WEBVTT 00:00:00.650 --> 00:00:03.169 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.209 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:08.750 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:11.169 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.150 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.469 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in 00:00:16.469 --> 00:00:18.809 the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.809 --> 00:00:22.329 us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.629 --> 00:00:25.030 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:32.060 sermon. God Bless. Oh Lord, would we find that 00:00:32.060 --> 00:00:34.920 the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:40.280 soul. The statutes of the Lord are pure, reviving 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:45.140 the simple. Lord, would we find that in this 00:00:45.140 --> 00:00:48.479 season it is a joy to look at your commandments, 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:55.520 to hear that you shall have no other gods before 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:59.859 me, before you. and that we would eagerly cast 00:00:59.859 --> 00:01:02.600 aside all the other things that call for our 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:06.780 love and our service and our devotion and put 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:12.040 you first. God, would you move in us in this 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:15.459 time? Would our devotion and our love for you 00:01:15.459 --> 00:01:20.560 increase? Would our approach to your word and 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.739 your commandments be one of delight and joy? 00:01:26.200 --> 00:01:30.000 God, teach us now. We say with Samuel long ago, 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.840 your people are listening. In Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:39.920 All right, everybody worships. And what I want 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:44.959 to suggest to you is that what you worship gives 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:50.319 you your laws for living. What you worship directs 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:54.579 your paths, directs your life. So last week we 00:01:54.579 --> 00:01:58.060 began this series, this Eastertide on the Ten 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:02.280 Commandments. And I said, and I know that as 00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:03.459 soon as I say that we're going to be looking 00:02:03.459 --> 00:02:08.000 at the Ten Commandments, there's sort of a reticence 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.819 when we say let's look at law together. There's 00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:14.219 going to be this sort of visceral reaction that 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:17.860 is generally opposed to that idea against it. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.060 Part of this is simply because we don't like 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:25.900 being told what to do. Some of this is is because 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:27.800 of rebellious hearts I suggested to you some 00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:32.460 of it is because churches often lead With law 00:02:32.460 --> 00:02:36.000 and what you can and cannot do and do and don't 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.879 and all that Instead of love and grace. That 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:43.639 is true. And some of this is because of the ubiquitous 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:47.680 widespread Hypocrisy that was not just true of 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:50.520 the religious folk of Jesus day, right? That's 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:53.159 not wasn't just true of the hypocrites that Jesus 00:02:53.159 --> 00:02:55.099 called out, but it's still true. It has been 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:58.759 true of so many Christians throughout time, which 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:00.840 is to say there are understandable reasons for 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:05.819 the reaction that we have. Another reason that 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:07.360 I want to suggest to you is because we often 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.599 pit law and love against one another. Kind of 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:17.439 think of them as like this polar opposites. We 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:22.409 might prefer to hear Jesus call Or summary of 00:03:22.409 --> 00:03:25.150 the law as loving the Lord your God with all 00:03:25.150 --> 00:03:26.729 your heart and mind soul and strength and loving 00:03:26.729 --> 00:03:30.110 your neighbor as yourself And this also is understandable 00:03:30.110 --> 00:03:34.449 But while it may be understandable Jesus is