You Might Be A Hypocrite If...

True Confessions

Inside Out

The Over Stimulus Package

Power Play

Can anybody here identify with the character in the skit? Is there something youd want to change if you could? Maybe youd like to be taller. Anybody wish they were taller? Anybody wish you were skinnier? Anybody wish you were heavier? I was going to say you people need to leave (congregation laughing). Well, we all have something we wish we could change. Maybe its our ears, our eyes, our noses, our chins, the way we walk or some sort of attribute. All of us in this room [have something wed like to change]. Let me see your hands if there is something that you could change, you would. Sure. How many of you think that maybe you fixate on that a little bit more than you should? Yeah, a lot of us do. We fixate on that. Its just really important to us, and that becomes what we focus on. Instead of being thankful for the attributes that we do have from God, we begin to focus on the things that we wish were different. We begin to focus on our outward self. Sometimes we neglect our inward self, and that's what were going to be talking about this morning.

Its interesting-we dont know what Jesus looked like. We have an idea. We can have conjecture, but we dont know what He looked like. We do have a physical description of Him in Isaiah 53. Its interesting-when you think about it-when God took on flesh, He could have chosen to look any way He wanted to look. He could have been the Biblical Brad Pitt, but it says in Isaiah 53:2 (page 731 of pew Bibles) He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him-nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. God took on flesh; He chose to become just an average-looking individual, nothing out of the ordinary-nothing striking about His physical features. He was simply an average-looking man.

Were going to be talking about that this morning. Were going to be talking about just the way God made us. Were going to talk about some-I guess-of the downfalls or the pitfalls of fixation on outward appearance. Often, we spend a lot of money in our society in outward appearance. I want to say off the bat that those things arent necessarily wrong. We should care about our appearance. I dont want you to come to church next Sunday looking like you just rolled out of bed with your hair undone, your teeth not brushed. You should care about your appearance. Those things are important, but as a society, we become fixated with those things. How many billions of dollars are spent every year on our hair, how our hair looks and feels; our eyebrows; our toenails; our fingernails; our clothing; diet; exercise; cosmetic surgery. All of these things focus on the external, and the external is important; but we as a society fixate on that, and when we fixate on that, there are certain detriments from that sort of fixation. There are certain negative consequences that we need to be mindful of.

The first thing were going to talk about-if youll turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 16-is that is the deception of outward appearance. Outward appearance can be something that is deceptive. Were going to look at an example in Israels history of a time when they had rejected God as their King and chose instead to have a man as their King. That man was Saul. They wanted to do this because they wanted to be like other nations. They wanted to have a King like other nations. They wanted a man to lead them into battle. They didnt want to just say God was their King anymore. They wanted to say, Look, here is our King. So Saul was chosen, and Saul looked like a King. He stood head and shoulders above everybody else. He was this large stature of a man. He just looked like a King, so he became the King of Israel; but he lacked character. He was not a good leader. He was very self-serving. In fact, Samuel tried to warn them that the King would be self-serving; whereas God would look after their best interest, the King would look after himself. Israel would hear none of it, so God relented and said to Samuel, Give them a King. A successor was going to be chosen. That successor lived in a city called Bethlehem. Bethlehem at that time was not famous, and the successor was not famous. He was simply Davie in the field, a pimply-faced kid going through adolescence, being picked on by his big brothers. He loved to be outside; loved being a shepherd; loved to play with his slingshot; loved to read the Bible; to write music; to play his harp; but he was not famous. He was not well-known, nor was his family. It was to that town that God sent the Prophet, Samuel. Samuel kind of reminds me of an old Jedi Knight from Star Wars. You look at an old Jedi Knight, and theres nothing scary about them. Theres nothing intimidating about them from their physical appearance, but youre intimidated because you know they have power, right? They have the Force behind them, and they can do things. They can manipulate; they can levitate; they can do all these things. They have power, so Yoda or Obi-Wan come to town and youre afraid of them. Hes powerful. Im showing you what a geek I am right now.

So Samuel comes to town, and hes old. Hes frail. Hes probably using a cane to walk, but when Samuel comes in town, it would strike fear into your heart because he was a man of God. He had the power of God behind his words. Whatever he said came to pass, so when he comes to town, they say, Are you here for good or bad, Samuel? Are you going to give us a prophesy of something bad thats going to happen to us by the hand of God?

He says, No, Ive come in peace. Ive come for something good. Ive come for something righteous. He met Jesse and his sons, and he shared a meal with them. He had a horn full of oil that he was going to anoint the next King with. Jesse is to bring his sons one by one to the Prophet, and God will show him which one will be the next king of Israel. Verse 6 (page 278 of pew Bibles) says, When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, Surely the Lords anointed stands here before the Lord.

He saw him and he said to himself, This guy looks like a King. We dont need to know what Eliab looked like. We can tell from Samuels response that Eliab looked the part. He was probably tall, muscular, chiseled, Hollywood good-looks. He looked brave and courageous. Eliab walks into the room, and you go, Theres a leader. Theres the King. That has to be the guy. Isnt it good to know that even somebody like Samuel can learn a lesson from time to time? Even an old wise Prophet can learn a thing or two, and God uses that as a teaching moment.

He says to him in Verse 7, …the Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or height… Dont put more weight on his physical appearance than you should. …for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

You and I look at outward appearance. We do, but God looks at the heart.

One by one the sons paraded in front of Samuel, and one by one he rejected them. Finally, they reached the end, and he was like, Are there no other sons? Is there nobody else you can bring?

He says, Theres Davie in the field, my youngest, but you know. That's Davie.

Bring him here.

So they go out in the field and get David. David comes in all gangly, What, Dad?

The Prophet Samuel is here.

God speaks to Samuels heart, and He says, This is the one Ive chosen to be King. In this young man is a heart that seeks Me. Dont judge by outward appearance. Outward appearances can be deceptive. The Pharisees look so holy and righteous. They paraded around in their robes, their long robes, their phylacteries and all the ornaments, trimmings and colors. People would look at them and say, Look how handsome! Look how powerful! Look how righteous they are! Jesus warned them in Matthew 23:27-28 (page 981). He said, You look beautiful on the outside, but inside you are unclean. Youre like a whitewash tomb that looks beautiful on the outside, but inside is full of corruption and decay.

Theres a story I love to tell about a little boy named Charlie. Charlie Willette was four years old. When he was three years old, he went through a terrible burning accident. He had burns over his whole body, second- and third-degree burns. The mortality rate for somebody with Charlies degrees of burns was 100 percent. He should have been dead. There was no way he should have lived, but he did. Through the help of cosmetic surgery, they tried their best to reconstruct a face. I dont mean this in any way to be demeaning to him because hes a precious, precious young man, but his face looked like that of a monster-literally. It you were a child, it would have been very scary to look at him. Charlie came to school. His parents wanted him to have as normal of an upbringing as he could, so they brought him to preschool. When Charlie walked into the room, the children screamed and cried because of his appearance. They hid their faces in their moms and dads laps. They went to their teachers for help and security.

How did that affect that little guy? How do you think that affected him? Would he cry? Would he want to leave? His parents had trained him better than that. Charlie looked at the children, and he said, You may not like me now, but wait until you get to know me! The article said within days the children would run up to Charlie and hug him as their new friend because Charlie had an inner beauty that was appealing. Beauty-outward appearance-is deceptive.

There is another warning that Gods Word has for us. That is that outward appearance or a fixation on outward appearance can at times be destructive. It can be a destructive thing. Turn in your Bibles to the Book of Ezekiel 28 (page 848). In the Book of Ezekiel, the Prophet has a very unusual prophesy here. Hes talking about the King of Tyre, and at a certain point-right around Verses 11-12, the prophesy transitions from being that of a man to speaking now of a supernatural being, of an angelic being. We know that because he speaks of this being as being in the Garden of Eden. He speaks of this being as being a guardian cherub. When you think of Lucifer, do you think of beauty? When you think of the devil, you dont think of beauty, do you? The downfall of Lucifer, according to the Scripture, was beauty. Verse 17, Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth…

Pride. Satan became consumed with himself, with his beauty, with his splendor. There is a danger if you have a preoccupation with your looks. Lets say you are very handsome or you are very beautiful. There can be a propensity for you to be prideful in your appearance. Lets say you succeed, guys, and you get that six-pack. Lets say, ladies, you succeed and you get that six inch waist that you want. Theres a danger in that.

I remember years ago in Rockford at the YMCA, we used to have a guy that would come into the weight room who we called the Peacock. The Peacock would come in the weight room, and we called him Peacock because he was always strutting. He was always just admiring himself. He had his chest out, his arms up, and he had this look on his face like, Thats right. Thats right-Im better looking than you. That's right. I have muscles everywhere. He would walk around just strutting and looking in the mirror all the time-all the time. He was just looking at himself and posing. Wed say, Here comes the Peacock. Here comes the Peacock! There is a little bit of a danger in that-a pride factor that can enter in.

Or there can be the desire to look like that or be like that can be detrimental. Eating disorders happen that way. A girl gets an image in her mind of what she should look like, and so an eating disorder sets in because she wants to look like that; so shell eat, and then shell force her food to come back up, so she can be skinny.

There is an epidemic in our athletic community-even in high school and college. There are young students that want to look like the guys in the magazine. They want to have the big guns, the big arms. A big chest, they want to be strong and muscular and look like those guys; so they shoot up anabolic steroids to the destruction of their own health, to the shortness of their own life expectancy. Vanity-dangerous.

The Bible says be mindful of that. An outward appearance can lead to pride if one is successful or one is beautiful or handsome. It can also lead to a detriment to our health in the steps or lengths that people will go to acquire and achieve the look that they desire.

