WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.259 We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch. 00:00:05.259 --> 00:00:11.580 This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.439 ! use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:22.640 Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at Christchurcheastbay.org. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:26.260 Good morning. 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:30.500 Our scripture reading this morning is from Deuteronomy 30, 19. 00:00:32.500 --> 00:00:33.640 The words of Moses. 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:39.520 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that I have set before 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.740 you life and death, blessings and curses. 00:00:43.140 --> 00:00:48.540 Now choose life so that you and your children may live, and that you may love the Lord your 00:00:48.540 --> 00:00:51.100 God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. 00:00:51.460 --> 00:00:55.820 For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give 00:00:55.820 --> 00:00:57.759 your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:00.799 The grass withers and the flowers fade. 00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:03.640 The word of our God stands forever. 00:01:04.180 --> 00:01:04.859 Please be seated. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:13.780 Please pray with me, and we'll dive in. 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:17.219 Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of your word. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:20.420 We thank you that it is living and active and meets us where we are. 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:24.540 I pray, Lord, that if people are here this morning that are exploring faith, that you would overwhelm 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:26.859 them with a sense of your grace and salvation in Christ. 00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:29.400 Pray for anyone that's discouraged, that you would encourage them. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:30.760 Pray that you would meet us, Lord. 00:01:30.820 --> 00:01:32.040 You know our hearts better than we do. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:33.219 Challenge us. 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:34.040 Encourage us. 00:01:34.500 --> 00:01:35.240 Speak to us. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:37.159 Help me to faithfully proclaim your word. 00:01:38.240 --> 00:01:39.439 I pray all this in Jesus' name. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:39.900 Amen. 00:01:39.900 --> 00:01:39.980 Amen. 00:01:41.520 --> 00:01:43.500 I want to begin with a little bit of a story. 00:01:43.600 --> 00:01:47.280 When I was in the fourth grade, my family went to Great America down in Santa Clara, 00:01:47.380 --> 00:01:52.200 a big amusement park, and my mom kind of had one goal for the whole day, and it was to get 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:54.300 me to ride on the demon roller coaster with her. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:56.560 So I'm nine years old. 00:01:56.620 --> 00:01:59.640 I'm intrigued by it, but I wanted absolutely no part of it. 00:01:59.880 --> 00:02:02.980 But somehow, I ended up in that line with my mom anyway. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:05.860 She could be very persuasive, a bit of a force of nature. 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:10.120 But the worst thing about the demon is, the longer you're waiting in the queue and going 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:12.060 back and forth, the worse it gets. 00:02:12.099 --> 00:02:15.759 You're winding around this line, and you can see this tunnel where the coaster disappears, 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:18.759 and smoke's pouring out of it, and there's these glowing red eyes. 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:23.139 And about every 30 seconds, this kind of demonic cackling about how you're never going to return 00:02:23.139 --> 00:02:23.780 if you go in. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.319 And so, as the line's going on, I remember looking at that tunnel and thinking, there's 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:30.539 just no way I'm going in there. 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:32.420 And the line kept moving. 00:02:32.419 --> 00:02:36.619 I was physically moving closer to the ride, but mentally, I was nowhere closer to going 00:02:36.619 --> 00:02:38.599 on that ride than I ever would have been. 00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:41.060 So my mom, I told her at one point, I said, I'm done. 00:02:41.119 --> 00:02:41.679 I'm getting out of line. 00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:48.859 So she offered me 20 bucks, which in today's dollars is $65. 00:02:49.219 --> 00:02:50.899 I mean, that's a pretty good deal. 00:02:52.279 --> 00:02:54.879 But it wasn't the money that really kept me in line. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:56.979 It was what my mom kept saying the whole time. 00:02:57.239 --> 00:02:59.359 She kept saying, I'm going to be sitting right beside you. 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:00.519 You're going to have fun. 00:03:00.519 --> 00:03:01.479 It's going to be okay. 00:03:02.419 --> 00:03:03.959 And I trusted my mom. 00:03:04.359 --> 00:03:05.339 And I stayed in that line. 00:03:05.459 --> 00:03:06.280 And I got on the ride. 00:03:06.399 --> 00:03:07.759 And I had an absolute blast. 00:03:08.239 --> 00:03:09.959 And I've loved scary roller coasters ever since. 00:03:10.019 --> 00:03:11.119 I've introduced all my boys. 00:03:11.219 --> 00:03:13.679 My boys are now 24, 19, and 16. 00:03:13.859 --> 00:03:15.319 And they have all been introduced to the demon. 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:18.819 I have to try to persuade them it was much more scary in my day. 00:03:19.019 --> 00:03:20.219 It's a little bit run down now. 00:03:20.219 --> 00:03:27.599 But here's what I didn't understand at nine years old that I understand now so clearly as a 52-year-old. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:29.419 That the ride never changed, right? 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:33.599 The smoke and the eyes and the cackling and all of it remained incredibly scary to me. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:37.319 What changed was me realizing I wasn't facing it alone. 00:03:37.780 --> 00:03:40.019 My mom's presence didn't remove the fear. 00:03:40.099 --> 00:03:44.019 But my mom's presence made the fear something I could walk through because she was with me. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.039 And she said I would be okay and I trusted her. 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:51.340 And the reason I tell you that story is because I want us to hold on to that idea this morning as we look about this covenant. 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:55.960 Covenant and the presence of God and what it meant for Moses and what it means for us in the time of Jesus. 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:03.960 But I would argue that this idea that God is present with us in relationship is the foundational interpretive key for all of scripture. 00:04:04.659 --> 00:04:06.520 Everything is always in that context of relationship. 00:04:06.699 --> 00:04:07.659 That's what covenant is. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:09.259 Covenant is not a contract. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:13.960 It's not some kind of deal struck between two parties who are negotiating something for themselves. 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:16.879 Covenant is God binding himself to a people. 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:20.660 Covenant is God saying I will be your God and you will be my people. 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:22.260 And I will be with you. 00:04:22.880 --> 00:04:26.640 And that's the theme that starts in the Garden of Eden and sin and brokenness. 00:04:27.020 --> 00:04:30.180 Nothing changes God's pursuit and God's desire to be present. 00:04:30.540 --> 00:04:33.520 And ultimately the ultimate pursuit obviously comes through Jesus Christ. 00:04:33.700 --> 00:04:40.120 When God became a human being to continue that pursuit and ultimately draw us back in relationship because Christ laid his life down for us. 00:04:40.460 --> 00:04:43.080 That's the whole thread that runs through the entirety of scripture. 00:04:43.640 --> 00:04:45.480 God wants to be present with you. 