Resurrection Life: Ten Words

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

It's our hope that these sermons will draw you

more into the life of following God, Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming

and joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am

in the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find

us online at secondcitychurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. But I pray that we would be

those who run to you and find that your yoke

is easy and your burden is light. That we would

find life in you. That we would find following

you to be the great joy of our lives. The great

desire of our souls. I pray Lord that as we turn

to commandments law that in this process it might

be it might be the words of Psalm 19 might be

true to us that that your law is more to be desired

than gold and and that we find it sweeter than

drippings from the honeycomb that we find your

communication to us something that is better

than anything else that we could desire in this

life. Life with you, God. Lord, some of us come

with a lot of skepticism towards that, and all

of us come with degrees of doubt and degrees

of faith and wondering about the truth of your

Word, and I pray that you would speak to us this

morning. That it might be more true having been

with you after this service, that your law is

lovely, that your words are wonderful. God, do

that, please. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

All right. If you were here last week, or if

you weren't, I'm going to tell you, what I suggest

to you last week is that the resurrection changes

people, changes people. changed the disciples,

Thomas, Peter, Mary, just the disciples as a

whole. And also it changes those still who are

brought to life in Christ, who are brought into

his resurrection Easter people. Thomas's doubt

becomes a belief and it actually becomes a going.

I don't know if you know this, but many believe

that Thomas actually went all the way to India.

Let's believe that he went all the way there

to preach the good news of the resurrection And

no doubt sometimes his life was there was doubts

in it and belief as ours are But his life was

changed by meeting the resurrected Christ Think

of Peter So if you know that Peter famously denied

Jesus three times before the cock Crowed, right?

His three -fold denial was changed there in the

Gospel of John to not a three -fold denial, but

a three -fold confession of love. No, I love

you, Lord. And then of service, feed my sheep.

He was changed. The resurrection changed him.

It changes us. Our denials often can move towards

statements of love. Think of Mary's weeping,

right? We considered that a little bit last week.

Mary goes to the tomb to bring these spices that

would cover the stench of a rotting body. She's

weeping over the empty tomb, not knowing where

her Lord is, where He has been taken. Yet here

weeping at the end of that passage comes to a

proclamation. That's what it becomes. I have

seen the Lord. The resurrection changed her.

The resurrection sent her out. And of course

the disciples as a whole too, we talked about

that, right? Their locked up fear in that upper

room becomes a going. I'm sending you out, receive

the Holy Spirit. What I'm saying is that the

resurrection changes people. The fact of what

God has done for his people in the cross and

the empty tomb changes people. So each Easter

tide, which is like a church way of talking about

just the season after Easter. Typically that's

thought of as the time from Easter up until Pentecost

which is 50 days afterwards which Pentecost will

get there is the remembrance actually of the

giving of the law because Pentecost happens 50

days after the Passover in the Old Testament

But when we've had these times together, we've

often, actually every year that I've been here,

and this is my 11th Easter tide season with you

all, we've taken a topical series together in

this season. Normally, we kind of go through

the Psalms and the summer and the Old Testament,

New Testament, the fall, and then the gospels.

Then we do a topical series. And we've done series

like the fruit of the spirit. How do we live

by the spirit? What does that look like? Or the

life of prayer through looking at our Lord's

prayer, or frankly, just we look at the mission

statement of our church. How do we want to be

a people? We considered stewardship. That was

a little while ago. What do we do with the world

God's given us, the relationships God's given

us, the means God's given us, and various things

like that. But for the most part, what I've tried

to invite you into is this idea of the resurrection

changes us. What does it mean to be an Easter

people? So this season, we're going to look at

the 10 commandments together. Which is gonna

take longer than 50 days. Okay, it's gonna bleed

into our our summer series And these are the

words the Lord himself gave to His people when

he met with them Actually, he wrote them on the

stone tablets himself and they're the words that

are stored right there in the Ark of the Covenant

Which was right there in the most holy place

right in the center of the tabernacle and then

the temple Such a central thing to God and his

people, the 10 words that summarized love of

God and love of neighbor. But I'm thinking that

as quickly as I'd say that we're going to have

our attention focused on the 10 commandments.

