WEBVTT 00:00:00.619 --> 00:00:03.120 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:06.160 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:08.720 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:11.119 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:14.119 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.119 --> 00:00:16.420 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in 00:00:16.420 --> 00:00:18.760 the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:22.300 us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.579 --> 00:00:24.980 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:30.600 sermon. God Bless. Oh Lord, teach us your ways, 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:37.840 guide us in your paths. May your statutes, your 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.240 commandments, your law be sweet to us like honey, 00:00:40.380 --> 00:00:44.820 more to be desired than gold. Would we be like 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:48.979 the one who sells all to find you, the pearl 00:00:48.979 --> 00:00:53.039 of great price, to have life abundantly, life 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:56.799 with you, to know the Father through the Son. 00:00:58.839 --> 00:01:01.119 God, we're thankful that you've given us your 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.880 word, and we pray, Lord, that today we'd hide 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:08.939 it in our hearts, that we would find in it life, 00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:17.219 life everlasting. Amen. When Melissa and I first 00:01:17.219 --> 00:01:19.219 started, when we first went on a date, we were 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:20.780 living in Richmond, Virginia, and I was leading 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:23.040 a campus ministry down there, Reform University 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:25.959 Fellowship, and she told her parents that she 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:28.759 went out with this guy named Peter Rowan. They 00:01:28.759 --> 00:01:30.739 googled. They were wise parents and they did 00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:32.980 what parents do in that scenario, right? They 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:36.319 Google Peter Rowan, Richmond, Virginia. And what 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:38.040 they found, I'd only lived there eight months 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:40.400 by this point. It's not like my faith was going 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:44.000 to come up, but a face did come up. And it was 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.140 because the great bluegrass musician Peter Rowan 00:01:47.140 --> 00:01:49.159 was having a show there just in a couple of months. 00:01:49.180 --> 00:01:51.040 And so they googled and that's what they found. 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.019 And I don't know if any of you know this musician. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:00.359 But he's got big white hair. Currently he's 83 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:08.219 years old. And he looks nothing like me. Now, 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:10.659 thankfully they were correct in not thinking 00:02:10.659 --> 00:02:14.539 that was me. But what if, you know, what if for 00:02:14.539 --> 00:02:16.539 the rest of their lives they treated me like 00:02:16.539 --> 00:02:20.199 they first saw me in that image, right? They're 00:02:20.199 --> 00:02:24.319 constantly asking me, how's the concert? Why 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:29.300 do you have so much hair? You look pretty good 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:32.439 for 83, whatever. Or you know what they could 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:33.919 have done? They also could have found out, I've 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:36.539 mentioned this before years ago, that the little 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:38.419 boy on the front of the YouTube boy album and 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:41.840 war album, his name is Peter Rowan too. I was 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.879 not destined for music fame, but I thought I 00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:47.819 was at one point. And maybe they saw that. They're 00:02:47.819 --> 00:02:49.340 like, well, he's just a little kid and they all 00:02:49.340 --> 00:02:51.500 treat you like a little kid. You know how sometimes 00:02:51.500 --> 00:02:53.219 that's what happens is that people kind of get 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:56.400 this picture of you and they simplify you. They 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:58.400 kind of take you as this static kind of dynamic 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.080 is that that's how you are and that's how you 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:01.939 will always be is how they kind of picture you 00:03:01.939 --> 00:03:05.000 right there. And it's just this kind of way of 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.060 almost dehumanizing you, right? They don't engage 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:11.800 with you as an actual person. In a way, that's 00:03:11.800 --> 00:03:13.300 kind of how we engage sometimes with the Ten 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:15.500 Commandments. We have these ideas, we have these 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:18.240 images in our minds of what they are and how 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:23.919 Christians use them. or misuse them. We see them 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:25.639 as this list, right? A couple weeks ago I talked 00:03:25.639 --> 00:03:28.280 about this, this list of do's and don'ts, primarily 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:30.639 just a list of do's and don'ts that we use in 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:35.060 order to gain God's love. And oftentimes what 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:37.919 we do out of that is we simplify them into a 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:41.419 checklist that we can follow, that we can manage. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.379 So we come to the second commandment and we say, 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.659 oh, do I have carved images of the cat God Bestet? 