always 00:03:34.449 --> 00:03:38.710 upholding the law This is not one jot until not 00:03:38.710 --> 00:03:41.930 the small little marks are gonna be taken away 00:03:41.930 --> 00:03:44.750 from it And he's always setting the law before 00:03:44.750 --> 00:03:46.550 us is something that is good and right and actually 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:48.849 one of the one of the fundamental truths of Christian 00:03:48.849 --> 00:03:51.349 faith is that Jesus lives it perfectly on our 00:03:51.349 --> 00:03:57.129 behalf. He is the great law abider. So last week, 00:03:57.129 --> 00:03:58.789 I suggest to you that the only answer to this 00:03:58.789 --> 00:04:01.270 sort of conundrum that we find within ourselves, 00:04:01.270 --> 00:04:05.789 right? This call, well, this reticence to sort 00:04:05.789 --> 00:04:09.689 of say, ah, law, yuck. And at the same time, 00:04:10.210 --> 00:04:14.509 the call to love it, to find it sweet and more 00:04:14.509 --> 00:04:18.290 desirable than gold and tastier than honey, so 00:04:18.290 --> 00:04:22.600 we're told, is is to look upon the one who has 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:26.720 done the law keeping on our behalf. Who has finished 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:30.259 the work of salvation for us. And so that's why 00:04:30.259 --> 00:04:32.720 the whole beginning of the Ten Commandments says, 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:34.579 I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of 00:04:34.579 --> 00:04:37.959 the land of slavery. Look at what I have done 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:41.339 for you. It is my action first and foremost. 00:04:42.699 --> 00:04:44.519 The Ten Commandments themselves were given in 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:47.720 this context of being brought out from slavery. 00:04:48.649 --> 00:04:51.730 and into this new life, not a life of slavery. 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:54.189 So the Ten Commandments aren't given to enslave, 00:04:54.870 --> 00:04:58.269 but to instruct in right living, reflecting the 00:04:58.269 --> 00:05:04.189 God who has done our salvation. So our meditation 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:06.829 on the law now happens in the context of Good 00:05:06.829 --> 00:05:10.930 Friday having happened, of Christ's finished 00:05:10.930 --> 00:05:14.430 work on the cross being complete, of the empty 00:05:14.430 --> 00:05:20.100 tomb being empty, of God saying new life. the 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.519 perfect law -keeping Lord conquering the effects 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:25.139 of rebellion against God, Satan's sin and death 00:05:25.139 --> 00:05:29.680 for us. The resurrection, what I also suggested 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:32.620 to you, the resurrection changes us. The resurrection 00:05:32.620 --> 00:05:35.399 changes us. God's salvific work in the Old Testament 00:05:35.399 --> 00:05:37.680 changed the people of God. That was what the 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.480 law was to say. Here is how you now live. How 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:44.819 do we live in light of God's salvation for us? 00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:52.990 Who God is and what God has done determines Who 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:56.310 we are and what we are to do what we're to be 00:05:56.310 --> 00:05:59.730 about and So it makes sense that the very first 00:05:59.730 --> 00:06:05.269 commandment Has to do with who's your God? Who's 00:06:05.269 --> 00:06:12.230 your God? Shall have no other gods before me 00:06:12.230 --> 00:06:18.529 What do you look to love and serve If the answer 00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:22.009 to our conundrum with the law is what God has 00:06:22.009 --> 00:06:26.810 done, the answer to sort of our question of worship 00:06:26.810 --> 00:06:31.410 has to do with relationship. Okay. And I want 00:06:31.410 --> 00:06:33.970 to suggest to you, I want to consider this first 00:06:33.970 --> 00:06:35.790 commandment, which is you shall have no other 00:06:35.790 --> 00:06:38.490 gods before me by suggesting that there's actually 00:06:38.490 --> 00:06:41.889 two relationships that are on offer here. Okay. 00:06:42.129 --> 00:06:45.509 There's the relationship of other gods and then 00:06:45.509 --> 00:06:49.240 there's the you and me. Other gods knew me. So 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:51.019 the first thing I want to consider is just the 00:06:51.019 --> 00:06:55.579 idea of other gods and I think as I as I say 00:06:55.579 --> 00:06:58.959 that and as maybe as you hear this first commandment, 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.959 you shall have no other gods before me you think 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:05.699 of other gods my Well, I think it's important 00:07:05.699 --> 00:07:10.100 that I acknowledge that Probably very few of 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:14.800 you. My guess is none of you Have shrines