a topical series. And we've done series
like the fruit of the spirit. How do we live
by the spirit? What does that look like? Or the
life of prayer through looking at our Lord's
prayer, or frankly, just we look at the mission
statement of our church. How do we want to be
a people? We considered stewardship. That was
a little while ago. What do we do with the world
God's given us, the relationships God's given
us, the means God's given us, and various things
like that. But for the most part, what I've tried
to invite you into is this idea of the resurrection
changes us. What does it mean to be an Easter
people? So this season, we're going to look at
the 10 commandments together. Which is gonna
take longer than 50 days. Okay, it's gonna bleed
into our our summer series And these are the
words the Lord himself gave to His people when
he met with them Actually, he wrote them on the
stone tablets himself and they're the words that
are stored right there in the Ark of the Covenant
Which was right there in the most holy place
right in the center of the tabernacle and then
the temple Such a central thing to God and his
people, the 10 words that summarized love of
God and love of neighbor. But I'm thinking that
as quickly as I'd say that we're going to have
our attention focused on the 10 commandments.
My guess is that there are different reactions
that come up. And that some of those reactions
are you thinking, I don't know if I really want
to give my attention to law, commandments. And
so I kind of want to introduce this series in
some ways by maybe addressing why you may feel
that kind of initial gut reaction. And then why
I also want to say this is a good thing to consider
as an Easter people. And I want to do that in
a way that, I hope this makes sense. I want to
do that in a way, in this way. I want us to consider
the order of the words don't do and done. Okay?
How do you order those words? So first, we're
just gonna take them in that order. Don't do
done. So my assumption is that for a lot of you,
and I think when we think of the Ten Commandments
again, you kind of come to that idea and you're
like, I don't know that I really enjoy this kind
of idea for a series. Maybe this is you this
morning. And maybe this is you because when you
come to the Ten Commandments, the first word
you think of is you think of rules. You think
of maybe the Ten Commandments hanging up in a
school room, rules. Maybe you think of the controversies
surrounding Ten Commandments, like them hanging
up in courtrooms or municipal buildings, rules.
You think of church, state stuff, maybe when
you think of that. But for the most part when
you think of 10 commandments this is what you're
thinking of you're thinking rules and when you
think of rules you think No, thank you And some
of this some of this I think is just our good
old -fashioned rebellion Like like when you're
told not to take a cookie out of the cookie jar
it is so hard not to do that when you're told
that Because your heart just wants it There's
just something nice about breaking some rules.
The Ten Commandments, along with a good number
of other things, have also become rules for kind
of performative religion. Like politicians posting
pithy proverbs to perform for their people. I
tried to think of how many Ps I could get in
one sentence there. But you know, performative
religion, I'm gonna post these things as if I
care. I'm gonna make this prayer so that you
think I care, so that I can win something from
you. And performative religion, performative
acts that correspond to true faith, but lack
it, are a turnoff. They were to Jesus as well.
He called a lot of people whitewashed tombs.
And those people he called whitewashed tombs,
man, they knew their commandments. They could
rattle them off in order. So we may approach
a series on the Ten Commandments with a no thank
you, in part because of our good old fashioned
rebellious hearts. But also we might do that
because there's an approach to religion that
just reeks of hypocrisy. We might also do that
because churches often have led with the don'ts.
Here's the thing, right? For as much as some
people don't like rules, a lot of people like
rules too, right? It's true. that a lot of churches
kind of lead with don'ts, don't do this, don't
do that. And no doubt, some of you are turned
off by that kind of thing. But it's also the
case that self -help books like, you know, 10
Steps for This are wildly important, like influential.
You don't need to show hands, but I guarantee
a lot of you have read 12 Rules for Life, that
wildly popular book by Jordan Peterson. There's
a lot of rules that we kind of like. And Christians
oftentimes love rules. So one turnoff is that
you come to Christianity and you think, man,
all I'm hearing is a lot of don'ts. Don't, right?
It's true. A lot of people in church settings
love rules and they love the don'ts. Don't swear,
don't drink, don't chew, and do not go with girls
who do. Amen. No, don't say amen to that. So
you come and you go, oh, don't covet, don't covet,
don't lie, steal, don't commit adultery, don't
murder. And I hope that you actually find that
those are life -giving words and there's something
to be cherished and something that we can get
behind actually societally because they are for
our good. That's actually part of my desire in
this service is to see that those are words that
give life. But let's just also admit that so
many Christians, so many churches lead with the
don'ts. The order is don't do done. And man,
that list of rules can be so oppressive. A lot
of people perceive Christianity to be a religion
of don'ts before it is a religion of dos and
before it is a religion of done. If you just
don't do a bunch of things, then God will save
you. God's favor will be upon you. That's the
order that we often put them in. Don't do done.