There is a third aspect of a fixation of an outward appearance that we need to be mindful of. That is a fixation of an outward appearance is relative. Its relative. It really is. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I remember hearing about a missionary who went to a culture in Africa. The missionary had a very thin wife, and when they saw the wife, they quickly told the missionary, You do not take care of your wife, and your wife is not very attractive. She is not attractive at all in fact. In that culture, the bigger the woman was, the more attractive she was because the size represented prosperity, wealth, and health. They have a saying in that culture-there is a saying that I dont remember exactly how it goes, but the gist of it is like this: If you have a camel and your wife gets on a camel, and she is so big the camel cannot rise, that is a beautiful woman. Its true. Im not making this stuff up. That's what they believe in that culture. It would be interesting if the travel agencies start calling me going, Why are we getting all these requests for tickets to Africa from your congregation? I dont know exactly what tribe it is, but I can find out for you. It starts with a T. They have a whole different concept of beauty than we do.

Again, I wont elaborate on this much longer because we touched on it a little bit a couple weeks ago, but just envision a back. Its a healthy, strong back-a muscular back. On the other side, theres another back. That back is a little bit arthritic. Its a little bit hunched over. There are knots on it; there are sores on it; and there are scars on it up and down, side to side, long grotesque scars. There is scar tissue everywhere across that back. I say to you, Which back is more beautiful?

Youd be inclined to say, Well, this back over here, this muscular back.

What if I told you that the back over here was the back of the Apostle Paul? Galatians 6:17 said that his back bears the scars of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had been beaten 39 times with the cat-o-nine-tails because of his faith and because he would not deny the Lord. You look at those backs, and you say, Which back is the most beautiful? Thats relative, isnt it? I think we would say this back over here with the scars because we understand what those scars came from.

We might walk into our church some Sunday-maybe before Laura can tidy up the care station; maybe it looks untidy. They do a good job with it. They do a really good job with it because its a dynamic changing thing all the time. Maybe there are clothes out of place, or maybe there are some diapers strewn-not used ones, mind you, but the ones in the package. I want to tell you something-that care station is beautiful! Its beautiful.

There was a time in our old building when the children would get so loud that it was sometimes distracting to the adult service, but the noise coming from that portion of the building is beautiful because those children were learning about the Lord. Beauty is relative.

I have in my yard a ground cover I dont want anymore. At one time I wanted the ground cover, but I dont want it anymore. Its become a little bit of a problem for me. It seems like I cannot get rid of it. Ive tried to pull it up. Ive tried spraying stuff on it. It just keeps coming back because Ive never gotten to the root system. There are all kinds of rocks over it. Now Id have to move all these rocks, dig in the soil and get out the root system, and put all the rocks back. I dont want to do that; so instead every spring I just keep pulling the ground cover and trying again to get rid of it, but I cant because roots are there.

What is the root cause of this? What is the root cause of our need for approval, our fixation on outward appearance? The root cause is an insecurity. The root cause is a lack of self-worth, of self-esteem. God wants you to have a healthy self-esteem. God does not want you to be prideful or arrogant, but God wants you to realize that your life has purpose. He has put things within you of value, worth and significance. We have to deal with the root cause. If Im secure in whom I am-if Im secure in how God made me to be rather than fixated on my shortcomings, I can be content inside.

Psalm 139 (page 618)-a passage that we looked at earlier-if youd turn there in your Bibles. It was written by David, King David-Psalm, a song, for the Jewish people. I want to draw your attention to Verse 13. David writes, For You created me in my inmost being; You knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

David recognized that God had made things in him that were good, and he praised God for that. He didnt go, Oh, shucks. Theres nothing good in me. Thats not healthy. He was able to see there were certain aspects of his life. There were certain attributes and characteristics. There are certain qualities that I possess that are good, that are wonderful. Whats more-he acknowledged that God was the source of those things. There is nothing wrong with that, friends. In fact, that is a healthy thing to do.

Have you ever noticed how its so easy to just disregard compliments, but even the most subtle criticism is devastating? Have you noticed that? Somebody will say something very flattering, Oh, shucks. Thats not true. But if somebody maybe looks at you funny or says something that you take the wrong way, youre devastated by it.

There is nothing wrong with saying, You know, listen, I have some strengths. I have some things about me that are beneficial for others. I have some qualities that I possess that are good, and Im thankful for them. I recognize that God is the source, and I attribute to Him thanks for those qualities. Thats a healthy thing to do.

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with You.

David recognized his worth in the sight of God. David recognized the fact that he had been made with design and purpose. Its not an accident. You are the result of divine creation.

When I truly come to understand the worth that I have-that its intrinsic-because of my Creator, He has made me in His image, that I have a purpose to live out. There are days ordained from me. There is a purpose that I am to walk in. There are gifts, talents and abilities that He has placed within my heart to be a blessing to other people, to be a blessing to the Kingdom. I can then form a sense of healthy self-worth, a healthy self-image, not strutting around like a peacock looking in the mirror, but a sense of humility. It says that God has placed within me some good things. Im going to develop them, and Im going to use them to help others and to bring God glory.

I want us to focus on a few questions this morning and just reflect on them. Before I asked you to raise your hand and respond. This time were not going to do that. These are just questions that youre going to reflect on, but the answers to these questions really will be a reflection on your inner man.

Question #1: What receives more of your thoughts, efforts and resources: your outward appearance or your inner self? Think about that. The amount of time you spend on your appearance, the clothing, your hair, your makeup, your nails, your body, your diet and exercise: think about all the time you spend on a given day or in a given week on your appearance, and if we were to put that on a scale, thats on one side; on this side is the amount of time you spend developing your character, your Godliness and righteousness. How does that compare? Which side of the scale is carrying the most weight in your life?

How about another question? What matters to you the most: what other people think about you or what God thinks about you? What matters to you the most? What are you more concerned about?

If you were to do something that you know God is pleased with but others might not necessarily be, how would you choose to live? What would you choose to do?

The third question to reflect on: If you could choose only one, which would you choose: inner our outer beauty? If you could choose only one… Guys, you could be as handsome as you wanted to be, as muscular as you want to be. Ladies, you could have any kind of face that you wanted, any kind of figure you wanted-would you choose that, or would you choose to be a man or woman of impeccable character and integrity, kindness, gentleness, love and compassion? You can have one or the other, but you cant have both.

Have you ever been with somebody who maybe outwardly has an attractive appearance but wasnt a very nice person? After a while, they really started to seem kind of unattractive. Or the transverse is true, youve been with a person who is really nothing to look at-just an average person like you and I; but once you got to know him or her, he or she was so beautiful on the inside. This became beautiful in his or her appearance to you.

I remember hearing a story. Supposedly it was a true story about something that happened at Disneyland. You know if you ever have taken your kids there-I dont know if you have or not-but Cinderellas castle is there, and thats always a highlight. So much of what they do has Cinderellas palace in the background. Occasionally they will bring out Cinderella. You know if Disneyland is going to cast a woman as Cinderella, she is going to be pretty, right? She will come out in her gown, her hair is done up, she has on her princess crown, and she has on the big gown. The children see her and they just go bananas, especially the little girls. They want to be by Cinderella; they want to touch Cinderella; they want Cinderella to sign their books. They want to ask questions to Cinderella about Prince Charming, so its quite a scene as shes just mobbed as she comes out. What a fun gig, right? So one day this Cinderella, a beautiful young girl, was out there meeting the children and talking. In the corner of her eye, she saw a little girl who was standing in the background. This little girl had a deformity. There was something wrong with her face. When Cinderella made eye contact with her, she looked away. She was embarrassed and ashamed. She didnt want to be seen by Cinderella. There was something about Cinderellas beauty that made her disfigurements seem even more grotesque and unpleasant, so she hid her face. Cinderella began walking in her direction until she met her. She got down face to face, and she made eye contact. She made her look at her. She stroked her hair, and she looked at that little face and saw how inferior she felt. She saw how out of place she felt next to the beauty of Cinderella. Cinderella bent over, whispered in her ear and said these words, I wish you were my little girl. I wish you belonged to me. How did that raise that little girls spirit, her self-worth? [She was probably thinking], Cinderella sees something in me that she values, and she wishes I were hers. Ladies, would you rather have the beauty of Cinderella or have the heart of the girl, a woman, who would do that for a little girl?

Psalm 139, as we read that, it says, If God were whispering in our ears and saying to you and I, Im glad youre Mine. Im glad you belong to Me. Im glad I made you. I made you talented. I made you musical. I made you athletic. I made you smart. I made you reflective. I made you a social butterfly. I made you skilled with your hands. How did God make you?

Lets take a moment to just thank Him for the way Hes made us. Lets take a moment to ask God to help us to have contentment. Lets ask God to help us to focus on our inner self and put that first.

If youre here this morning, and youve never given your life to Christ, thats a starting point for you. I just want to invite you today to invite Christ to be Lord of your life; to come into your heart; to forgive your sins; to give you His spirit to guide you, to lead you and to empower you to be the person that He wants you to be-that you want to be.

Lets pray together. Would you stand, please?

