WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.719 We have been for 11 weeks working through a series on the 10 Commandments and we 00:00:07.719 --> 00:00:11.839 we finished tonight. Derek last week looked at the 10th Commandment and 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:18.920 tonight is a bit of an epilogue to the series. The modern modern person looks 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:24.199 at the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 and says that the 10 Commandments are rules 00:00:24.199 --> 00:00:31.119 that suffocate a person's freedom. They are a boundary, they take away freedom, 00:00:31.119 --> 00:00:34.879 they don't give it and the Bible comes and says the exact opposite and we said 00:00:34.879 --> 00:00:39.519 this from week one that the Bible comes and says the 10 Commandments are the law 00:00:39.519 --> 00:00:44.439 of perfect freedom and the reason for that, the reason the Bible can say that 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:50.039 that the 10 Commandments are freeing not restricting is because they reflect 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:56.920 to God's character. Now if you look at the first four of the 10 Commandments, the 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:04.159 table one of the law, they basically tell you to love God and God loves God 00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:08.000 better than anyone else does and if you look at the second table of the law 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:13.159 commandments five through ten it says basically to love people and God loves 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:18.280 people better than any people do. So God loves himself and God loves people. Table 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:25.480 one, table two, see the 10 Commandments reflects God's character and God, if God 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:30.760 exists and he does then that means that he has to be the most free being that 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:35.840 there is and true freedom, what is true freedom? Well we learn that when we look 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:41.240 at God true freedom is the ability to not be able to do some things, 00:01:41.240 --> 00:01:46.200 you know? There are things that God cannot do. God cannot cheat, God cannot 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:51.680 lie, God cannot blaspheme, God cannot be unfaithful, he can't do any of that. He's 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.520 not able and that means true freedom is not the ability to make choices as you 00:01:57.520 --> 00:02:03.400 wish. True freedom is the ability to be the very thing you're meant to be and 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:07.719 so when you look at the 10 Commandments you're being called, you're being asked, 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:12.039 not just to obey the 10 Commandments but to actually reflect God's character. 00:02:12.039 --> 00:02:18.799 True freedom, not restriction but freedom. Freedom is not choices, it's not the 00:02:18.799 --> 00:02:24.280 proliferation of choices, no it's the ability to be like God, to be the one 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:28.399 you were made to be. Okay so tonight you were made to be like God, that's the 00:02:28.399 --> 00:02:31.919 really the big picture, the big idea of the 10 Commandments to reflect God's 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:38.680 character and that is why Paul says this incredibly outrageous thing that he 00:02:38.680 --> 00:02:46.040 says in Ephesians 5 1, he says, imitate God and this is not an idea that we talk 00:02:46.040 --> 00:02:50.200 about very often, especially as Protestants, we don't speak about the 00:02:50.200 --> 00:02:56.319 imitation of God. It sounds dangerous, how could a human being imitate God and 00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:01.600 yet Ephesians 5 1 Paul says imitate God. So let's think about it, it's really the 00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:05.560 summary of the whole of the 10 Commandments. Immitate God, first you're 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:12.360 created to imitate God and then secondly, recreated to imitate God. Alright so 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:17.080 let's think about that, first created to imitate. Alright I just want to say and 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:21.719 point out this is a command, so you see it right there in Ephesians chapter 5 00:03:21.719 --> 00:03:29.199 verse 1, therefore be imitators of God. It's a command, the word to imitate here 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:36.560 is the Greek word mimesis and it means in English just to mimic, to copy, to 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:41.839 follow after and another way to translate it is to talk about models. 00:03:41.839 --> 00:03:48.319 So every single one of us grows up in this world and we need models, we need 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:53.039 people that we look at and recognize as role models in our lives and you come 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:56.879 across the Bible and you see that the Bible gives you lots of models in this 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:01.479 life. So if you were with us last week, last Sunday morning in Mark chapter 12 00:04:01.479 --> 00:04:07.599 Jesus pointed at a poor widow and said look at her, she follows God when she 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.359 gave her whole self so follow her. So we need models in this life, sometimes the 00:04:12.359 --> 00:04:16.279 Bible says David is a model, sometimes Ruth is a model, there's all sorts of 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:20.879 models across the Bible. Another way that the New Testament talks about this is 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:27.279 to use the Greek word icon. So icon is translated in your New Testament as 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:33.120 image but it can also be translated as model in a way, an image, a way of doing 