How to Live Holy Lives in an Unholy World
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Scene 1/ The Ten Commandments.
Most people treat them as the ten rules; rules that if you sort of follow them, things will sort of be alright.
Well the last 6 anyway.
5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.[1]
10 Commandments
Even today most people sort of go along with these.
Be good to your parents, they looked after you and they might leave you something.
Don’t murder people, at least not by your direct actions.
But if people die in atrocious working conditions supplying you with the cheap clothing and goods you have then that’s not really your fault.
Be faithful to your partner, or at least don’t get caught looking.
Don’t take stuff that isn’t yours, office pens excepted of course.
Don’t lie, well white lies are OK.
And don’t get jealous of the bigger house and boat your neighbour has as that will only add to your stress levels.
People miss the whole point of the ten commandments.
The first 4 are about relationship with God.
Scene 2 / Chris Talton in his sermon “Laying down the law” makes this incredibly important point.
RULES without RELATIONSHIP leads to REBELLION.
If you lay down rules for your kids to follow, but you spend no time getting to know them, involving yourself in their lives and allowing them to get to know you, then chances are that they will rebel against you.
If in your work relationship, the only time that you ever have contact with your boss is when he is laying down the requirements of the job and telling you how far short you fall of those requirements, the chances are that you will resent that boss.
You may not rebel outwardly for fear of losing your job, but there will probably be rebellion in your heart.
The same is true in our relationship with God.
Part of the reason we rebel against the laws of God is that our relationship with him is lacking.
The relationship may be non-existent, in which case we need to approach God and ask to be in relationship with him.
Or we simply haven’t bothered to put the time and effort in.
Before God ever laid down the first of the Ten Commandments, He made it very clear that He wanted a special relationship with Israel.
Everything he did in the lead up to giving the Ten Commandments was designed to draw them to himself.
God demonstrates His power, His provisions and His protection to draw them to Himself.
Have a look at Exodus 19:4
4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
God demonstrated His power when He rescued the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
He sent 10 awe-inspiring plagues on the Egyptians to convince both the Egyptians and the Israelites that He truly was almighty God.
He caused the water to turn to blood, and the sky to rain down hail, and the darkness to cover the face of the land in the middle of the day.
And then when Israel was trapped at the Red Sea, God demonstrated His power by parting the waters so that the Israelites could cross over on dry ground.
God demonstrated His provisions by providing them a fountain of water that flowed out of a rock and bread that materialized on the ground every morning.
When Israel’s enemies threatened to destroy them, whether it was the Egyptians at the Red Sea or the Amalekites out in the wilderness, God demonstrated His protection by wiping them out.
Why did God do all these things for Israel?
Look again at Exodus 19:4.
“‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” (Exodus 19:4, NLT)
God did all these things in order that He might bring them into a relationship with Himself.
The giving of the law established the fact that God wants a relationship with mankind. (Exodus 19:3-63
In Exodus 19:3-6 we read these words
3 Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”
Scene 3/ He was giving them a framework in which that relationship could operate.
A framework which values the “other” in the relationship.
Have a look again at Exodus chapter 20.
The first 4 commandments are about our relationship with who?
With God!
Commandment 1. God alone is God - an exclusive relationship
Commandment 2. No idols, no competition or false representation
Commandment 3. Do not misuse God’s name, treat with respect.
Commandment 4. A day of rest, rest for relationship.
The next 6 commandments are about our relationship with who?
With others!
But we have to ask ourselves, “where did this idea of the “other” come from?”
Why is it important?
Why are we relational and why does it hurt so much when our relationship with God or others is broken?
Simply because God made us relational!
Genesis 1:27 says “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NLT)
Acts 17:24-25 says, ““He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.” (Acts 17:24–25, NLT)
We are the very top of the creation of God, the very greatest things he created on this earth.
We are created with God’s very image stamped on us.
That doesn’t mean that God looks like we do – it means that our spiritual being is shaped like his.
God has a mind, we have a mind.
God has a will, we have a will.
God has emotions, and we have emotions. [2]
This is why our relationships are so important to God.
It isn’t simply a matter of what we do.
It is about who we are.
God is not just concerned with the outside, he’s also concerned with your heart!
He isn’t just looking for right actions; he is concerned that right attitudes towards the “other” are what motivates us.
Over & over again in the Old Testament we see laws laid out for people.
Laws that provide a framework for relationship
Don’t murder. Don’t commit adultery, etc.
But these are only the external framework.
The outer appearance of what should be an inner reality
Jesus came along and said, “God’s not just interested in whether you murder, he’s concerned with whether you would murder if you had the chance.
In Matthew 5:27-28 Jesus taught this principle. ““You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27–28, NLT)
He’s concerned with your heart – what you would do if you thought you could get away with it.”
You understand the difference?
Lots of men who would never cheat on their wife WOULD HAVE if they knew no one would ever find out!
Lots of men who wouldn’t murder someone have been so angry and full of hate that if they knew no one would find out, they’d do it.
God’s not just interested in your outside actions, he’s interested in your heart’s motives – not just what you do, but why you do it.[3]
Scene 4/ God is Holy, he demands his people be Holy but we cannot be Holy by ourselves we need the grace of Jesus Christ.
This is a simple truth.
Throughout history whenever people have thought they could keep the rules without relationship they have got it wrong.
The people of Israel continually rejected relationship and paid lip service to the rules.
Rules without Relationship leads to Rebellion.
It is so true.
The Apostle John understood this so well when he wrote in 1 John 1:5-8
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.
So what do we do?
How do we deal with the fact that God desires a relationship with us?
That this relationship results in a right attitude?
That this right attitude leads to right actions?
And that right actions are a sign of right relationship?
I believe that there is an element missing from our understanding of God.
READ Exodus 20:18-21
18 When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. 19 And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!” 20 “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!” 21 As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.
The people responded in fear, which was quite appropriate, God had told them not to approach the mountain.
But Moses went into the presence of God.
I believe that we neither fear God as we should, nor enter into his presence as we have been invited.
This is where the change starts.
So oftern in contemporary Christianity we start with us and not with God.
It is about my, myself and I.
Shouldn’t it be about the Soveregin Lord of the Universe.
His glory, His power, his grace.
When we get this is the proper perspective it makes all the difference int he world to our entire approach to relationship and to every aspect of our lives.
Let’s spend some time in quiet reflection on the Holy God who has called us into relationhips with himself.
[2] Darrell Stetler II in his sermon Respecting Life
[3] Darrell Stetler II in his sermon Respecting Life