Father, when Samuel came walking into that village an old man bent over and using a cane, there was something in him that was powerful. That something was You. That someone was You. Your power was in him. There was an inner strength that Samuel possessed, a faith, a trust. That same spirit was in David, though on the outward hes just the opposite of Samuel-young, strong, but just a child. His appearance fooled his father, fooled his brother. It even fooled Samuel, but, Lord, You saw his heart. You saw within him great strength. You saw within him the heart of a shepherd. As he would shepherd the sheep, one day he would shepherd Your people. Lord, when You look at us, you dont just see whats on the outside. You see our hearts. You see our longings; You see our insecurities. I pray this morning that You would deal with those insecurities; that Youd help us to get to the roots of those insecurities; that we will see ourselves for what we are-people that have been made in the image of God, people who have an inner beauty that can be developed and can grow. Lord, we sometimes buy into the lie of the world. We become fixated with external things, what man sees-what we see in the mirror. We begin to place more importance, more of our time, resources, efforts and thoughts and we become consumed with that which is temporal. Lord, beauty is relative. Help us to see beauty through your eyes. Help us to strive to be beautiful on the inside while we still take care of our outside. Help us to have that healthy self-esteem which sees the gifts You have given us, acknowledges them and then offers the thanks back to You for them. In Jesus name, we pray-entrusting in You, the One who took our place on the cross. Youre the One who could have come to look anyway You wanted, but You chose to be just an average person in Your looks. Inside, Lord Jesus, You are the most beautiful person that ever walked the face of the earth. Your life was the most precious life that ever lived, and You offer that life in our place. This morning, we worship You. We give You thanks. We pray that You would help us to remember this message as we go about now our days, our weeks-that we would apply this to our lives by the wisdom of Your Spirit. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

Sex in the City

Well, lets dig in-week two. Were talking about Dancing With the Stars this morning. Were talking about our need for notoriety, our need to be noticed, our need to be important. You know there is nothing wrong with having a sense of significance, meaning and purpose. I think thats innate within us. I think God has put within our hearts a sense of worth and dignity, and there is nothing wrong with that.

I read this week about a discovery at Auschwitz. They were tearing down a wall, and inside a wall they found a bottle. Inside the bottle was a paper with names of six different prisoners-their names and their cell ID numbers. Did you see that? They are thinking, Who are these people who wrote this, and are they still alive? It turns out that four of the six are. They talked with the men, and they said that they had become masons, and they had built this building there in Auschwitz. While they were demolishing this wall, they found the bottle. He said, What we did is we thought we were going to die... These men were like 18, 19, 20 years old. … and nobody would ever know who we were or that we were alive, so just so that people would know we existed… because they werent going to have a burial. They werent going to have a marker. …just so somebody would know that we existed, that we had life, we put our names and serial numbers on a piece of paper, put it in a bottle and put the bottle in the wall. They never dreamed it would be found in their lifetime. They probably had forgotten all about it. Theres nothing wrong with that. Theres nothing wrong with having that sense of significance.

What were talking about is a perversion of that. What were talking about is as old as the Garden when man [and woman] said, I want to be like God and were willing to put their own needs above the law of God. There are times when people will sacrifice their integrity. They will sacrifice their bodies; they will sacrifice anything to get what they want. We see in our world today the advent of technology-youtube.com for instance. People will do crazy things on youtube.com or on reality television to be noticed and to have people know who they are. There are celebrities-and Im not going to name any names-but if theyre not making a hit record or theyre not starring in a hit movie, its almost like theyll do things intentionally to shipwreck their lives just so theyll be noticed-just so theyll get press. Theyll do outrageous things because theres such a need. Their egos are so big that they have to be noticed. They have to be the center of attention. This whole thing that we just need to be noticed, need to be important-more so a preoccupation with self to the exclusion of others, a preoccupation with my needs to the exclusions of the needs around me-pride: those are the kinds of things were going to be talking about this morning.

I want to tell you a story about a mom. Shes a good mom. Shes a well-meaning mom, but she was a little out of line in what she requested and what she did. Her husband was a very successful business man, and the practice-his business-was passed down to his two sons. It was going well. They werent rich by any stretch of the imagination, but they did well. They had many employees. They had a lot of inventory. They lived a comfortable life; and the plan was that they would grow up, they too would have sons, and those sons would take over the family business. This mom would have grandchildren, and they would all stay in that region. The business would thrive and be successful. They were proud of what they did; they were proud of their work, and it changed one day.

The father and his two sons who were now young men went out for a normal days work. While they were there, a man came. The man was very charismatic. He was a strong leader, and He had a vision. He said to the man, You could be doing so much more with your life than what youre doing now. You can come with Me, and we will change the world. He was a very spiritual man, and He had a vision of reaching the world for God, touching one life at a time. He invited these men to leave their business, to leave parents, to leave home and join Him on this mission, this dream. To the fathers surprise, they did. Imagine the conversation when he went home and had to tell his wife that the sons arent coming home tonight, and theyre not coming home tomorrow either. Theyre on a mission. Theyre off to change the world.

Nonsense, she probably thought. How could they be so crazy? They had a good life here. They had a home. They have their parents. They have jobs! Now theyre going off for how long to who knows where. How are they going to live? How are they going to eat? How are they going to support themselves? Whats going to happen to our family business? Whats going to happen to my grandbabies? Will I have grandbabies? All these things were going through the mothers mind, but wouldnt you know this man is everything He says He is, and He starts to literally change the world. He starts to reach people for God, and it is an amazing success. There are others involved now besides her sons, but she knows that her sons are the top. Theyre the best.

So as time passes and success of this endeavor is sealed, she buys in. She realizes its going to work, so she comes to the leader. She asks the leader that in the future could her sons be considered His number one and number two guys in his organization. My boys are good boys, and they believe in You. Theyre following You. Theyve given up everything for You. Could they be number one and number two of what Youre building? She gets down on her knees-literally-and she asks this question of the leader… Are you following me? Do you think you know who Im talking about yet? Anybody have an idea?

Lets turn in our Bibles to Matthew 20 and find out what happened. The two men are Jimmy and Johnnie, James and John. Their father is Zebedee. Hes a fisherman. They have servants; they have boats, and its going well. One day they leave to follow this young preacher, young rabbi named Jesus, to travel the countryside to preach the Kingdom. It starts to work. Jesus has been talking about setting up thrones because Peter asks Him in the previous chapter, Hey, weve left everything. Whats in it for us? What do we get? We left everything to follow You.

Jesus says to them, Everyone, when I come into My Kingdom, you who have left home to follow Me-you will sit on thrones and judge the tribes of Israel.

When Mom gets this news, Mom is not thinking of eternity. Shes not thinking of Heaven. Shes thinking here and now. Shes thinking this throne thing is going to happen right now-that Jesus is the Messiah, which He is-but He is going to establish an earthly throne in Jerusalem. Hes going to rule and reign, and her sons are going to reign with Him; so she wants James and John-after all they are His brightest Disciples… Theyre the best; theyre the most handsome, the most able Disciples that He has, so why dont they become the person who sits on His right and His left, His co-leaders in this new Kingdom.

The timing of this could not be worse. Jesus has just told the Disciples that there is a mole in the organization. There is a rat. Somebody is going to betray; somebody is going to give some top secret information. That information is going to lead to His capture. While He is captured, He is going to be beaten and eventually be crucified and die. As awful as it sounds, God is going to turn it around, and Hes going to make it something wonderful. Hes going to make it something good. Its part of His plan, so while theyre all processing this information, the mother comes. She says, Jesus, can I talk to You? I have a favor to ask of You.

Verse 21 (page 977 of pew Bibles), What is it you want? He asked.

She said, Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right and the other at Your left in Your Kingdom.

You dont know what youre asking, Jesus said to them. Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?

We can, they answered, without even thinking. Sure we can. It was the cup of death. Thats what it was. Without even thinking, without even really understanding what the cup was… By the way, theyre not there against their will. Its not one of those things where their mom is embarrassing them while theyre standing there with Jesus going, Mom, come on! Youre embarrassing me! These guys are right there. In fact, Marks account tells us that theyre echoing the words of the mom. They want this gig. This thing is going to work, and we want to be Your top two Disciples. We want to be noticed. We want to be important.

Jesus looks at them and He says, You will drink from My cup. In other words, He looks into their future, and He knows that they will die for the Gospel. They will drink of the cup. In fact, James will be the first one. Under Herod Agrippa, he will be run through with the sword, and he will be a martyr. Hell be the first of the Disciples to parish-not the first martyr, but the first of the Disciples to parish. John will die in banishment.

So Jesus looks in their future, and He says, Yes, you will drink of My cup, but to sit at My right and My left is not for Me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by My Father.

Now, what happens when people are putting their needs above everybody elses? What happens? Whether its a family, whether its an organization, whether its a church-what happens? Disunity, disharmony, jealousy, bickering-thats exactly what happens.

When the Ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and they high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant… This is revolutionary. This is counter-culture. Its as counter-culture now as it was then.

…and whoever wants to be first must be your slave… This is radical stuff. Jesus is literally redefining what greatness means. Think about who you think is great in our society. When you think about greatness in our country today, who comes to your mind? Do you think of a political figure? Do you think of a business person? Do you think of an athlete? I grew up in Illinois, so Im a Bulls fan. I remember watching Michael Jordan play. I remember them saying this time and time again. It said, Set your VCR. This was before DVR days-no TVO. It was just the VCR. Some of you still have them and use them. Theyre fine. Dont get mad. But I would watch him play basketball, and I would have to rewind like 12 times a game, What did he just do? Sometimes Id watch a play three, four, five times. It took a long time to watch a game. It was like, Wow! What did I just see? They show plays on TV over and over again-kind of the same plays. Those were not his best plays. Those were good plays, but he did some things that were just amazing with the basketball. He was one of the greatest athletes and the greatest basketball player ever. Theyd say, Set your tapes. This is like watching a master painter paint. Youre not going to see this again, so set your VCRs.

As they would give him the accolades and talk about his play, you know one of the things I never heard about Michael Jordan? I didnt hear things like this, What a great player! Look how Michael Jordan has made sure all of his teammates have a towel! Look how hes even wiping the sweat from their brow. Oh, Scottie Pippens shoe is untied. Oh, Michael Jordan has gone down. He is now tying Scottie Pippens shoes! Hes passing out the Gatorade. Oh, theyre one short. Michael Jordan is giving that to his teammate. He is going to go without, so his teammates can all have some. What an assist by Michael Jordan! His 30th of the game!

