Ten Words to Live By

Posted by Chris on September 9, 2007 under Sermons

[Note the onstage banners.] What are these? They are the Ten Commandments, but they are also not the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments as we often think of them are a symbol. They are a part of our culture, history, and heritage.

Religious Symbol: The two tablets and the ten numbers are an icon. They are a religious icon perhaps as prominent as the Christian Cross and the Star of David. That icon can be crafted into jewelry, monuments, paperweights, plaques. It is often regarded as a faith symbol and both the Jewish and Christian traditions hold the concept of the Ten Commandments in high esteem

Legal Symbol: Of course the Ten Commandments are not strictly a religious/faith symbol. They are also regarded as representational of legal and civic virtues. They are regarded as the foundation of law. That’s why the image of Moses and the Ten Commandments is above the entrance of the U.S. Supreme Court. And you will also find a symbol of the Ten Commandments engraved on the doors to the Supreme Court. Many of building in Washington DC feature this symbol as a basis of good society, legal foundation, and civil law.

But the distinction between the Commandments as religious and legal is somewhat confusing. That’s why displays of the Ten Commandments have been controversial. The most notable of these centered on the 5000 lb. monument that Judge Roy S. Moore had placed in the Alabama Supreme Court. He was ordered to remove it. He didn’t. So the Federal District Judge had it removed. There was a lot of protest and prayer and even though some like Ken Barnett yelled “PUT IT BACK” and “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY GOD,” they took the monument out. It just goes to show how much of an impact this symbol has.

And even though they took the monument out of the Alabama Supreme Court, monuments like the one in the Texas Capitol are pretty common. And there are of course private displays like the world’s largest Ten Commandments in western North Carolina. (And have you noticed the billboard on I-40 when you come into Arkansas from Oklahoma?)

Shorthand for Basic Rules: The Ten Commandments is shorthand for “basic rules.” Searching through an on-line bookshop I found that there are books titled “The Ten Commandments of …” dating, marriage, self-esteem, professionalism for teachers, mindpower golf, making money, and for cycling (but it was called the “Ten-Speed Commandments.”) Isn’t it interesting that we regard the Ten Commandments of something as the basic rules or complete guide to a subject. Why is that?

Cultural Phenomenon: The Ten Commandments have been around for over 3,000 years and this simple collection of virtues and laws and the story behind them has inspired drama. Did you know that there’s a musical based on the Ten Commandments?

In 1989 a Polish filmmaker produced a 10 part series on the Ten Commandments. Short dramatic films based on the concepts. And of course, most people think of Charleton Heston. What would Easter be without “The Ten Commandments” on TV?

That’s what we think of. That’s what comes to mind. Ten Rules, Ten Laws, Ten Commandments. A plaque, a monument, a movie. But is that really what the Ten Commandments are? Where are they found in the Bible. How are they presented there?

It may surprise us to compare the typical form of their display with the texts that actually introduce the words that have come to be known as the Ten Commandments. These words are found in their earliest form in Exodus 20. Read the text …

Reading through this text makes us recognize some important facts to understanding what the Ten Commandments are really all about …

God spoke all of this. Ten different statements are recognized and that’s why this text is often called the Decalogue. It sound like a technical term, but it truly breaks down into a simple word. Deca, meaning ten, as in decade. Logue, meaning words, as in dialogue. So it’s reasonable to think of these as “ten words.”
- They are words that God spoke – they aren’t rules or commandments as we often think of them. Why? Because they are not enforceable with penalties and punishments. These are the lead up to the commandments. They are a vision of the kind of people God wants us to be
- They are God’s hope for us. These ten words describe how a people relate to God and how they relate to one another.
In this Decalogue, something is revealed about God and something is revealed about ourselves …
- God is a saving God. He rescues. He is the God who brought his people out of Egypt. He is the God who saves us from sin. He is the God that creates and sustains. He is the righteous judge who responds to sinfulness.
- We see how holy God is and we see how we fall short. If we are self-righteous, these Ten Words show us that we are not nearly as righteous as we think. People often look over these Ten Words and ask, “Which of the commandments have I broken?” But that’s the question we ask if we view these ten words as a set of rules carved in stone, when we understand that “God spoke all of this” then we realize that WE ARE broken.
But the gospel of these Ten Words is that God is not going to leave us broken. God spoke all of this in order to draw a broken humanity closer to Him. Notice what happens after God speaks the Ten Words: Read Exodus 20:18-20.
- The Ten Words are Ten Words to Live By. God really intends for us to live differently. He knows that we can do better and mature. It seems impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Exodus 20 is where these Ten Words are first found. But these Ten Words to Live By are all through the Bible – the Old and New Testament alike. If we take a closer look at the Ten Words to Live By we will not remain limited to Exodus or the Old Testament. Jesus taught us from the mountain. He taught us words to live by and he taught from the words that God spoke.
- “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son …” – Hebrews 1:1-2
- If we live like Jesus then we will live out the spirit of what God spoke at Sinai when he gave us Ten Words to Live By.