in 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:21.089 your basement to Baal, to, I don't know, Allah, 00:07:21.829 --> 00:07:28.329 to Vishnu or Shiva. No, okay. I didn't think 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:30.910 so. When you think of other gods, it wouldn't 00:07:30.910 --> 00:07:33.730 surprise me at all if what first comes to your 00:07:33.730 --> 00:07:39.550 mind are some of the ancient gods. Zeus, Aphrodite, 00:07:39.689 --> 00:07:45.629 Apollo, Juno, Mars. Think that's such an antiquated 00:07:45.629 --> 00:07:50.449 way of engaging with the world Maybe what comes 00:07:50.449 --> 00:07:53.009 to your mind is other religions and so other 00:07:53.009 --> 00:07:58.610 gods Brings to your mind. Yes Allah maybe or 00:07:58.610 --> 00:08:01.829 the Shinto kami something that's so far off from 00:08:01.829 --> 00:08:07.610 your experience Of course when you think of it 00:08:07.610 --> 00:08:12.250 like this This commitment in some ways becomes 00:08:12.250 --> 00:08:15.670 a non -commit, non -issue, right? So no other 00:08:15.670 --> 00:08:17.569 gods before me. You're like, well, I mean, what? 00:08:18.089 --> 00:08:24.769 Okay. All right. You're rarely thinking of those 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:27.610 other gods that I mentioned. Don't give them 00:08:27.610 --> 00:08:32.509 the time of day. You aren't going to the temples 00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:36.230 of Aphrodite or Juno or Mars and offering sacrifices, 00:08:36.269 --> 00:08:40.299 are you? No, you're not. You aren't probably 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:46.940 lighting incense to Brahma, not likely. Probably, 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:50.879 my guess is none of you in this room frequent 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:56.820 the Buddhist center up on Wiccanisco in Uptown. 00:08:56.899 --> 00:08:59.940 How many of you knew it was there? Yeah, okay, 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:05.559 a couple of you. It's not likely that these things 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:10.350 cross your mind. And yet I began this sermon 00:09:10.350 --> 00:09:14.169 with this idea that everybody worships, each 00:09:14.169 --> 00:09:18.690 one of you. But think of this, okay? Aphrodite 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:23.909 was the god of love and lust and beauty and pleasure 00:09:23.909 --> 00:09:28.909 and procreation. Juno was the god of marriage, 00:09:29.470 --> 00:09:37.539 of childbirth, of women and statecraft. Juno 00:09:37.539 --> 00:09:40.799 is the god, I'm sorry, Mars is the guardian god 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:44.179 over fields, livestock, crops, that which sustains 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:49.919 you. He's also the god of war. It's not too hard 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:52.220 to make the connection, is it? It's not too hard 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:55.120 to make the connection. It's not just that the 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.899 ancient world had many gods and that is so silly 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:01.220 in our minds, but that the ancient gods that 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:04.720 they had are the very gods that we still have. 00:10:05.549 --> 00:10:08.970 The very things that we still hold up is that 00:10:08.970 --> 00:10:12.470 which gives us purpose and orients our time and 00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:16.830 our lives. What is a God after all? What is a 00:10:16.830 --> 00:10:22.610 God? Other than that, which we love, which we 00:10:22.610 --> 00:10:26.929 serve, which we devote our energy and attention 00:10:26.929 --> 00:10:30.730 to, which we listen to, to direct us, which we 00:10:30.730 --> 00:10:35.529 allow to control us. I mean, yes, the God is 00:10:35.549 --> 00:10:38.370 what we worship. There's certain acts of worship 00:10:38.370 --> 00:10:42.970 for different kinds of gods. But what you worship 00:10:42.970 --> 00:10:47.610 is what you love is what controls us. It dictates 00:10:47.610 --> 00:10:51.610 our lives, our time, and our energy. Again, one 00:10:51.610 --> 00:10:54.490 of the things I want to try to stress this morning 00:10:54.490 --> 00:10:59.230 is that a god is that which we allow to give 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:05.129 us the laws by which we live by. Who gives you 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:11.950 your law? How do you orient your life? Of course, 00:11:11.950 --> 00:11:15.250 today in our world, the lawgiver is most often 00:11:15.250 --> 00:11:22.690 ourselves, right? We're our own gods. Self -actualization 00:11:22.690 --> 00:11:26.289 is our goal. Self -determination is our goal. 00:11:26.690 --> 00:11:30.250 It is the age -old sin. ever since the garden 00:11:30.250 --> 00:11:33.649 of placing ourselves in the role of God. We determine 00:11:33.649 --> 00:11:37.830 how we spend our time, our money, how we engage 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:42.570 with our