I never heard things like that. He was great! He was great not because he served; he was great because he dominated. He intimidated. He was just better. He was superior, so he was great. Thats how we define greatness.

When Jesus comes and He reverses the paradigm, and He says, We have a new paradigm. We have a new definition for greatness. The greatness is the servant. The greatness is the slave, who voluntarily submits.

I want you to envision two pairs of feet. On one side, we have a beautiful pair of feet. Well, theres a pedicure; theyre painted. They look nice. Theyre clean, soft skin-nice feet. On this other side is a pair of feet that are deformed. Theyre all twisted and distorted, kind of small and really rather homely to look at. In fact, they look like they could be diseased or something, and theyre dirty.

I ask you the question in your minds eyes-which of those two pairs of feet are the most beautiful? Before you answer the question, I want to tell you about the deformed feet. You might have heard of a saintly woman by the name of Mother Teresa who ministered to the poor in Calcutta. I read of a woman who had gone to minister with her for several summers, and she talks about Mother Teresa being a normal person like you and me as far as there was no halo. There was no glow when she walked. She was just this little wrinkly, shriveled up, tiny and sometimes ornery old lady. Yet, she had a heart as big as the Grand Canyon. When they would bow to pray, she would look at Mother Teresas feet, and they were deformed. She would think, What happened to Mother? Did she have leprosy or whats going on that her feet are all twisted and deformed like this? She just couldnt help but wonder what caused that.

One day one of the sisters saw her looking at Mother Teresas feet, and she came over and said, You see Mothers feet are all deformed, dont you?

She said, Yeah. Howd that happen?

She said, Well, heres how it happened. Every year, we get new shoes, and we get just enough pairs so that everybody gets one. Everybody in the convent gets a pair of shoes-just enough, no more, no less. What Mother does is she goes through all the shoes, and she picks out the worst pair because she doesnt want anybody else to have the worst pair of shoes. She picks out the worst pair before anybody can pick theirs out, and those become her shoes. Years of wearing these bad shoes, years of putting other people first have deformed her feet, and that was the explanation. Now when you look down at those feet, which is the greatest? In Gods eyes, Mother Teresas feet-those deformed feet-are the greatest.

The interesting thing is God does not say, Dont be great. That should not be something you take away. You should not walk out of here going, God doesnt want me to be great. God does not say, Be mediocre. Be average. Be less than good. God does not say that anywhere. God says, Be great! Be a great person, but understand what true greatness is. The greatness as the world defines it is vanity. Its fleeting. Its temporal, but the greatness that God describes is eternal.

Jesus says, Im your example. He says, …just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to serve… Hes saying, I came from Heaven, but yet I didnt come to be served. I came to serve. I came to give. I came to give My life, to lay My life down.

Paul talks about this in Philippians 2:1 (page 1162), If theres any encouragement from being untied with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Just like self-serving brings disunity and disharmony, serving others and serving God brings a unity.

The more our church reaches out to our community, the more we reach in to serve one another and the more we reach out to the world, as our team goes out to the Dominican this summer-the more we do those kinds of things, the more unified we become-unified in our purpose, unified in our faith.

He says, Each of you should look out not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Another thing you should not take away from this message is that you are not to look after your own needs. The Bible doesnt teach that. It says, Dont look out only for your needs, but also for the interest of others. It does not say, Dont look out for your needs. Listen, you know who I need to talk to probably more than anybody else is our moms. I need to talk to our moms on this one because nobody else on the planet gives of themselves until they cant give anymore than our moms do; so moms, Im talking to you. Im talking to you people who are on the other side of this other extreme. Your problem isnt that youre self-serving. Your problem is you care about everybodys needs but your own. You just sometimes are a doormat for people to walk on. You just dont care about yourself; you just care about other people. Let me talk to you for a second because there are a few of you out there.

When you fill your tank, how far does your vehicle go? The answer is the same for all of us. Whether you drive a truck, a car or a hybrid or a bus or a Hummer, whatever you drive, the answer is the same. How far can you go on a tank of gas? Till the gas is gone. Thats how far you can go. Once the gas is gone and your energy supply is gone, whats going to happen? Its going to sputter and its going to quit and die. It will run out of gas, and youre dead in the water right there. So in order to keep that car going, what must you do? You must take time to pull off, turn off, fill up and then turn back on and go. You get where Im going with this? You have to take some time for yourself. You have to take time to do things you enjoy, to minister to your needs, to enjoy life a little bit.

Jesus would minister to the multitudes, but before or after, where would you find Jesus? Youd find Him alone. Youd find Him in a mountain; youd find Him at the lake; Hed talk by Himself with the Father. You would find Him doing things to recharge and replenish. Friends, if you dont take time to replenish, recharge and minister to your own needs as well, youre not going to have anything left in the tank to give anybody else, are you? Its really important.

So God doesnt say just always worry about everybody else and never worry about yourself. Unless you minister to your own needs, youre not going to have anything left to minister to the needs around you, so in that sense, ministering to yourself is not a selfish thing. I minister to myself so I can be strong to minister to others.

My staff knows if they send me emails and call me about church stuff on their days off, theyre going to get in trouble. Sometimes Ive been known to even send out test emails. Ill send out an email on their day off, and if I hear back, Ill go, What are you doing contacting me today? Why are you answering this today? Dont worry about this today. Be with your families. Relax and enjoy. Take a trip, because I want them fresh. I want them in it for the long haul. Were lifers here. Were not going to do that if we burn each other out. You need to take that time to get refreshed.

Lets go back to Verse 6. Now Verse 6 starts a hymn. The reason its written differently in your Bibles is because this is a hymn of the early church. The way its structured in the Greek, the way it is written, the way it is quoted, we know that Paul is quoting one of the hymns of the early church. Paul writes here in about 50 A.D., so this is one of the very… Talk about old hymns, How Great Thou Art or Old Rugged Cross, they dont compare to this one. This one would have been one of the very first song confessions said by the church when it was brand new, shortly after the Resurrection of Christ. It says in Verse 6, Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross!

Paul is talking here about the incarnation. Hes talking about the deity of Christ, and hes talking about the crucifixion-what He did for us. The words he uses here-you notice it twice. You notice it in Verse 6 and Verse 7, once in reference to Him being God and the second in reference to Him being a servant. It says, …the very nature of a servant and being in very nature God. What does he mean? There are two words in the Greek for form: one is the word schema, and that is a form that is always changing. The other word for form is the word morphe. We get the word metamorphosis or change from that. Morphe means though the outward may change, the schema may change, the essence of who we are does not change; thats morphe. Our essence does not change. For instance, if we were to have a panorama of your life on the screen behind me-if we were to see you as an infant, to a child, to a pre-teen, to a teenager, to a young adult, to an adult, to a middle-aged person, to an older person, we would see changes, but your essence would be the same. It would still be you. We would see your hair change, and to be optimistic, for those of you losing hair, youre not losing hair-youre gaining face. Just think about that. Look on the bright side of things.

Wed see the color change. Itd start to get a little whiter. Wed see our bodies change. You start going from firm to flabby. Our chest drops into our drawers, and other kinds of things happen. We dont look the same way at age 65 as we did when we were 5. We dont have the same energy, but yet its still you. Those are the same eyes you had when you were born, the same genetic code-its still you. Your essence, your morphe has not changed; though your schema or your outward appearance is temporal, and its changed.

So what did Paul use when he talked about the deity of Christ? Did he use the word that was temporal or did he use the word that essence, that doesnt change? He used morphe; it doesnt change. It says the very nature of God. That did not change.

When God became flesh, He did not lose His deity. He lost the privilege of deity. He surrendered the privilege of deity to take on humanity. Also as a servant-He became a servant because thats who He was. He was a servant.

Years ago, we did a series called, The Life Youve Wanted. We used this book as a supplement, so I turned to that chapter. Pastor Ortberg is writing about this verse, and he says, When Jesus came in the form of a servant, He was not disguising who God is. He was revealing who God is. I remember hearing a Christian speaker say once that pride is forbidden to human beings, but its okay with God because after all, Hes God. This is wrong. God is the infinite servant. God is the most humble being in all the universe. Jesus did not come as a servant in spite of the fact that He is God; He came precisely because of the fact that He is God. It is His essence; it is who He is.

So Paul says, Have this attitude in you which is also in Christ Jesus. Its an attitude. Everybody here has an attitude. Its either a good attitude or a bad attitude. Its a right attitude or a wrong attitude, but everybody here has an attitude. He says, Have this attitude of humility which was also in Jesus.

Displayed in the Billy Goats-two Billy goats are walking on a mountain. On this mountain, there is a cliff which would lead to instant death if you fell. You would die-no chance, just a steep drop. On the other side is a mountain that is too steep even for a Billy goat to climb. There is a small path that they are walking on, but it is not wide enough for them to pass one another, so what will they do? They cannot back up and each try to back up around the other. Its too dangerous to go backwards down the mountain. You cant turn around. If theyre no smarter than people, maybe they have a head-butt contest. Maybe they see who the strongest goat is, get their horns ready and start head-butting until one of them falls off-survival of the fittest. Thats what people do. My mountain! Get your horns down! Its only big enough for one of us here. Ram until you win! Whats the solution? The Billy goat does something very unusual. He bows down and gets down on his stomach and allows the other Billy goat to walk over him and continue his path down the mountain. Which are you? If you were to be at that impasse, would you be the one that says, Im not bowing down for anybody! This is my mountain! or are you going to be the one that bows down and serves? Jesus was the One who served. Jesus was the One who bowed down.