00:03:48.189 --> 00:03:50.370 which is one of the gods of Egypt that the people 00:03:50.370 --> 00:03:53.689 were saved out from when they were in slavery 00:03:53.689 --> 00:04:01.629 in Egypt. And we think, no, check. Or we think, 00:04:01.689 --> 00:04:04.590 have I ever taken out my gold earrings and taken 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:07.710 off my gold rings along with my whole church 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:12.550 community and thrown them into a fire for a cow 00:04:12.550 --> 00:04:15.949 or something to come out and danced around it? 00:04:16.829 --> 00:04:23.899 No. Check You know, we kind of we kind of treat 00:04:23.899 --> 00:04:25.720 the commandments often as this list that we go 00:04:25.720 --> 00:04:32.600 odd do's don'ts look at me and We know that this 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:34.740 kind of approach the commandments flattens them 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:39.120 right and What it also often does is it creates 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.160 Pharisees and hypocrites of us? People who look 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:44.579 down our noses at our neighbors and yet our hearts 00:04:44.579 --> 00:04:49.209 are far from God And don't hear what I'm not 00:04:49.209 --> 00:04:51.350 saying. I'm not saying that conversations around 00:04:51.350 --> 00:04:56.829 crafted images of gods or god don't have their 00:04:56.829 --> 00:05:01.189 place. They most certainly do have their place. 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:03.009 There are some cultures that are full of carved 00:05:03.009 --> 00:05:06.329 images and people that bow down to them and in 00:05:06.329 --> 00:05:08.569 some ways we are right to join in with the psalmist 00:05:08.569 --> 00:05:12.209 who wrote Psalm 115 and laugh in a way. They 00:05:12.209 --> 00:05:14.670 have eyes but they don't see. They have ears 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:16.310 but they don't hear. Hands but they can't touch 00:05:16.310 --> 00:05:19.829 and feet but they can't walk. But it's not like 00:05:19.829 --> 00:05:21.009 there aren't millions of people that actually 00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:24.269 do have those, right? It's undoubtedly true for 00:05:24.269 --> 00:05:29.110 countless folk. And in many times, in many situations, 00:05:29.589 --> 00:05:31.689 and maybe completely, images of Jesus can be 00:05:31.689 --> 00:05:35.589 no better. There are people that venerate those, 00:05:36.370 --> 00:05:41.949 actually bow down, right? But if we flatten this 00:05:41.949 --> 00:05:47.439 text, Not only will we tend towards the direction 00:05:47.439 --> 00:05:54.040 of checking off stuff, right? Check listing hypocrisy, 00:05:54.279 --> 00:05:58.579 but also we will fail to heed the heart commandment 00:05:58.579 --> 00:06:03.519 that is here. And when we do so, we will flatten 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:09.319 God. Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:13.720 that we actually miss the commands. If all we 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.540 read is, do not murder and think, well, I haven't 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:20.500 literally taken somebody else's life. And we 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:23.139 miss the commands if we think we hear it say, 00:06:23.139 --> 00:06:24.860 do not commit adultery. And we think, well, we 00:06:24.860 --> 00:06:29.899 haven't done that. Jesus says, actually, they're 00:06:29.899 --> 00:06:32.399 not just matters of outward performance and outward 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.560 actions that they are in fact matters of our 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:38.879 hearts, right? Say we have the second commandment 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.980 and what does the second commandment say? Some 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:44.160 of you are familiar, but let me read it to you. 00:06:44.740 --> 00:06:47.180 You shall not make for yourselves a carved image 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:50.420 or any likeness of anything that is in heaven 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:52.379 above or that is on the earth beneath or that 00:06:52.379 --> 00:06:54.319 is in the water under the sea. I know it keeps 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.259 going, but I'm going to stop there. I want to 00:06:57.259 --> 00:07:00.540 say first, what this cannot mean is that we can't 00:07:00.540 --> 00:07:08.279 have sculptors, Ted. Sorry. It's very hard to 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:10.439 say that what this means is that we can't have 00:07:10.439 --> 00:07:13.500 sculptures even in worship settings. Okay, let 00:07:13.500 --> 00:07:18.959 me justify that statement now. 15 chapters later, 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:20.920 if we were just to kind of turn in the book of 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:24.389 Exodus, 15 chapters on. Moses gathers together, 00:07:24.529 --> 00:07:26.470 he instructs the whole gathered people, gather 00:07:26.470 --> 00:07:29.009 together. I'm going to read this list. Gold, 00:07:29.050 --> 00:07:31.230 silver and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet 00:07:31.230 --> 00:07:34.269 yarns and fine twin linens, goats hair, tanned 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:37.529 ram skins, goat skins, acacia wood, oils, precious 00:07:37.529 --> 00:07:40.889 stones. It's longer, I'll stop there. And he 00:07:40.889 --> 00:07:46.550 then calls all the skilled craftsmen led by Bezalel 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:49.420 who, all of you Bible trivia people will remember 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:51.639 is the very first person in the Bible who is 00:07:51.639 --> 00:07:55.579 said to be filled with the spirit of God, a sculptor, 00:07:55.980 --> 00:07:58.920 a craftsman. He gathers all this fine material 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:05.120 and all these skilled craftsmen. Why? For the 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:10.560 sake of creating things that represent things 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:14.220 of heaven and things of earth for the tabernacle, 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:20.670 the place of worship. You may remember, you all 00:08:20.670 --> 00:08:23.350 remember that if you went inside the tabernacle, 00:08:24.470 --> 00:08:27.050 the linens that were finally crafted out of all 00:08:27.050 --> 00:08:29.769 that yarn that was collected was in the image 00:08:29.769 --> 00:08:32.809 of cherubim. Right, y 'all remember that? Okay, 00:08:32.809 --> 00:08:34.970 if you don't. Maybe you remember that the Ark 00:08:34.970 --> 00:08:37.230 of the Covenant had two cherubim with their wings 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:40.929 coming out, hovering over the Ark of the Covenant. 