Sermon Tone Analysis

“The golden rule to follow to obtain spiritual understanding is not one of intellectual pursuit, but one of obedience.

If a person wants scientific knowledge, then intellectual curiosity must be his guide.

But if he desires knowledge and insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, he can only obtain it through obedience.

If spiritual things seem dark and hidden to me, then I can be sure that there is a point of disobedience somewhere in my life.

Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance, but spiritual darkness is the result of something that I do not intend to obey.

No one ever receives a word from God without instantly being put to the test regarding it.

We disobey and then wonder why we are not growing spiritually.

Jesus said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way.

First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

He is saying, in essence, “Don’t say another word to me; first, be obedient by making things right.”

The teachings of Jesus hit us where we live.

We cannot stand as impostors before Him for even one second.

He instructs us down to the very last detail.

The Spirit of God uncovers our spirit of self-vindication and makes us sensitive to things that we have never even thought of before.

When Jesus drives something home to you through His Word, don’t try to evade it.

If you do, you will become a religious impostor.

Examine the things you tend simply to shrug your shoulders about, and where you have refused to be obedient, and you will know why you are not growing spiritually.

As Jesus said, “First…go….”

Even at the risk of being thought of as fanatical, you must obey what God tells you.” - The Way to Knowledge | My Utmost For His Highest.

https://utmost.org/the-way-to-knowledge/

Introduction:

Last week we talked about our call from God to make things personal.

We are called to be personal with those that God has called us too because He was personal with us.

We looked at how God used Moses to prepare Israel to know Him, by experience, through consecrating them.

We applied that to our relationships and considered that God uses us to prepare people to experience Him.

We discussed the necessity for authenticity and vulnerability in our lives and conversations so that we can both be known, and know others.

Lastly, we talked about the fact that we cannot lead someone to a place that we haven’t been.

This idea, in particular, has stuck with me and why I felt that this devotion by Oswald Chambers was so fitting for us today.

Up until this point, the text has been the narrative story of God freeing Israel from slavery, but now, it focuses on the covenant that God is making with the people of Israel so that He can restore the relationship with His people.

God shares His identity with those who claim Him.

By delivering Israel, God tied them into his identity.

When people think of Israel, they immediately think of their God because of what He has done for them.

The reverse of that idea is similar.

From this point forward, anytime YHWH is mentioned, Israel also comes to mind.

Because of the way he delivered them from the mightiest army in the world.

The same is true for us, and the implications of this are incredibly staggering for us all.

Consider the ramifications of this idea, and it will become apparent why it is so important to God that we are made holy.

If you have ever worked with anyone as part of a team, you understand that the way each person toils, communicates and presents themselves affects the entire team.

Ultimately all of those individual actions, in conjunction with all the team members, form the character of that group.

Whether or not that team gets a call back is dependent on how they perform.

As part of the church, we are incredibly aware of this fact right now.

There has, unfortunately, been so much bad press recently because of the actions of a few.

How we live, individually, has a significant impact on how the people around us view us, the church, and ultimately God.

Choosing to live in an unholy way makes God appear to be unholy.

How has “christian” culture affected the way people view God?

How does the way we live change that perception?

It’s not that we want to live unholy lives, we just have a hard time letting go of our own plans and desires.

But there are so many people in our lives that want nothing to do with the church because of the experiences they or loved ones have had with it.

Part of our call as a people that are going to Join God To Set Them Free, is to share the truth about who God is not only with our words, but also by the way we live.

If we identify ourselves as followers of Christ but are not obeying his commands, we give God the identity of being untrustworthy, unreliable, and ultimately we make Him undesirable.

Have you ever considered that your life, identified as a believer, could impact the world around you for both good and bad?

We all know people like that.

We read about them with disgust, but are we those people?

The way we live, as identifiers of Christ, forms the opinions of others about the truth of who God is.

Saying one thing and living another is what Jesus is calling out about the scribes and Pharisees.

They were all about trying to fix everyone else’s sins but were unwilling to consider their own.

As image-bearers of God and followers of Christ, we must be holy, and we must obey his commands because that informs people about the kind of God we serve.

We are all very aware of the fact that we are utterly incapable of either sanctifying or obeying in our own power.

We must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit for both our righteousness and desire for obedience.

That fact doesn’t negate our need for the law though.

God needed to set the standard so that we would have a hard and fast understanding of what it means to be in relationship with a Holy God.

By God identifying Himself as our God, He requires that we are a holy people.

Not only does he demand it, but he provides the only way for it to happen and he gave it to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus!

Why does any of this matter?

If God makes a requirement and then fulfills it Himself, why are we even concerned or involved?

It matters because it reveals to us and the world the incredible love that He has for His creation.

This means everything!

God created us, we choose to sin and separate ourselves from Him, but he doesn’t give up on us.

He remembers!

He remembers that He created us to enjoy Him.

Just like a parent will do anything to take care of their child, God will did whatever was necessary to bring us back into His presence.

God’s preeminence must be recognized.

In Near Eastern cultures, having many gods was the norm.

God declaring Himself as the only God would be odd for those in that culture.

By doing so, God is setting Himself apart from all other gods.

A common misunderstanding of early Israel is that they were monotheistic.

However, this idea cannot be supported as we look at scripture because the two primary words that are used by OT writers, elohim and elim, could refer to many different entities.

Yahweh, the gods of yahweh’s council, the gods of foreign nations, demons, spirits of dead people, angels, etc.

So for God to draw a line in the sand and tell Israel that they are not allowed to have any other Gods is transformative of how they view God and the world around them.

God is separating Himself from this cultural norm in order to make the distinction between Him being the one and only God and the many man made gods.

Why is it necessary for God to separate Himself from cultural norms and what is our role in that process?

“Before me” literally means “to my face” and is used to describe a man marrying a second wife while the first is still alive.

It expresses the breach of an exclusive relationship in a very personal way.

God is not only their creator, but also their deliverer and sanctifier.

He has loved them from the beginning and is working to restore the relationship he created them to have.

Israel living in and sharing this truth about God puts God in a league of his own in a world that was full of false gods.

This is the very first command and God is demanding that Israel hold him in his proper place as foremost in their lives.

Because we are created beings, we long to worship something.

God didn’t first tell them that they need to worship something and then tell them that He need to be that thing.

It is in our nature to worship and God is telling us that He is to be worshiped.

Not worshiped first.

Worshiped exclusively with no exceptions.

This command not only sets God apart from idols, but it also sets Israel apart from all other people.

God’s nature, expressed through his commands, and obeyed by His people reveal a very different life than was the cultural norm.

That was true for Israel and it is certainly true for us today.

As we are considering Joining God, we must consider if we are leading people to God.

Are we declaring the nature of who God is by the way we live and the things we choose to obey?

What do you find yourself obsessing over?

What do you find yourself talking about the most?

Whatever is consuming our time, thoughts, and resources is what we are worshiping.