bodies, how we engage with others. Don't 00:11:42.570 --> 00:11:47.470 tell us what to do, we think. And of course, 00:11:47.470 --> 00:11:50.889 today in our world, of course, another one that 00:11:50.889 --> 00:11:53.549 dictates our lives, that gives us our law is 00:11:53.549 --> 00:11:58.600 others, just the others about us. We are in a 00:11:58.600 --> 00:12:01.779 world that is so fraught with anxiety and there's 00:12:01.779 --> 00:12:03.220 all kinds of reasons for this and that many of 00:12:03.220 --> 00:12:05.940 them are very very understandable But you probably 00:12:05.940 --> 00:12:08.600 have heard hopefully you've heard by now the 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:11.980 anxiety went crazy high after what was introduced 00:12:11.980 --> 00:12:16.720 in 2009 the like button Facebook's like button 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:22.620 you can chart anxiety goes right up Which is 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:26.720 to say that we are so desirous of the approval 00:12:32.129 --> 00:12:36.070 others. We're paralyzed with worry, which is 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:39.370 what anxiety often is, a paralyzing worry over 00:12:39.370 --> 00:12:41.889 the approval of our friends, maybe of our family, 00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:46.710 our perfectionistic father, our hypercritical 00:12:46.710 --> 00:12:53.269 mother. These things dictate how we live. Often 00:12:53.269 --> 00:12:56.960 they dictate the clothes we wear. The shows we 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:03.059 attend, the food that we eat, all of it. They 00:13:03.059 --> 00:13:07.139 give us our law for living. So it's not hard 00:13:07.139 --> 00:13:09.379 to make a connection between the ancient gods 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:12.100 and the gods of our own day. What I'm suggesting 00:13:12.100 --> 00:13:15.460 to you is in fact, most time they're the same. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:20.679 It's the same thing. For us, they're still the 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:24.139 great gods of sex and shekels, money, stomach. 00:13:25.259 --> 00:13:27.659 They're still the great gods of pleasure and 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:32.480 of possessions and position and power. They're 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:39.039 still the same gods of football, sports. Y 'all 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:42.080 didn't hear that. Of the firm, right, our work. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:47.000 And of course, the great god of family. They're 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:51.779 not far. These still dictate how we spend our 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:57.759 time. What we look at. who we honor, what we 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:00.639 do with our bodies and others' bodies, how we 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:03.519 spend our money, how we use our words, and what 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:07.379 we desire. If you're wondering, all I did just 00:14:07.379 --> 00:14:10.700 then was translate the Ten Commandments into 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:14.000 different words. They still give us the Ten Commandments. 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:19.539 Because what you worship invites you into a way 00:14:19.539 --> 00:14:24.340 of living. What you worship orients your life, 00:14:24.539 --> 00:14:33.159 gives you a law for what you do. There are all 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:38.000 kinds of other gods. Let's not look down our 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:41.899 noses at the ancient world thinking how passe, 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:45.179 how immature, when we follow in their footsteps. 00:14:45.899 --> 00:14:48.340 Everybody worships. And of course this is why 00:14:48.340 --> 00:14:50.500 David Foster Wallace's commencement speech, which 00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:52.480 I have quoted over the last 11 years, probably 00:14:52.480 --> 00:14:55.000 three or four times, I'm going to quote again. 00:14:55.879 --> 00:14:58.460 Gave this at Kenyon College back in 2005. Here's 00:14:58.460 --> 00:15:01.840 what he says. Here's something else that is true. 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:06.039 In the day -to -day trenches of adult life, there's 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:08.480 actually no such thing as atheism. There's no 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.820 such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:14.409 The only choice we get is what to worship. And 00:15:14.409 --> 00:15:16.789 an outstanding reason for choosing some sort 00:15:16.789 --> 00:15:19.090 of God or spiritual type thing to worship, be 00:15:19.090 --> 00:15:23.730 it JC, by which he means Jesus Christ, be it 00:15:23.730 --> 00:15:26.809 JC or Allah, be it Yahweh or the Wiccan mother 00:15:26.809 --> 00:15:31.250 goddess or the Four Noble Truths or some infangible 00:15:31.250 --> 00:15:33.230 set of ethical principles, is that pretty much 00:15:33.230 --> 00:15:36.590 anything else you worship will eat you alive. 