So You Think You Have Your Future Figured Out?

Posted by David on September 6, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

Paul made the above statement. He referred to the time when he was sure he had things figured out. To Paul, Jesus was a fraud, not the Christ; Jesus represented one of the great threats to God’s purposes. Paul was so certain he was right about Jesus that he aggressively assisted in killing fellow Jews who believed that Jesus was the Christ. These devout, literal descendants from Abraham through Isaac likely believed most of the things Paul believed EXCEPT for Jesus’ identity and Jesus’ role in God’s purposes.

Immediately following the above statement, Paul gave an account of his conversion to Christianity. He was on his way to Damascus to arrest Jewish Christians. Ironically, the resurrected Jesus informed Paul of two facts: (1) God’s purposes were at work in Jesus, and (2) God was sending this infinitely Jewish person (Paul) to the gentiles (Acts 26:17, 18). This man who could not tolerate Jews who believed Jesus was the Christ would now teach gentiles Jesus is the Christ! Talking about a turn-around, this one would pass 180 degrees (if there is such a thing)!

As a result of this incredible turn-around, Paul suffered enormously as a result of the opposition of Jews and gentiles (2 Corinthians 11:23-33). Thus, the man who was so certain in his view of scripture that he had everything figured out (Galatians 1:13, 14), discovered he had nothing figured out. The man, who was so certain he knew God’s purposes, discovered the hard way that he was not even close to God’s purposes.

What would you do if God redirected your focus? To Paul’s credit, he was an honest man. He did not dig in and defend his past convictions though they represented enormous investments. He listened to the obvious rather than stubbornly argue with Jesus. He sincerely (though destructively) held his pre-conversion convictions with all his heart. He sincerely (though non-destructively-1 Thessalonians 2:9-12) held his conversion convictions with all his heart. If possible, he was even more committed to the fact that Jesus the Christ could save gentiles as well as Jews. What to him had been unthinkable became the understood.

Are you convinced that you have everything all figured out? You can open your life to great blessing by understanding one fact: You do not! You have no idea of the curves before you. You have no idea of the flexibility that will be demanded of you.

The issue is not do you have everything figured out. The issue is will you let God’s purposes be with you even on the most dramatic curves? If you let God be with you, it will be okay even when you face the unexpected.

Heavenly History Lesson

Posted by Chris on September 2, 2007 under Sermons

Daniel 10 – 12

The final vision
The most important vision
Past, Present, and Future
The date fixes this at 70 years from Daniel’s exile (606 – 536 B.C.)

Structure

The Messenger (10:1-11:1)
The Book of Truth (11:2 – 45)
1. North and South (11:2-19)
2. Seleucid Family Values (11:20-39)
3. The End of Evil (11:40-45)
Sign Off and Seal (12:1-13)

The Messenger

Like description in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 1
One who looks like a man
“Do you know why I’ve come?”
1. Soon it will be to fight
2. Now it is a message from Book of Truth

Daniel 11:2-4

Battle of Gaugamela 331 BC
Alexander defeats Darius III (Persia)
Empire divided among four generals after Alexander’s death

Map
Take the Regions of Lysimachus and Cassander out of the story. They don’t factor into the upcoming history in any significant way.
Now there are two major empires set up in two regions: Syria (the Seleucids) and Egypt (the Ptolemies)
An ancient “Mason-Dixon Line” (note: there is no sense of a boundary in that age) – this is just for our illustration
Now we understand what Daniel 11 calls the King of the North (Syria) and the King of the South (Egypt)
KON [kingdom of north] and KOS [kingdom of south] become shorthand ways of referring to generations of leaders in both empires. Rather than specifying who, they are all reduced to a single “king.” (Similar to saying – the American President). The actual identity of KON and KOS change throughout the vision.

Daniel 11:5

KOS: Ptolemy I Soter (323 – 285 BC)
KON: Seleucus I Nicator (305 -281 BC)

They start out as comrades, so in 312, Ptolemy and Seleucus both invaded Syria, and defeated Demetrius in the Battle of Gaza.

Seleucus went to war against Lysimachus (281 BC). Seleucus now held the whole of Alexander’s conquests with the exception of Egypt.

Daniel 11:6

KOS: Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 BC)
KON: Antiochus II Theos (305 -281 BC)

Ptolemy II makes an alliance with Antiochus II. He offers his daughter, Berenice in marriage. The arrangement was that Berenice’s children would be the rightful heirs to the Seleucid throne. And they have a son. And this gives old Ptolemy a connection to the Seleucid Empire.
There’s just one problem: Antiochus was already married. So he ditched his wife Laodice. He honored his agreement with Ptolemy up until Ptolemy died. At that point, he went back to his first wife Laodice.