He said, James, John, with all due respect, Mrs. Zebedee, thats not what we are about. We are about greatness, but greatness has a new definition. Greatness involves servanthood.

Spend your life on yourself, your goals and your agenda; and in the end, you will be very poor indeed. But spend your life-give of yourself, your time, your resources, your treasures, for the Kingdom of God and to serve people, and youll leave this planet rich in what really counts.

Our dance team right now is coming to minister to us through music, so if our dancers would come at this time. The song that theyre dancing to has a lot of meaningful words to it, so I encourage you to reflect on it, see it in their emotions, listen to it with your ears and allow them to minister to you this morning. (Heres a link to the lyrics of the song, One Life to Live, by 33 Miles: http://www.6lyrics.com/music/33_miles/lyrics/one_life_to_love.aspx) Thank you, girls. Thats a lot to remember, isnt it?

Lets stand together as we close. I hope you have a wonderful afternoon. Ive got my work cut out for me. We have our orders for our family. I know what Im cooking, what Im doing and pray for me today. If we just hear a message and dont do anything about it, it really hasnt done any good. This is one of those things you really want to put feet to our faith for. Its an attitude of our heart to be like Christ. Just understand that all of us should strive for greatness, a greatness as God defines it. If we have a church and everybody here is striving after that greatness, and we are great in Gods eyes, what a difference we can make in our world. Lets pray:

Father, we thank You for the lessons we learned in Matthew 20-this mother who had her heart in the right place. Its not a wrong thing to want your sons to be close to Jesus, but it was about their advancement-not the Kingdom. It was about their importance and worth-not being a servant. James and John didnt get it. We thank You that the Master used that as a perfect opportunity to explain what its all about, to show them that even He was the ultimate servant; the One who should have been served was served and had become a man. He chose to give His life away. Lord, sometimes we try to hold on and we try to pursue that which is vanity, that which is fleeting. Lord, I pray that all of us would strive for greatness-not in the eyes of this world, which is so temporal, but in Your eyes and that we would be the church of servants. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

(A media clip is played. You can listen here: http://faithcommunitychurch.net/sermon_player)

We look to the Commandment, Thou Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me. Do not bow down to any idols. We said that the Commandments that we have, the foundation is love. There are a lot of prohibitions, a lot of dont do this. Dont do that, but the foundation of it is love. Jesus said in Matthew 22, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. On these two Commandments, hang all the Laws and the Prophets. If we love God, were not going to follow other gods. If we love our neighbor, were not going to steal or kill.

This week, were talking about contentment, the last Commandment in Verse 17. God says, You shall not covet your neighbors house. You should not covet your neighbors wife or his man servant or maid servant, his ox or donkey… Today we might say his car or his boat. …or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

While God is saying dont covet, He is also saying to us, Be content. Be content with what you have. Be content with the blessings that you have in your life. Thats going to be our focal point. One of the problems-one of the ways to resolve a problem-is to recognize when we have a problem, right? Its to be open and honest about our feelings and our thoughts. Sometimes we have conversations and sometimes things come out of your mouths that sound good, but they arent necessarily true. It might be the answer that is politically correct or the answer you think somebody wants to hear, but if we were to kind of peel off the veneer and look inside your soul, wed find a different answer. [This is] like this gentleman right here that we asked if he was content or not. Lets listen to his response. (You can read it here or find the whole clip here: http://www.sermonspice.com/product/16465/am-i-content-3f)

Am I content? Well, sure. Sure, Im content. If by content you mean that I believe Im not going to be getting a raise for a long time-therefore cant buy that new flat panel television, then, yes. Yes, I am content. See the key is look at everything like its a blessing, the house, the car, the family, your health-blessings. Bills, broken toilet seat, not having a convertible-blessings. They say the grass is greener on the other side, and that is true, but only because my neighbor just had a sprinkler system put in, and he got a new lawn mower. Its like one of those 500 horsepower John Does. It has the four-titanium blades. You could probably shave with it. The 12-inch rims, lift kit on it-the whole nine yards. I think he has a grill in the back too. It cooks steaks while mowing the lawn, but thats his world. Thats not my world. Im content with what I have. Im content with my push mower. It was my grandfathers, so it has sentimental value to me when it works; but see my neighbor wouldnt know anything about sentimental value because all he got from his grandfather was money. Well, you cant buy sentimental value with money. You could buy my mower, but you cant buy whats in here-unless he made me a good offer. See, whats in here is what matters-whats in here. Thats where contentment lives-in here. You have to know who you are in here, and in here, I am not a pool owner. My neighbor is, but thats his in here, not mine. I dont need a pool. Im content with what I have, and what I have is a garden hose-turn it on high, use my thumb. I get some good pressure going-same thing. Pools have drawbacks. You get out of a pool, and youre wet. You have to dry off. Im not saying being content is easy. If you watch TV long enough, you get bombarded with advertisement about everything you need. Do I need all those things I see on TV? Probably. Am I going to get a blender that also makes salsa? Not unless my wife changes her mind. So then how am I content? Well, Im not. I will be…come Christmas when I buy her one for a gift. Sometimes contentment is a journey and not a destination, like Hawaii. Ive never been to Hawaii. Ill never be to Hawaii, but I dont need to because Im happy where I am. So three weeks out of the year when my neighbor goes to Hawaii, I sneak over to his pool. Thats my Hawaii. I buy some Tiki torches, have a pig roast-thats my Hawaii, same thing. So, yes I am content. You see contentment is about looking around you, seeing whats around you, what you have and trying not to notice that your neighbor has a Ferrari. A Ferrari is a car, a mode of transportation. Im content with what I have. Would I like a Ferrari? Sure. Would a Ferrari make me happy? Yes. Am I going to buy a Ferrari? Well, I could. I could mortgage my house, sure. Am I going to do that? No. The reason-it all comes down to the C word, cost. I dont know what my house is worth. Im having it appraised. Life is too short not to be content to just enjoy what you have, so its about being thankful. Thank you, God. Thank you, God, that I have so little because if I had a lot I would have to insure it and claim it on my taxes. Besides the Bible says that the rich are more likely to have their eyes struck out by a camel, but I dont hate my neighbor. I love him. I love him; I do. I really do. I love my enemies. To answer your question, yes. Yes, I am content-very content. Very, very content. If I were any more content, I would be dead. Thats how content I am. I love the smell of fresh cut grass and A-1 Sauce. No, no, Im fine. Thank you. I already ate.

Have you ever found yourself saying the right answer, but inside youre thinking… I might catch you. Im going to test you at some point in the service this morning. Im going to see if you give me the churchy answer or if you give me the honest one, so be on guard for that, all right? Youre going to be tested today.

Lets open our Bibles to Philippians 4 (page 1164 of pew Bibles) and see what Gods Word says about contentment. Verse 10, Paul says, I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed you have been concerned but had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

The first thing I want you to note there is that Paul says, I have learned contentment. Contentment is not something you and I are born with, is it? Be a parent for one day, and youll discover thats true. We are not born content. We dont just say, Hey, take your time getting me that bottle. Take your time changing the diaper here. Im fine. Mom, I know youre busy. Whenever you get around to it, Ill be here. No, no, no. The baby kicks and screams because it is the center of its own world. The whole world revolves around its needs, right? So contentment is something we learn. Everything we learn in life we learn from one of two ways. We either learn it through our personal experience, or we learn it through the testimony experience of teaching of other people. One is the easy way, and one is the hard way. If I watch you walk at night and fall into a hole and I avoid that hole, thats the easy way. If I fall in the hole myself, thats the hard way; so sometimes its called the School of Hard Knocks. We have to learn things through our own life experiences.

How do you think Paul learned contentment? Do you think he learned it from observation, or do you think he learned it from experience? I think he learned it from experience. You and I cannot say to Paul, Well, Paul, its easy for you to say be content. You dont know what Im going through. You dont know what Ive been through. You dont know the circumstances that Im dealing with.

I would say to you, Then you have no idea what Paul was dealing with. Paul was not writing on a hammock, on a tropical island with a lemonade in one hand and a book in the other. Paul wrote these words from prison. Paul was awaiting a sentence which would possibly involve his execution. Paul was in darkness. Paul was without air conditioning and heat. Paul was in chains. Paul was in prison. His freedom was taken away, his ministry taken away, and possibly his life was soon to be taken away. From that context, in that circumstance, Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always, in Chapter 3. Be content, in Chapter 4. This certainly wasnt based on circumstances, was it? No, God had seen him through difficulties-riots, beatings, famine, imprisonment; all of these things God had seen Paul through, so Paul had not a self-sufficiency but a Christ sufficiency. He said, Ive learned that in every situation, I can trust Christ. I know He is sufficient for me. He did something else that was pretty significant. The church in Philippi is a relationship hed had now over a decade. It was his second missionary journey. A man appeared to Paul in a vision and said, Come over here. It is called the Macedonian Call. They got in a boat, and they sailed and landed in Philippi. They took the Gospel to a new continent. There he began to spread the truth of Jesus Christ. Now some 12 years later, they send him-not only a gift, but they send him a person. The persons name is Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus job is to take care of Paul, watch over Paul and make sure that Pauls needs are met. He is also putting his life on the line because when you are associated under that close proximity to someone who is possibly facing execution, there is a chance you could be implicated and charged with him as well. He realizes this, but he still serves. He still goes.

