Pastoral Resident Kenny Dyches continues our Exodus series, preaching from the second table of the law, Exodus 20:12-21.
Morning family. Morning family. I was reading an article recently entitled the Albanian Town that TikTok Emptied. It was an interesting article. It talked about how, since the fall of communism in 1991, there's a small town in Albania called Cukes that's lost roughly half of its population. Now, that's a lot. Not only is the population not increasing, but it's actually lost half. That's an empty town. So the question is why is that? Why are they losing 50% of their population? Well, cukes is a beautiful town. It's nestled in the mountains, there's rolling hills, there's beautiful people there.
Kenny:But times have gotten hard. People are not getting paid as much, but cost of living is increasing. It's hard, really, just to keep the lights on. And so the younger generation they do still have phones, they're on social media, they're seeing that life is better elsewhere, that they can immigrate to places like the UK and they can hopefully get a job that pays well and drive fancy cars and wear name brands and have the flourishing life there. And so people are leaving.
Kenny:People are leaving in the droves this town called Cukes in Albania, in Albania in general. The problem is that social media is not telling them the whole story. There's a darker side to this immigration. As they immigrate, they often are forced to pay for the passage through smugglers and through the mob in the UK that's helping them to get there. Once they enter the UK, they're forced into criminal labor, often in these illegal grow houses in the UK, where they become labor for these criminal gangs. And once they're there, it's hard to get out, and so you have people leaving by the thousands, hoping to find a better life and ending up basically in slavery in the UK with not much recourse to get out of it.
Kenny:And so Billah is somebody who currently lives in Cukes and he sees this happening. He's somebody who decided to stay, knows what's going on, and it said in the article that he feels like he's fighting against an algorithm because all of these youth are on social media, they're seeing this better life and they want to go seek it. So he's fighting against this algorithm and he's really trying to make an attempt to keep people to stay. He's worried about his nephews, right, who are seeing people that they know of, who are from Albania, who are going there and now are traveling the world driving these fancy cars and making lots of money, that want to do the same thing that they did. But he knows that that's not real life, right. It's an illusion to get likes and attention. Even if they were to achieve that new life right, they have to leave behind family, they have to leave behind tradition, they have to leave behind all that they have in order to seek it. And to get what? To get likes, attention, a nice car, a nice job. And what they don't know is actually that those specific social media influencers can't even go back to the UK because they've been booted out, because they came from the criminal gangs and activity. And so Bill has actually now started to try to start his own social media movement where he's from Cooke's, posting images of the beauty of Cooke's, of its people and of the acts of kindness and good works that they're doing. He's really trying to fill something that people actually need, which is love and community with one another and in service and good works to one another.
Kenny:As I read that article, I had no idea any of this was going on, but two things really stuck out to me. One, when he said it's not real life right. There are algorithms that are putting things on our fees in social media, but also just in the world around us, that tempt us towards things that we think will be life-giving, things that we think will give us the rest. We need things that we think will really give us the achievement, the purpose, all that we need for the abundant life, but oftentimes those are not the things that actually give life. In fact, they do the opposite they enslave us. Rather, god is offering us something we truly need, and we need to figure out what that is day in and day out. See God.
Kenny:In a passage today, we see how God initiates a relationship with His people through deliverance and promise, first at pouring Himself out in love and then inviting them to follow Him in relationship. The problem, though, is that, while His heart is to pursue us in love, our hearts are often bent towards coveting, wanting things that are not really in line with God's desire for us, and thereby bearing fruit of all types of sin against our neighbor. See, god is offering us something we actually need. Instead, we often get caught up in coveting after things that we think we need but don't truly give abundant life. My main point today, and my only one, is that love fulfills the law, and we will see, as I go through these commandments, that that is also the way to abundant life. So I want to give a little context for the second table of the law, commands five through ten.