00:15:36.769 --> 00:15:39.970 If you worship money or things, if they are where 00:15:39.970 --> 00:15:42.450 you tap real meaning in life, then you will never 00:15:42.450 --> 00:15:44.850 have enough. never feel you have enough, it's 00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:48.509 the truth. Worship your own body and beauty and 00:15:48.509 --> 00:15:51.830 sexual allure and you will always feel ugly and 00:15:51.830 --> 00:15:53.850 when time and age start showing you will die 00:15:53.850 --> 00:15:57.289 a million deaths before they finally plant you. 00:15:58.450 --> 00:16:01.620 On one level we know all this. stuff already. 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:05.120 It's been codified as myths, proverbs, cliches, 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:08.419 brahmids, epigrams, parables, the skeleton of 00:16:08.419 --> 00:16:11.360 every great story. The trick is keeping the truth 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.419 up front in daily consciousness. He says, worship 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:17.379 power, you will feel weak and afraid and you 00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:19.639 will need ever more power over others to keep 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.720 the fear at bay. Worship intellect being seen 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.139 as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:28.179 always on the verge of being found out and so 00:16:28.179 --> 00:16:37.379 on. Everybody worships. It's true. Everybody 00:16:37.379 --> 00:16:42.179 worships. So his suggestion, it seems, is probably 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:46.879 to lean into worshiping some of the big gods, 00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:49.559 the personal ones, he says, that which is outside 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.259 of you. And so he suggests, you know, JC or Allah 00:16:52.259 --> 00:16:55.720 or Yahweh or the wicked mother goddess. Of course, 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:57.860 this brings me to sort of the second point, the 00:16:57.860 --> 00:17:01.000 second relationships that is in this commandment. 00:17:01.470 --> 00:17:04.430 shall have no other gods, other gods, you shall 00:17:04.430 --> 00:17:09.670 have no other gods before me." Which is to say 00:17:09.670 --> 00:17:13.109 that the commandment is inviting us into a personal 00:17:13.109 --> 00:17:16.190 relationship with the Creator, the you and me. 00:17:17.849 --> 00:17:20.809 Again, I suggested last week that there's a widespread 00:17:20.809 --> 00:17:24.289 idea that Christians should be led not by law, 00:17:24.289 --> 00:17:28.529 but by love. What I'm suggesting in a way to 00:17:28.529 --> 00:17:34.369 you today is that what you love ultimately dictates 00:17:34.369 --> 00:17:38.769 how you live, the laws that you follow in your 00:17:38.769 --> 00:17:45.630 life. I'm suggesting to you that what or who 00:17:45.630 --> 00:17:48.809 you worship always dictates your life. It always 00:17:48.809 --> 00:17:51.450 orients your life. And so you shall have no other 00:17:51.450 --> 00:17:55.750 gods before me is the foundation commandment 00:17:55.750 --> 00:17:59.380 from which the others kind of. flow out of, which 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:02.599 is also to say law and love are not so antithetical 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:09.039 to one another. What we're called to in the first 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.660 commandment is a call to a personal relationship 00:18:12.660 --> 00:18:19.240 with the one true God. It's the you and the me. 00:18:19.700 --> 00:18:23.119 That is the foundation for all other living. 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:28.339 So remember how the commandments began We heard 00:18:28.339 --> 00:18:29.880 these again this morning. They began this way 00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:35.380 by saying, I am the Lord your God. I am the Lord 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:38.279 your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:41.859 out of the house of slavery. Which is to say, 00:18:41.960 --> 00:18:48.000 I have a personal relationship with you. The 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:49.960 Lord there is actually the covenant name for 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:53.680 God at Yahweh. The way he reveals himself to 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:56.640 his people. He says, I am in committed relationship. 00:18:56.890 --> 00:19:01.750 with you. I'm in a covenant with you. He binds 00:19:01.750 --> 00:19:07.089 himself to his people. There is love in this 00:19:07.089 --> 00:19:10.529 relationship. There is honor. There's service. 