While he is there, he becomes ill. In this ironic twist of fate, the man who was sent to minister to Paul now becomes the recipient of Pauls care; and Paul has to take care of Epaphroditus. The people back home are worried about him. His family is worried about him, whether hell live or die; and he pulls through. Paul writes and he says, God saved you and me heartache upon heartache. I want you to know that he risked his life for the Gospel. Now I am returning him to you. I am sending him back to you. He is a dear brother. Hes done a wonderful work. Hes given it all, but now Im sending him back, but I want you to know Im going to be okay. You love him. Youre concerned about him. I want him to go back home. I want you to know Im in this prison, and its hard, but I also have a living faith-a real faith in Christ. Im going to be okay.

Those are the circumstances in which Paul writes those words. Paul had learned the secret of being content. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Ive been in want, and Ive been in plenty; and Im content.

Let me ask you a hypothetical question this morning. If you had much greater wisdom than you had right now; you had more money than you could count or spend in a lifetime-I mean you were rich beyond your wildest dreams; and you were like a king or a queen and had all the power that was invested in the country in which you lived; you were protected by the military; your word was law-you werent an elected official; you were in power, how many of you think under those conditions-great wisdom, great wealthy, great power-that you could be a happy person? Let me see your hands. I am testing you right now, and a lot of you just failed big time. Im looking at the guy on the tractor back here. Thank you for the honest answer. I think if I had all the money, all the smarts, and all the power, I could have a reasonable shot at being happy. I bet there are some of you out there who didnt raise your hand and are going, Well, its because Im in church. Im going to buy the lottery and pretty soon, thatll be it. Honestly, I wont ask you again, but I bet you there are a lot of people who raised their hands and said, Yeah, if that really can be the case, I think Id have a good shot at happiness.

Well, let me tell you the story about a man who did have all of that. His name was King Solomon. He was the wisest man that ever lived. He was the king, so he had all the power, all the authority; and he was wealthy beyond your wildest imaginations. Whatever he wanted, he could have. How did things go for him? Turn the Bible to Ecclesiastes 2. Listen to his conclusion.

Now everything that he writes here is looking back. Everything that Solomon writes here is from him looking back and drawing conclusions. You and I will never live in the circumstances that Solomon lived in. Weve always wondered what it would be like, so heres somebody who experienced it; and heres what they had to say. Verse 10 (page 659), he says, I denied myself nothing my eyes desired. I refused my heart of no pleasure. Anything on this banner over here that you want? Solomon could have it, and he says, I took it all.

My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve… I look back on everything, …everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. It did not satisfy.

You see friends, this is a lie. This is a lot of things, but one of the things it is-is a lie. The lie the world tell us is if we just had more, if we just had bigger, if we just had better, wed be happy. Wed be fulfilled. Heres the ironic thing. Fulfillment never comes and satisfaction never comes from the acquisition of things or stuff. It comes from the relinquishing of, the releasing of, the letting go of…

Socrates was once asked, Who was the richest man in the world? Socrates said, The man who was the richest in the world is not the one who has the most. Its the one who needs the least. Thats a wise man. Its easy to buy into this lie.

Sometimes in the ministry, pastors buy into this lie. I mean even if you go to a pastors conference or if you have lunch with other ministers, its kind of the same. They ask the questions, Well, how many people go to your church? How many are on your staff? How big is your budget? I dont even like having those kinds of conversations because they seem so superfluous to me. Thats what goes on.

Heres how it works: you graduate and you get a job either at a really tiny church or as an entry-level position as an associate pastor in some capacity. Then you work your way up. Maybe you become an associate pastor in a bigger church. Maybe you become a senior pastor of a church. Then you put in some time there, and then you go on to a bigger church in a bigger city, bigger building, bigger budget, bigger staff and you keep going and going; so thats success. You know success is when you have this monster-sized building with thousands of people, this budget of millions of dollars and this huge staff; so the grass is greener, right? Bigger this-bigger is better, so even pastors buy into that lie.

Ive had that tested, and Ill tell you a couple things right now. I had a church [contact me] that was a large church-big building and lots of people. Several people came to me and said, The pastoral committee is talking about you. Your name is being thrown around. They are interested in you becoming the senior pastor here.

Well thats something to think about. Then I started thinking about you guys. I said, You know, I love our church. I love our community. I like it here. I said, Im not interested.

A few weeks ago, I got another call. There is a church in Colorado Springs-a booming community whereas recession, economic downturn [is here], but Colorado Springs is going crazy. There is new construction and all kinds of ministry there. There is a large population there. They said, Would you come and duplicate the infrastructure Faith Community has here and lead our church? You have great potential in Colorado Springs.

I started thinking about that. I said, But, you know, I like it here in Janesville. I like our staff. I like the people I work with. Just because you have a bigger salary or a bigger church where there are more people, it doesnt mean Im going to be happier. I might get there and say, You know what? I miss Janes-burg. I miss everybody. I miss the donuts that come into the church on Sunday mornings. I would miss all of you. Its true.

Sometimes I learn the hard way just like you do. We all do, but one important lesson we can learn in life is bigger is not always better. More is not always going to satisfy. Its a trap. Paul goes on to say its a lie, and its a trap. Look what he says in 1 Timothy 6. He says, …but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

Now before we go on in that text, what do you think he means by that? Paul says, …godliness with contentment is great gain. What kind of gain is he talking about because hes not talking about material gain? His topic is contentment remember. He says, You arent going to take anything with you. Hes probably the first one that says it. Whoever says that is kind of a variation or take on what Gods Word says here.

So hes not talking about stuff. So whats he talking about? You might be getting your lawn ready because spring is here, so maybe youre out pulling weeks, spraying weeds, cutting grass, planning, raking. That's hard work, right? When you finish, you need to do what? Rest.

Finals are coming up. If youre in school, high school, college, graduate school, finals are coming up, and you study hard. Youre writing papers; youre studying for a test, and youre cramming. You take the test and the semester is done. What do you need to do with your mind? Rest. Youve been dealing with an emotionally difficult situation. Maybe youre trying to reconcile with somebody. Youre trying to serve as a reconciler for somebody else. Its this emotional draining exercise, and youre working hard. Youre just emotionally tired. When thats done, what do you need to do? Rest.

You know what contentment is? Its rest for your soul. Thats where the gain comes in because the soul is always longing. It wants fulfillment and satisfaction. It buys the lie that its something tangible that I can buy or have. Its in this person, its in this position, or its in this possession. Its in power. Whatever you deem happiness is, the soul is pursuing. When we come to contentment, the soul says, God is enough. Im going to rest. Im going to release. Im going to let go. Contentment allows your soul to rest. Thats why Jesus said in Matthew 11, Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy laden for My yoke is easy and My burden is light, and you will find, what? Rest for your souls. It happens in contentment. When we dont practice contentment, then what is the object? Our soul is in turmoil. Our soul is always striving, always reaching. Its believing this lie, and Paul talks about that.

He says in the next verse, People who want to get rich fall into temptation. By the way, thats both rich and poor. The rich want to get richer, and the poor want to get rich. Thats everybody. (1 Timothy 6:9) People who want to get rich fall into temptation into which many foolish and harmful desires plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It didnt say money is. He said the love of money or pursing money above all things-even if you have to hurt someone to get it or give up something precious to get it. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

This thing thats supposed to be so good and so fulfilling ends up being something that snares their soul, something that consumes them and traps them. Its like catching a monkey. Do you know how you catch a monkey? What you do is you take a pot-apparently this is true. You take a big old pot, a big heavy pot that there is no way a monkey could lift it or move it. You make the opening just big enough for the monkey to get his hand through. Then you put at the bottom of the pot a banana or an orange, something that a monkey is going to want to have. You put that out at night where the monkey likes to go, and then you wait. The monkey smells the banana, looks down in the pot, smells inside the pot and says, Oh, theres a banana in the pot. The monkey goes, Oh, this is my lucky day. The monkey reaches in, grabs the banana and starts to pull it out but his hand gets stuck because now its making a fist; and its no longer able to pull the hand through. Itll work on that thing all night long and try to get its hand out. Even when the trappers come with their nets, the monkey will not let go of the banana. Hell work harder. Hell start screeching, but he wont let go. All the monkey has to do is go, You know, maybe this wasnt a good idea. Maybe I should let go of the banana and live to fight another day. Maybe there are other bananas in other trees. I didnt get this one. I tried my best. These guys are coming. Im scared. Im going to get out of here, but they dont do that. They hold on to the banana, panicking and screeching, until the net goes over their head and theyre caught. They dont want to let go of that banana.

Now wed never be as dumb as monkeys, right? People would never be that dumb. We would never hold onto something we shouldnt have even if its going to lead to our own ruin and destruction, right. No…not us. The monkey trap. Paul says its a monkey trap. Freedom comes in the ability to release and to let go.

He says in the next verse, But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love…

He says, God expects more from you. He expects better things from you-that youll not succumb to the lie of the world, that youll have a realization of where fulfillment really comes from. Its not in what you can acquire or hold on to. Paul says, I learn contentment when I let go.

I was willing to let Epaphroditus go home because I trust in Christ. What about those of us who have more than enough? Basically, by the worlds standards, isnt that pretty much everybody in this room? We have more than enough?

What does he say? Verse 17, Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain… Boy, have we ever learned that to be true in our economy-the stock market, the Ponsy schemes and all thats going on. No matter how much health or how much money you have, if you have a certain sickness-there are some sicknesses it cant cure. It cant buy love; it cant buy character. It cant buy contentment, yet some pursue it with everything they have.

He said instead, …put their hope in God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Acknowledge God as a source. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

He says if you want to truly be rich, it does not come through selfish means. Being truly rich means to be rich in the soul-it means from being a generous and giving person, a willingness to share.