00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:44.509 An image of something from heaven. Maybe you 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:47.970 remember... Tim I'm gonna walk away from this 00:08:47.970 --> 00:08:49.629 all of you online I hope that you'll just build 00:08:49.629 --> 00:08:51.870 a picture this on in your minds Maybe remember 00:08:51.870 --> 00:08:54.190 that actually at the hem of the high priest garment. 00:08:54.570 --> 00:09:00.210 There were two things One was pomegranates. Okay, 00:09:00.350 --> 00:09:03.490 I have no idea why But there are pomegranates 00:09:03.490 --> 00:09:05.830 a fruit of this earth an image of pomegranates 00:09:05.830 --> 00:09:13.850 and bells Pomegranates and bells and then you'll 00:09:13.850 --> 00:09:16.980 remember that there was a lampstand there in 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:19.299 the place of worship and the lampstand was fashioned 00:09:19.299 --> 00:09:23.159 with branches some people connect that with the 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:26.100 tree of life these are all images of eden in 00:09:26.100 --> 00:09:27.899 a way i'm not going to go into that though you've 00:09:27.899 --> 00:09:30.399 heard me say it at some point more in more detail 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:32.899 what i'm suggesting to you is that what this 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:35.080 commandment can't mean is that images or any 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:36.759 likeness of anything in heaven above or on the 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:38.299 earth beneath or in the waters under the earth 00:09:38.299 --> 00:09:43.149 have no place in worship It would just be contradictory 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:46.149 within the same short chapter frame, right? I 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:48.629 can't mean that. So what does it mean? Well, 00:09:48.889 --> 00:09:51.129 I cut off our text. So what does it say next? 00:09:52.750 --> 00:09:56.769 What does it say? It says, you shall not bow 00:09:56.769 --> 00:10:02.850 down to them or serve them. You cannot make an 00:10:02.850 --> 00:10:08.090 image to worship or to serve. which is to say 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:10.710 in a way that any image that we make of God or 00:10:10.710 --> 00:10:14.889 even the God, not just God's, but the God, as 00:10:14.889 --> 00:10:19.870 to say, this is God, is going to give us something 00:10:19.870 --> 00:10:24.210 that is a false God, invites into an idolatrous 00:10:24.210 --> 00:10:28.750 engagement with God himself. And this is a prohibition 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:32.509 because there is always a problem with projecting 00:10:32.509 --> 00:10:37.240 a false idea of God. And that false idea of God 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.720 always also affects our relationship. So what 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:43.080 did Psalm 115 say? But those who create them, 00:10:43.220 --> 00:10:46.960 those who worship them, become like them. You 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:51.379 become like what you worship. And what I want 00:10:51.379 --> 00:10:54.139 to suggest to you today is that this image creating 00:10:54.139 --> 00:10:59.059 does two things, okay? It flattens God and it 00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:03.299 flattens others. Okay? It flattens God and it 00:11:03.299 --> 00:11:07.970 flattens others. And we are all prone to do it. 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:10.809 Nobody's off the hook. Nobody gets to look down 00:11:10.809 --> 00:11:17.970 their noses. The prohibition to make an image 00:11:17.970 --> 00:11:21.850 to worship or to serve. Wait, I'm sorry. Hold 00:11:21.850 --> 00:11:27.529 on a second. Let me get back here. All right, 00:11:27.610 --> 00:11:32.370 hold on. All right. I think I found my spot. 00:11:32.370 --> 00:11:38.340 Hold on. So this prohibition to make an image 00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:40.340 to worship or to serve is followed up with these 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:43.259 words, right? It says, what specifically, for 00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:46.799 I the Lord am a jealous God. He says, you can't 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:49.559 do that because I'm a jealous God. And I'm gonna 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:52.059 get to this, but this jealousy is a proper jealousy. 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:56.200 God is jealous for us to actually know Him rightly, 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:00.440 actually desires to be known by us. And for, 00:12:00.590 --> 00:12:02.789 for us to be in relationship with Him, which 00:12:02.789 --> 00:12:05.950 is to say that His jealousy is for us to know 00:12:05.950 --> 00:12:09.649 Him fully, to love Him properly, and also to 00:12:09.649 --> 00:12:14.629 worship Him rightly. And all acts of creating 00:12:14.629 --> 00:12:17.929 a God or even images of the God are a way of 00:12:17.929 --> 00:12:24.769 flattening Him. What do I mean by this? I mean 00:12:24.769 --> 00:12:27.129 that to create an image, whether physical or 00:12:27.129 --> 00:12:30.240 in our minds or in our hearts, to worship and 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.440 to serve, okay? To worship and to serve, an image 00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:35.519 to worship and to serve will never ever contain 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:39.159 the true God. You cannot do it. It's not possible, 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:43.580 okay? It will always flatten God into something 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:47.179 other than His fullness. And therefore we will 00:12:47.179 --> 00:12:49.399 not worship Him or know Him or serve Him for 00:12:49.399 --> 00:12:53.039 who He truly is, which is what He desires, He 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:58.019 longs for. And I think that this flattening idea 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:00.220 makes, in some ways, it's not a hard idea to 00:13:00.220 --> 00:13:04.840 get if you're thinking of the idle bestest, that 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:10.899 cat god. There's no way god can be contained 00:13:10.899 --> 