Kenny:On the one hand, when we read these commands, it can seem like it's straightforward you obey these commands and you get eternal life, you get the abundant life. But, as we heard last week, that's not it at all. The commands start with God talking about what he has done for them. He has already delivered them, he has already brought them into relationship with Himself, and now he's inviting them to obey so that they can experience the abundant life with Him in Christ.
Kenny:The passage in verse 12, as we see at the beginning, it says honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. And so we see that it starts with a promise. The promise is that the Lord, their God, is giving them the land. This is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise, the covenant of grace. God is already doing this. He's already called them out of Egypt, he's bringing them into the land and he's saying as you honor your father and mother, as you fulfill these commands, your days will be long, you will receive the abundant life is another way to put that. And so in Deuteronomy 6, we actually see this further fleshed out. We see that the promised land is abundant life. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. They have all that they need to flourish there, and God is giving it to them. And God is saying as you are there, you will be in relationship with me, and these commands are what relationship with me look like. So he's inviting them into experiencing that abundant life.
Kenny:But contrast this with Deuteronomy 27, 26, which said cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law Right, and so that's kind of hard to reconcile. So, on the one hand, god is inviting his people in a covenant of grace to receive the promises that he's giving them. On the other hand, he said by the way, if you don't live by these commands, you're in trouble. And so what is going on there? Well, what's going on there is that the God, that who is inviting us into a relationship, is a holy God.
Kenny:If we look at verses 18 through 21, at the end of our passage it reads now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled. And they stood far off and said to Moses you speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die. And of course, that's justified because in chapter 19, verse 21, the Lord said to Moses go down and warn the people lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. The relationship that God is inviting them to is a relationship with a holy God, right Like the Son. The closer if we were to actually be able to draw closer to the Son, the closer we got we'd eventually just burn up. Likewise, the closer we move towards God with sin in our lives, the more we get closer to being burned and ultimately dying.
Kenny:So this is a holy God who's inviting us into a relationship with him, but that relationship can only come as we trust him for that salvation, as we have relationship with God, trusting him for salvation. And these commandments, then, are guidelines to show us what it looks like to trust him for salvation, what it looks like to live the abundant life with him. So last week we heard from Ben about how obedience to the law is applying and enjoying what God has already done for us. These commands are either guidelines for abundant relationship, then, with the God who saves, or they reveal to us the impossibility of that abundant relationship without his salvation, without him making a way for us to come to him. What we wanna do today is look through that guidebook and look through the abundant life, but before we do, I also wanna give an illustration from scripture which you guys will recognize but kind of apply it to modern day.
Kenny:So say, you have a favorite pastor that you like to listen to, other than Damien and Ben I know those guys are at the top. But so you have another pastor you listen to, right, you have Spotify, you listen to them, they're great. And there's this one guy who's really living it out, right, he lives it out, day in and day out. He loves his family, he's in the community, he's meeting needs, he's serving the poor, his sermons are full of the power of the Holy Spirit and he's coming to town, right, and he's meeting people at a coffee shop. And you're just like I gotta go meet this guy, because we all are really longing for that abundant life. And you see him living it out, right, he's not just at the pulpit, he's living it out in his life. So you go, you see him there at the coffee shop.
Kenny:There's pause in the conversation, so you go up to him and say okay, I see everything that you're doing with your life. I see the abundant life that you have. I see how you're serving the poor. I see the joy in your face as you talk about what you do. I see the consistency in your walk with God and with who you are. So how do I get that? Well, and he says well, first of all, I'm not perfect, right, this is what you're seeing. But ultimately, like Jesus is the only one who fulfilled the law perfectly. And then he says second of all, live out the commands. And you're like great, which commands? Give me the answer.
Kenny:And what he gives you is the second half of the decalogue. He starts with honoring your father and mother and then he ends with and love your neighbor as yourself. And you're like, boom, great, I'm honoring my father and mother, I'm loving people, I serve, I give, I do all these things. I'm good to go. But you pause for a moment, just long enough to realize.