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:46.920 God is present with you. 00:04:47.220 --> 00:04:49.700 And when we see that so much of scripture comes alive. 00:04:49.699 --> 00:04:52.420 God is never giving us command and telling us go do that. 00:04:52.500 --> 00:04:53.399 Earn my approval. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:54.939 God is always saying I'm with you. 00:04:55.180 --> 00:04:56.479 This is what life with me looks like. 00:04:57.500 --> 00:05:01.759 That's what the context is for the words that we just read about Moses. 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:03.399 Moses is telling them to choose life. 00:05:03.659 --> 00:05:07.180 He's telling them to choose a loving God because that loving God has been with them. 00:05:07.719 --> 00:05:09.399 And it's a simple and powerful command. 00:05:09.539 --> 00:05:10.480 Choose life. 00:05:10.659 --> 00:05:12.480 Therefore choose life. 00:05:13.060 --> 00:05:17.659 But that word therefore is carrying a lot of weight and a lot of meaning as Moses is reading it. 00:05:17.660 --> 00:05:20.860 That therefore is reaching back to everything that came before. 00:05:20.960 --> 00:05:29.260 To the 29 chapters of the book of Deuteronomy that detailed the history of God and what God had done with these people and what God was calling them to do. 00:05:29.340 --> 00:05:30.820 All of it is building to this moment. 00:05:31.460 --> 00:05:34.500 All 29 chapters were rehearsing what God had done for Israel. 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:35.860 The exodus from Egypt. 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:36.940 The wilderness. 00:05:37.180 --> 00:05:38.240 The covenant at Sinai. 00:05:38.460 --> 00:05:39.600 The provision of manna. 00:05:39.960 --> 00:05:42.400 The patience that God had with them through their rebellion. 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:43.620 Every mighty act. 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:44.340 Every mercy. 00:05:44.339 --> 00:05:47.419 Everything God had done is in that word therefore. 00:05:47.579 --> 00:05:48.319 That's that hinge. 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:50.699 In light of everything God has already done for you. 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:53.000 In light of who he has shown himself to be. 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:54.859 In light of God's covenant with you. 00:05:55.419 --> 00:05:57.139 Therefore choose life. 00:05:59.359 --> 00:06:03.120 The command that Moses is giving rests on the history of this people with God. 00:06:03.459 --> 00:06:04.479 That idea in theology. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:06.699 The imperative always rests on the indicative. 00:06:06.859 --> 00:06:10.759 What you're called to do always flows from who you are or who God's made you to be. 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:12.819 It's not a unique pattern of Deuteronomy. 00:06:12.819 --> 00:06:14.319 It's in the entirety of scripture. 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:16.639 It's never obey and then God will love you. 00:06:16.719 --> 00:06:18.659 It's always God has loved you. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:20.139 Therefore live accordingly. 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:24.319 And underneath all of that is a history of what God has done to his people. 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:26.120 History of his presence with his people. 00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:30.719 And so that therefore that Moses is using is about their particular history. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.079 But every single one of us has our own therefore. 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:36.159 Every single one of us has decisions that we are making. 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:38.360 That are based on what we think reality is. 00:06:38.420 --> 00:06:39.339 What we think our history is. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:40.360 Who we think God is. 00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:44.699 Every human life is ordered around some set of foundational beliefs. 00:06:44.699 --> 00:06:46.740 About what's real and what's possible. 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:50.439 And those beliefs are shaping what you think is possible for your life. 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:53.460 They are shaping that therefore in your life. 00:06:55.520 --> 00:06:58.319 That's what is informing this question of what it means to choose life. 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:01.800 What I want to talk about a little bit today is use these passages. 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:03.639 And some from the New Testament as well. 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.800 To help us really be honest about what our therefore is. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:09.680 What do you believe is fundamentally true about your world? 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:13.819 What do you believe is fundamentally true about how God has or has not shown up in your life? 00:07:13.960 --> 00:07:18.540 How is your understanding of your history, your historical prologue and covenantal language? 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:22.900 How are you interpreting all of your life in light of that historical prologue? 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:28.000 What I want to do today is use these words of Moses to help us be really honest about what our therefore actually is. 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:31.560 And wrestle with God's word a bit about what it actually should be. 00:07:31.560 --> 00:07:36.280 And what God's word tells us is he will be with us. 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:38.280 His presence is promised with us. 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.780 And so the main idea of the sermon today is just Moses' command. 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:42.680 Choose life. 00:07:43.019 --> 00:07:45.220 And we're going to look at what it looked like to choose life in the time of Moses. 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.680 And then we're going to look at what it looks like to choose life in the time of Jesus. 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:51.819 So let's be clear about something at the outset here. 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:53.279 About choosing life in the time of Moses. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:58.579 In the ancient world and in today, no one wakes up in the morning and decides to choose death. 00:07:59.099 --> 00:08:03.039 No one's oriented their whole life around the goal of misery and emptiness and ruin. 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:05.059 Everyone thinks they're choosing life. 00:08:05.119 --> 00:08:05.779 That's not the question. 00:08:06.219 --> 00:08:07.839 The question is life defined by what? 00:08:08.539 --> 00:08:09.899 What does it mean to choose life? 00:08:10.039 --> 00:08:12.059 When I say life, what do you hear? 00:08:12.139 --> 00:08:14.959 When they heard Moses say life, what did they hear? 00:08:15.239 --> 00:08:16.819 What were they measuring on the basis of? 00:08:16.819 --> 00:08:23.259 The ancient world that Moses was speaking into wasn't populated by people that were indifferent to life. 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:26.860 The Canaanites who surrounded Israel seemed to be deeply committed to life. 00:08:27.139 --> 00:08:28.579 They pursued it with religious devotion. 00:08:28.719 --> 00:08:29.300 They built temples. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:30.339 They offered sacrifices. 00:08:30.500 --> 00:08:36.379 They worshipped Baal and Asherah because they genuinely believed that these gods would help them find life. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:41.019 But really it was more about survival for them and not the idea of abundant life that we have in scripture. 00:08:41.500 --> 00:08:42.679 Think about the Egyptians for a minute. 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:53.919 When the Israelites had lived in Egypt for centuries, Egypt had constructed one of the most sophisticated civilizations in the ancient world precisely around this idea of pursuing life. 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:59.859 The pyramids themselves are kind of a monument to their refusal to accept death as the final word. 00:09:00.139 --> 00:09:01.819 They were wrestling with life. 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:09.399 And so when Moses tells his people, therefore choose life, he is not addressing a people who have never thought about it before. 