00:19:10.630 --> 00:19:13.450 There's caring for each other. He's saying, you 00:19:13.450 --> 00:19:15.670 and me, we're in this together. You can't have 00:19:15.670 --> 00:19:19.329 other gods. We are in this mutual relationship. 00:19:21.230 --> 00:19:25.069 The relationships that make up our lives can 00:19:25.180 --> 00:19:27.119 Think about this thing. We can break them in 00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:29.380 a cup We can we can kind of categorize relationships, 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:31.160 right? We can categorize them into the personal 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.720 relationships and the impersonal relationships 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:35.940 It's kind of simple, you know, your personal 00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:38.180 relationships are your friends and your family 00:19:38.180 --> 00:19:41.819 and you know the I am use and the impersonal 00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:46.779 relationships are the it's right so You can think 00:19:46.779 --> 00:19:48.440 of these kinds of relationships like the relationship 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:52.400 you have with your car or your microwave or your 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:55.829 shoes or your clothes, or all this kind of impersonal 00:19:55.829 --> 00:20:00.269 stuff, which is what we use for our convenience. 00:20:00.730 --> 00:20:06.950 We primarily use these things. They help us express 00:20:06.950 --> 00:20:10.450 ourselves creatively sometimes, wonderfully sometimes. 00:20:11.950 --> 00:20:17.650 They help us get from point A to point B. They 00:20:17.650 --> 00:20:21.200 help us execute our plans in life, right? But 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:27.039 they are fundamentally things that we use. And 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:28.519 I'm suggesting to you this morning that that 00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:32.400 is how gods work. The other gods that we place 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:37.740 before the one true God. You offer sacrifices 00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:41.460 to Aphrodite so that your sex life can be good. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.619 It's a using relationship. She takes from you. 00:20:47.950 --> 00:20:50.930 Just as David Foster Wallace said she takes from 00:20:50.930 --> 00:20:55.049 you You worship Mars so that you can win the 00:20:55.049 --> 00:21:05.730 war With your wife or whatever And he takes Uses 00:21:05.730 --> 00:21:09.609 you you use him he uses you You pray to Juno 00:21:09.609 --> 00:21:12.049 so you can be married and have children. It's 00:21:12.049 --> 00:21:15.710 an instrumental thing It's for a certain end. 00:21:15.710 --> 00:21:21.059 It's a using it's impersonal dynamic. These gods 00:21:21.059 --> 00:21:25.660 are used and they use you. This is of course 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:27.500 what he was saying with regards to beauty and 00:21:27.500 --> 00:21:32.480 sexual allure and money and power and all the 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:39.220 rest. You use them and they take from you. Which 00:21:39.220 --> 00:21:42.740 is to say that false gods always dehumanize. 00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:49.160 They always do. We know what this is like to 00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:51.180 handle other people for our convenience and we 00:21:51.180 --> 00:21:56.140 know that it is wrong To do so with another person 00:21:56.140 --> 00:22:01.000 is to treat them as a thing as an it and Yet 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.039 the other gods all other gods call you into this 00:22:04.039 --> 00:22:08.160 way of being in the world They do it is intrinsic 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:12.480 to who they are and what they are about And you 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:15.380 know how wrong it is You've probably been treated 00:22:15.380 --> 00:22:19.640 this way by other people, used for certain ends, 00:22:20.500 --> 00:22:24.599 used by your boss, used in a relationship, used 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:28.039 by your parents for their own sense of self -worth. 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:32.380 You know how wrong this is. And yet this is the 00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:35.240 call of any other God before the one true God 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:40.619 who says, you and me. I am the Lord, your God. 00:22:43.059 --> 00:22:45.920 This you and me relationship with God this I 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:48.839 and you relationship with God this Yahweh covenant 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:53.839 -making relational building God This reality 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:56.380 is what commends the first commandment and commends 00:22:56.380 --> 00:23:00.240 Christianity As opposed to any other way of living 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:04.180 any other God to orient how you