The Starting Line

Today we are going to continue our series called Living the Dream. And if you remember from last week there was a lot of dreaming. Joseph continued the Covenant with Abraham that all peoples would be blessed through his offspring. And we also learned that we are indeed in that family of promise when we place our faith in Jesus.

So we’ve got this finish line set up here and there a lot of tips and tricks about how to get to the finish line. But the obvious one I want to talk about is the starting line.

You have to have a starting line to get to the finish line.

You have to have a beginning to get to the end right? Relationships are kind of the starting line for people. Think about it we all have relationships with others and it starts as soon as we are born. We have family relationships, friends, spouses, coworkers, neighbors. We even have relationships with people that we don’t necessarily like or that don’t like us for whatever reason. I identified a couple of these types of relationships back with the students last week and wanted to give a couple of examples. So you ever know somebody who just sucks the life out of you sometimes. I mean every interaction is draining. This is the sucker relationship. Then there is the ring pop relationship. Now this isn’t just for single people but the ring pop represents the person who will honor your relationship and honor you. This person won’t cross lines won’t try to lead you down the wrong path.

Each relationship we enter into has a starting line. Our relationship with God has a starting line. You can’t get to the finish line without a starting line. As you read in the story this week Moses had a starting line in his relationship with God. And his starting line was fairly dramatic. In exodus ch 3 is where Moses begins his relationship with God. His starting line so to speak.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

2 Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. 3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”

4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

5 “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Exodus 3:2–6 NLT

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.” When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am!” Moses replied.

5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), .

This is Moses’ starting line. This is where the relationship starts. Remember you can’t get to the finish line without a starting line. Now sometimes in relationships the start is a little turbulent. It’s like there’s this flurry of activity and then there’s this point where the ground rules have to be put down. And if your like me sometimes the rules have to be repeated a few times before they sink in. I mean you can ask my wife there are several ground rules in our relationship. And I think new ones get added everyday. Either that or my selective hearing is acting up again.

If you notice God laid down one ground rule right from the jump at the starting line. He told Moses to remove His sandals because where he was standing was Holy ground. We have moments like that in our walk with God to if we will listen.

There are moments when we are running the race that God wants to step in and do something extraordinary. We need to be ready and listening for those moments. Those are Holy Ground Moments.

God is inviting us into deeper relationship and to walk onto Holy Ground.

So God displays His awesome power in Egypt He sets his people free. Then come the ground rules. Those ground rules come in the form of the 10 commandments. Of those 10 commandments the first 4 deal with our relationship with God. The last 6 deal with our relationships with each other. Here is a shortened version of the 10 commandments.

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make idols.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet.

So remember you can’t get to the finish line without a starting line.

Sometimes we need directions along the way between the starting line and finish line.

And some direction along the way always seems to help out.

God is telling Moses here’s a great starting list of things you shouldn’t do. He’s setting the ground rules for relationship.

So those of us who are old enough to have seen the 10 commandments every Easter for years remembers the scene where God is putting the commandments on the stone tablets right. For us if we applied that in our time it would be like writing it down on paper. Last week Charles talked about the Olympics and how hard those athletes have to train but they also all have coaches.

Right they all have coaches someone who is pushing them and helping them to get better. All coaches have clipboards....some throw clipboards…One time i actually got hit with a clipboard from one of my coaches…Funny story but I’m not sharing it. On those clipboards are paper. Hang with me just for a second....

Imagine trying to run the race and your flipping between the first page and the second page on a clipboard. Ok I got this now I’m going to page 2…oh wait I forgot something on page 1 what was it and now I’m way off the track and not even in the race. I get discouraged I can’t keep up with everybody and I’m trying to figure all this out…

I FEEL LIKE GIVING UP!! I need it simplified. I need a one pager...

Jesus did just that. He took all this and broke it down very simply for us. You see Jesus knows that we get sidetracked and that we get discouraged.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 22

36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”

37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.,d 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.,e 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Our relationship with Jesus puts us on the same page with the Father.

So here is how he broke it down in the Gospel of Matthew....

(NLT)

36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

37 Jesus replied, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

AHA....A one pager. Here it is broken down for all of us who need a reminder or who keep having to flip the page in the middle of the race. Love God with EVERYTHING you have. You see if you do that all the other commandments that deal with your relationship with God are taken care of. If you love God with everything you have You won’t worship anything else but Him. You won’t allow things or stuff to become idols that you worship because God is at the center of everything for you.

And if you love your neighbor as yourself you’ve got the other 6 pretty wrapped up too. Now I did something a little nerdy and I looked up the word neighbor that Jesus used here in the Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Go ahead groan if you want to. I mean since I’m going to school I might as well use some of this stuff I’m paying for right? Here is what it says about the word NEIGHBOR....

Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Neighbor

Neighbor. Concept apparently limited in the OT period and late Judaism to one’s fellow Israelite, or member of the covenant, and extended by Jesus to include anyone encountered in life.

ANYONE ENCOUNTERED IN LIFE. So basically Jesus is saying anyone you come into contact with is your neighbor and you are to love them as you love yourself. Yes even the person who won’t go when the light turns green because they don’t know that they can’t look at their phone in the car anymore. Yes love everyone you interact with. Everyone you meet.

Paul says it this way in Romans Ch 13

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 13

9 The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet;,ax and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.,ay 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.

(NLT)

As believers in Christ we are part of that dream of Abraham so long ago. We are to be a blessing to others as we are striving for the finish line. But we are also called to pull others into the race as we go through it. We are to help our neighbors get to their starting line as we run our race.

9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

As believers in Christ we are part of that dream of Abraham so long ago. We are to be a blessing to others as we are striving for the finish line.

(NLT)

10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

But we are also called to pull others into the race as we go through it. We are to help our neighbors get to their starting line as we run our race.

As we run this race of faith making the most of our relationship with God and our relationship with others we can like Abraham confidently look forward to a city with Eternal Foundations.

But we are also called to pull others into the race as we go through it. We are to help our neighbors get to their starting line as we run our race.

In our relationships with our neighbors we are also called to help our neighbors get into the race as we go through it. We are to help our neighbors get to their starting line as we run our race.

Isn’t it more fun to go on a journey with others than it is to go alone? As believers while we are running the race we should strive to have as many companions as possible. I’ve got a short video I want to show

The big take away for today is to remember…No one can get to the finish line without a starting line. If you are a believer in Christ your relationship with Him is of utmost importance. Your relationship with your neighbors is love them and help them find their starting line. *Roll of tape Starting Line analogy* You may limp to the finish line…you might stumble out of the gate or get tripped up along the way but turning your focus to Jesus will help you run the race and get to the finish line strong.

If you haven’t yet made it to the starting line of faith I want to help you get in the race today. I want to let you know that the Creator of all things longs to have a Holy Ground moment with you. He sent His son Jesus all of us could have that relationship. As the worship band plays if you need to pray use these altars, if you have questions or need prayer I’ll be up here. Find your starting line today.