Now I'm sure that there are others of you who
come to the Ten Commandments and you say, well,
I don't really like all these shall nots. It's
so negative. It's so negative. You know, you
shall not have any other gods before me. You
shall not make for yourself a carved image. All
of those rest of shall nots. So you're like,
well, I don't really like the order of don't
do done. I would rather it to be do first, at
least. So maybe you go, I don't really care for
the Ten Commandments, but you know what I love
is when Jesus summarizes those Ten Commandments.
Because it's so positive. Love the Lord your
God. With all your heart, your soul, and your
mind, and your strength. And then love your neighbor
as yourself. Jesus' own summary of the Ten Commandments.
So you might not say, I don't like the don't
do done. Let's at least go do first. Let's begin
with the positive. After all, Jesus is asked
more than once, actually, what the most important
commandment is. And also he's asked, how do I
inherit eternal life? And he responds by that
summary of the 10 commandments, love the Lord
your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
And maybe this morning that sounds a lot more
appealing to you because it is a do love, a do
love instead of a bunch of don'ts. But this reminded
me of something that happened to me years ago
when I was living in St. Louis. I was attending
Covenant Theological Seminary, and I was going
back home to Washington State to see my family.
And I must have gotten the cheapest flight possible
because that's what I always did. And I had this
long layover. I want to say it was about eight
hours in Salt Lake City. I'd been to Salt Lake
City a few times, but this time I didn't have
a car. I'd driven through quite a few times,
and I thought, oh, there's a free shuttle to
the Mormon temple. I've got time, let's go do
it. I've never been to the museum that's there.
Let's go check it out. It was a beautiful day
out. So I got on this shuttle and I went to the
Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. And I went into
the museum and I went through it and it was pretty
interesting. And then I sat outside and I remember
sitting outside on kind of a rock cement wall
that was in this little courtyard right in front
of the main entrance into the temple there. And
just sitting and I think I was enjoying a coffee.
It was a beautiful spring day, I like today.
And then I noticed there's all these brides and
grooms coming and going. It was like very obviously
not just one person's wedding, but quite a few
people were getting married. And so this lady
comes out who was obviously not the bride or
she wasn't dressed up as a bride. She came out
and I was like, I'm gonna go talk to this lady.
So there's so many weddings today. I would guess
that it's like the greatest honor of honors within
the Mormon church to be married. the temple in
Salt Lake City." She said, it is absolutely an
honor. It's a great honor. And I said, well,
how do I get to do that? And she said, you love
the Lord Jesus as your savior. And I said, that's
me. I didn't say sign me up. I don't think I
was dating anyone even. But I was like, okay,
well, I fit. Can I get married here? And she's
like, well, Well, you have to be married here.
You do have to be a member of the Mormon church
That doesn't fit and then she said and and there's
a few other things I was like, what are those
things? And she said well You have to be honorably
recommended by a couple people and they're recommending
you based on virginity and tithing Okay Yeah,
so you have to show that you're worthy And you
have to show that you're not just you've given,
but your family's given for at least a few years
to the, okay. I'm like, well, nevermind. But
here's why I'm tying this together because there's
something that sounds so just appealing by this
love Lord, you gotta love your neighbor. And
then there's this list of do's and you've got
to check it off in order to be approved. It's
maybe doesn't sound quite as bad as the shall
nots and the don'ts, but they start with the
do's. which of course quickly imply the don'ts,
right? They do, because it's mostly your acceptance
is predicated on your action or what you have
done, what you have not done. Often we love these
two commandments, love the Lord your God and
love your neighbor because they're more positive.
And it is a beautiful summary of the law. But
when we take away the Ten Commandments so often,
we have to add so many more. It's like when GK
Chesterton was asked about the beauty of the
brevity of the Ten Commandments. He says, if
men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments,
they shall be governed by the Ten Thousand Commandments.
We just keep adding on the what are you doing?