live into the 00:23:04.180 --> 00:23:09.160 world What you worship gives you your laws for 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:13.480 living And any other God will invite you into 00:23:13.480 --> 00:23:16.960 a depersonalized, impersonal way of engaging 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:22.960 in the world. Every other God, other than the 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:25.319 one true God, will invite you to live in a way 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:31.200 that takes and takes and uses and uses. But the 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:33.539 truth about Christianity is that the God of the 00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:40.019 Bible is the personal God. The you and me. The 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:47.019 I. and your God, the Lord, your God, who brought 00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:50.200 you out from slavery. And what does he do there 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:52.220 at Sinai? He doesn't just give the Ten Commandments, 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:53.940 but he says, we're going to build a house here. 00:23:54.059 --> 00:23:56.220 I'm going to move into the neighborhood, you 00:23:56.220 --> 00:24:02.579 and me together. It's a relationship. There's 00:24:02.579 --> 00:24:05.319 no other God who claims both to be the creator 00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:09.319 of all things and to become part of his creation. 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:13.759 There's no other God who creates all things and 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:16.759 then says I'm gonna take on flesh and move into 00:24:16.759 --> 00:24:21.920 the neighborhood There is no other God There's 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:24.420 no other God that sees the brokenness of the 00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:27.279 world and says I'm going to be broken for it 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:34.740 because I desire Not to use you but you Life 00:24:34.740 --> 00:24:40.160 with you There's no other God who creates all 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:43.579 things and becomes one of us. There's no other 00:24:43.579 --> 00:24:45.880 God who loves the world so much that He gives 00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:48.299 His Son that whoever believes in Him shall have 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:52.099 everlasting life with Him. You see, the whole 00:24:52.099 --> 00:24:56.279 thing is God saying, I want to be with you. I'm 00:24:56.279 --> 00:25:00.140 the Lord, the covenant -making God. It's not 00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:02.960 an impersonal, but a personal relationship and 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.960 a God that is committed to being with us. There's 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:14.299 no other God Who is not just using us and we 00:25:14.299 --> 00:25:18.559 are not just using Now there is no other God 00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.359 who invites us into this kind of relationship 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:24.920 Not so we can use them but so that we can know 00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:28.700 them and love them and live with them Easter 00:25:28.700 --> 00:25:32.000 the cross and the resurrection This is part of 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:35.559 what I'm suggesting in this series that the salvation 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:39.220 story behind the ten commandments is I'm Lord 00:25:39.220 --> 00:25:41.339 your God who brought you out of land of slavery. 00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:44.799 Right? There's this salvation and there's this 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.200 relationship that is established and therefore 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.680 there's this way of being in the world. That 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.920 is what Easter is also doing. The cross and the 00:25:53.920 --> 00:25:59.559 resurrection are the backstory of life with God 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:05.240 and therefore of how we live if we've been raised 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:08.819 with Christ, if we have been. Seek the things 00:26:08.819 --> 00:26:13.599 that are above, where Christ is. Put on this 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:16.700 relationship. And the relationship, the you and 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:19.039 me between us and God, the love that God has 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:23.079 for us perfectly in Christ is what invites us 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:27.259 into this life with this God and therefore means 00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:30.559 putting away all other gods which orient our 