Kenny:But, with all of that said, I still don't feel like I'm flourishing, I still don't feel the joy, I still don't see in my life, what I see in your life. And so he pauses a moment and considers, and then he says well, there's one more thing you can do. You're like great, this is the answer of answers. Right, give me the source of joy where I can live out the Christian lifestyle and really enjoy it. He says, well, you can sell all that you have and you can come do ministry with me. And you pause just long enough for him to start a conversation with someone else and you kind of just shuffle out of there saddened because you don't know what to say. Leave everything you have and go do ministry. That sounds impossible. That's exactly what Jesus invited the rich young man to who came to him and had the same conversation.
Kenny:And there's two things in that conversation that stood out to me. One he says that only one is good. He says your premise is all wrong. You can't fulfill the law perfectly. Only I can do that for you. And the second thing that was significant was that he recites the second table of the law to him, right, essentially saying love is what fulfills God's law. So how do we understand this? Of course, jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He fulfilled the law for us. His love fulfilled God's law. He also says the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Kenny:Jesus invites this man into radical discipleship. He sees through him, he sees his covetous heart. Right, he sees, what you want is not really me. If it were, you'd be willing to sell everything to gain the pearl of great price, right To gain treasure in heaven. But that's not what you want. I think Jesus is asking us the same thing what do you want and what are you prepared to do to follow me in each area of your life?
Kenny:And so there's two invitations in this sermon today. One if you're not a believer, if you're new here today, if you've done the religious thing and it hasn't worked out, I encourage you to lean in, because God in these commandments is showing us what the abundant life is right. And then we'll also talk about how Jesus fulfills that for us and how we have abundant life in him. Of course, you might be here and you say, yeah, well, I'm here every Sunday, right? I'm in community, I'm going to church, I'm serving, I'm doing all of these things, and yet I still feel exhausted, I still feel without joy, I still feel like there's something missing, something isn't right in my spiritual life. We'll also talk about that today. As I go through each commandment, I'll bring up a lie that the culture brings, how God is inviting us into a relationship and what that looks like in each commandment, and we'll end with how Christ invites us to lean into his death and resurrection to experience abundant life. I'll try to do that quickly too, because there's several commandments here. All right, so first, honor father and mother.
Kenny:The first thing I wanna say as we dive into these is that they're not exhaustive, they're paradigmatic, and what I mean by that is we're used to legal codes today, like the Constitution and so on and so forth, that are exhaustive. Right, the letter of the law tells you what you can, cannot do, and if it doesn't tell you you can do it, then you find a loophole and you do it anyway, right, that's what we're used to. But in ancient times the law was paradigmatic, right? So they gave you the 10 commandments, they gave you other legal codes and essentially you were supposed to fill it in right, interpret it widely and broadly in every area of your life. We see that God does this with Israel in the book of the law. Jesus does this authoritatively in the Sermon on the Mount, the disciples do this as well, and we then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we don't interpret it authoritatively, but we apply it in every area of our life, the things that are revealed in scripture. The Westminster larger Catechism summarizes all of this really well. They take the paradigmatic interpretation of scripture, including how Jesus interprets the law on the 10 commandments, and they fill it out scripturally. So I'll be referencing that a lot for help.
Kenny:And so the first thing that's helpful to look at is that in Commandment 5, when it says honor father and mother, that is basically to honor all relationships that you have. If you think about it, when you're born, your father and mother are the first faces that you see. They raise you and you spend almost exclusively all of your time with them for a certain period of life, and then you continue to spend more time with them. Right, there's a reason why, oftentimes, when we go to counseling, the first thing we talk about is our relationship with our parents, because, whether or not we like it, it's true that they form us. They form our patterns of relating to the rest, the people in our lives, that we will meet for the rest of our lives, right To the degree that we honor our father and mother and they honor us in relationship. That sets a trajectory for the rest of our lives in relationship. So this command holds in it.
