Root of Holiness
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Summer of 2020, RV vacation.
Glacier and Yellowstone and Grand Teton.
Staying in Idaho and driving over the mountain range back into Wyoming.
Coming down the eastern side, steep. Cliff and drop-off.
Thankful for guardrails!
Jesus provides guardrails for your root.
This helps us to be different than the world.
In a world of selfishness be holy.
Be Empowered by Guardrails
Be Empowered by Guardrails
vv. 12-13a
Dad was a math teacher. Pythagorian theorem.
Word problems. Is is the equal sign. In grammar, reversible.
The last part of v. 12. “For this is the law and the prophets.”
This, what we call the Golden Rule. Emperor Severus had it put on his wall in gold.
How Jesus phrases this is as a positive. Not unique, but rare.
Typically, “don’t do to others what you wouldn’t want done to you.”
As a negative, avoid being a jerk.
As a positive, be loving and kind.
Biblical living calls for proactive love.
We don’t operate from a poverty of love where we have to choose.
This love is the entirety of Scripture.
This love as found in Scripture provides guardrails.
It can only do this by putting boundaries on our behavior.
“Enter by the narrow gate.”
It keeps us going in the right direction.
When we get distracted or off track, it puts us back where we need to be.
The call to live in a right relationship with God and people.
Avoid Destruction
Avoid Destruction
v. 13b
Antelope Hills Plateau. Climb to the top.
Open and free, but dangerous.
Plateau gate. Spacious road.
This is the way of populism.
People en masse.
The warning found in Proverbs 1:10-19.
my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths,
It leads to destruction, ruin, annihilation.
T-Shirt.
Where does your road end?
Enter Life
Enter Life
v. 14
Narrow gates, hidden.
Defensive feature. Can’t carry weapons.
Staircases in castles. Clockwise & narrow.
Narrow defines the truth.
This is why many reject it.
So few find it.
When we think about this concept of a gate and road…
“Both an evangelical decision (the gate) and an ethical endurance (the way).” - Leon Morris
The warning following the giving of the Ten Commandments.
You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Aldi parking lot. Narrow and can’t turn around.
The beauty of a wide road is that it allows U-Turns.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
Experience transformation through forgiveness.
Repentance.