My guess is that there are different reactions

that come up. And that some of those reactions

are you thinking, I don't know if I really want

to give my attention to law, commandments. And

so I kind of want to introduce this series in

some ways by maybe addressing why you may feel

that kind of initial gut reaction. And then why

I also want to say this is a good thing to consider

as an Easter people. And I want to do that in

a way that, I hope this makes sense. I want to

do that in a way, in this way. I want us to consider

the order of the words don't do and done. Okay?

How do you order those words? So first, we're

just gonna take them in that order. Don't do

done. So my assumption is that for a lot of you,

and I think when we think of the Ten Commandments

again, you kind of come to that idea and you're

like, I don't know that I really enjoy this kind

of idea for a series. Maybe this is you this

morning. And maybe this is you because when you

come to the Ten Commandments, the first word

you think of is you think of rules. You think

of maybe the Ten Commandments hanging up in a

school room, rules. Maybe you think of the controversies

surrounding Ten Commandments, like them hanging

up in courtrooms or municipal buildings, rules.

You think of church, state stuff, maybe when

you think of that. But for the most part when

you think of 10 commandments this is what you're

thinking of you're thinking rules and when you

think of rules you think No, thank you And some

of this some of this I think is just our good

old -fashioned rebellion Like like when you're

told not to take a cookie out of the cookie jar

it is so hard not to do that when you're told

that Because your heart just wants it There's

just something nice about breaking some rules.

The Ten Commandments, along with a good number

of other things, have also become rules for kind

of performative religion. Like politicians posting

pithy proverbs to perform for their people. I

tried to think of how many Ps I could get in

one sentence there. But you know, performative

religion, I'm gonna post these things as if I

care. I'm gonna make this prayer so that you

think I care, so that I can win something from

you. And performative religion, performative

acts that correspond to true faith, but lack

it, are a turnoff. They were to Jesus as well.

He called a lot of people whitewashed tombs.

And those people he called whitewashed tombs,

man, they knew their commandments. They could

rattle them off in order. So we may approach

a series on the Ten Commandments with a no thank

you, in part because of our good old fashioned

rebellious hearts. But also we might do that

because there's an approach to religion that

just reeks of hypocrisy. We might also do that

because churches often have led with the don'ts.

Here's the thing, right? For as much as some

people don't like rules, a lot of people like

rules too, right? It's true. that a lot of churches

kind of lead with don'ts, don't do this, don't

do that. And no doubt, some of you are turned

off by that kind of thing. But it's also the

case that self -help books like, you know, 10

Steps for This are wildly important, like influential.

You don't need to show hands, but I guarantee

a lot of you have read 12 Rules for Life, that

wildly popular book by Jordan Peterson. There's

a lot of rules that we kind of like. And Christians

oftentimes love rules. So one turnoff is that

you come to Christianity and you think, man,

all I'm hearing is a lot of don'ts. Don't, right?

It's true. A lot of people in church settings

love rules and they love the don'ts. Don't swear,

don't drink, don't chew, and do not go with girls

who do. Amen. No, don't say amen to that. So

you come and you go, oh, don't covet, don't covet,

don't lie, steal, don't commit adultery, don't

murder. And I hope that you actually find that

those are life -giving words and there's something

to be cherished and something that we can get

behind actually societally because they are for

our good. That's actually part of my desire in

this service is to see that those are words that

give life. But let's just also admit that so

many Christians, so many churches lead with the

don'ts. The order is don't do done. And man,

that list of rules can be so oppressive. A lot

of people perceive Christianity to be a religion

of don'ts before it is a religion of dos and

before it is a religion of done. If you just

don't do a bunch of things, then God will save

you. God's favor will be upon you. That's the

order that we often put them in. Don't do done.

Now I'm sure that there are others of you who

come to the Ten Commandments and you say, well,

I don't really like all these shall nots. It's

so negative. It's so negative. You know, you

shall not have any other gods before me. You

shall not make for yourself a carved image. All

of those rest of shall nots. So you're like,

well, I don't really like the order of don't

do done. I would rather it to be do first, at

least. So maybe you go, I don't really care for

the Ten Commandments, but you know what I love

is when Jesus summarizes those Ten Commandments.