Kenny:Yes, like the family relationship, but also all other relationships in your life, it's a command to give those in your life the appropriate amount of honor, respect, dignity and worth. So to honor parents is to honor God and others. But the question is who do we actually give honor to? Who do we hold as weighty? The Hebrew emphasis is who do we hold with respect and give dignity and honor to? On the one hand, we'd like to say everybody, but in reality I think our society shows us something very different.
Kenny:So Pele was a prolific soccer player for a long time, especially in places like Brazil, where he's from. But he passed away earlier this year and his coffin was carried through the streets of Santos, brazil, before he was laid to rest, and he had a 24-hour public wake where people went out of their way to go and pay their respects to this incredibly talented, amazing soccer player. He may have also had a great life outside of that, but I guarantee you many of those who were showing up to that wake their relationship to him was through a television, was through hearing about the incredible things that he did on the soccer field. Put that in contrast with another man, tael Yax, who, in 2010, saved a woman from a mugging, only to be stabbed by that mugger moments later and then left for dead on the sidewalk. For an hour and a half, at least 20 people walked by him, notice him and do nothing. Tael Yax, of course, was a homeless man. This was on the streets of New York, on the sidewalk. Both of these men had processions. One man had a procession of people after his death, paying him honor and respect and dignity. The other man was dying on the street and could not receive the dignity enough for someone to help him.
Kenny:Who do we give honor, respect and dignity to? It's a question that I think is important to ask of our society, and I think in this question, we also see a sort of algorithm right of covetousness around us. In the world around us, those who have power, influence and talent are weighty enough for our attention and respect. We listen to countless podcasts and leaders and politicians and we read books right of people who are talented and who have life experience and have the ability to do these things. But how well do we know our neighbors? How well do we know the homeless man on the street corner close to where we live? Who do we hold in honor and respect Jesus, of course he fulfilled the law. Jesus held in respect all of those who were deserving, whether they were of high or low station. Jesus does this. He fulfills the law on our behalf in love.
Kenny:But moving on to the next commandment, we see you shall not murder. Jesus says that if you're even angry with your brother, you're liable to murder. The Westminster Larger Catechism fills this out with scripture to say that this command demands that we do all in our power to preserve the life of ourselves and others. Right, that's pretty radical all in our power to preserve the life of ourselves and others. So this again runs in stark contrast to our society today, where oftentimes politicians or people who empower, when they do things that are unjust, the response of the public can be to publish your home addresses. Right, can we go to their houses and intimidate them? Maybe they don't do anything, but maybe they leave it up to others to bring justice to them. This is also against the cancel culture that we live in, the violent protests that we often see, that are in response to injustice, oftentimes that where protests should be happening, and yet they're willing to be violent and to put other people in danger for the sake of getting the point across.
Kenny:Our culture does not submit to this commandment. We like to think well, at least I don't murder, I haven't murdered anyone, right? But have we truly looked out for the welfare of our neighbor In all of our words and actions? Do we hold their lives, their dignity, highly? The kind of worldly algorithm that we might lean into is that, as long as we don't hurt anyone, our actions are justified. Or we might say I'm only responsible for me and for my tribe right, those who I agree with. Of course, that's not how Jesus lived. Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf. He went to the cross for our sakes. He associated with the lowly. He fed the 5,000. He cared for those around him. Imagine if our society lived these things out.
Kenny:The next command is you shall not commit adultery. Jesus' interpretation here is that if you even look at a woman or a man with lustful intent, you've already committed adultery with them in your heart. The Westminster larger Catechism speaks of seeking chastity not only for oneself, but also preserving it in others. Paul the apostle says every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sends against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? Now, lest you think that sex is bad, the Bible says sex is bad. Go and read Song of Solomon and you'll see that it's very erotic and sex is a good thing and that God created it for good purposes. In fact, sex is supposed to be this incredible power for good, this image of man and wife in relationship with one another, this actual union that it brings. That is an image of God in his church. It is a powerful force for good and because of that, adultery and sexual immorality and all of his forms is forbidden in this commandment.