00:13:16.519 in a cat image. We laugh at that. That's kind 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:22.539 of silly. And so in some ways, I think because 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:24.759 we do that, we think this command is a little 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:29.379 bit irrelevant to us. But I think when we start 00:13:29.379 --> 00:13:31.220 to think of, okay, all of the different images, 00:13:31.299 --> 00:13:33.559 not just sort of outward, but also inward and 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:36.379 in our hearts are to a degree flattening of God, 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.860 then it makes it completely relevant to us. It's 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:41.720 not just relevant to Christian traditions that 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:44.879 say venerate idols, but relevant to us or icons, 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:48.799 but relevant to us. So I want to suggest to you, 00:13:48.830 --> 00:13:51.049 that this flattening of God has all kinds of 00:13:51.049 --> 00:13:53.850 relevance to us, and that we flatten God in all 00:13:53.850 --> 00:13:55.210 kinds of ways. And I just have a few ways for 00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:58.309 us this morning, okay? One way we flatten God 00:13:58.309 --> 00:14:00.029 is that the images that we have, the primary 00:14:00.029 --> 00:14:04.090 image that we have of Him is similar to us, okay? 00:14:06.009 --> 00:14:10.830 We make Him into our likeness, right? We are 00:14:10.830 --> 00:14:12.970 not made in the image of God, He is made in the 00:14:12.970 --> 00:14:17.779 image of us. So, it's true, God goes before his 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:19.899 people as a cloud by day and a pillar in fire 00:14:19.899 --> 00:14:21.960 by night. And he actually says, I'm going before 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:24.019 you, right? There's images of things, earthy 00:14:24.019 --> 00:14:27.200 things that kind of represent God. In John chapter 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.759 three, Jesus actually refers to the snake that 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.139 was lifted up as an image of him being lifted 00:14:32.139 --> 00:14:36.220 up, right? But the truth is that we tend to make 00:14:36.220 --> 00:14:39.740 image of God an awful lot like ourselves. We 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:44.500 make God to think like us, to... love like us, 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.580 to hate like us. So he loves the things that 00:14:47.580 --> 00:14:52.620 we love. He loves our causes. Our causes are 00:14:52.620 --> 00:14:57.279 his causes. And our image of him is often our 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:01.600 image of ourselves. Of course, there's horrible 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.659 ways this has been taken in history. You can 00:15:04.659 --> 00:15:08.759 think of an Arian Jesus. What was done in the 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:14.019 name of an Arian God? He loves us. Which means 00:15:14.019 --> 00:15:18.860 he's not really like you. Some particular race 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:23.299 owns him as their own, but we do this too. We 00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:27.539 as individuals do this too. Isn't it so often 00:15:27.539 --> 00:15:29.840 the case that God becomes the God of the Republican 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.419 cause or the Democratic cause? And let me just 00:15:32.419 --> 00:15:36.200 suggest to you, if God agrees with you in everything, 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:43.629 you have flattened God massively. If He agrees 00:15:43.629 --> 00:15:47.250 with you in everything, something's amiss, okay? 00:15:47.769 --> 00:15:52.610 And that's for all of us. You're worshiping and 00:15:52.610 --> 00:15:55.450 serving another God. I'm just saying that we 00:15:55.450 --> 00:15:58.929 project an image of our own making onto God. 00:15:59.889 --> 00:16:02.129 And often we find that the God of our making 00:16:02.129 --> 00:16:05.370 is an awful lot like us. He's so similar to us. 00:16:06.289 --> 00:16:09.899 We flatten Him in this way. And what I'm not 00:16:09.899 --> 00:16:11.679 saying is God did not take on flesh and dwell 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.840 among us. That is true. But our temptation is 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:17.059 for us to make him into our image, not for us 00:16:17.059 --> 00:16:20.740 to be made into his. Okay, so that's one way. 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:22.559 Another way we flatten God is we have kind of 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:24.240 a static dynamic with God. And this is kind of 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.500 what I was getting at the beginning, where you 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:28.039 kind of go, oh, this is who you are. This is 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:30.860 who you will always be. I have this picture in 00:16:30.860 --> 00:16:33.519 my mind of you, and this is the fullness of who 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.539 you are. And we can't imagine him being any different. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:40.720 And so we go through his word and he cannot challenge 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.399 us because we already had this idea of who he 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:48.659 is and how he communicates and how he acts. There's 00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:53.139 no challenge to us because he's static. Now oftentimes, 00:16:53.139 --> 00:16:57.460 you know, we have the God who's only and always 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:00.600 one way. He's only and always only accepting. 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:03.639 Or let's put it on the other side. He's only 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:08.960 and always, he's always austere. It's very serious. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:14.299 But it's only one thing. It's like a carved image 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:17.700 that is static. It's not dynamic. It doesn't 00:17:17.700 --> 00:17:22.059 have depth of being. And of course, this static 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:24.140 idea that we have in our own hearts moves out 00:17:24.140 --> 00:17:25.920 into our own lives because those who worship 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:29.599 them become like them. So we think in order to 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:32.019 be like God, we must only ever always be accepting 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:35.019 or we must only ever always be very austere. 