And Laodice was so grateful that Antiochus took her back after ditching her and denying her children the right to rule that she welcomed Antiochus back and poisoned him. And she wasn’t done there. She killed Berenice and her son. She didn’t want anyone threatening her child’s claim to the throne.

Daniel 11:7-8

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KOS: Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-222 BC)
KON: Antiochus II Theos (305 -281 BC)

Ptolemy III Euergetes, (246 BC-222 BC) is the third ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, he was the eldest son of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. He came to power in 246 BC upon the death of his father. He is most noted for his invasions of the northern kingdom of Syria which he commenced upon the murder of his eldest sister Berenice; during this war, the Third Syrian War, he occupied Antioch and -as a recent cuneiform discovery proves- even reached Babylon. Ptolemy III was also the ruler who promoted the translation of Jewish scriptures into Greek as the Septuagint.

Third Syrian War (246-241 BC)
Antiochus II left two ambitious mothers, his repudiated wife Laodice and Ptolemy II’s daughter Berenice, in a competition to put their respective sons on the throne. Laodice claimed that Antiochus had named her son heir while on his deathbed, but Berenice argued that her newly born son was the legitimate heir. Berenice asked her brother Ptolemy III to come to Antioch and help place her son on the throne. When Ptolemy arrived, Berenice and her child had been assassinated.
So, Ptolemy declared war on Laodice’s newly crowned son, Seleucus II, in 246 BC. He won major victories over Seleucus in Syria and Anatolia.

Daniel 11:9-13

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Antiochus III started the fourth Syrian War in an attempt to reclaim lost territory. He recaptured Palestine. This led to the The Battle of Raphia, between Ptolemy IV of Egypt and Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Fought on 22 June 217 BC near modern Rafah. Ptolemy had 70,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 73 war elephants (largely African Forest Elephants). Antiochus had 62,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry, and 103 elephants (Mainly the large Syrian Elephants).

Ptolemy IV won, but he didn’t press his advantage. So, Antiochus came back in about 14 years.

Daniel 11:14-20

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Antiochus III comes back to attack Ptolemy V of Egypt. He achieves a pact by giving his daughter Cleopatra to marry Ptolemy V. But, Cleopatra becomes a loyal Egyptian. Antiochus III gets no real advantage from the marriage. Cleopatra urges Ptolemy V to make an alliance with Rome.
Antiochus III grabs power wherever he can. In 192 BC he teams up with Hannibal Barca of Carthage. They threaten to take Europe. Rome attacks Antiochus and defeats his advances beyond Greece. Antiochus loses the Battle of Magnesia.
The Battle of Magnesia was fought in 190 BC near Magnesia ad Sipylum, on the plains of Lydia (modern Turkey). The Romans are led by the consul Lucius Cornelius Scipio, against the army of Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid Empire. The resulting decisive Roman victory ended the conflict for the control of Greece. The treaty forced upon Antiochus III by the victorious Romans was crippling. In the Treaty of Apamea, Antiochus was forced to pay a huge war indemnity of 15,000 Talents along with giving up significant territory in Asia Minor. The Seleucid navy was limited by treaty. It weakened the already fractious Seleucid Empire and halted all ambitions of Antiochus III had of becoming a latter day Alexander the Great. In 187 BC, Antiochus III is murdered while robbing the sanctuary at Elam.

Heaven and Earth

Refer back to Daniel 10.

Nothing happens by chance.
Nothing happens until it is time.

Casting Our Nets on the Right Side

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Armchair Quarterbacking and Postgame Coaching staff. We’re back in business with football season. We always know better than the experts. We know better than coaches, doctors, ministers – and we think we could all run Congress better.

Poor doctors; it doesn’t matter how many years of training or experience he or she has had. It doesn’t matter how many lives he or she has saved. There’s always someone who thinks they know more than the doctors … [Restaurant story.]

Is this how Peter felt when Jesus told him how to fish? Jesus is an awesome teacher. He is a skilled carpenter, but he’s not a fisherman. Not like Peter. Peter’s not some weekend angler with a rod and reel. He’s a commercial fisherman. He has a crew. He has resources – nets and a boat or two. They know more than Jesus. They’ve been doing this without Jesus. They know that they’ve fished the lake without success.

Nevertheless, Jesus has hired their boat. (See, he needs their resources – they think.) And when he says head out to the deep waters and cast your nets over there they do it. And they are amazed when the nets fill up. But then they very quickly get anxious because the catch is so great that it threatens their investments – their nets are about to break and they have to get the other boats to carry the catch and even then it threatens to sink their boats. Either of those problems with nets and boats would be a disaster financially and physically.