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:14.759 He is addressing a people surrounded by competing and sometimes compelling visions of what life is. 00:09:14.819 --> 00:09:17.579 And so what he is trying to get them to do is choose real life. 00:09:17.699 --> 00:09:18.559 Choose life in God. 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:20.819 Don't choose what the Canaanites are trying to tell you to choose. 00:09:20.899 --> 00:09:23.840 Don't choose what this or that or any other culture are trying to get you to choose. 00:09:24.199 --> 00:09:25.699 Choose something real. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.079 And that is the challenge in front of all of us today. 00:09:28.779 --> 00:09:31.379 We are all choosing what we think is most compelling. 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:33.299 Are we choosing God? 00:09:33.379 --> 00:09:34.720 Are we choosing to live with God? 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.779 Are we choosing to let God work in our lives in a more powerful way? 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:43.039 What Moses is doing in Deuteronomy is trying to give his people a different historical prologue 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:45.899 than the ones that they've been exposed to in Egypt or through the Canaanites. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.339 He's trying to give them different foundational facts. 00:09:48.439 --> 00:09:51.819 He's saying before you decide how to live, remember what you have seen. 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:53.720 Remember who God is. 00:09:53.980 --> 00:09:55.139 Remember what God has done. 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:57.839 He tells them you were slaves. 00:09:58.279 --> 00:09:59.179 You were nobody. 00:09:59.299 --> 00:10:02.019 You had no land, no army, no king, no future. 00:10:02.019 --> 00:10:07.399 And the God of the universe, the one true God, not Baal, not Ra, not Marduk, all these other 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:09.980 foreign gods, the true God heard your cry. 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:15.139 And he sent plagues that humiliated in the most powerful empire on earth. 00:10:15.460 --> 00:10:16.519 He parted the Red Sea. 00:10:16.620 --> 00:10:17.639 They had walked through it. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:22.199 He fed them with bread from heaven in the wilderness where nothing else was going to provide them 00:10:22.199 --> 00:10:22.500 food. 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:27.919 He gave them law, stipulations not to burden them, but to show them what life could look like 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:28.319 with him. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.940 And he was trying to teach them that they were image bearers of him and teach them to live 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:32.400 like it. 00:10:32.860 --> 00:10:38.120 He brought them up to a land that was described as flowing with milk and honey and said, this 00:10:38.120 --> 00:10:38.640 is for you. 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.379 This is the historical prologue that Moses is trying to remind his people of. 00:10:42.620 --> 00:10:44.480 There is a reality that you're living into. 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:45.080 This is it. 00:10:45.160 --> 00:10:45.700 This is real. 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:47.560 All this other stuff is false promises. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.760 He's trying to get them to see that there therefore is a good God who loves them. 00:10:52.800 --> 00:10:55.780 A God that has said, I will be your God and you will be my people. 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:59.419 So Moses is being very direct in this instance, right? 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:03.240 He's saying that if this historical prologue is true and I'm proclaiming to you that it 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:07.699 is, if this is what your God is actually like, then choosing Baal or some other Canaanite 00:11:07.699 --> 00:11:13.220 God is not just some kind of like disobedience or not following the rules. 00:11:13.459 --> 00:11:16.600 It's absolute insanity, right? 00:11:16.620 --> 00:11:20.659 It's something akin to trading a fountain of living water for a sewage tank. 00:11:20.659 --> 00:11:27.339 They were designed by God to be a covenant people, to live in covenant relationship with 00:11:27.339 --> 00:11:27.559 him. 00:11:27.699 --> 00:11:30.879 The only place they could find true life was in God himself. 00:11:31.699 --> 00:11:35.019 Michael Horton in his theology called the Christian faith talks about covenant this way. 00:11:36.179 --> 00:11:40.799 The covenant is not a transaction between two parties who are already independently alive 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.659 and then decided to do business together. 00:11:43.139 --> 00:11:44.399 It's constitutive. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:49.360 It creates the relationship within which humanity has its very being. 00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.939 To break covenant with God is not to walk away from a contract. 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:58.699 It's to walk away from the source of existence itself. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:05.199 This is what makes idolatry so tragic in our time but in the ancient world as well. 00:12:05.399 --> 00:12:06.740 It's not merely rule breaking. 00:12:06.939 --> 00:12:08.319 It's abandoning life. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:13.900 Every idol Israel chased, every carved image, every fertility shrine, every foreign god, 00:12:14.220 --> 00:12:17.120 all these things promised life and they delivered death. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:21.379 The prosperity of the Canaanite system was built on the exploitation of the vulnerable. 00:12:21.860 --> 00:12:26.740 The life of the nations surrounding them were offering all these promises but at best it 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:31.300 was a beautifully decorated form of death and destruction and Moses knew it and Moses was 00:12:31.300 --> 00:12:33.500 warning them and pleading with them. 00:12:34.560 --> 00:12:36.040 And he makes his categories explicit. 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:40.899 I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. 00:12:40.980 --> 00:12:42.339 Here's what life with God looks like. 00:12:42.419 --> 00:12:43.759 Here's what life without God looks like. 00:12:44.179 --> 00:12:47.519 He will not let Israel pretend that all these options are equally good. 00:12:47.819 --> 00:12:48.299 They're not. 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:50.699 There is life and there is a counterfeit. 00:12:51.139 --> 00:12:54.459 And the counterfeit's everywhere and it could be attractive but ultimately the counterfeit will 00:12:54.459 --> 00:12:58.039 always kill you because true life can only be found in relationship with God 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:02.539 because every single one of us in here was created by God to live with him and to live for him. 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:04.219 You're an image bearer of God. 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.920 God, the very act of you coming into this world is you being related to God. 00:13:08.040 --> 00:13:09.360 You exist in relationship. 00:13:09.540 --> 00:13:12.360 You exist in relationship with God and you exist in relationship with others. 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:14.899 That's how your identity is formed and shaped. 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:17.519 You don't get to decide if you're in relationship with God or others. 00:13:18.019 --> 00:13:21.100 Now you can decide that you're going to be in a really bad relationship with God and others. 00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:22.040 Right? 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:23.500 And that'll produce some bad fruit in your life. 00:13:23.560 --> 00:13:25.200 But that's what you get to do. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.000 So we need to really be honest about what life actually means. 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.320 Now Moses is trying to help them understand it. 00:13:30.540 --> 00:13:32.480 He's not leaving the definition of life vague. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:34.899 He makes it specific and concrete and personal. 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:38.779 Loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him. 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:41.920 He is your life and length of days. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:45.240 He is where you find life and he is the one that sustains you. 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:47.000 God is your life. 00:13:47.060 --> 00:13:48.519 Not just a means to a better life. 00:13:48.700 --> 00:13:51.659 Not some kind of religious supplement to a life that you've already built yourself. 00:13:51.899 --> 00:13:54.899 Not some kind of divine assistant who's helping you achieve your goals. 00:13:55.920 --> 00:13:57.220 He is your life. 00:13:57.620 --> 00:13:58.519 He is the source. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:13:59.680 He is the substance. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.539 He is the beginning and end of what the word life means. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.239 That's the claim of all of scripture. 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:07.479 It's central to the entire storyline from Genesis to Revelation. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:11.019 And if it's true, and I'm proclaiming to you obviously that it is, 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:14.819 if God is life, then life without God is not just incomplete. 00:14:14.979 --> 00:14:15.919 It's kind of a category error. 00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:16.099 Right? 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:19.079 It's like trying to understand or explain music without sound. 00:14:19.719 --> 00:14:21.559 God is the essence of life. 00:14:22.239 --> 00:14:24.579 But there's a limitation that Moses cannot overcome. 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:27.319 Moses cannot deliver what he commands. 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:30.240 He can describe their life. 00:14:30.420 --> 00:14:31.200 He can exhort. 00:14:31.340 --> 00:14:32.200 He can encourage them. 00:14:32.300 --> 00:14:34.040 He can point to the promised land on the horizon. 00:14:34.620 --> 00:14:36.840 He can plead with them to choose life. 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:39.340 But Moses himself will not cross the Jordan. 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:41.860 And more importantly, even if he could cross the Jordan, 00:14:42.060 --> 00:14:44.220 he could not change what was in Israel's heart. 00:14:44.280 --> 00:14:45.020 And he knew this. 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:50.020 He, in the book of Deuteronomy, has this prophecy with this kind of clear-eyed sadness 00:14:50.020 --> 00:14:51.860 because he knows the people are going to fail. 00:14:52.400 --> 00:14:53.680 He knows they're going to enter the land. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:57.679 He knows they're going to encounter competing visions of life offered by Canaanite culture. 00:14:57.819 --> 00:14:59.379 And he knows they're going to choose that. 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:03.039 Here's the reality for all of us. 00:15:03.079 --> 00:15:07.399 That the human heart, left to itself, will always choose a smaller life and call it freedom. 00:15:09.079 --> 00:15:11.879 We know what life is because God's shown us what life is. 00:15:11.979 --> 00:15:14.259 But we still are so tempted to reach for the counterfeits. 00:15:14.599 --> 00:15:17.979 Not because we're trying to choose death, but because our vision of life has been distorted. 00:15:18.339 --> 00:15:19.539 Our loves have been distorted. 00:15:19.539 --> 00:15:21.699 And we can't fix this on our own. 00:15:22.659 --> 00:15:25.500 Moses could command them, but Moses could not transform them. 00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.959 And what Israel need, what every human being needs, is not a better command. 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:30.899 It's every human being needs a new heart. 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:33.299 And Moses even says so. 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:37.839 Buried in Deuteronomy 30 is one of the most astonishing promises in the entire Old Testament. 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:38.559 He says, 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:53.119 God himself will do what we cannot do for us. 00:15:53.539 --> 00:15:56.719 Both parts of the covenant of grace are fulfilled by God, the Father and the Son. 00:15:57.119 --> 00:15:59.199 He is the one that we will ultimately rely on. 00:15:59.539 --> 00:16:02.659 Moses is pointing forward to a better way, to a better prophet. 00:16:03.099 --> 00:16:04.279 And he's pointing forward to Jesus. 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:04.439 Jesus. 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:10.100 And so what does it look like for us to apply this passage of therefore choose life in our time? 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.079 As those that are living after Christ has been resurrected. 00:16:14.139 --> 00:16:16.319 There are competing therefores in our age. 00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:21.600 But before we get to the resurrection and talk about who Jesus is and what he's done in the full and final way, 00:16:21.799 --> 00:16:24.199 I want to stay on this question of the therefore a little bit. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.459 I want to explore it with you a little bit. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:29.799 Because this is alive and urgent as it ever was in history. 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:35.079 What do you think it would be the dominant historical prologues of our culture? 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:41.599 What are the foundational beliefs that are surrounding us and equipping us every day to think about the world in a wrong way? 00:16:42.519 --> 00:16:43.459 Let me give you a couple. 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:43.939 Here's one. 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:48.299 The world is a competitive system of scarce resources. 00:16:48.979 --> 00:16:51.919 And the good life belongs to those who accumulate the most resources. 00:16:52.519 --> 00:16:53.039 Work hard. 00:16:53.159 --> 00:16:53.659 Build your wealth. 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:54.500 Secure your future. 00:16:55.179 --> 00:16:56.159 Maximize your assets. 00:16:56.679 --> 00:16:58.199 Now this is not a fringe view, right? 00:16:58.200 --> 00:17:00.900 I would argue that this is a dominant culture in the wider Bay Area. 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:04.500 But like Baal worship, it offers something genuinely appealing. 00:17:04.740 --> 00:17:06.000 It offers security. 00:17:06.120 --> 00:17:07.779 And financial security is not a bad thing. 00:17:08.259 --> 00:17:12.840 But the problem for us is the same as it was in the time of Moses with Baal. 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:16.180 False gods cannot deliver what they promise. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:24.120 Ask anyone that's actually achieved significant financial security and ask them whether it's eliminated the ache or the challenge or the brokenness of life. 00:17:24.299 --> 00:17:24.980 It doesn't. 00:17:25.140 --> 00:17:27.660 In my experience, it often upgrades the anxiety. 00:17:28.620 --> 00:17:30.640 Here's another one that we hear in our culture, I would argue. 00:17:31.340 --> 00:17:35.799 The purpose of life is the maximization of personal happiness and self-fulfillment. 00:17:36.380 --> 00:17:37.240 You have one life. 00:17:37.860 --> 00:17:38.940 Live it on your terms. 00:17:39.080 --> 00:17:39.700 Follow your heart. 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:40.580 Be true to yourself. 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:44.340 This kind of creed has the virtue of taking human desire seriously. 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:45.740 So there's things in it that are appealing. 00:17:45.740 --> 00:17:51.920 But the problem is that the self that we're trying to create, we cannot create ourselves. 00:17:52.500 --> 00:17:53.839 We were created by God. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:55.019 We find our identity in him. 00:17:55.120 --> 00:17:56.220 We are his image bearers. 00:17:56.339 --> 00:17:59.400 We cannot build a life on a foundation of our own making. 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:01.180 This idea of the authentic self. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:05.360 It would be something like building a house on a flood plain and then being surprised when it floods. 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:08.720 You were not made to build your own identity. 00:18:08.820 --> 00:18:10.440 You were made to find your identity in Jesus. 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:13.060 Here's a subtler one that I've seen in a lot of churches. 