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:38.240 something, something you can follow, something you can copy. I wonder who you 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:43.040 think are the biggest icons of Western history. I was thinking about this this 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:49.360 week. I think it's got to be Elvis Presley, I think it's got to be Princess 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:56.520 Diana maybe, Michael Jordan, someone might add Taylor Swift, you know, 00:04:56.520 --> 00:05:04.480 Leonel Messi, you would have your list, right? You would contradict my list. The 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:08.080 Bible comes and says that every single one of us needs models and the reason 00:05:08.080 --> 00:05:14.000 models, icons, that very literal Greek word exist, is because we were made to 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:19.319 mimic. We were made to copy, we were made to look at something and try to 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:25.560 image it ourselves. And the Bible looks at the icons of Western history and says 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:29.079 every one of these human examples, these human icons, they're great in their own 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:34.959 way but a true icon, a true object of mimicry, someone we're supposed to 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:39.680 follow, is only good. A human being is only good to follow is if they are 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:46.199 imitating God. That's what Paul says. Imitate God and really look to people, 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:51.360 look around and imitate those who are imitating God. And so Paul says something 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:57.319 unbelievable. He says, follow me, imitate me at one point in his letters as I 00:05:57.319 --> 00:06:02.360 imitate God. He says that. It's outrageous but he says this is exactly what 00:06:02.360 --> 00:06:06.719 we're made to mimic. We have to have people to look out and to follow and to 00:06:06.719 --> 00:06:12.079 mimic. Now how? Well verse one and two, he says imitate God and then you see in 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:17.359 verse two, walk in love as Christ loved us. And that means that he's taking this, 00:06:17.359 --> 00:06:24.839 making this a bit clearer. Verse one, imitate God. Verse two, as Christ Jesus 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:28.879 loved us. Now what he's doing there is saying to you, here's how you imitate 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:33.839 God more specifically. Imitate Jesus Christ. So if you want to know how to 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.319 imitate God, you look at the life of Jesus and you imitate Jesus's life. Verse 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:45.759 two, love like he loved. Now this is where it gets really dangerous. This is 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:50.480 where we have an instinct, maybe you have an instinct tonight, to push back and to 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:55.159 say, the imitation of Christ. There's been lots of books written with that 00:06:55.159 --> 00:07:00.159 title and it seems dangerous and there's a few reasons why. There have been three 00:07:00.159 --> 00:07:04.360 basic models in the history of Christianity for what it means to 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:09.040 imitate Jesus Christ and all of them have been one sided and that's why we 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:13.720 feel instinctively that this idea of imitating Jesus can be dangerous. The 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:17.920 first of these models that developed a few hundred years into the life of the 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:25.600 church was the ideal of becoming a martyr. And what happened here was people 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:32.360 looked at the Gospels and they said, look Jesus, Jesus takes his life, he 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:36.319 gives his life away in physical death, he suffers physically and that means the 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:42.040 best way in this life you can imitate Jesus is if you're willing and you take 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:44.800 it all the way to the point where you give your life away physically for him. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.000 And so there came a season in the church in church history where people were 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:54.920 chasing martyrdom. They were really seeking it and it created levels of 00:07:54.920 --> 00:07:57.840 Christians. You know you can only really be a you can only really have 00:07:57.840 --> 00:08:02.120 assurance that you're gonna go to heaven if you become a martyr and so people 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:06.480 chase after it and it created classes of Christians. Now we have something similar 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:11.600 in our day, you know there are normal Christians and then there are missionaries, 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:15.800 you know, and then there are missionaries and then there are the 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.439 missionaries that go to North Korea, right? There's classes, this is how the 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:24.160 idea of purgatory developed, you know there's levels. How can we really be sure 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:28.079 everybody did everybody only the martyr really deserves it, right? It's a 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.639 model, it's one-sided. It's an idea of imitation of Christ that 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:37.319 kind of missed it actually. Now there's a second way that's one-sided that came 00:08:37.319 --> 00:08:42.039 along and it transferred from the martyr to the monk and the monk looked at 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:45.559 Jesus's life and said well it's not really about