Kenny:In illustration, there's a pervasive cultural lie that pornography and masturbation are not harmful. However, in a recent study published in the National Library of Medicine, we find something different. On the one hand, we find that porn sites are getting more traffic than Amazon, twitter and Netflix combined right. So this is a lie that our society leans into. However, the study also found that pornography was consumed to alleviate stress from being lonely and isolated, as well as to enhance sexual arousal. And, ironically, the study found that pornography itself increased stress and dramatically reduced sexual activity between couples.
Kenny:Right and so the pattern that God created us for in these things is not being lived out. So the algorithm can be I can watch what I want, even on Netflix, right? There's so many things on Netflix these days. You watch something that's PG, and something comes on the screen and you're like what in the world is this? You just kind of keep watching because you're like I'm invested in the show. I'm guilty of this too, don't believe me. So we believe, though, that we can keep doing that without consequence, as long as we're not hurting anyone. But that's not what Jesus tells us, that's not what these commands invite us to. In the abundant life that has real consequences. The next command you shall not steal.
Kenny:The Westminster Larger Catechism says that by all means we are to procure, preserve and further the wealth and outward a state of others as well as our own. In Leviticus, we see that if your brother becomes poor, you are to provide everything for him, even letting him live in your house and there's laws that are similar about the sojourner and the stranger, but this is also this is a really difficult one, right? Because there's a point at which we think to ourselves how can we be generous like this? This comes at a huge cost. There's something to be said about wisely stewarding our finances, and that is true. Don't hear me not saying that. However, the Israelites were able to show mercy because they had received mercy. Again, going back to verse 12, this is the God who brought them out of Egypt. This is God who provided for them from nothing in the wilderness. This is the God who is bringing them into the Promised Land. He said how are you able to provide for others, to love them, to be generous towards them Because, ah, you're God, I'm meeting your needs? Jesus says that God cares for the sparrows. He cares for the lilies. How much more will he care for you as you seek first His kingdom? As we are obedient to these commands, god gives us what we need to live in the abundant life and to invite others into that as well.
Kenny:A recent Harvard-based group of economists found that children from the richest 1% of families are more than twice as likely to attend an Ivy League university like Stanford, duke or the University of Chicago. That's pretty intense statistic. We also see that for legacy applicants. That was actually about eight times. So if your family has been going there for a long time, you have an eight times more likelihood to get in than someone who has the exact same SAT and ACT scores. And this is in the midst, of course, of the Supreme Court recently barring colleges from using race-based affirmative action, which I'm not commenting on. However, the researchers did comment on it and they said that elite institutions, actually without that, could boost racial diversity just by dropping this preferential treatment for the 1%, which is mostly white.
Kenny:We live in a society where we see this in our institutions. They have to look out for themselves first so that they can then look out for others. They need donors In order to become a great university. They need people who are gonna give to the school. So, of course, they're more likely to accept those who make a little bit more money with two different applicants. But is this what Jesus invites them to, right? Is it to seek the welfare of those around them? The false algorithm here is that we have to look out for ourselves first and then we can look out for others Rather than believing that God is looking out for us, so that we can look out for all of those around us. That is the abundant life we're invited into.
Kenny:The next one is you shall not bear false witness, which is preserving and promoting the truth between man and man. The Westminster larger catechism also brings the language of appearing and standing for the truth, in addition to promoting the good name of your neighbor. So I think both those things are really interesting. Showing up for the truth we're often really good at that. I'm really good at that right in the comment sections in social media posts where someone posts up me, you're like, wow, wrong, let me tell you about it. Sometimes that's just with your family members, right? You're like okay, lord, my wife is wrong about this. How do I show up for the truth right now and just tell her humbly that she's wrong? We're good at that. One right?