00:18:13.059 --> 00:18:20.559 The purpose of Jesus is to help you become a better, happier, more morally upstanding version of yourself. 00:18:21.259 --> 00:18:23.319 It's what I would call the Jesus is your life coach approach. 00:18:23.819 --> 00:18:27.259 So Jesus becomes kind of a spiritual dimension that rounds out your already existing life. 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:32.200 You build your life up and you're pursuing a better family and a better job and you're building your resume 00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:34.579 and you just throw a little bit of Jesus in on the end. 00:18:36.159 --> 00:18:37.159 That doesn't work either. 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:39.579 I got to do a sabbatical in 2024. 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:40.859 I'm a big supporter of those. 00:18:40.940 --> 00:18:42.240 So I'm glad you guys are doing that for your pastors. 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:47.839 And I spent the summer of 2024, did some travel, did a lot of reflection, 00:18:48.619 --> 00:18:52.960 and was just praying that God would lay like one big conviction on my heart 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:59.559 that I could take into the next season of ministry to my, you know, being a husband, a father, a pastor, all those kind of things. 00:19:00.059 --> 00:19:03.059 And the conviction that God laid on my heart was this question for me. 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:05.639 Does it require Jesus? 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:07.759 Not does it include Jesus. 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:08.819 Does it require Jesus? 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:12.980 In other words, like the way I'm seeking to sacrificially lay my life down and love my wife, 00:19:13.059 --> 00:19:16.079 doesn't make sense, shouldn't make sense if Jesus isn't real. 00:19:16.700 --> 00:19:21.200 The way I'm trying to raise my kids to understand who Jesus is and embrace faith for themselves, 00:19:21.399 --> 00:19:24.000 it shouldn't make sense if you take Jesus out of the equation. 00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:27.480 The way I pastor shouldn't make sense if you take Jesus out of the equation. 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:31.339 My sermon should not work if you take Jesus out of the equation. 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:32.720 Right? 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:34.559 I'm not, we're not doing a life coaching exercise. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:37.220 We're saying that life is only found in Jesus. 00:19:37.439 --> 00:19:40.279 Life is only found in God himself. 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:42.859 And if we're not seeking life there, we'll never find it. 00:19:43.399 --> 00:19:46.199 Does the way you're living your life require Jesus? 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:48.119 That's how God built you. 00:19:48.179 --> 00:19:49.199 That's how God made you. 00:19:50.679 --> 00:19:52.959 Dorothy Sayers, in her book, Creator Chaos, 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:55.919 love reading that because it gets you to think about, 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:59.580 it was 80 plus years ago she wrote this, 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:02.900 but her observations I feel like only grow sharper in our current time. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:03.519 She says this, 00:20:04.300 --> 00:20:05.800 the people who hang Christ, 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:07.580 never to do them justice, 00:20:07.779 --> 00:20:08.960 accused him of being a bore. 00:20:09.539 --> 00:20:10.420 On the contrary, 00:20:10.840 --> 00:20:13.000 they thought him too dynamic to be safe. 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:17.640 It has been left for later generations to muffle up the note of excitement. 00:20:18.080 --> 00:20:21.320 The dogma of the incarnation is the most dramatic thing about Christianity 00:20:21.320 --> 00:20:25.360 and indeed the most dramatic thing that ever entered the mind of man. 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:26.920 So when, 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:30.240 what she's basically arguing is Jesus is either everything or he's nothing at all. 00:20:30.620 --> 00:20:33.380 That the people who crucified Jesus weren't bored by him, 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:34.539 they were threatened by him 00:20:34.539 --> 00:20:37.480 because he was making a claim that they could not domesticate or control. 00:20:37.900 --> 00:20:40.420 He was not offering a supplement to their existing life. 00:20:40.580 --> 00:20:43.200 He was announcing the end of one age and the beginning of another. 00:20:43.600 --> 00:20:47.300 And he was saying the whole way you understand life is through me. 00:20:48.180 --> 00:20:50.019 Jesus defines life on his own terms. 00:20:50.360 --> 00:20:53.160 In John 10, he says something that cuts straight to it. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:53.400 He says, 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.000 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 00:20:56.280 --> 00:20:58.759 He did not say I came to give them some more money, 00:20:58.860 --> 00:20:59.460 some more pleasure, 00:20:59.580 --> 00:21:00.519 some self-actualization. 00:21:00.820 --> 00:21:02.560 I didn't come to give them religious satisfaction. 00:21:03.060 --> 00:21:03.480 He says, 00:21:03.540 --> 00:21:05.540 I came to give them life, 00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:06.740 abundant life, 00:21:07.060 --> 00:21:08.019 life overflowing, 00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:10.320 life in excess of what you thought was possible, 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:14.000 life that is qualitatively different than anything the world can manufacture 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:15.940 or anything you can create on your own. 00:21:15.940 --> 00:21:17.580 And in Matthew 6, 00:21:19.019 --> 00:21:20.900 he tells us how to pursue this life. 00:21:20.980 --> 00:21:21.259 He says, 00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:23.840 seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness 00:21:23.840 --> 00:21:26.519 and all these things will be added to you. 00:21:27.380 --> 00:21:28.559 This is the Christian therefore. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:31.820 Not accumulate first and then fit God in where it's convenient. 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:34.200 Not build your life first and then add Jesus in. 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:35.220 It's kind of a spiritual mention. 00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:37.259 It's seek first the kingdom. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.519 Let the reality of God's reign be the foundational fact 00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:42.920 that informs everything about how you organize your life. 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:45.600 Let the person and work of Jesus and what he's done in this world 00:21:45.600 --> 00:21:47.180 be your historical prologue. 00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:50.420 There's this incredible promise here when we start to embrace this 00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:52.279 that if we seek first the kingdom of God, 00:21:52.539 --> 00:21:53.900 we'll find it. 00:21:55.519 --> 00:21:56.320 Isn't that amazing? 00:21:57.360 --> 00:22:00.120 He promises us to find abundant life. 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:00.920 Now, 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:03.140 this is where definitions are important, right? 00:22:03.500 --> 00:22:04.820 Not an abundance of things, 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:06.380 not an abundance of money, 00:22:06.779 --> 00:22:09.160 not an abundance of whatever else you might want to fill in the blank. 00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:12.220 He promises an abundance of his very presence. 00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:17.820 Is that what we want though? 00:22:22.420 --> 00:22:23.320 Often I'll confess, 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:24.200 it's not. 00:22:24.300 --> 00:22:25.860 Sometimes I want a little more financial security. 