his physical suffering by 00:08:45.559 --> 00:08:50.480 itself, it's about his solitude. So Jesus went out into the desert, remember for 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.879 40 days and he starved and so the monk said I need to do the same thing, I need 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:58.200 to go out into the desert, I need to starve, I need to take away the goods of 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.799 this life like Jesus, he was homeless, I have to be homeless and so they followed 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:05.320 his example in exactly the same ways and he said so that look there's normal 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:09.200 Christians and then there's the monk, there's classes and this is the real 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:13.639 imitation of Jesus. Now there's the martyr ideal, there's the monastic 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:16.679 ideal but then the third one that developed much more recently in our 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:23.759 history is the modern ideal and in the modern ideal people look at the 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:28.720 gospels, the modern person, the modern person looks at the gospels and says the 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:35.319 imitation of Christ, that's it. Jesus, you know the gospel is not good news, the 00:09:35.319 --> 00:09:41.399 gospel is this, that Jesus is my example. Jesus came into the world so that I could 00:09:41.399 --> 00:09:44.559 imitate him, so that I could follow him as an example. You see the modern 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:49.319 rationalist looks and says Jesus is not my savior, he is my example and so 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:53.920 Christianity is nothing but imitation. If I imitate Jesus, he'll teach me how to 00:09:53.920 --> 00:09:59.360 have the best life, how to be a good person, how to be ethical, so Jesus is a 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:05.000 great ethical example but he's not a savior. Now we've got these three models 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:08.640 of imitation throughout world history, church history and that's why people get 00:10:08.640 --> 00:10:13.200 nervous about this idea of the imitation of Christ and yet we come to 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:19.759 Ephesians 5.1 and Paul says imitate God and here's how, imitate Jesus and so we've 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:24.160 got to say, we've got to say okay what do you mean and so the Reformation came 00:10:24.160 --> 00:10:29.240 along and says this, let's just lay it out, he says, they said look here's what 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:34.840 the Bible teaches, the Bible says Jesus can only be your example, you can only 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:40.520 imitate Jesus if he is first your redeemer. He has to be your redeemer if 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:44.919 you want him to be your example and if he is your redeemer then he also has 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:50.519 become your example and so if you look tonight to Jesus as redeemer, Paul comes 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:56.319 along and says now imitate him, imitate him but how? Before we get to that let me 00:10:56.319 --> 00:11:01.279 just say where's Paul getting this? Paul is getting this I think from Genesis 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:05.840 chapter 1, Genesis chapter 1 that's the very beginning by the way, verses 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:13.600 26 to 28 where God makes us and he says I've created you in my image, in my 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:18.920 likeness, it's the very same idea. God said I created you in my image so you're 00:11:18.920 --> 00:11:23.600 made to image God, you're made to imitate God, it's the very very same 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:29.800 notion. One way to think about it is that to imitate God means to be like a 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:36.959 mirror, an image, to image something means that you are a living mirror. Okay 00:11:36.959 --> 00:11:42.199 what, how does a mirror work? I don't really know to be honest but you can take 00:11:42.199 --> 00:11:47.599 a mirror and I know this that whatever you stand a mirror in front of the mirror 00:11:47.599 --> 00:11:52.519 reflects the thing that it's facing right? You stand in front of a mirror, a 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.839 mirror reflects you, you put a mirror in front of anything else and the mirror is 00:11:56.840 --> 00:12:03.720 going to reflect that thing. God says in the beginning you were made to image, to 00:12:03.720 --> 00:12:12.840 reflect, to mimic, to mirror God, made in God's image to image God, you're made to 00:12:12.840 --> 00:12:19.040 mimic, you're made to look at models and copy and that means that you're always 00:12:19.040 --> 00:12:23.920 in life going to put your heart, the mirror of your heart, you are a mirror, 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:26.959 you're a walking mirror in front of something and whatever it is that you give 00:12:26.959 --> 00:12:32.439 your attention to most, that you're most attuned to, you will begin to reflect. 00:12:32.439 --> 00:12:37.719 You're a living mirror, a walking mirror, you have to mimic, you have to image, you 00:12:37.719 --> 00:12:42.599 have to copy, you can't help but do it, it's in our very DNA, it's down in the 00:12:42.599 --> 00:12:47.519 depths of our bones. That's why the very first commandment is, God says at the 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:52.399 beginning, have no other gods before me, right? Because if you, the mirror of your 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:56.799 heart stands and is most attuned to anything creaturely, if that's the thing 00:12:56.799 --> 00:13:01.079 you focus on most, most you will start to image it, you'll start to reflect it, 00:13:01.079 --> 00:13:05.840 you'll start to become it. You worship whatever you're thinking about the most, 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:10.639 you worship whatever your mind is most attuned to, your heart is most attuned to 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:15.079 and whatever you worship, you become like that thing. That's a universal reality. 