Kenny:We said we show up for the truth. Maybe not at times. We always should, but we show up for the truth. But do we promote the good name of our neighbor? Do we believe the best in others? Do we seek To tell others? Right, even that we disagree with? Do we seek to tell others about their good name, right? Or are we one-sided, only seeking to show up for the truth, only seeking to put forward our truth, only seeking to make the point that we want to make? We see this all over politics and social media, as I just mentioned. The algorithm there, right?
Kenny:The invitation to seek something that is not God is that I just need to speak my truth. I Ode nothing to anyone, or it's. I just need to speak the unbiased truth and that's all I owe to anyone. To the contrary, god is inviting us in this command to seek the good name of our neighbor, right, to seek to defend his good name. To seek the truth, but to seek the truth as God holds it, not as we would hold it. And Finally, you shall not covet.
Kenny:The Westminster larger Catechism says this requires Full contentment with our own condition, such as, as well as charitable frame towards all of our neighbors. Right? So there's full contentment with what we, what God has given us, which is Really comprehensive, right, it's not only monetary. It's our station in life, it's the things, it's our family, it's our gifts, it's our talents, it's all of those things. And then it's being charitable towards those around us.
Kenny:What's interesting about this is that the First command in the second half of the decalogue right command number five on her father and mother it starts with God's heart of love. Right, he and his covenant of grace is giving them the land and he's inviting them into covenant relationship with himself. This command, though, gets at our heart, our hearts which tend to covet, which tend to want things that aren't really good for us, to things that look like the abundant life on the outside but are really invitations into slavery, and that's why it's comprehensive. It lists a man's house, but then everything in that house, anything that we covet after right, that we are not seeking for God's glory, can take us down a path of covetousness, and it's covetousness that often leads to murder, right, in all of its forms. Covetousness that can lead to adultery in all of its forms, covet. Covetousness that can lead to stealing in all of its forms right. This is our hearts. Our hearts are Naturally, in sin, covetous.
Kenny:We can see this, actually, in a social media influencer, kai Sinat I don't know if I'm saying his name correctly who, recently, on social media, went to I think it was Central Park in New York City and basically said hey, I'm giving away free playstations and hundred dollar gift cards. Everybody come out, it'll be super fun. I'm gonna be generous, you're gonna get cool stuff. It's gonna be great. Hundreds of people showed up and it was great for a little bit until it turned into thousands of People trying to get these playstations and gift cards. And then it turned violent. People got injured, law enforcement got injured, right to the point where now this social media influencer was put under charges. See all of those people that showed up.
Kenny:I'm sure at first they were just seeking you know like. This is great, I can get something free. I can snap a picture with this guy grow in my own following. But really the heart of covetousness led them towards violence Because their heart was aimed at the wrong thing. Jesus said no one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. The algorithm, the false algorithm that's presented by our society is, you know, maybe summarized in treat yourself right, otherwise known as retail therapy right. Amazon Prime Days just happened.
Kenny:I was there, okay, netflix binging, filling our time with fun experiences, with food or hobbies that we feel like will give us rest in abundant life. These things aren't necessarily bad at all, right. However, if we go to those things when we need life, when we're feeling empty, if we go to those things instead of going to the one who actually gives us life, we're feeding into the covetousness of our heart. Right? We're not actually going to find the rest that we seek there. We'll get it from something for a moment and then we're gonna need more, right? We're not gonna find true life, we're not gonna find true rest. We're not gonna find the land, the rest, the blessings that God is inviting us into.
Kenny:And so, in conclusion, coming back to the rich young ruler in Mark's account, he falls to his knees at Jesus' feet and Jesus looks on him with love. Right, he sees how much he wants to find the answer. God is inviting us into the same thing. You might not have it all together, you might not have the abundant life yet, you might not even know Jesus, but Jesus smiles upon us and looks on us with love. When we come to him and say this is where we're at. I know that something's missing. Help me to find the answer. Jesus, when he walks away, says how difficult it is for the rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and his disciples say well then, who the heck is gonna enter? And he says all things are possible with God. See, jesus cries.