00:22:26.420 --> 00:22:29.019 Sometimes I find a whole lot more security by my bank balance 00:22:29.019 --> 00:22:31.660 than I do from knowing that the almighty created universe 00:22:31.660 --> 00:22:33.580 is present with me and caring for me. 00:22:34.740 --> 00:22:36.100 How crazy is that? 00:22:36.099 --> 00:22:37.559 But if we're honest, 00:22:37.639 --> 00:22:40.779 we find comfort and security in all kinds of places 00:22:40.779 --> 00:22:42.799 and all of those, 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:43.859 if they're not in God, 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:45.119 are counterfeit places. 00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:46.879 They're temporary at best. 00:22:46.959 --> 00:22:48.139 They're destructive at worst 00:22:48.139 --> 00:22:50.559 because we were designed to live with God. 00:22:50.719 --> 00:22:52.659 We were designed to live for God 00:22:52.659 --> 00:22:55.539 and that's how God has wired every single one of us in here. 00:22:55.539 --> 00:22:59.720 Now the climax of this new historical prologue 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:00.500 that we're talking about 00:23:00.500 --> 00:23:01.740 is the resurrection of Jesus. 00:23:04.460 --> 00:23:06.539 It is what tells us who Christ is 00:23:06.539 --> 00:23:07.659 and what he's come to do. 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:09.159 Because he was resurrected, 00:23:09.579 --> 00:23:12.039 it's not just a happy ending to a sad story. 00:23:12.220 --> 00:23:15.200 It's the validation of everything Jesus said and did. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:17.159 It's God's public declaration 00:23:17.159 --> 00:23:19.839 in completely unambiguous terms 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:22.179 that life is to be found in Christ alone 00:23:22.179 --> 00:23:23.639 and every single one of his teachings 00:23:23.639 --> 00:23:25.159 is to be taken with authority. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:27.819 And there's credible comfort in that. 00:23:28.179 --> 00:23:29.899 Let me read you the words of John Chrysostom, 00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:31.659 who's a great preacher in the fourth century. 00:23:32.779 --> 00:23:33.399 He said, 00:23:33.480 --> 00:23:36.740 Let no one mourn that he hath fallen again and again, 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.899 for forgiveness hath risen from the grave. 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:41.559 Let no one fear death, 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:43.919 for the death of our Savior hath set us free. 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:46.579 He hath destroyed death by undergoing death. 00:23:46.579 --> 00:23:49.980 He who descended into Hades laid waste to it. 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:51.659 Incredible phrase. 00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:54.740 He who descended into Hades laid waste to it. 00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:56.399 He defeated death. 00:23:56.939 --> 00:23:59.259 There is no greater security that you can have 00:23:59.259 --> 00:24:00.480 than to be in his presence 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:02.399 and have his transforming power in your life. 00:24:02.740 --> 00:24:04.639 That is eternal security, 00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:05.859 eternal power, 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:07.000 eternal love, 00:24:07.159 --> 00:24:08.139 unconditional grace. 00:24:08.319 --> 00:24:09.839 These are all the things that are on offer 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:11.279 to all of us every single day. 00:24:12.619 --> 00:24:14.079 What Jesus did in the resurrection 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:16.199 was begin to put things right in our world 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:17.860 that in defeating death, 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:19.660 he is teaching us and showing us 00:24:19.660 --> 00:24:21.160 what it looks like to pursue life. 00:24:21.539 --> 00:24:22.940 It's kind of the deepest seal 00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:24.259 of the covenant promise with God 00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:25.180 because God says, 00:24:25.539 --> 00:24:26.400 I will be with you, 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:27.880 went all the way to the grave 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:29.319 to prove that he will be with us, 00:24:29.500 --> 00:24:31.059 took all the brokenness of the world, 00:24:31.180 --> 00:24:32.440 all of our own brokenness and sin, 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:34.480 all of our rebellion upon himself 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:36.819 and gave us love and adoption in its place. 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:39.259 He's with you. 00:24:40.059 --> 00:24:41.120 Sealed it even more, right? 00:24:41.180 --> 00:24:41.900 Because Jesus says, 00:24:41.980 --> 00:24:42.620 When I go, 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:44.299 it'll be better for you 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:45.359 because I'm sending the Holy Spirit 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.240 to indwell your heart. 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:49.000 The Holy Spirit 00:24:49.000 --> 00:24:50.919 is a more powerful gift from God 00:24:50.919 --> 00:24:52.639 than the physical presence of Jesus on earth 00:24:52.639 --> 00:24:53.200 is what he's teaching. 00:24:53.799 --> 00:24:54.799 That's another crazy one. 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:56.259 Do you believe that? 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:57.779 The Spirit enables you 00:24:57.779 --> 00:24:59.220 to daily commune with God. 00:24:59.659 --> 00:25:01.680 The Spirit connects you continually 00:25:01.680 --> 00:25:03.379 to the finished work of Jesus Christ. 00:25:04.339 --> 00:25:05.680 The resurrection was a declaration 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:06.740 that death has been defeated, 00:25:07.399 --> 00:25:09.359 but the Holy Spirit 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:10.559 is the daily assurance 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:12.159 and confidence that God gives us. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.120 N.T. Wright has a beautiful book 00:25:14.120 --> 00:25:15.200 called Surprised by Hope. 00:25:15.300 --> 00:25:15.820 He says this, 00:25:16.560 --> 00:25:17.920 The resurrection was not simply 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.080 the resuscitation of a corpse. 00:25:20.440 --> 00:25:22.120 It was the beginning of the new creation 00:25:22.120 --> 00:25:23.340 breaking into the old one, 00:25:23.480 --> 00:25:25.240 the first day of the new world. 00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:26.759 And what Wright's getting at 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:27.840 is that the entire New Testament 00:25:27.840 --> 00:25:29.779 drives that over and over and over again, 00:25:29.800 --> 00:25:30.440 that the resurrection 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:31.860 is not a spiritual metaphor 00:25:31.860 --> 00:25:32.600 for a new beginning. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:34.600 It's an actual event in history 00:25:34.600 --> 00:25:37.080 that restructured all of reality. 00:25:37.080 --> 00:25:38.800 A body that was genuinely, 00:25:39.060 --> 00:25:40.000 verifiably dead 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.279 on the third day rose, 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:44.180 alive in a transformed, 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:46.200 glorified, indestructible form, 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:47.940 and the implications of that event 00:25:47.940 --> 00:25:49.579 of what changed all of world history. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:51.839 The resurrection is true, 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:53.079 and because the resurrection is true, 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:54.660 that has to be our therefore. 00:25:54.980 --> 00:25:58.460 That has to be our historical prologue. 00:25:58.619 --> 00:25:59.740 Not that there was a God 00:25:59.740 --> 00:26:00.920 that once did some cool things 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:01.740 for an ancient people 00:26:01.740 --> 00:26:02.539 in the Middle East, 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:03.920 but there is a God 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:04.779 who created the world 00:26:04.779 --> 00:26:06.119 and then entered into it 00:26:06.119 --> 00:26:06.859 as a human being, 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:08.579 died for its sin and rebellion, 00:26:08.579 --> 00:26:10.879 and rose again to begin its renewal. 