Because it's so positive. Love the Lord your

God. With all your heart, your soul, and your

mind, and your strength. And then love your neighbor

as yourself. Jesus' own summary of the Ten Commandments.

So you might not say, I don't like the don't

do done. Let's at least go do first. Let's begin

with the positive. After all, Jesus is asked

more than once, actually, what the most important

commandment is. And also he's asked, how do I

inherit eternal life? And he responds by that

summary of the 10 commandments, love the Lord

your God and love your neighbor as yourself.

And maybe this morning that sounds a lot more

appealing to you because it is a do love, a do

love instead of a bunch of don'ts. But this reminded

me of something that happened to me years ago

when I was living in St. Louis. I was attending

Covenant Theological Seminary, and I was going

back home to Washington State to see my family.

And I must have gotten the cheapest flight possible

because that's what I always did. And I had this

long layover. I want to say it was about eight

hours in Salt Lake City. I'd been to Salt Lake

City a few times, but this time I didn't have

a car. I'd driven through quite a few times,

and I thought, oh, there's a free shuttle to

the Mormon temple. I've got time, let's go do

it. I've never been to the museum that's there.

Let's go check it out. It was a beautiful day

out. So I got on this shuttle and I went to the

Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. And I went into

the museum and I went through it and it was pretty

interesting. And then I sat outside and I remember

sitting outside on kind of a rock cement wall

that was in this little courtyard right in front

of the main entrance into the temple there. And

just sitting and I think I was enjoying a coffee.

It was a beautiful spring day, I like today.

And then I noticed there's all these brides and

grooms coming and going. It was like very obviously

not just one person's wedding, but quite a few

people were getting married. And so this lady

comes out who was obviously not the bride or

she wasn't dressed up as a bride. She came out

and I was like, I'm gonna go talk to this lady.

So there's so many weddings today. I would guess

that it's like the greatest honor of honors within

the Mormon church to be married. the temple in

Salt Lake City." She said, it is absolutely an

honor. It's a great honor. And I said, well,

how do I get to do that? And she said, you love

the Lord Jesus as your savior. And I said, that's

me. I didn't say sign me up. I don't think I

was dating anyone even. But I was like, okay,

well, I fit. Can I get married here? And she's

like, well, Well, you have to be married here.

You do have to be a member of the Mormon church

That doesn't fit and then she said and and there's

a few other things I was like, what are those

things? And she said well You have to be honorably

recommended by a couple people and they're recommending

you based on virginity and tithing Okay Yeah,

so you have to show that you're worthy And you

have to show that you're not just you've given,

but your family's given for at least a few years

to the, okay. I'm like, well, nevermind. But

here's why I'm tying this together because there's

something that sounds so just appealing by this

love Lord, you gotta love your neighbor. And

then there's this list of do's and you've got

to check it off in order to be approved. It's

maybe doesn't sound quite as bad as the shall

nots and the don'ts, but they start with the

do's. which of course quickly imply the don'ts,

right? They do, because it's mostly your acceptance

is predicated on your action or what you have

done, what you have not done. Often we love these

two commandments, love the Lord your God and

love your neighbor because they're more positive.

And it is a beautiful summary of the law. But

when we take away the Ten Commandments so often,

we have to add so many more. It's like when GK

Chesterton was asked about the beauty of the

brevity of the Ten Commandments. He says, if

men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments,

they shall be governed by the Ten Thousand Commandments.

We just keep adding on the what are you doing?

What have you done? In one of those interactions

around the two commandments that summarize the

ten, Jesus responds to the scribe who asks him

the question by saying, this is Jesus' response

when the man summarizes the commandment, he says,

you are not far from the kingdom of God, which

I think is a really interesting statement. That's

an interesting response that Jesus gives in that

context. You're not far from the kingdom of God

because he's saying you're in a sense, you're

getting something good by by delighting in the

law and even by summarizing it in this positive

way, you're getting that the love of God and

the love of neighbor are an essential thing and

a beautiful thing and something to be desired.

But he still says, you're not there. You can

say, okay, let's not start with the don'ts. Let's

not do don't, do done. Let's start with the dos.

But even if you still start with your action

or your lack thereof, He says, you're still not

there. You're not far, but you're not there.