00:17:36.619 --> 00:17:39.039 And you know plenty of churches that fit into 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.940 those categories. A third way we flatten God 00:17:42.940 --> 00:17:45.920 is that we just have a simplistic understanding 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:49.380 of Him, an overly simple way of engaging with 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:54.460 Him. I'm going to talk about the elephant in 00:17:54.460 --> 00:17:59.559 the room, or the images in the room. When I was 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:01.359 studying for this sermon, of course I had to 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:07.220 come up here into our sanctuary, right? Because, 00:18:07.220 --> 00:18:10.240 of course, our mothers and fathers in the faith 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.599 in this church, our historic church that's been 00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:16.920 here since 1862, it's the first church of our 00:18:16.920 --> 00:18:18.660 neighborhood. And it's actually, our church is 00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:20.680 actually the only church in our neighborhood 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:23.599 that was, is still worshiped in the congregation, 00:18:23.779 --> 00:18:25.779 by the congregation that founded it. Kind of 00:18:25.779 --> 00:18:32.259 interesting history. But I have, well, I have 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:34.740 no desire to not be grateful for the gifts that 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:41.769 we have been given. And I have no desire also 00:18:41.769 --> 00:18:48.210 to be overly critical. And yet, and while I'll 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:49.869 say this too, part of me just wants to evade 00:18:49.869 --> 00:18:52.769 the whole subject, but as I sat here and I'm 00:18:52.769 --> 00:18:55.710 thinking of the sermon, I'm looking around and 00:18:55.710 --> 00:18:58.549 I thought, at the very least, I can say that 00:18:58.549 --> 00:19:01.910 we have a very simple depiction of Jesus in our 00:19:01.910 --> 00:19:08.059 stained glass and up here. We've simplified him. 00:19:08.500 --> 00:19:11.059 If you look around, he always looks so gentle. 00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:16.259 There he looks a little green. There he looks 00:19:16.259 --> 00:19:18.299 a little, I'm not sure what's happening in that 00:19:18.299 --> 00:19:22.119 one. He's a little disappointed maybe. But meek 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:29.400 and mild. Have any of you ever gone into a church, 00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:33.160 a church building? And you saw a stained glass 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:38.079 window of Jesus taking out the whip and tossing 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:41.220 the tables over in the temple and driving out 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:49.740 the merchants. I have not. Have any of you walked 00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:52.480 into a church and you looked around and you saw 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:58.500 Jesus cursing a fig tree is the image of unbelief 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:07.410 and the rejection of him. I have not. No, we 00:20:07.410 --> 00:20:13.349 tend to want to take Jesus meek and mild. And 00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:16.329 we simplify him. You know, it's a flattening 00:20:16.329 --> 00:20:22.609 out. It's a simplifying. Or maybe we make Jesus 00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:26.589 to be the God who wants purity. He's got a lot 00:20:26.589 --> 00:20:31.609 of passion, power. But you know what I'm saying? 00:20:31.750 --> 00:20:34.990 We simplify them. Our images of God, our external 00:20:34.990 --> 00:20:36.890 images and the images that we make in our hearts 00:20:36.890 --> 00:20:42.809 are always and can only be simplistic. The fourth 00:20:42.809 --> 00:20:44.890 way we flatten God is by making him, I'm gonna 00:20:44.890 --> 00:20:47.789 say into the Stepford God, okay? Some of you 00:20:47.789 --> 00:20:49.369 have probably heard Tim Keller talk about this, 00:20:49.369 --> 00:20:55.069 because I did. He talks about the book, The Stepford 00:20:55.069 --> 00:20:57.130 Wives, and maybe some of y 'all saw the movie, 00:20:57.329 --> 00:21:00.799 okay? But the story goes like this, Joanne Eberhart 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.400 and her husband and her kids, they move from 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.160 New York City and they go to Stepford, Connecticut. 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:08.119 And what happens is that she's kind of amazed 00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:10.200 and she's also really perplexed by the women 00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:12.980 that are in this town because as she gets to 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:18.279 know them, she learns that the women, the wives 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:21.759 in this town of Stepford, Connecticut, they don't 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:23.720 have any interests of their own. They don't have 00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:26.680 any thoughts of their own. They don't have any 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:29.059 desires of their own. They don't have any loves 00:21:29.059 --> 00:21:31.680 of their own. They do housework, they care for 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:34.180 their families, and they agree with whatever 00:21:34.180 --> 00:21:38.440 their husbands say. And of course, this strikes 00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:41.660 Joanne as odd. Wouldn't it strike you as odd? 00:21:44.339 --> 00:21:47.079 And it wasn't just because this isn't just some 00:21:47.079 --> 00:21:49.359 big critique of tradwives, right? That's not 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.279 what's going on. But it strikes her as odd because 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:57.039 it's so two -dimensional. These aren't real people. 