00:13:15.079 --> 00:13:21.000 Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great writer and poet, he says, he wrote about this, he 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:25.759 said this, a person will worship something, we may think our tribute is 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:31.120 paid in secret, but it will come out. That which dominates our imagination and 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:35.759 our thoughts, that, sorry let me read that again, that which dominates our 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:39.240 imagination and our thoughts will determine our loves and our character. 00:13:39.240 --> 00:13:43.960 Therefore, it requires us to be careful what we worship, for what we are 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:49.799 worshiping we are becoming, he said. Now Charles Darwin, in late in his life he 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:54.120 wrote an autobiography, he wrote about his own story and he says something 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:58.879 really interesting about this. He talks about in his autobiography how he used 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:08.479 to love poetry and music and how he used to be, he used to reflect often on the 00:14:08.479 --> 00:14:14.159 world of his own emotions and how he was attuned to his own psychology and he 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:17.519 writes about how he loved to read Shakespeare and the beautiful lines of 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:23.039 Shakespeare. He says I took great pleasure in poetry and in Shakespeare, but 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:29.559 then he writes 20 to 30 years later I cannot read a line of it, it nauseates 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:37.639 me, why? And he talks about this, he says I spent 30 years in deep analytical 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:45.439 scientific obsession day in and day out with collecting facts and analyzing 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:52.000 them. He says my mind has become a machine for grinding general laws out of 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:59.800 large collections of data and he says I've lost my taste for poetry, I've lost 00:14:59.800 --> 00:15:05.160 my taste for music, I've lost my taste for the world of the emotions and he says 00:15:05.160 --> 00:15:10.760 it's because I stared at scientific data day in and day out from the time I 00:15:10.760 --> 00:15:15.320 woke up to the time I went to bed for 30 years and now he says the loss 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:20.879 of this ability to read poetry, to delight in music, he says is the loss of 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:26.560 happiness, it was injurious to my moral character in fibrling to the moral part 00:15:26.560 --> 00:15:30.760 of my character. Now you see what he's saying, you got to get underneath it a 00:15:30.760 --> 00:15:33.960 little bit to connect it with what we're talking about, he says you know he 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:37.920 regrets it, he's regretting it and he's saying he's realizing that he's saying I 00:15:37.920 --> 00:15:44.600 spent my entire life worshiping science, that's all I did. Now science is a very 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:49.320 good thing but he's realizing he wasn't balanced, he put his heart in 00:15:49.320 --> 00:15:53.279 front of scientific data all day all the time and it's not just that he did 00:15:53.279 --> 00:15:57.480 science, he became it, he became a machine, he couldn't do anything else, it's 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:01.120 all his mind could think about, you see whatever you are standing in front of 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:08.759 most often, whatever your heart is looking at, attuned to, you will become, you 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:13.720 will reflect it until you become it, you become what you worship, it's an age old 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:19.120 truth. Now that means here that Paul is saying you're not being invited to 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:25.879 imitate, you do imitate, you do mimic, you do image, you have to, the question is 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:32.040 who, what, what is it that your heart is most attuned to, most standing in front 00:16:32.040 --> 00:16:37.040 of most often, that is the very thing that you're becoming. Now secondly that 00:16:37.040 --> 00:16:42.480 means we need to be recreated in order to imitate rightly, we need to be recreated 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:48.399 in order to grow in the imitation of God. How do we do it? Let me give you two as 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:54.279 and we'll be done. They're right here in what Paul says and here they are. In verse 00:16:54.279 --> 00:17:01.680 one and two Paul says be an imitator of God and that means imitate Jesus Christ. 00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:07.960 How? The first thing we need is, here's the first thing, a realist self- 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:13.559 understanding, okay, a realist self-understanding. Just before Ephesians 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:19.319 five one and two, Paul talks about putting away the old self, being honest 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:23.960 about the condition of your heart, being honest about what you're worshiping in 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:27.880 this life. He says you got to put away the old self and we need a realist self 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:33.840 understanding if we're gonna ever be imitators of God. There are two main ways 00:17:33.840 --> 00:17:37.480 in other words that you can look at the Ten Commandments, let's bring it back to 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:40.039 the Ten Commandments. There are two main ways, you can look at the Ten Commandments 00:17:40.039 --> 00:17:43.920 and be wrong, not really see what the Bible is trying to do with the Ten 00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:47.400 Commandments. Here's the first way, you can look at the Ten Commandments after 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:52.440 this 11 weeks we've been going through it and you can say you know I haven't 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:59.279 always been a perfect person, I know that. I've made mistakes but I'm not a liar 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:04.160 and I'm not a cheater and I'm not committed adultery and I'm not murdered. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:10.800 I don't steal, you know, I don't watch TikTok videos at work. I don't steal time 00:18:10.800 --> 00:18:15.840 from my employer, you know, I'm generally speaking a pretty good person and I saw 00:18:15.840 --> 00:18:21.560 one pastor call this, this is a Saint Nick theology, right, because you look 00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:25.519 at the Ten Commandments and you say I want to obey the Ten Commandments, I want 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:30.560 to be a good person and I want to be a good person for goodness sake. It's good 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:35.039 to be good, it's good to be moral, it's good to chase after goodness for goodness 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:38.039 sake, you know, that's a wrong way of looking at the Ten Commandments, right, 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:45.039 in other words you say you know you better watch out, you better not cry, you 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:49.240 know, he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, so you better 00:18:49.240 --> 00:18:52.359 be good for goodness sake. You read the Ten Commandments and you say I want to be 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:55.919 good for goodness sake, I want to be moral, I want to be a good person, that's 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:02.720 Saint Nick theology and you begin to say is that God or Santa, right, and you see 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:07.400 the first wrong way to look at the Ten Commandments is say I was made, here it is, 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:14.759 let me make it simpler, I was made to be good, I was made to be a moral person and 00:19:14.759 --> 00:19:19.039 Paul's coming and saying no the Ten Commandments don't exist because they're 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:23.680 telling you you were made to be a moral person, a good person, they tell you you 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:29.920 were made to imitate the God who made you, you know you don't exist for goodness 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:33.519 sake, not at all, you exist for something much greater than goodness sake, but for 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:37.759 God's sake you're made to imitate the living God, the God who made you, see, now 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:42.480 there's a second way to be wrong about the Ten Commandments and this is where 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:47.200 imitation can be dangerous, this idea, here's why, it's the rich young ruler 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:53.279 understanding of the Ten Commandments, so in Matthew chapter 19 Jesus meets with 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:58.960 this rich young ruler and he says to the rich young ruler, the rich young ruler 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:02.399 says what must I do to get eternal life and he says if you want to have eternal 00:20:02.399 --> 00:20:06.039 life you've got to obey all the commandments, all ten of the commandments 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:11.039 and the rich young ruler says you know well I've never murdered 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:14.319 anybody, I've never, he goes through the list and said and he said I think I'm 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:20.279 okay, I followed all the commandments from my youth and so Jesus says, Jesus says 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:26.160 now go and give away all your possessions to the poor and follow me, now the rich 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:31.879 young ruler had asked what must I do to get eternal life, you see he looked at 00:20:31.879 --> 00:20:35.399 the Ten Commandments and it wasn't I want to be good for goodness sake, it was I 00:20:35.399 --> 00:20:40.599 want to get to heaven for goodness sake, what must, how did the Ten 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:44.920 Commandments get me to heaven, that's, it's for heaven's sake that I'm here to 00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:49.359 obey the Ten Commandments and it's almost as if Jesus gives into that, Jesus 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.559 says yeah obey the Ten Commandments and you will and you say this isn't the 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:57.399 gospel that I've been reading until Jesus says now go give away all your 00:20:57.399 --> 00:21:01.039 possessions to the poor and come and follow me and you realize what Jesus was 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:04.959 doing, you know this guy said I've obeyed all ten of the Ten Commandments and he 00:21:04.959 --> 00:21:09.839 says well go give away your possessions and he can't do it, why? Jesus is trying 00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:15.039 to get him to see he never got past command number one, so you don't have 00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:18.919 any other gods before the Lord, you see this rich young ruler had been 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:24.800 staring at money, at stuff his whole life and that's why he's named rich young 00:21:24.800 --> 00:21:30.080 ruler, his name