What I want to suggest to you this morning is

that there is only one gospel, which means good

news, ordered to these words. There's only one

order. And if you get that order wrong in the

Bible, you get it all wrong. The Christian message

is no longer good news, but it is a burden if

you get that wrong. It's no longer a freeing

yoke but a heavy weight and Here is the only

order that the Bible ever talks about with regards

to the law done done Do don't Okay, this hasn't

been a terribly like exegetical sermon like coming

right out of the passage But turn with me to

Exodus chapter 20, okay? I want you to see this,

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

because I think this is essential. So Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20. I forget what page it is on. It's

on page 72, if you've got your pew Bibles. And

you've got to see this. I want you to actually

look at this, okay? verse 21, or sorry, verse

one and two, which Jason read for us. And God

spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your

God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery. Now I want us to

get to the rest of the commandments, we are going

to get there, but I wanted you to only hear that.

Because that is the very beginning of all of

the rest and you do not hear all of the rest

properly unless you first hear that. That is

the foundation. What has God done? The great

act of salvation in the Old Testament is that

God brought his people out from the land of slavery

into himself. It's repeated again and again.

Why can you trust this God? Because I brought

you with a mighty arm, with an outstretched hand,

with great deeds, out from slavery, and I brought

you to myself. I am the Lord your God." Done.

He's saying, my work is done. What I'm calling

you to is only out of a relationship that I have

established based on my grace for poor sinners.

The Bible always begins with what has God done

first and then moves into a call to action. This

same gospel order can be found again and again

and again in the Bible. I want to just highlight

a couple for you. So our New Testament passage

this morning was from 1st Peter chapter 2. And

1st Peter chapter 2, if we had time, we could

go back to Exodus chapter 19. And what you would

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

hear in 1st Peter chapter 2 is an echo of Exodus

19. So the very, actually it's the paragraph

before the Ten Commandments that is echoed in

1st Peter chapter 2. And beginning in verse 9

of that chapter, Peter says, but you are a chosen

race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people

for his own possession. That you may proclaim

the excellencies of him who called you out of

darkness and into his marvelous light. Do you

hear all the duns? You are chosen. God does that.

You're a royal priesthood. I've made you this.

You're a holy nation. That's what I've done.

You're the people from my possession. It says

that you may proclaim the dues out of the duns.

The excellencies of Him who called you out of

darkness and into His marvelous light. Keep going

in verse 10. Once you were not a people, but

now you're God's people. Once you had not received

mercy, but now you have received mercy. It's

you have. It's passive. It's what has God done

for you? And then He says, beloved, I urge you

as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the

passions of the flesh, which wage war against

your soul. Then He goes to the do's and the don'ts.

It is always done first. Let's consider another

one, Colossians chapter 3. This is a beautiful

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter in Scripture. Colossians chapter 3, starting

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

in verse 1. If then you've been raised with Christ,

if you're a resurrection people, if you're an

Easter people, seek the things that are above

where Christ is, seated at the right hand of

God, if you have been. If this is true of you,

if God has already done for you, then seek the

things that are above. Verse three, for you have

died and your life is hidden with Christ and

God. When Christ, whose your life appears, then

you also appear with him in glory. And then that

done, that reality of what God has done for you

moves towards the do's. Put to death therefore

what is earthly in you sexually more out sexual

immorality impurity passion evil desire and covetousness,

which is idolatry Doesn't don't those even echo

some of the Ten Commandments covetousness sexual

impurity idolatry, that's all Ten Commandment

language But it's coming out of the what has

God done for you in Christ. I Could keep going

Actually, I will keep going look down at verse

12 Put on then as God's chosen ones. See, as

God has chosen you, put on, right? Do have compassionate

hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

bearing with one another. And if anyone has to

complain against another, forgiving each other

as the Lord has forgiven you, right? Because

Jesus has done this. This is the gospel word.

This is the only good news order. It's it. Brothers

and sisters, my hope in this is that you will

come to delight in the law of the Lord. That

like the psalmist says, like David said in Psalm

1, that it might be your meditation day and night.

Something you desire to pour over and to put

on and to really know and become part of you.