What have you done? In one of those interactions
around the two commandments that summarize the
ten, Jesus responds to the scribe who asks him
the question by saying, this is Jesus' response
when the man summarizes the commandment, he says,
you are not far from the kingdom of God, which
I think is a really interesting statement. That's
an interesting response that Jesus gives in that
context. You're not far from the kingdom of God
because he's saying you're in a sense, you're
getting something good by by delighting in the
law and even by summarizing it in this positive
way, you're getting that the love of God and
the love of neighbor are an essential thing and
a beautiful thing and something to be desired.
But he still says, you're not there. You can
say, okay, let's not start with the don'ts. Let's
not do don't, do done. Let's start with the dos.
But even if you still start with your action
or your lack thereof, He says, you're still not
there. You're not far, but you're not there.
What I want to suggest to you this morning is
that there is only one gospel, which means good
news, ordered to these words. There's only one
order. And if you get that order wrong in the
Bible, you get it all wrong. The Christian message
is no longer good news, but it is a burden if
you get that wrong. It's no longer a freeing
yoke but a heavy weight and Here is the only
order that the Bible ever talks about with regards
to the law done done Do don't Okay, this hasn't
been a terribly like exegetical sermon like coming
right out of the passage But turn with me to
Exodus chapter 20, okay? I want you to see this,
because I think this is essential. So Exodus
chapter 20. I forget what page it is on. It's
on page 72, if you've got your pew Bibles. And
you've got to see this. I want you to actually
look at this, okay? verse 21, or sorry, verse
one and two, which Jason read for us. And God
spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your
God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery. Now I want us to
get to the rest of the commandments, we are going
to get there, but I wanted you to only hear that.
Because that is the very beginning of all of
the rest and you do not hear all of the rest
properly unless you first hear that. That is
the foundation. What has God done? The great
act of salvation in the Old Testament is that
God brought his people out from the land of slavery
into himself. It's repeated again and again.
Why can you trust this God? Because I brought
you with a mighty arm, with an outstretched hand,
with great deeds, out from slavery, and I brought
you to myself. I am the Lord your God." Done.
He's saying, my work is done. What I'm calling
you to is only out of a relationship that I have
established based on my grace for poor sinners.
The Bible always begins with what has God done
first and then moves into a call to action. This
same gospel order can be found again and again
and again in the Bible. I want to just highlight
a couple for you. So our New Testament passage
this morning was from 1st Peter chapter 2. And
1st Peter chapter 2, if we had time, we could
go back to Exodus chapter 19. And what you would
hear in 1st Peter chapter 2 is an echo of Exodus
19. So the very, actually it's the paragraph
before the Ten Commandments that is echoed in
1st Peter chapter 2. And beginning in verse 9
of that chapter, Peter says, but you are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for his own possession. That you may proclaim
the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness and into his marvelous light. Do you
hear all the duns? You are chosen. God does that.
You're a royal priesthood. I've made you this.
You're a holy nation. That's what I've done.
You're the people from my possession. It says
that you may proclaim the dues out of the duns.
The excellencies of Him who called you out of
darkness and into His marvelous light. Keep going
in verse 10. Once you were not a people, but
now you're God's people. Once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy. It's
you have. It's passive. It's what has God done
for you? And then He says, beloved, I urge you
as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the
passions of the flesh, which wage war against
your soul. Then He goes to the do's and the don'ts.
It is always done first. Let's consider another
one, Colossians chapter 3. This is a beautiful
chapter in Scripture. Colossians chapter 3, starting
in verse 1. If then you've been raised with Christ,
if you're a resurrection people, if you're an
Easter people, seek the things that are above
where Christ is, seated at the right hand of
God, if you have been. If this is true of you,
if God has already done for you, then seek the
things that are above. Verse three, for you have
died and your life is hidden with Christ and
God. When Christ, whose your life appears, then
you also appear with him in glory. And then that
done, that reality of what God has done for you
moves towards the do's. Put to death therefore
what is earthly in you sexually more out sexual
immorality impurity passion evil desire and covetousness,
which is idolatry Doesn't don't those even echo
some of the Ten Commandments covetousness sexual
impurity idolatry, that's all Ten Commandment
language But it's coming out of the what has
God done for you in Christ. I Could keep going
Actually, I will keep going look down at verse
12 Put on then as God's chosen ones. See, as
God has chosen you, put on, right? Do have compassionate
hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
bearing with one another. And if anyone has to
complain against another, forgiving each other
as the Lord has forgiven you, right? Because
Jesus has done this. This is the gospel word.
This is the only good news order. It's it. Brothers
and sisters, my hope in this is that you will
come to delight in the law of the Lord. That
like the psalmist says, like David said in Psalm
1, that it might be your meditation day and night.