A friend of mine, Harry, used to say, The smallest person in the world is a person all wrapped up in themselves. Thats why were trying as a church to become a more giving church, a more generous church, and its working. Thats why I had Laura make all these little pieces of paper because I want you to all take them home with you-these little shopping lists. This isnt just for this week. This isnt for this month; this is for this year, its for next year and its for the year after that. Its in my checkbook, your wallet or your purse. You take it with you when you go shopping. You buy three things. You dont have to buy the whole list. Now you can if you want to, but buy three things. Can you imagine if 700 plus people every week went in and went shopping and bought three things? There would be over 2,000 items turned in each week. We wouldnt be able to keep up. Give us that problem. Give us the problem where Laura has to scratch her head and say, Hows our team going to get rid of all this stuff? We have so much stuff, how are we going to get rid of this? Give us that problem. Well work on that one. We can be a blessing to our community. Get your kids involved. Tell them about it. They can take this to the grocery store. Maybe they can give some of their allowance and buy a can of corn. When they put that can of corn out there and they say, I bought this, and there is going to be a family thats going to have a meal with this can of corn that I provided. See if that doesnt bring the contentment and fulfillment that is truly significant.

I get so blessed when I hear stories like the Worthing family. Sara Worthing, a young mother in our church who just lost the use of her legs due to illness and is paralyzed, I hear stories on how youre coming around her, giving gifts to her and helping her and serving her. I just see our church becoming giving. The people that are selling the walking tacos-why are we doing that? Why are we working so hard so that we can send 30 people to the Dominican Republic to take a week and just serve people, just give of our resources, our talents and our treasures and be a blessing to the people of the Dominican? So were blessing our community, and were blessing across the Ocean. Thats what the Gospel says.

We are going to be a much happier church because we are outreaching and giving more than if we were just consumed with ourselves and everything that just goes on within Faith Community. That's all we need to do-focus on right here. Instead were reaching out with the Gospel, with love and through tangible ways to serve and help people.

There is a man I respect by the name of Dr. Erwin Lutzer. He had this to say-a quote I want to read to you this morning, Its better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it; better to have lost some battles than to have retreated from the war; better to have failed when serving God than to have succeeded when serving the devil. What a tragedy to climb the ladder of success only to discover that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall.

Before we receive communion this morning, lets take some time to pray.

Father, Your Word has given us some things to think about today through the teaching and example of the Apostle Paul who in the most adverse of circumstances had learned contentment. He had learned contentment because of the difficulties hed been through and found You to be faithful. We learned about Solomon-who had tried everything he could to find fulfillment outside of You and in the end came to the conclusion when all is said and done, remember your Creator and the days of your youth; he concluded in his book, for everything else under the sun is meaningless. As we prepare our hearts to receive of this cup and the bread, were reminded of the One who said, Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy laden. You will find rest for your souls. The world stirs us up with a promise, but it does not deliver. Only You truly satisfy, so with thankful and humble hearts, we come before you now to receive this communion supper. In Jesus name, Amen.

Its good to see you this morning on this beautiful spring day. Enjoying the sunshine, here we are in our coats and sweaters again-not fun, not fun. Would you open your Bibles to Exodus 20 with me this morning? While youre finding that, are there any American Idol watchers out here? Are you pulling for the hometown boy, Danny Gohlke? All right, good, good. What about Adam? Anybody a big Adam fan? Not too many Adam fans? All right a few. Any for the red-haired girl? The guy with the hat? Okay, just polling everybody. Well, we are not going to be talking about the television show this whole series. Its just simply a name we have used. What it does signify is that there are things in America that we hold in the place of God. There are people and things we idolize that fill a place in our lives that only God should have, and those are the things we will be talking about. If you look to the banner at my left, you will see some of those things. We will be an equal-opportunity toe-stepper on-er this series.

You can see some of the things that are represented there of passion, power, prestige, possessions-all of those things we will be addressing in this series. Were going to lay the foundation this morning in talking about idols. Like the media said, Is that something thats still applicable today? We dont have idols that we bow down to, right? Dont be so sure to judge that one. I think we do.

Lets take a look at Exodus 20. This is where God gives the commandment originally. This is the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments. Its really important for us when we read the Ten Commandments to understand the historical context in which they are given. God gave these Commandments to all of us-for all people at all times; but He did give them specifically to the nation of Israel for a specific period of their history. It doesnt mean that its not relevant; it doesnt mean that theyre still not in effect; they certainly are. This is Law. Sometimes Law gets a bad rap, Oh, were not under the Law. Were under grace. Thats true in regards to righteousness. We are made righteous by grace through faith-not by the works of the Law. The Law is certainly not irrelevant. Though shall not kill is very much relevant, isnt it? Law points us to God. It points us to our need for God.

Now legalism-thats bad. Legalism is when we take a man-made concept or tradition and we elevate that until it becomes an authority. If I am living by Gods Law as its written in His Word, thats one thing. But to take a man-made concept or principle and say, You must conform to this in order to be righteous, thats legalism, and thats not healthy. The Law is good. The Law points to our sin and our name for a Savior. Law gives us a guideline as to what God expects from us, so it is very much relevant to our lives.

God speaks this to a people who have just come from a culture in Egypt where they worship many gods, polytheism. They are going to a region where there is also the practice of worshipping many gods-the Canaanites and the other surrounding people groups, the practice of many gods. Why? Because gods were limited in their territory, and they were limited in their powers; so you had a god who was over your region. There was another god over here who was over another region. Gods were limited in what they could do.

This god might be power in the weather, so you would pray to that god and sacrifice to that god in hopes that you would have a good crop. Maybe you were having problems conceiving a child, so there was a fertility goddess that you would pray to in hopes that that goddess would enable you to have a child. You might be going to war with another tribe or another nation, so you would pray to the god of battle to give you favor in that war. There were multiple gods and multiple specialties that they had. The relationship was very shallow. You didnt really love that god; you didnt really worship that god, but you tried to placate that god because of what that god could do for you. Ill worship this god. Ill sacrifice this god in hopes that that god will send the rain, so Ill have a good harvest or hopes, that god will allow my wife to have many children, or hopes that god will give me victory in battle. Really, if you think about it, its kind of the spiritual mafia. Ill give you a price, and youll protect me. Ill give you something, and youll do this. These were a desperate people because it was a desperate time to be alive. If there was famine, you could starve. If a storm came and flooded away your crops, you could starve. You couldnt just go down to the local grocery store. You cant trust the Red Cross to come in and save you or get government assistance. Its not going to happen. Those things dont exist, so a health concern that we might be able to go and take a pill for or go see the doctor and it goes away like that, those infections would kill those people. It was a whole different time. Science wasnt what it is now, so life was very fragile. It didnt take much, so they did this idol worship out of fear and out of their needs. They were desperate, desperate people. Desperate people do desperate things.

I was driving in Chicago this week-in downtown Chicago. You know how it is if youve been to downtown Chicago when you see somebody with a sign, a cardboard sign, that usually says, Will work for food or something? They look like youd expect them to look. They usually look rather unkempt, unpleasant, unshaven, and shabby with greasy clothes. You try not to look at them because its uncomfortable, so people just continued to drive by; but this was a different situation for me. This was a young girl-probably 17 years old. She was standing out there, and she had a sign that said, Im homeless. Im hungry. Please help. I hadnt seen that one before. As a dad, immediately my heart went out to that child. If there were ever a time I was tempted to stop and do something, that was one of them. At the same token, you see that, you also know the world we live in and you start thinking, Is she part of a scam? Is somebody going to rob me? Is she addicted to drugs? Is she a street-wise kid who is going to pull a knife or a gun on me to get money? So, you keep driving, but I looked in her eyes as I drove by. There was just fear and desperation. As a dad, you think, Man, how does a girl get to this point? Do her parents know she is in such a vulnerable dangerous position with predators who could take advantage of her? It was the worst place to be holding a sign that says, I have no home. I have no money. I have nobody protecting me and watching out for me. That touched my heartstrings, but desperate people will do desperate things.

People in Biblical times were so desperate that they would even sacrifice people-children, their livestock-to these gods in hopes that their lives could be spared or that they could have abundance. It was a desperate, desperate time.

So onto this scene God comes with these Commandments-telling them about living in a new culture, forming a new nation in which there would be one God. God is going to say, Have no other gods before Me. It is a declaration of His all sufficiency. He is saying, Im not God over a territory. Im not God over a region. I dont have a limited power. I am the only God that you need to have. I am the God of gods. I am the Lord of lords. I am the Lord of Heaven and Earth. No other god is before Me.

Exodus 20:1 (page 73 of pew Bibles), And God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…

Well stop right there. No other gods, no other idols-is that still applicable? No other idols? We dont have the wooden images or the images of stone. Do we have idols? We most certainly do. In fact, Paul talks about that if youd turn please to the Book of Colossians 3:1-5 (page 1167 of pew Bibles). He says, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Not on this stuff over here thats seen in this banner. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. It is idolatry, so Paul says idolatry is very much alive and well, and its living in our hearts. We start to idolize these things. We start to pursue these things. We start to bow down to these things, lay our lives down for them, sacrifice for them. People sacrifice for the house, the car, the mansion. Theyll cheat; theyll lie; theyll steal; theyll hurt others. They will do whatever it takes to acquire what they think is going to make them happy and be deemed a success.

Let me ask you this question-is it possible that you could worship the true God and still practice idolatry? Dont give me an answer right away. Think about that-is it possible to be worshipping the true God and still practice idolatry? Its a trick question.