00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:01.019 Of course, as the story unfolds, she finds out 00:22:01.019 --> 00:22:02.640 that there's a good reason for this because the 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:06.720 women are not real people. They aren't, right? 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:11.059 Instead, the wives, the true wives were replaced 00:22:11.059 --> 00:22:16.900 by robots built in an image of the wives. Turns 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:20.440 out that some of the men in Stepford were savvy 00:22:20.440 --> 00:22:26.879 with computers. And what were Jess? animatronics, 00:22:26.879 --> 00:22:29.920 right? I don't know why. Somehow the music team 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.960 was talking about animatronics before the service. 00:22:32.059 --> 00:22:33.359 I was like, I'm going to use that word in my 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:35.640 sermon. What a weird word to also be talking 00:22:35.640 --> 00:22:38.079 about. Anyway, and they combine their skills 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:40.380 and they're able to make this robot wife who 00:22:40.380 --> 00:22:47.339 just does what she's told. And so when finally 00:22:47.339 --> 00:22:49.420 you decide, you know, you get this robot wife 00:22:49.420 --> 00:22:51.279 made to be like your wife and you do away with 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:56.650 the real one. Now what I'm suggesting to is that 00:22:56.650 --> 00:22:58.970 so often actually what happens with our flattening 00:22:58.970 --> 00:23:04.569 of God Is not only just to make him somewhat 00:23:04.569 --> 00:23:08.569 too similar to us or too simplistic Or static, 00:23:09.289 --> 00:23:10.670 but really a lot of times what we're doing is 00:23:10.670 --> 00:23:18.309 we are controlling You do my bidding right The 00:23:18.309 --> 00:23:20.269 God that we come and we offer something to and 00:23:20.269 --> 00:23:22.049 we say, you know, I'm offering this to you so 00:23:22.049 --> 00:23:23.990 that blah, blah, blah, blah. You do my bidding. 00:23:26.309 --> 00:23:34.250 Make God out to a Stepford wife, false God. Talking 00:23:34.250 --> 00:23:37.309 about wives invites us back to the idea of jealousy. 00:23:38.190 --> 00:23:41.970 I said that God is jealous in this passage. That's 00:23:41.970 --> 00:23:46.079 what it says, for I'm a jealous God. And he's 00:23:46.079 --> 00:23:47.779 jealous for us to know him fully and to love 00:23:47.779 --> 00:23:51.319 him properly and to worship him rightly. And 00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:53.079 you will know if you know your Bibles that oftentimes 00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:55.160 this jealousy of God is related to the jealousy 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:58.119 between a husband and a wife, marital jealousy, 00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:00.480 which is say proper jealousy. There's a proper 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:02.920 affection and a proper knowledge that is due 00:24:02.920 --> 00:24:06.559 in that relationship. And if you think about 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:09.500 this with me, the same flattening of God is what 00:24:09.500 --> 00:24:14.839 harms so many of our relationships. because those 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:19.200 who worship them become just like them. So the 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.440 flattening of God always invites us into a flattening 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:26.039 of others. It always moves out relationally. 00:24:26.099 --> 00:24:28.920 How we engage with God is how we often will be 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:33.880 invited to relate with others. So we want the 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:40.119 other to be just like us, similar to us. Some 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:42.359 of you have heard because I've done people counseling 00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:44.180 with you that I kind of I kind of joke around 00:24:44.180 --> 00:24:48.319 but not really That you are probably gonna get 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:50.559 into a fight about where the serving utensils 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:54.519 go in your kitchen You know, they go to the right 00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:58.920 of the stove No, they go in a little canister 00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:03.779 next to the stove to the left Right and as silly 00:25:03.779 --> 00:25:10.399 as it is that is a lot of marital disputes And 00:25:10.399 --> 00:25:14.799 what's happening, of course, what happens, of 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:16.319 course, is that we're like, you know, if you 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:19.079 just saw the world as I saw it, if you were just 00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:27.240 me, we'd have a great marriage. Similar, right? 00:25:27.819 --> 00:25:29.539 We engage with the others. You just need to be 00:25:29.539 --> 00:25:34.900 like me. And we also treat our spouses as though 00:25:34.900 --> 00:25:38.019 they are just static, that if they treat us one 00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:41.799 way, They're going to definitely do it again. 00:25:42.759 --> 00:25:45.819 So we don't extend grace. We don't have much 00:25:45.819 --> 00:25:49.380 curiosity for the dynamism of another person. 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:53.680 And we know this as humans, we are dynamic. We 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:55.420 have different moods and different emotions and 00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:57.319 we have different responses sometimes to the 00:25:57.319 --> 00:26:02.259 exact same event. There's a liveliness about 00:26:02.259 --> 00:26:04.559 it. Of course there is. We're made in the image 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.440 of the living and true God. Of course there is. 00:26:07.869 --> 00:26:09.789 And yet we do this to one another all the time. 00:26:09.789 --> 00:26:13.609 And of course, we simplify one another. We are 00:26:13.609 --> 00:26:15.529 more focused on the image that we have in our 00:26:15.529 --> 00:26:20.490 minds of the other than actually engaging with 00:26:20.490 --> 00:26:23.890 them and all of their complexity. It's so common. 