00:26:11.859 --> 00:26:12.859 That's the truth, 00:26:13.099 --> 00:26:14.079 the foundational truth. 00:26:14.179 --> 00:26:15.379 There's nothing more true 00:26:15.379 --> 00:26:16.220 in our world than that. 00:26:16.819 --> 00:26:18.059 That's the foundational reality 00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:19.879 that every life needs to be built on. 00:26:19.939 --> 00:26:20.799 My life, your life, 00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:21.799 everyone's life. 00:26:22.139 --> 00:26:22.919 Because the resurrection 00:26:22.919 --> 00:26:23.699 is not merely 00:26:23.699 --> 00:26:25.059 a different set of beliefs. 00:26:25.259 --> 00:26:27.039 It's a new anchor for a new life, 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:28.199 and it's the only authority, 00:26:28.299 --> 00:26:29.179 the final authority, 00:26:29.339 --> 00:26:31.059 to appeal to in all things. 00:26:31.980 --> 00:26:33.419 When God raised Jesus from the dead, 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:35.079 he declared that the life 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:36.980 available to you is real, 00:26:36.980 --> 00:26:38.140 that his righteousness 00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:39.680 was accepted on our behalf, 00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:40.980 and that human existence 00:26:40.980 --> 00:26:42.259 looks like being conformed 00:26:42.259 --> 00:26:42.940 into Christ's image. 00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:44.819 And that's not just a future hope, 00:26:44.960 --> 00:26:46.059 it's a present reality. 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:47.660 So when the Apostle Paul says 00:26:47.660 --> 00:26:48.279 in Romans 6 00:26:48.279 --> 00:26:48.980 that we are baptized 00:26:48.980 --> 00:26:50.000 into Christ's death 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:50.759 and raised with him 00:26:50.759 --> 00:26:51.519 in a newness of life, 00:26:51.660 --> 00:26:53.559 he means that this resurrection life, 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:54.799 this indestructible life 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:56.059 that no grave could hold, 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:57.620 is now available to you 00:26:57.620 --> 00:26:58.480 and at work in you. 00:26:58.539 --> 00:26:59.120 It's not a metaphor. 00:26:59.620 --> 00:27:00.860 It's an historical promise. 00:27:01.339 --> 00:27:01.460 Right? 00:27:01.500 --> 00:27:02.720 It's not just an inspirational concept. 00:27:02.860 --> 00:27:03.839 It's the almighty 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:04.700 creator of the universe 00:27:04.700 --> 00:27:06.259 raised Jesus from the dead, 00:27:07.059 --> 00:27:08.220 then connected you to Jesus, 00:27:08.339 --> 00:27:08.960 then empowered you 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:09.619 with his Holy Spirit, 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:11.200 and that's your daily reality 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:11.700 right now. 00:27:12.119 --> 00:27:13.240 The resurrection doesn't just 00:27:13.240 --> 00:27:14.980 promise like life after death, 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:16.779 it promises a new 00:27:16.779 --> 00:27:17.460 and abundant life 00:27:17.460 --> 00:27:18.220 that begins now. 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:19.559 So that when Jesus says 00:27:19.559 --> 00:27:20.299 that I am the way 00:27:20.299 --> 00:27:20.859 and the truth 00:27:20.859 --> 00:27:21.500 and the life, 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:22.500 that is what we can 00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:24.039 hold on to right now. 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:26.660 Dorothy Sayers again 00:27:26.660 --> 00:27:27.359 in the greatest drama 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:27.920 ever stage. 00:27:28.779 --> 00:27:29.640 If the thing happened, 00:27:29.700 --> 00:27:30.160 the resurrection, 00:27:30.619 --> 00:27:31.940 it was the central event 00:27:31.940 --> 00:27:33.460 in the history of the earth. 00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:34.740 If it did not happen, 00:27:34.740 --> 00:27:36.440 not one word of the New Testament 00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:37.059 is worth reading. 00:27:38.599 --> 00:27:38.960 Right? 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:39.880 So if Jesus wasn't 00:27:39.880 --> 00:27:40.440 raised from the dead, 00:27:40.539 --> 00:27:41.380 you guys should sleep in 00:27:41.380 --> 00:27:41.779 on Sunday. 00:27:42.579 --> 00:27:43.599 But if he was raised 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:44.039 from the dead, 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:45.660 then you have to restructure 00:27:45.660 --> 00:27:46.980 everything about your life 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:48.120 and beliefs on the basis of it. 00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:49.920 It's an all-in proposition. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:51.200 It's not just a little bit 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:52.000 of thing here and there 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:52.579 that you kind of just 00:27:52.579 --> 00:27:53.740 add a little bit in. 00:27:53.940 --> 00:27:54.779 That's not Christianity. 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:55.700 Christianity is 00:27:55.700 --> 00:27:56.740 that Jesus Christ 00:27:56.740 --> 00:27:57.420 was raised from the dead 00:27:57.420 --> 00:27:58.380 and all of life 00:27:58.380 --> 00:27:59.099 is found in him. 00:27:59.500 --> 00:28:00.559 Not some of your life, 00:28:01.299 --> 00:28:02.059 all of your life 00:28:02.059 --> 00:28:02.680 is found in him. 00:28:02.839 --> 00:28:03.720 He has to restructure 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:04.539 every motivation. 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:05.339 He has to restructure 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:06.400 everything we do. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:08.200 Every goal we strive after. 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:09.240 Every word that comes up 00:28:09.240 --> 00:28:09.579 in our mouth 00:28:09.579 --> 00:28:10.900 is supposed to be informed 00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:12.200 by and empowered by 00:28:12.200 --> 00:28:13.400 the truth of the resurrection 00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:14.200 of who Jesus is. 00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:16.120 Jesus has to be our therefore 00:28:16.120 --> 00:28:17.559 for absolutely everything 00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:18.160 in our lives. 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:19.680 This is our new 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:20.519 historical prologue 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:21.660 that when I think about my life 00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:22.519 and I rehearse it, 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:24.079 I think back to who Jesus is 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:24.680 and what he's done. 00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:26.319 There's this beautiful pattern 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:27.700 we have in Scripture, 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:28.400 again, of covenant 00:28:28.400 --> 00:28:30.940 where there's this preamble, 00:28:31.019 --> 00:28:31.700 the announcing of the 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:32.500 great name of the king. 00:28:32.500 --> 00:28:33.039 That's God. 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:34.019 I am the Lord, your God. 00:28:35.099 --> 00:28:36.059 And then there's 00:28:36.059 --> 00:28:37.599 the historical prologue. 00:28:37.700 --> 00:28:38.740 This is how I've related to you. 00:28:38.779 --> 00:28:39.799 This is who I am to you. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:41.200 Then there's the stipulations. 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:41.839 This is what life 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:42.779 with me looks like. 00:28:43.140 --> 00:28:44.440 Then there's the laying out 00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:44.940 of the curses 00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:45.720 and the blessings. 00:28:45.839 --> 00:28:46.339 Here's what life 00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:47.319 with me looks like. 00:28:47.559 --> 00:28:48.160 Here's what life 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:49.160 when you reject me 00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:49.619 looks like. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:51.319 It's incredibly, 00:28:51.859 --> 00:28:53.599 it's relational though, right? 00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:54.839 It's God telling you, 00:28:55.099 --> 00:28:55.859 this is what life 00:28:55.859 --> 00:28:56.519 with me looks like. 00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:57.519 Sometimes we read 00:28:57.519 --> 00:28:58.220 the warning passages 00:28:58.220 --> 00:28:58.680 in Scripture 00:28:58.680 --> 00:28:59.619 and they seem a bit harsh, 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:00.519 but if you put them 00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:00.980 in the context 00:29:00.980 --> 00:29:02.220 of relationship and family, 00:29:02.759 --> 00:29:04.019 what parent in here 00:29:04.019 --> 00:29:05.599 wouldn't throw your body 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:07.759 in the way of your child 00:29:07.759 --> 00:29:08.740 that was headed off 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:09.539 to do something destructive? 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:11.220 Right? 00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:12.500 What parent doesn't hold 00:29:12.500 --> 00:29:13.720 their young child's hand 00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:14.579 across the street? 00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:15.759 What parent doesn't 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:16.819 harshly warn them 00:29:16.819 --> 00:29:17.559 or rebuke them 00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:18.019 when they're going to go 00:29:18.019 --> 00:29:18.579 do something destructive, 00:29:18.680 --> 00:29:18.819 right? 00:29:18.940 --> 00:29:20.319 All God's trying to do 00:29:20.319 --> 00:29:21.440 is to get us to understand 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:22.299 that he loves us 00:29:22.299 --> 00:29:23.160 and he's going to continue 00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:24.039 to pursue us 00:29:24.039 --> 00:29:25.759 and that he is there for us 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:26.759 and he's going to warn us 00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:27.420 when he needs to be warned, 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:28.160 he's going to encourage us 00:29:28.160 --> 00:29:28.860 when he needs to be encouraged 00:29:28.859 --> 00:29:29.539 because that's what 00:29:29.539 --> 00:29:30.579 real relationship is. 00:29:31.379 --> 00:29:32.319 It's not platitudes. 00:29:34.619 --> 00:29:35.339 Jesus says, 00:29:35.619 --> 00:29:36.579 come to me all you 00:29:36.579 --> 00:29:37.459 who are weary 00:29:37.459 --> 00:29:38.379 and heavy laden 00:29:38.379 --> 00:29:39.679 and I will give you rest. 00:29:40.199 --> 00:29:40.979 Jesus doesn't say, 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:41.599 try harder 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:42.599 and someday you'll make it. 00:29:42.879 --> 00:29:43.479 Try harder 00:29:43.479 --> 00:29:44.439 and someday you'll earn it. 00:29:44.459 --> 00:29:44.859 He just says, 00:29:44.939 --> 00:29:45.199 come. 00:29:46.259 --> 00:29:46.879 And come to me 00:29:46.879 --> 00:29:47.419 if you're weary 00:29:47.419 --> 00:29:48.779 and I will give you rest. 00:29:49.199 --> 00:29:49.979 That's the promise 00:29:49.979 --> 00:29:50.679 that God has put 00:29:50.679 --> 00:29:51.379 before us today. 00:29:52.139 --> 00:29:52.819 Moses said 00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:53.959 that God is your life. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:54.719 Jesus says, 00:29:54.859 --> 00:29:56.259 I am the way 00:29:56.259 --> 00:29:57.139 and the truth 00:29:57.139 --> 00:29:57.839 and the life. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:29:59.539 He is risen. 00:29:59.679 --> 00:30:00.419 He is Lord 00:30:00.419 --> 00:30:01.419 and the invitation 00:30:01.419 --> 00:30:02.279 to come to him 00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:03.399 stands. 00:30:04.179 --> 00:30:04.799 This invitation 00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:06.000 has been transforming lives 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:07.259 for 2,000 years. 00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:08.459 The love of Jesus 00:30:08.459 --> 00:30:09.199 has transformed 00:30:09.199 --> 00:30:10.220 our entire world. 00:30:10.899 --> 00:30:11.859 The very idea 00:30:11.859 --> 00:30:12.720 that every human being 00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:13.699 is entitled to dignity 00:30:13.699 --> 00:30:14.779 and to worth 00:30:14.779 --> 00:30:15.559 and to honor 00:30:15.559 --> 00:30:16.220 and to love 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:17.519 only exists 00:30:17.519 --> 00:30:18.759 because Jesus walked the earth. 00:30:19.779 --> 00:30:21.240 Everything that our society 00:30:21.240 --> 00:30:22.480 holds beautiful 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:22.879 and true, 00:30:22.959 --> 00:30:23.159 whatever, 00:30:23.500 --> 00:30:24.779 only exists 00:30:24.779 --> 00:30:26.019 because Jesus walks the earth. 00:30:26.019 --> 00:30:27.159 That's just an historical fact. 00:30:28.659 --> 00:30:28.919 Now, 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:30.079 the question before us 00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:31.439 is what is your therefore? 00:30:31.819 --> 00:30:33.159 What historical prologue 00:30:33.159 --> 00:30:34.099 are you living out of 00:30:34.099 --> 00:30:35.939 and how would your life change 00:30:35.939 --> 00:30:37.039 if the resurrection 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:38.279 became the biggest therefore 00:30:38.279 --> 00:30:38.819 in your life? 00:30:39.419 --> 00:30:41.099 If the truth of who Jesus is 00:30:41.099 --> 00:30:42.519 shaped everything else about you? 00:30:43.939 --> 00:30:44.759 I'll begin, 00:30:44.959 --> 00:30:45.559 or I'll end rather 00:30:45.559 --> 00:30:46.480 where I began. 00:30:47.099 --> 00:30:48.099 There's this exhortation 00:30:48.099 --> 00:30:48.639 before us, 00:30:48.659 --> 00:30:49.740 this beautiful exhortation 00:30:49.740 --> 00:30:51.119 to choose life, 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:52.699 to choose Christ 00:30:52.699 --> 00:30:54.419 and to know 00:30:54.419 --> 00:30:55.359 that he has already 00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:56.019 chosen you. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:57.220 Let's pray. 00:30:57.220 --> 00:31:00.660 Heavenly Father, 00:31:00.740 --> 00:31:01.339 we thank you 00:31:01.339 --> 00:31:02.279 for your word. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:03.200 We thank you for Jesus. 00:31:04.039 --> 00:31:04.539 We thank you 00:31:04.539 --> 00:31:05.400 for the words of Moses, 00:31:05.620 --> 00:31:06.440 therefore choose life 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:07.000 to the Israelites 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:08.559 way back 3,000 years ago 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:09.680 and we thank you 00:31:09.680 --> 00:31:10.680 for the words of Jesus 00:31:10.680 --> 00:31:11.700 that tell us even today, 00:31:11.860 --> 00:31:12.839 come to me 00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:14.200 all who are weary 00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:16.120 and I will give you rest. 00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:18.240 I pray that every one of us 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:19.019 will find rest 00:31:19.019 --> 00:31:19.819 in Christ today 00:31:19.819 --> 00:31:20.460 in a deeper 00:31:20.460 --> 00:31:21.240 and fuller way. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:22.299 I pray that Jesus 00:31:22.299 --> 00:31:23.100 would be the therefore 00:31:23.100 --> 00:31:23.920 of our lives 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:24.559 and we would structure 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:25.200 everything around 00:31:25.200 --> 00:31:25.759 who he is 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:26.740 and that we would be 00:31:26.740 --> 00:31:27.619 eager to help others 00:31:27.619 --> 00:31:28.960 understand the incredible 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:30.240 hope and love 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:30.779 and forgiveness 00:31:30.779 --> 00:31:31.440 that's in Christ. 00:31:32.379 --> 00:31:33.480 We thank you for your word. 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:34.839 We thank you for this time together 00:31:34.839 --> 00:31:36.159 and we pray in Jesus' name. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:32:06.140 Thank you.