is wealth, his name is stuff, his name is material, you see he 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:35.480 had let the mirror of his heart stand in front of stuff for so long he had become 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:40.640 stuff and Jesus is trying to say you don't see your need, you never got past 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:44.800 commandment number one, now look here's the way to grow into imitating God, you've 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:49.720 got to be a realist, you've got to say tonight the first thing the Ten Commandments 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:56.279 do is show me I never got past commandment number one, I never did, you 00:21:56.279 --> 00:22:02.599 show I've looked at things in this life, I've pointed my heart at stuff, at 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:07.879 creaturely things and I've they've become my God, I never got past commandment 00:22:07.879 --> 00:22:13.119 number one at all, I know I have a need, I can't imitate God, I never did, I never 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:18.000 did, you've got to be a realist, one theologian talks about this, he says 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.679 that you know the modern person looks and he says Jesus is a really great 00:22:21.679 --> 00:22:26.479 example and then he says you know the modern person says Jesus I read the 00:22:26.479 --> 00:22:30.079 Gospels I see what a great example Jesus is, this is what it looks like to obey 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.879 the Ten Commandments, this is who I want to be and the theologian says go and try 00:22:33.879 --> 00:22:40.599 it, give it a shot, try to go and imitate Jesus and you'll immediately 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:46.119 become a realist about yourself and he goes on he says Jesus Christ felt his 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:51.439 emotions deeper than the rest of us, his intellect was stronger than ours, his will 00:22:51.439 --> 00:22:56.319 was unshaken in the face of all temptation and he says to see Jesus 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:05.199 truly is to experience judgment on our conscience, to know our powerlessness, to 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:11.759 truly imitate him indeed if he is only an example to you he comes to judge you 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:18.120 and not to save you, only when we know him as redeemer or do we dare look at 00:23:18.120 --> 00:23:23.440 him, do we ever dare look at him and consider him our example, he says that 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.160 when you really look at Jesus and you say oh I want to imitate him you become 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:33.120 a realist, you know that in that moment you're judged that that's the first thing 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.919 the Ten Commandments come to teach you, what does Paul say here? Paul says 00:23:36.919 --> 00:23:42.599 Jesus Christ came to give himself up in verse 2 as a fragrant offering and 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:48.719 sacrifice to God, now let's just put it plainly as this theologian did, he says 00:23:48.719 --> 00:23:52.199 there is no way you are ever gonna become what you were truly made to be an 00:23:52.199 --> 00:23:56.399 imitator of God, an imitator of Jesus unless tonight you know Jesus Christ as 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:03.680 your redeemer first, you have to come to him tonight as your redeemer no matter 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.080 how many times you have tonight is the night to come to him and say Jesus 00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:11.080 you're my redeemer if you want to step out tomorrow and become he be your 00:24:11.080 --> 00:24:17.240 living example, Jesus Christ gave himself up as a fragrant offering for you that 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:22.920 means Jesus Christ was judged in your place, when you when you look at his life 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:27.440 you say I deserve judgment, when you look at the Ten Commandments you have to 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:31.320 say I deserve judgment I'm a realist I never got past commandment number one 00:24:31.320 --> 00:24:37.320 and only then can you see that the judge who was judged in your place has come 00:24:37.320 --> 00:24:44.039 to be your redeemer, have you ever been to camera obscura across the way here I 00:24:44.039 --> 00:24:50.759 took the kids to camera obscura last Christmas time and you know you go in 00:24:50.759 --> 00:24:54.680 there and they have all these funhouse mirrors and they're all they're all 00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:59.240 curved right and you they they show you you know they show you who you really 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:05.839 are no well actually yes right a funhouse mirror are you a realist about 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:10.839 yourself your heart is a funhouse mirror it's meant to reflect the living God and 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:16.039 it's all curved and bent and curved in on itself and pointing back at you you've 00:25:16.039 --> 00:25:20.720 replaced them with looking at all sorts of your heart as a tune to all sorts of 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:26.440 other things and you've become them we're made to be perfectly flat beautiful 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:33.559 mirrors images of God and we're funhouse mirrors Jesus Christ came to be judged in 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:38.640 your place for the fact that you are bent in on yourself curved in facing the 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:45.120 wrong direction now that means lastly and we'll close with this that means that 00:25:45.120 --> 00:25:49.519 if you know Jesus Christ is your redeemer tonight you can move forward from 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:54.200 here growing in this idea of the imitation of God with an adopted 00:25:54.200 --> 00:25:58.319 self-understanding here's the very last thing you see this in verses in verse 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:03.559 one he says be imitator of God verse one imitate Jesus verse two and right in 00:26:03.559 --> 00:26:11.119 between there's that little clause as beloved children so he reframes this 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:15.440 idea of imitation this is what the three models of imitation martyr monk and 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:20.960 modern rationalists all missed and that's this idea that in order to truly 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:26.400 imitate God imitate Christ you've got to know yourself to be adopted adopted 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:31.279 into his family a son or a daughter of the living King and here's the last thing 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:36.200 the only way that you can imitate God is if he is your father not your judge and 00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:42.840 that means when you come to Christ as redeemer here's the big idea you now 00:26:42.839 --> 00:26:48.759 have access to God how do you grow in the imitation of God the imitation of 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:54.919 Christ and it's all about this you now redeemed by Jesus have access to God 00:26:54.919 --> 00:27:03.279 access think about the way a child has access to their father you know 00:27:03.279 --> 00:27:09.519 sometimes sometimes in the middle of the night children get thirsty they 00:27:09.519 --> 00:27:13.960 forgot to bring water to their bedside and they wake up in the middle of the 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:18.879 night and their mouth is parched and they want a drink I've had that happen 00:27:18.879 --> 00:27:23.720 once or twice and you know what happens you're asleep and a child comes and 00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:29.759 they said they wake you up and say I'm so thirsty now imagine the access that a 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:35.079 child has to their dad to their mom you know when a little child comes and says 00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:40.240 I'm thirsty a mom and a dad say you know they might do it slightly reluctantly 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:44.679 but they get up and they go and they get that child water now if you're if 00:27:44.679 --> 00:27:50.039 your colleague if your employer if your employee at 3 a.m. knocked on your 00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:54.039 front door and said you know what I woke up in the middle of the night and I was 00:27:54.039 --> 00:28:00.159 so thirsty and I just thought maybe you could help me get some water you know 00:28:00.159 --> 00:28:04.279 you might do it because it's such a strange encounter at 3 a.m. you might 00:28:04.279 --> 00:28:07.920 go to the kitchen and bring this one but you say what are you doing here you know 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:13.160 status is everything you say you do not have the status to come to my house at 00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:17.879 3 a.m. and ask me for water the there's only a few little creep little people 00:28:17.879 --> 00:28:22.079 that can do that in all the world right and that's my children nobody else can 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:25.519 do that you see when when you look at the Jesus Christ and He's your Redeemer 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:31.000 you're adopted you have access you can come to God like a little child thirsty 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:35.359 in the middle of the night for water now look let's put it together Paul says in 00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:44.440 2 Corinthians 3 17 and 18 this is what he says the spirit of the Lord is freedom 00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:47.880 spirit of the Lord when you have the spirit of the Lord you have freedom and 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:54.160 then he says this you can come and behold God with an unveiled face you have 00:28:54.160 --> 00:29:00.599 access and you will be transformed into the image of the Lord from glory to 00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:04.119 glory by degree you see what he says he says when you have when you know 00:29:04.119 --> 00:29:08.639 yourself adopted you have access and when you have access you can come 00:29:08.639 --> 00:29:14.799 behold God face-to-face and this is then you will be transformed by degree in 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:18.959 this life you want to imitate God you want to become like Jesus it says come 00:29:18.959 --> 00:29:23.039 and behold the God that has given you access like a son like a daughter 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:26.399 daughter here's the secret you want to become like God you want to imitate God 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.600 become the one you were made to be like to imitate Jesus it says come and 00:29:30.600 --> 00:29:38.280 behold him approach him be face-to-face with him with God quantity time really 00:29:38.280 --> 00:29:43.480 is quality time spending time with the living God beholding him face-to-face 00:29:43.480 --> 00:29:50.400 it's worship that's the secret beholding God coming to him face-to-face I had two 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:56.000 illustrations to close only have time for one let me give you one there's a 00:29:56.000 --> 00:30:00.240 wonderful story a true story about I told this about a year ago but this 00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:03.640 you'll we're gonna keep hearing this illustration it's too good not to use 00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:10.400 on an annual basis a story of a man named Joseph Merrick you know the story 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:14.440 he was called he was called the elephant man in his time he lived in the 1880s 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:20.480 and 90s and he was an Englishman and he was born in the south of England and 00:30:20.480 --> 00:30:27.079 he was born with a