00:26:25.769 --> 00:26:31.150 So common. And of course, also what we do in 00:26:31.150 --> 00:26:32.950 our marriages and so many others is that we just 00:26:32.950 --> 00:26:37.460 want to control others. We do that with God, 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:41.000 but we do that with others. We don't want just 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:44.839 a yes sir God, but we want a yes sir wife. We 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:46.460 don't want a honeydew God, we want a honeydew 00:26:46.460 --> 00:26:52.420 husband, right? Just do the list. Just do the 00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:56.660 list. I mean, jealousy is a hard word for us 00:26:56.660 --> 00:26:58.099 because I think most time what we think of it 00:26:58.099 --> 00:27:00.960 as is negative. We think of it, maybe we think 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:04.180 a bit of it like the 10th commandment, not coveting. 00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.799 Jealousy is more connected with our ideas of 00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:11.299 coveting, maybe more negative. But in the Bible, 00:27:11.420 --> 00:27:14.180 jealousy is often positive. And it's positive 00:27:14.180 --> 00:27:16.559 here, which is to say there is a good and right 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:19.440 jealousy because there's a good and right relationship 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:23.880 that we're invited into with the Lord. A desire 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.660 to be known and to be loved and to be in a living 00:27:27.660 --> 00:27:33.000 relationship. It's right for Husband to desire 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:38.619 the soul affections of his wife It's right for 00:27:38.619 --> 00:27:43.660 a wife to be angry when her husband is giving 00:27:43.660 --> 00:27:46.180 Undue attention to another woman does that is 00:27:46.180 --> 00:27:54.099 right has good Um think about this idea how awful 00:27:54.099 --> 00:27:56.440 would it be for a husband to be sitting on the 00:27:56.440 --> 00:28:01.039 couch With his wife kids have gone down or whatever 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.079 They're sitting there, and he turns away, and 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:08.180 he's just looking at his phone. And she says, 00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:12.440 what are you looking at? Well, I'm looking at 00:28:12.440 --> 00:28:17.140 pictures of you. And in that instance, she'd 00:28:17.140 --> 00:28:20.660 be like, well, I am right here. Like, you can 00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:27.789 literally look at me. I'm here. And it's not 00:28:27.789 --> 00:28:29.789 just that but of the photos that he's looking 00:28:29.789 --> 00:28:33.450 at he's photoshopped You know just a little bit 00:28:33.450 --> 00:28:39.109 more into his life And his wife is right there 00:28:39.109 --> 00:28:47.369 Is she not properly jealous? Absolutely 100 % 00:28:47.369 --> 00:28:50.369 And of course y 'all we know that those do not 00:28:50.369 --> 00:28:52.589 just have to be physical images though that I 00:28:52.589 --> 00:28:54.170 think illustrates the point We have all kinds 00:28:54.170 --> 00:28:57.569 of ideas that we think this is you And we're 00:28:57.569 --> 00:29:00.490 not even open to the dynamism of a real relationship. 00:29:04.490 --> 00:29:08.970 You see, we are all, all of us, tempted to create 00:29:08.970 --> 00:29:13.650 images of God. And I know that y 'all are not 00:29:13.650 --> 00:29:15.890 tempted to, like probably none of you are actually 00:29:15.890 --> 00:29:18.369 making idols, but you are. We are in our hearts 00:29:18.369 --> 00:29:22.250 and in our minds making images of God that do 00:29:22.250 --> 00:29:25.410 not contain the fullness of Him. We're always 00:29:25.410 --> 00:29:29.259 flattening Him. And it's always affecting how 00:29:29.259 --> 00:29:33.339 we relate to others. So of course the commandment 00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:37.039 does move, right? Doesn't it? It moves to saying 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:39.440 that this is a great iniquity. You visit the 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:41.059 iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth 00:29:41.059 --> 00:29:43.539 generations. We should say it's a gross injustice. 00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:49.980 It's a wickedness. And this affects our relationships. 00:29:52.529 --> 00:29:54.950 If we're not willing to receive God as He reveals 00:29:54.950 --> 00:29:57.230 Himself, the truth is that we will not receive 00:29:57.230 --> 00:30:01.349 others as they are revealed to us. Slowly, gently, 00:30:02.289 --> 00:30:05.769 over time. And as we're not known and loved for 00:30:05.769 --> 00:30:09.670 who we are, and as we do not know and love others 00:30:09.670 --> 00:30:13.650 for who they are, we will often treat them in 00:30:13.650 --> 00:30:17.589 these same kinds of ways, right? Ways that we 00:30:17.589 --> 00:30:23.099 can control. Ways that just fit our liking. A 00:30:23.099 --> 00:30:25.619 family in the ancient world would often live 00:30:25.619 --> 00:30:27.839 together, not just the mom and the dad and the 00:30:27.839 --> 00:30:29.400 kids, like we often do it, but often it would 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:30.819 be like the grandparents. And a lot of times 00:30:30.819 --> 00:30:32.940 you'd actually have up to like the third and 00:30:32.940 --> 00:30:36.619 fourth generation living together. You know, 00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:39.380 all these people living together. And what is 00:30:39.380 --> 00:30:42.660 the text saying? This is going to be detrimental 00:30:42.660 --> 00:30:46.119 because you learn to relate to others, even as 00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:49.319 you relate to me. And this will create such harm. 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:55.859 Matt, I don't see Maya here anymore. Matt, one 00:30:55.859 --> 00:30:58.440 of the best things that you can do for Everett 00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:01.180 is to receive him as a gift from God with curiosity, 00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:03.380 seeking to love him as he grows and changes, 00:31:03.700 --> 00:31:06.480 right? And accept him and hold him and receive 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:08.039 him that way, but receive him as a part person 00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:10.640 that's outside of you, that can affect you. And 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:12.460 that's one of the best things we can do for all 00:31:12.460 --> 00:31:13.740 of us. And they will create actually so much 00:31:13.740 --> 00:31:16.680 of a healthier family life and societal dynamic. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:21.920 And instead what we do, right? And so what we 00:31:21.920 --> 00:31:27.359 do is we make the God into our image and we simplify 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:30.220 him and we think he's static and we use him. 00:31:31.539 --> 00:31:34.940 And so what we do is we say, if you're not following 00:31:34.940 --> 00:31:37.720 this and this and this, I can write you off. 00:31:39.380 --> 00:31:45.619 God's a Republican and we can treat our political 00:31:45.619 --> 00:31:49.720 rivals as devils. Is that not what happens? If 00:31:49.720 --> 00:31:52.500 God's a Democrat, then can't we speak about our 00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:55.859 political rivals however we want? We all know 00:31:55.859 --> 00:31:57.920 this happens all the time. But it's not just 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:01.720 out there, it's here. Because it's in our hearts 00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:06.859 and our minds. If God is willing to do our bidding, 00:32:07.660 --> 00:32:10.700 then why not our kids? Let's force them to do 00:32:10.700 --> 00:32:14.680 it. The way you will treat those made in the 00:32:14.680 --> 00:32:22.920 image of God, It's often how you treat God. Flattening 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.119 God always flattens others. So what's the cure? 00:32:25.220 --> 00:32:31.900 Just really quickly. Two suggestions, okay? The 00:32:31.900 --> 00:32:35.000 first, I want to encourage you, brothers and 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.279 sisters, dive into the Word of God. Isn't it 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:42.619 wild how complex the Bible is? And that's part 00:32:42.619 --> 00:32:44.819 of why it's so hard to read. You've got poetry. 00:32:45.609 --> 00:32:47.930 And old poetry, poetry is hard enough in the 00:32:47.930 --> 00:32:50.630 20th century, 21st century. Now you're talking 00:32:50.630 --> 00:32:53.490 millennia ago. It's hard. You have poetry, you 00:32:53.490 --> 00:32:56.349 have history, you have wisdom literature, and 00:32:56.349 --> 00:32:58.210 of course, the gospels that tell us about Jesus. 00:32:58.329 --> 00:33:00.430 But then we have letters that are written in 00:33:00.430 --> 00:33:02.029 different kinds of ways than we write. I mean, 00:33:02.170 --> 00:33:06.950 it's apocalyptic stuff. It's so big and so expansive, 00:33:06.970 --> 00:33:10.029 and there's such a big fullness to it. And interestingly 00:33:10.029 --> 00:33:12.710 here, the command, there's not a command, there's 00:33:12.710 --> 00:33:15.019 not a commandment. and the Ten Commandments that 00:33:15.019 --> 00:33:19.700 says, thou shalt not read, right? No, you're 00:33:19.700 --> 00:33:22.859 invited to dive into the Word and see the various 00:33:22.859 --> 00:33:25.759 ways that God presents Himself as a pillar of, 00:33:25.759 --> 00:33:31.579 you know, fire, cloud, and the cross, these images, 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:37.460 right? But of course, the second is, don't just 00:33:37.460 --> 00:33:40.420 dive into the Word, but live with the Word made 00:33:40.420 --> 00:33:46.890 flesh. I mean, that's wild. That's what Jesus 00:33:46.890 --> 00:33:50.829 is called. The word made flesh. And what we heard 00:33:50.829 --> 00:33:53.990 in John 14 is if we see Jesus, we've seen the 00:33:53.990 --> 00:33:57.750 Father. We've had the fullness of the revelation 00:33:57.750 --> 00:34:03.569 of God put before us in Jesus. How can I not 00:34:03.569 --> 00:34:06.930 include in this sermon? Look, this is about images. 00:34:07.130 --> 00:34:10.230 Look to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of 00:34:10.230 --> 00:34:15.139 your faith. Gaze upon Him. He's the image of 00:34:15.139 --> 00:34:19.920 the invisible God, the fullness of God made revealed. 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:24.559 Not a flattening of God, but the fullness of 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:28.219 God is found in Christ. If you look to Jesus 00:34:28.219 --> 00:34:32.079 as he's revealed in the Word, there's no way 00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:39.000 you can say that he's just like you. You can't 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:41.119 look at God and say, oh, he's just so simple. 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:43.860 I can guess what he's about to say or do next. 00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:48.139 It's always surprising us. Certainly not a step 00:34:48.139 --> 00:34:54.539 for God. No way. In fact, what happens is in 00:34:54.539 --> 00:34:56.820 the scriptures, most of the time, the people 00:34:56.820 --> 00:34:59.960 that thought they knew God had flattened him 00:34:59.960 --> 00:35:02.199 so much that when he was standing right there 00:35:02.199 --> 00:35:08.130 in front of him, they rejected him. Instead, 00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:11.349 brothers and sisters, look upon Christ because 00:35:11.349 --> 00:35:14.730 there you will see the true God who is worthy 00:35:14.730 --> 00:35:17.949 of all of our worship and who is worthy to bow 00:35:17.949 --> 00:35:23.969 down to and to serve. Let me pray. Lord, pray 00:35:23.969 --> 00:35:26.429 your guidance upon us as we seek to follow your 00:35:26.429 --> 00:35:29.550 ways, though we want to walk in them. In our 00:35:29.550 --> 00:35:33.980 best, we want to walk in them. Sometimes we We 00:35:33.980 --> 00:35:36.239 want to reject it and push it aside, or we confess 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:39.219 that. We want to walk in your ways. God, I pray 00:35:39.219 --> 00:35:41.579 that we this morning would look to Jesus and 00:35:41.579 --> 00:35:45.360 find in Christ the fullness of your breath and 00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:49.639 your beauty and your glory, that we'd fall down 00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:53.079 and worship and serve the image of the invisible 00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:58.269 God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Thank you 00:35:58.269 --> 00:36:00.550 for listening to Second City Sermons podcast. 00:36:01.130 --> 00:36:03.050 We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship 00:36:03.050 --> 00:36:05.969 God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please 00:36:05.969 --> 00:36:08.349 consider subscribing to this podcast and joining 00:36:08.349 --> 00:36:11.550 us in person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can 00:36:11.550 --> 00:36:14.829 find us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on 00:36:14.829 --> 00:36:17.429 Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again 00:36:17.429 --> 00:36:18.929 for listening. God bless.