You would think that Peter and his crew would want Jesus around with his ability to detect the best fishing spots, but instead Peter wants him to go away. Jesus is too holy. Fishing is a risky enterprise as it is, and he certainly doesn’t want it to get any riskier by having a holy man on board. Peter would like to go back to the fishing he knows so well.

But Jesus is doing some fishing of his own. Jesus is making disciples. This is Peter’s call to discipleship: to be a disciple and to make disciples. But it is also a call to discipleship for everyone who reads the gospel. Notice what Luke has done by putting this text where he did …

When Jesus begins his ministry in Luke 4 he starts teaching and preaching and he does so in the traditional manner – in the synagogues. He’s in Nazareth reading Isaiah: the reading goes well, but they don’t care for the sermon. Then he’s in the Capernaum synagogue and he does very well there. He even casts out an unclean spirit. He continues his ministry among the community there healing and casting out demons. And all through Judea he teaches in the synagogues. That’s standard method. That’s the way it’s always been done.

Yet, after this wondrous fishing trip notice what Jesus does: He heals someone of leprosy – that a very different from healing Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever. Leprosy is a social disease. Those with leprosy are outcast. Then Jesus is healing is questioned by the religious authorities when he equates healing with the forgiveness of sins. It’s fine for Jesus to heal, but he goes a step too far when he forgives. Jesus truly breaks from the standard method when he calls a tax collector to be his disciple. The man is a traitor, an outcast but now he has been gathered into Jesus’ ministry. And when Jesus is questioned about the untypical behavior of his disciples, he answers with the parable of the wineskins: which is to say, the work of the kingdom will not fit your categories. The religious authorities had equated their methods and practices with the work of God, but the work of God is embodied in Christ and his disciples.

So, Luke is telling us that following Jesus and making disciples may not always fit our ways of doing things, and it may even be risky.
Here we are reading this text. Where will Jesus take us? Do we really want to go where he takes us? Are we willing to accept the risk? Let’s be honest, evangelism and discipleship are risky endeavors and it isn’t a good idea for us to be so confident that we assume that we have it all figured out. If there really was a simple, risk-free, method for making discipleships then why aren’t we doing it? Well, because we are like Peter and the others in their boat. We have two anxieties:

One is that we will work so hard and gain nothing – we’ve tried every technique we know and some days you just have to say, the fish aren’t there.
The other is that we will be overwhelmed. And so we get anxious … What if the nets break? – What if our unity and our community starts to unravel? A lot of new people, different people, that can change things. Some of these new disciples don’t know our ways. It can get hard to shepherd all those sheep. It can get hard to be a sheep. What if the boats sink? – We have a lot of resources, and too many disciples too soon means it will get hard to manage that or they might get ruined.

All that anxiety causes fear to replace faith. Instead of being faithful to Jesus and letting him guide us to the deep waters, in our anxieties we let fear rule us and, though we don’t like to admit it, we ask Jesus to go away. And we can still pay homage to Christ and honor evangelism as a good thing to do but we do it on our terms and reduce it to an activity or task and tame it down to the level of making it a sales technique or recruitment. That’s easy to manage … but it never satisfies because we haven’t really done anything about our fears and anxieties. We are like Peter in the boat calling ourselves unworthy sinners and telling Jesus to keep his distance. We worry that we don’t have the sort of results we think we ought to have. Maybe we’re even worried that God isn’t going to be happy with “our catch.”The result is that we get weary of evangelism and maybe even a little resentful of having to do it. But we grit our teeth and try it again. We keep using the same techniques, maybe with a new twist. Or maybe we get to the point that we try something entirely new. But the Bible doesn’t seem interested in giving us techniques. There’s no endorsement of a particular technique or process for evangelism.

Rather, the Bible teaches us – as Luke 5 does – that evangelism and disciple making may be risky but it isn’t our project. When faith replaces fear, we follow Jesus and all the things we worry about will never come to pass. The nets do not break. The boats do not sink.

The good news about sharing the good news is that Jesus is in charge. Even when we are evangelizing – God’s power is at work among us and he is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. The good news about sharing the good news has always been a part of what we call the great commission, but we may have overlooked the most important part of it.

As you’re going along, whether that Australia or across the street, downtown or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fort Smith or the Faroe Islands … make disciples – How? Baptize them and teach them. (Teaching is part of the Good Commission. I am still being taught. Our worship and preaching today are part of the process of disciple making – it’s Good Commission stuff.) I AM ALWAYS WITH YOU – “And lo” means “hey!”, “By The Way”, “Now get this!” Let’s listen to Jesus. He will captain our ship. He’ll catch the fish. Don’t fear; be faithful.

Worship and Class Times

Ten Words to Live By

So You Think You Have Your Future Figured Out?

Heavenly History Lesson

Casting Our Nets on the Right Side