disease that really disfigured his body in many ways he was 00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:32.319 born with tumors growths all over his body and he ended up being sold into a 00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:36.799 carnival show a traveling carnival you'd pay money to observe him in that 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:41.000 19th century all very true a movie's been made about him with Anthony Hopkins 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:46.319 and one of the things that happened is later in Joseph's life he got treated 00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:50.879 he was nearly beat to death by his carnival master and he got treated by a 00:30:50.879 --> 00:30:57.679 doctor in a hospital in London and the doctor eventually forms a relationship 00:30:57.679 --> 00:31:02.839 with Joseph and takes Joseph into his home and invites him over with his wife 00:31:02.839 --> 00:31:09.439 the doctor and his wife hosted Joseph for afternoon tea and Joseph Merrick the 00:31:09.439 --> 00:31:15.240 elephant man comes to afternoon tea and he's there and he shows the doctor and 00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:20.720 his wife a picture of his mother and it's his only possession he's got it the 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:26.319 clothes on his back he's got a little picture of his mom and he says the 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:30.160 doctors you know he's very curious he wants to see Joseph's mother he wants 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:34.200 to know you know is this disease something he inherited by genetics or is 00:31:34.200 --> 00:31:39.720 it just him and his mother did not have the same disease and the doctor says 00:31:39.720 --> 00:31:45.440 you know she's a she's a wonderful woman I'm sure and Joseph says well if only 00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:51.759 she could see me now amongst all these friends these friends the doctor and his 00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:57.920 wife he says maybe she would want me and so you see his mother had abandoned him 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:02.880 because of his disease and he said in this moment you know he had a friend he 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.880 had a he had a couple that loved him and he said if only she could see me now you 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:13.760 know if only she could see me now listen he needed a mother he did he needed a 00:32:13.760 --> 00:32:19.960 mother his mother if she would have stuck with him that would have that would 00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:27.560 have helped him so much but let me say this even his mother even his mother 00:32:27.560 --> 00:32:35.000 even the best of circumstances even the dearest of friendships could not fully 00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:42.400 and finally make him whole all right you were created let's come back to the 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:49.680 beginning you were created to image the God who made you and that means you were 00:32:49.680 --> 00:33:00.039 made above all else to behold the living God face to face you were made for God 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:05.039 and that means no matter what you faced in life and boy did Joseph have a hard 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:14.000 life the most important thing that we all need is to hear God say to you you're 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:19.639 my son you're my daughter Joseph needed that above all else he needed he needed 00:33:19.639 --> 00:33:26.319 to hear my son God the father say that to him my he needs you need more than 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:30.599 anything tonight just to hear God say to you my son my daughter and for you to 00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:36.919 behold him face to face and when you behold him you will take on his 00:33:36.919 --> 00:33:43.919 character the very thing you were made for let's pray together Lord we asked 00:33:43.919 --> 00:33:53.399 tonight that you would make us conformed to the image of the son which is just 00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:58.040 means to imitate Jesus and we give thanks tonight that no matter what our 00:33:58.040 --> 00:34:03.920 life situation and no matter how broken it's been that we can have tonight the 00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:12.599 thing we need above all and that's to be named adopted a status a status so 00:34:12.599 --> 00:34:18.320 precious to be able to come before you with total and utter access all because 00:34:18.320 --> 00:34:22.360 of our Redeemer Jesus and so as we close this Ten Commandment series we don't 00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:26.120 want to walk away thinking Lord that the Ten Commandments are all about our 00:34:26.120 --> 00:34:32.039 morality or our goodness or anything like that or even earning our way 00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:37.840 to heaven far be it we want to come tonight and know that the Ten Commandments 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:42.360 exist to show us what it looks like to be conformed to the image of the one we 00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:47.840 were made who we were made for and by and unto and so we asked tonight Lord that 00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:52.340 you would give us your character only because you've given us redemption and 00:34:52.340 --> 00:34:58.120 the Son so I pray tonight for somebody that they would find redemption and hope 00:34:58.120 --> 00:35:04.280 tonight in Jesus Christ judged in their place in the way they failed to image you 00:35:04.280 --> 00:35:09.280 Lord he did and yet he died so we pray tonight for somebody that they would 00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:15.240 find hope and redemption in Jesus Christ and further for all of us Lord that you 00:35:15.240 --> 00:35:19.360 would teach us what it means to imitate Jesus Christ and his character and we 00:35:19.360 --> 00:35:22.880 pray these things in Christ's name Amen