My hope is that you will be able to sing Psalms

like Psalm 19. where you say, the law of the

Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. We don't

approach it and you think, no thanks, I'd rather

just do my own thing. You say, it revives my

soul. Then you might continue to sing that song

where you say, I desire it more than gold and

what I can acquire. I desire it more than honey,

even fresh honey from the honeycomb, what I can

taste and consume. My desire for us, my hope,

is that you will come to call the Ten Commandments

what St. Augustine, who's the theologian of love,

called that instrument of ten strings. The instrument

of ten strings by which we play beautiful music

that show our love for our Lord. But what I'm

suggesting to you is that the only way we are

going to do that, the only way we do that is

if we get the order right. If we flip -flop it,

if we flip -flop it and we put our work before

God's work, our doing and our don't doing before

his done work, then we just follow all the other

religions. It's all the other stuff. Do this

and God will look upon you in kindness. The Christianity

says, I'm Lord your God who brought you out of

the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Therefore don't have other gods. I don't have

any other gods before me. And says, if then you've

been raised with Christ, if Christ's finished

work is for you, then seek the things that are

above where he is seated. You see, as long as

the don'ts and the do's come first, all you will

find is that the law is a burden. It will be

something you will disdain. It will be a slave

master. But if first you look to the one who

keeps the law perfectly on your behalf, the Lord

Jesus himself who is crucified and resurrected

for you, then living as an Easter people is something

that we would all gladly seek. We'd gladly sing

of. We'd think it'd give us wings and make us

fly. A lot of you probably know John Bunyan.

John Bunyan wrote one of the greatest books,

certainly one of the greatest selling books ever,

Pilgrim's Progress. He kind of famously wrote

this poem. He wrote, Run John Run. and work the

law commands. Yet finds me neither feet nor hands.

But sweeter news the gospel brings, it bids me

fly and lends me wings. You just start with the

law, you can't get anywhere. There's no hands

and feet just with that. If you have the good

news, you can start to fly. Now most people think

that John Bunyan actually didn't first write

that. They think John Erskine, who was a great

Scottish pastor, actually wrote something that

then John Bunyan twisted because he liked to

put his name in it. Let me give you Erskine's.

Erskine, who lived a little bit before John Bunyan,

they were sort of contemporaneous, but he was

a little bit older, wrote, a rigid master was

the law, demanding brick, denying straw. I want

you to think of that because if the law is just

that, then all God was doing was taking them

out from one form of slavery and putting them

into another. Right? Demanding brick and denying

straw. That's an echo of what was happening in

Egypt under slavery. But when the gospel tongue

it sings, it bids me fly and it gives me wings.

which is to say, if you can start with the finished

work of Jesus, he kept the law perfectly. He

gave his life for you. If you can rest in this

reality of what was done by God, and you'd gladly

say, Lord, help me fly with your wind behind

me. Let me run the race that was set before me.

Let me put on A kind of living that is reflective

of you. The only way. The only way the law will

be wings for us. The only way we will find it

sweeter than honey and more to be desired than

gold. The only way it will be our meditation

day and night and not suffocate us. The only

way it will revive our souls. is to see it coming

from a God who is love and who acts in love,

who acts in compassion, and who saves us when

we were slaves to sin, who gives of himself perfectly

and completely his own life for ours, who goes

to the cross and through the cross, the empty

tomb to give us life. Let me pray. Lord, I pray

that we would be those who desire to know your

law, that that specifically the Ten Commandments

would be something that we don't shirk off but

put on because it is something given to us in

grace and kindness, in love. God, I pray that

we would be a people that eagerly seek to follow

your ways. That we would so taste and see that

you are good. that we would so know your love

for us, that your words of invitation to us to

live in such a certain way would not be burdensome,

would not be distasteful, would not be something

that we are inclined to say, no, thank you, Lord,

I'll do what I please. But God, that we would

eagerly say, Lord, teach us your ways, that we

might walk in them. God, that we might hear you,

Lord Jesus, say, Take up your cross and follow

me. Become fishers of men. God, that we might

find a new way of walking, a new way of being

as we follow you. Do this, please, Lord, and

conform us into your beautiful image. Give us

life. We pray. Amen. Thank you for listening

to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this

sermon has encouraged you to worship God and

to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider

subscribing to this podcast and joining us in

person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us

online at secondcitychurch .org and on Instagram,

Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again for listening.

God bless.