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:35.460 time and our energy and our money and our emotions 00:26:35.460 --> 00:26:43.980 and all the rest. It's true that we have a reticence 00:26:43.980 --> 00:26:49.380 to the commandments. And I think it's true that 00:26:49.380 --> 00:26:54.500 this reticence is answered by not seeing that 00:26:54.500 --> 00:26:57.000 we have to do or don't do or do or don't do, 00:26:57.019 --> 00:26:59.319 but we look upon the work of Christ and say it 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:04.819 is done. It is finished. I think it's also true 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:09.380 though that the answer to who or what we should 00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:14.869 worship can only be answered by saying, who actually 00:27:14.869 --> 00:27:19.690 wants relationship with us? Who doesn't just 00:27:19.690 --> 00:27:22.630 want to take from us? And who do we not just 00:27:22.630 --> 00:27:27.930 want to take from? And the only answer I know 00:27:27.930 --> 00:27:32.789 of is this God, the one true God, the creator, 00:27:32.990 --> 00:27:37.650 the covenant maker, the covenant keeper who takes 00:27:37.650 --> 00:27:41.759 on flesh. for us, who becomes one of us, walks 00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:44.599 among us, invites us to call upon the Father 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:52.519 as our Father. Greater love has no one than this, 00:27:53.500 --> 00:27:57.339 that He lay down His life for His friends. And 00:27:57.339 --> 00:28:00.400 this is the way that God interacts with you. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:06.019 Not demanding you sacrifice all to Him, but Him 00:28:06.019 --> 00:28:09.029 hanging upon the cross, being sacrificed For 00:28:09.029 --> 00:28:14.349 you, greater love has no one than that. He laid 00:28:14.349 --> 00:28:17.569 down his life for us and therefore, brothers 00:28:17.569 --> 00:28:21.970 and sisters, let's have no other gods before 00:28:21.970 --> 00:28:30.029 him. Amen. Lord. When we are honest with ourselves, 00:28:30.109 --> 00:28:35.480 we can think of how. Much of our time and our 00:28:35.480 --> 00:28:38.839 energy and our honoring of some and not of others 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:41.539 and the ways that we use others and covet from 00:28:41.539 --> 00:28:46.519 others and spend and all the rest Is a reflection 00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:50.319 that we are that our hearts are idle factories 00:28:50.319 --> 00:28:58.019 And we need this commandment To not have any 00:28:58.019 --> 00:29:01.960 other gods before you because we are so often 00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:07.000 placing other gods before you. Other gods that 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:10.900 give us our laws for living, our ways of being 00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:16.299 in the world, our calls to action. God, would 00:29:16.299 --> 00:29:22.339 we in this series, would we today see the beauty 00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:29.890 in these relational words, you and me? I am you. 00:29:30.769 --> 00:29:40.470 I'm the Lord. Yahweh, your God. Jesus took on 00:29:40.470 --> 00:29:44.970 flesh and moved into the neighborhood, gives 00:29:44.970 --> 00:29:52.109 my life willingly for my friends. God, I pray 00:29:52.109 --> 00:29:54.869 that we would see the beauty of a God who is 00:29:54.869 --> 00:30:03.140 relational. who dignifies persons doesn't treat 00:30:03.140 --> 00:30:06.259 us as the it's and we don't treat as the it. 00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:10.980 We have a life together. God, I pray that this 00:30:10.980 --> 00:30:12.960 communion, this fellowship that we have with 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:18.299 you would enliven our hearts and change our lives 00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:24.319 and therefore brighten the world. God, I pray 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:27.220 that we'd be a people that are putting other 00:30:27.220 --> 00:30:33.180 gods to death. Find it our joy to live into this 00:30:33.180 --> 00:30:36.480 commandment. You shall have no other gods before 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:40.859 me. And do all that we can to live into that 00:30:40.859 --> 00:30:47.180 reality. This commandment, this law that can 00:30:47.180 --> 00:30:52.400 produce great love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:30:52.829 --> 00:30:55.250 Thank you for listening to Second City Sermons 00:30:55.250 --> 00:30:57.990 podcast. We hope this sermon has encouraged you 00:30:57.990 --> 00:31:00.190 to worship God and to celebrate the gospel of 00:31:00.190 --> 00:31:03.230 Jesus. Please consider subscribing to this podcast 00:31:03.230 --> 00:31:05.970 and joining us in person each Sunday at 10 a 00:31:05.970 --> 00:31:08.809 .m. You can find us online at secondcitychurch 00:31:08.809 --> 00:31:11.890 .org and on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. 00:31:12.269 --> 00:31:14.269 Thanks again for listening. God bless.