Kenny:Perfectly fulfilled the law through love. He honored his parents. He honored lepers, rulers, us. Jesus protected the lives of others, he healed the sick, he fed the 5,000, he died on the cross for our sakes. He trusted entirely in his father to provide for himself and his disciples and the people around him. He always spoke truth to those in power and defended those without.
Kenny:Jesus had relationships with incredibly scandalous and provocative women, who even touched him in public, to which others judged him for, and yet he never lusted after them. He sought their benefit. Jesus only followed the father's will, even in the Garden of Gethsemane, not coveting after a different stake but emptying himself, saying Father, let this cup pass for me, but if not, your will, not my will be done. God in Christ gives of himself to fulfill the law, to love one's neighbor on our behalf. Jesus honors his father in reconciling of people who murdered him, those people who committed adultery and were an adulterous generation, who stole. He calls them Aden of Thieves, who bore false witness against him who coveted Instead of doing. He made a way for sinful people to draw near.
Kenny:Now, having not only the fear of the Lord but also access in Jesus Christ, the better Moses. Jesus with his life fulfills the law. Jesus, with his death of love, bears the curse of the law in our place. Jesus, of course, he invites us into union with himself to give him our sins so that he can give us his righteousness. And in as much as we are in him in his death and resurrection, we can experience that resurrection with him. He will dwell in our hearts through faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And for those of us who believe to the extent that we want to experience that abundant life with him, those blessings here and now, we need to lean into his death and resurrection each day.
Kenny:And so why do I tell you this? This is not to just make us all feel bad. This is so that we might be able to look at what God is inviting us to and say we don't have this, we don't have it fully, we can't do this. There is something missing. Lord, let us come to our knees so that you can show us how you're inviting us into radical discipleship, so that we can be willing to give all of these things to follow you, jesus, to trust that you are the pearl of great price. You are worth everything that I have, because what you are inviting me into is truly the abundant life, because you have fulfilled it on my behalf so I can walk in freedom. Right, jesus fulfilled the law through love and took the curse so that we can inherit the promised rest. And so where are you receiving God's love, is my last question.
Kenny:In John 15, jesus says abide in me. We see a paradigm for discipleship there Abide in me and I will abide in you. He says abiding is three things loving one another, it's receiving his love and listening to his words. And he says as you do those things, you're gonna have a relationship with me and ask for whatever you want and it will be given. That's a bold statement, but he says that because our heavenly Father loves to give good gifts to his children. That is the abundant life he offers us. So where are you receiving the love of God?
Kenny:And there's two questions that, day in and day out, we can ask ourselves. That will help us discern whether we're trying to fulfill the law on our own power and seek something that is not from God, or whether we're truly following Jesus, and those questions I encourage you each day to ask God and then to sit in silence. The first one is what lies? Am I believing about what gives me life? What lies? Am I believing about what gives me life? And the second is how can I find hope in the cross, in the death and resurrection of Jesus? How can I find hope in the cross and enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus? And then I encourage you to sit in silence and let the Holy Spirit speak to you and invite you into that abundant life.
Kenny:Pray with me now, dear heavenly Father, thank you, thank you for your word, thank you for your law, thank you that you have fulfilled the law on our behalf.
Kenny:That, lord, we can come to you and say we do not fulfill this perfectly, we fall short, but by your grace we know that you have paid the penalty for our sins.
Kenny:You have invited us into Jesus Christ, to be empowered in the Holy Spirit, to know that you are inviting to live these out, o Lord, as we repent of those areas where we are seeking things that are not from you, and instead we can walk more and more and become and look more like Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. We know that you are faithful to do this and that you will accomplish this through Jesus Christ and you will bring your kingdom to bear so that one day, o Lord, we know that you will capture all tears, that there will be no more crying, that you will live and dwell with us, we will see justice established, o Lord, we will live in your kingdom, we will live in the promised land and experience what truly abundant, joyful life is and beautiful unity and diversity with our brothers and sisters. We thank you that you are doing that work and we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.