Something you desire to pour over and to put
on and to really know and become part of you.
My hope is that you will be able to sing Psalms
like Psalm 19. where you say, the law of the
Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. We don't
approach it and you think, no thanks, I'd rather
just do my own thing. You say, it revives my
soul. Then you might continue to sing that song
where you say, I desire it more than gold and
what I can acquire. I desire it more than honey,
even fresh honey from the honeycomb, what I can
taste and consume. My desire for us, my hope,
is that you will come to call the Ten Commandments
what St. Augustine, who's the theologian of love,
called that instrument of ten strings. The instrument
of ten strings by which we play beautiful music
that show our love for our Lord. But what I'm
suggesting to you is that the only way we are
going to do that, the only way we do that is
if we get the order right. If we flip -flop it,
if we flip -flop it and we put our work before
God's work, our doing and our don't doing before
his done work, then we just follow all the other
religions. It's all the other stuff. Do this
and God will look upon you in kindness. The Christianity
says, I'm Lord your God who brought you out of
the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Therefore don't have other gods. I don't have
any other gods before me. And says, if then you've
been raised with Christ, if Christ's finished
work is for you, then seek the things that are
above where he is seated. You see, as long as
the don'ts and the do's come first, all you will
find is that the law is a burden. It will be
something you will disdain. It will be a slave
master. But if first you look to the one who
keeps the law perfectly on your behalf, the Lord
Jesus himself who is crucified and resurrected
for you, then living as an Easter people is something
that we would all gladly seek. We'd gladly sing
of. We'd think it'd give us wings and make us
fly. A lot of you probably know John Bunyan.
John Bunyan wrote one of the greatest books,
certainly one of the greatest selling books ever,
Pilgrim's Progress. He kind of famously wrote
this poem. He wrote, Run John Run. and work the
law commands. Yet finds me neither feet nor hands.
But sweeter news the gospel brings, it bids me
fly and lends me wings. You just start with the
law, you can't get anywhere. There's no hands
and feet just with that. If you have the good
news, you can start to fly. Now most people think
that John Bunyan actually didn't first write
that. They think John Erskine, who was a great
Scottish pastor, actually wrote something that
then John Bunyan twisted because he liked to
put his name in it. Let me give you Erskine's.
Erskine, who lived a little bit before John Bunyan,
they were sort of contemporaneous, but he was
a little bit older, wrote, a rigid master was
the law, demanding brick, denying straw. I want
you to think of that because if the law is just
that, then all God was doing was taking them
out from one form of slavery and putting them
into another. Right? Demanding brick and denying
straw. That's an echo of what was happening in
Egypt under slavery. But when the gospel tongue
it sings, it bids me fly and it gives me wings.
which is to say, if you can start with the finished
work of Jesus, he kept the law perfectly. He
gave his life for you. If you can rest in this
reality of what was done by God, and you'd gladly
say, Lord, help me fly with your wind behind
me. Let me run the race that was set before me.
Let me put on A kind of living that is reflective
of you. The only way. The only way the law will
be wings for us. The only way we will find it
sweeter than honey and more to be desired than
gold. The only way it will be our meditation
day and night and not suffocate us. The only
way it will revive our souls. is to see it coming
from a God who is love and who acts in love,
who acts in compassion, and who saves us when
we were slaves to sin, who gives of himself perfectly
and completely his own life for ours, who goes
to the cross and through the cross, the empty
tomb to give us life. Let me pray. Lord, I pray
that we would be those who desire to know your
law, that that specifically the Ten Commandments
would be something that we don't shirk off but
put on because it is something given to us in
grace and kindness, in love. God, I pray that
we would be a people that eagerly seek to follow
your ways. That we would so taste and see that
you are good. that we would so know your love
for us, that your words of invitation to us to
live in such a certain way would not be burdensome,
would not be distasteful, would not be something
that we are inclined to say, no, thank you, Lord,
I'll do what I please. But God, that we would
eagerly say, Lord, teach us your ways, that we
might walk in them. God, that we might hear you,
Lord Jesus, say, Take up your cross and follow
me. Become fishers of men. God, that we might
find a new way of walking, a new way of being
as we follow you. Do this, please, Lord, and
conform us into your beautiful image. Give us
life. We pray. Amen. Thank you for listening
to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this
sermon has encouraged you to worship God and
to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider
subscribing to this podcast and joining us in
person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us
online at secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram,
Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening.
God bless.