Do you know there are some pastors, teachers, authors, speakers who teach that if you will follow God-you will give your life to Christ-if you worship God, He is going to give you stuff. So they worship God-not because God is worthy of our worship and praise, not to adore Him for who He is-but they worship Him because theyll get stuff. If I worship God, Ill be rich! Thats what the preacher on TV says. If I just worship God, everybody is going to like me. Ill be popular! If I worship God, God will keep me from ever being sick or depressed, and life will always be wonderful-all the time! So they worship God because of what they can receive. Have you heard that Gospel before? How is that different than what they did in idol worship? Thats why it was called harlotry-because there was no emotion; there was no love. It was like, Okay, Ill give this to the god, and the god will give this to me. Its a business transaction. I wont send that tornado. I wont send that flood if youll give me what I need, so they worshipped that god for what that god could do for them. Friends, if you worship in the living God for what He can do for you, that is a form of idolatry. We worship God for who He is, His essence, His divine nature, because He is worthy of our praise-not for any promise of stuff. [Theres] this wonderful thing Hell do; Hell make you successful, popular, rich and healthy all the time.

So idolatry is very much alive and well. Now we have to ask the question why did God give these Commandments. Why did God give this Commandment? Because when you first read it, it sounds as though God is a little bit insecure because number one, He says He is a jealous God. Jealousy is not an admirable quality, is it? If youre a jealous person, that means you are a very insecure person. That's not something you want to be, so when God says, Im a jealous God, immediately thats kind of a negative connotation. We say, Oh, Gods above that, isnt He? Thats a little petty for God to be jealous! He cant be insecure. Hes God.

No other gods before Me. I want to be the only God! Well, God has an ego problem then, doesnt He?

Why is it, God, You have to have all the attention, all the worship, all the accolades? You have a problem? You have an ego problem? You have insecurity issues, God? Does God need to be psycho-analyzed or something? He has some real serious issues here apparently. Well, were looking at it hrough the wrong lens if were seeing it that way. Were not understanding how Law operates. See when you read the Ten Commandments, theyre pretty negative. You dont do this; you dont do that. Most of the Commandments are of a negative nature in that they are prohibitions. I dont want you to lie. I dont want you steal or cheat. Dont covet. Dont do this; dont do that. Dont worship idols. There are a few positives in there, but most of it seems to be this negative prohibition. Why is that? Because, the Law is first and foremost built on a positive. The positives are that the Law is relational; above all things, the Law is relational and foundational.

What do you mean by that? I want you to turn to Matthew 22. Were going to have you see the Ten Commandments in a whole different light. Verse 34 of Matthew 22 (page 980), it says, Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. This is their counterpart-Oh, the Sadducees couldnt get the best of them, so we will.

One of them, an expert in the Law, tested Him with this question: Teacher, which is the greatest Commandment in the Law?

Now, we dont know what he had up his sleeve, but he in some way was trying to entrap Jesus with that question. He was waiting for whatever answer Jesus was going to give and somehow, some way try to turn it around and use it against Him.

Listen to the response that Jesus gives. Its just brilliant! He says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest Commandment. And the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Thats absolutely brilliant because if I truly love, there are things I will not do because those things will cause you pain and hurt. If somebody tells you they love you and they do this painful thing to you or if somebody tells you they love you and they steal from you, kill you or any other thing in this Book here, they probably dont love you as much as they say they do.

The Law is based on love. If you truly love God, you wont take His name in vain. If you truly love God, you wont follow any other gods. If you truly love God, you will worship Him and you wont bow down to idols. If you truly love your parents, youre going to honor them. If you love other people, youre not going to steal their stuff. Youre not going to kill them. Think about the Commandments: theyre based in foundational on love. Because I love this positive, wonderful thing, there are things Im not going to do-these negative things.

So the Law might seem like its a negative-dont do this; dont do that-but its really foundational. It is love. God establishes those Commandments because He loves you, because He doesnt want you to hurt yourself; He doesnt want you to hurt others; and He doesnt want you to squander your life. The Law is based on love. Its foundational to an understanding of Gods nature. God doesnt want to see you suffer. God doesnt want to see you suffer, and God doesnt want you to cause suffering to other people; so He gives you this standard to live by. He gives you this Law that you are to adhere to.

Its not like Gods up there with a list and Hes a law-monger. Hes not like, Oh, you didnt do this. You didnt do that! If we break His law, we first and foremost break His heart. Law is based on love. Jesus says the foundation of the Law is we love God and we love others. Because we love God and because we love others, here are the things that we will not do.

Now there is another thing thats important. My Greek is okay; my Hebrew, not so good. In my Hebrew, I really am relying upon what a commentator might say. One of these days, Ill have to go back and take some more Hebrew, but I just find that a real challenge. I listen to what they say, and I have no reason to doubt what they said. It was very interesting. I was reading a commentary on this passage, and the author said that you would think that when God would speak to the nation of Israel from Sinai and give them the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, that when He says the word you it would be plural because He was talking to a people group. Actually, when He says you, He uses the singular form. Thats very significant. That means the Ten Commandments, though they were given to all people and though they were given at this point to a nation, it was very much individuals-very much personal. God is saying to you, Heres how I expect you to live. Heres what I expect you to abide by, very personal. These are the Commandments you shall live by as a people.

So the Commandments are relational; theyre foundational; theyre personal; and they are absolutely essential. They are essential.

Im going to pick on your dad this morning, Joy, because I picked on him already. It worked out. It was a spontaneous thing on Saturday night, and it worked so Ive been following that pattern all the way through. You know Joy Thompson and Jesse, our music minister, heard that Mom and Dad are now coming to Faith Community-John and Mary Dorfer; and John is a retired physician. Mary is a teacher. They were missionaries in Ecuador for over a decade, so Joy spent her childhood growing up in Ecuador. In this hypothetical situation were going to make Dr. John the good guy. You know we have the swine flu outbreak right now. In Mexico its now crossed the border into the United States, so we should be concerned. If we see our children have these flu-like symptoms, the swine flu is spreading in a new form. Its dangerous. The fear that it generates-you can just imagine.

So (hypothetically) in Ecuador, there was this outbreak of an epidemic, and nobody knows a cure. Well, in this story, John has the cure. He has it in a pill form, and if youll take this pill and follow his instructions, soon youll see the symptoms begin to dissipate; and you will see your health begin to return. You can be expected to have a full recovery. Now there are others in Ecuador who see this happening. They become jealous. They see this as a way to make money, so they start to sell or market a placebo, a sugar pill. Theres nothing to it. Its not a drug. Its not medicine. The only benefits would be psychological. So you take this pill, and nothing would happen because its not real. There is no medicine in that. Its not a drug; its just psycho-somatic. Thats all; but people are selling it, and theyre making money. John is watching people die right and left in this epidemic because theyre believing a lie. The people are falling prey to this deceit of people saying this pill is a cure, This will fix your problem. This will enable you to live and not die. He knows that he has the only true cure. He knows it for a scientific fact. Some do-they take it and they get better and get well. Others, for whatever reason-they buy the lie. They take the placebo, and they die. Hes angry; hes angry because hes a good man, and he wants to see people get better. Isnt that right, John? Thats right. He wants to see people get better. Thats why he went into medicine. That's why he became a doctor, and now hes having to watch this entire village parish because people are going after a lie. Would you think he has an ego problem if he went around to people and said, I want you to take this medicine only from me? All of those other doctors are false doctors. Those medicines really dont work. Its a trap; its a deadly trap. If you believe it and you succumb to it, youre going to die. This is the cure. This is the only medicine that treats this problem, so I am begging you-come to me because I have the answer youre seeking. I have the cure to what is ailing you.

Would you say, Boy, that Dr. John, he sure is insecure-wanting everybody to come to him? Boy, he sure has an ego problem, that guy. He thinks hes the only show in town. In this scenario, he is.

Over here are all of these pretty little pills, right? Each represents fame and possessions, passion, power. Do this and youll be beautiful. Do this and youll be popular. Do this and youll be rich and youll be happy and healthy. Life will be wonderful. But theyre placebos; theyre not real. They dont cure what ails you.

The world is relentless, isnt it? The world just keeps beating us over the head with this stuff. In our newspapers, in our magazines, on our billboards, on our televisions, on the radio-its flashing its lights and looking appealing.

There is a journalist who I read an article from years ago that I thought was pretty funny. This isnt the funny part. He had a friend who had passed away who was from Russia. It was a close friend, and the friend wanted to be buried in his native land so the funeral was going to be in Russia. He and his American buddies were going to fly to Russia to pay tribute to their friend and attend this Russian Orthodox service. I dont know if its the custom for all Russian Orthodox churches, just the ones in this region or just this church, but the practice was that when you walked by the deceased you would bend down and kiss the deceased on his or her forehead. It was just a sign of respect, a sign of love. Right away, these three Americans see this, and theyre like, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I am not doing that. I love the guy, but I wouldnt kiss him when he was alive; and Im certainly not going to kiss him now. So they make up their mind and form this little pact that theyre not going to kiss their dead friend. As theyre walking from the casket, the moment of truth is coming. What really makes this difficult is above the casket there is this huge Russian Orthodox priest with big bushy eyebrows. He is looking firm, stern and mean. They come up and he picks up on the fact that theyre not going to kiss [their friend]. He looks at them, and he bows down and says, Kiss.

No, Im not going to kiss.

Kiss.

No, no. We Americans-we dont kiss dead people in America. In Russia, well respect it, but well do this but were not going to kiss.

Kiss!

Listen, I know how forceful they can be. I sat by a babushka one time on a plane if you heard that story. They can be very forceful. This guy just wont give up, so he gets a little angry and says, Kiss!

The guy is like, Okay. He kisses his friend. The next guy kisses, and the next guy kisses. Theyre like, Oh, man. I cant believe we did that! That's a humorous way of conveying what sometimes happens to us. The world is clamoring, Just bend over and kiss. Just embrace.

Were like, No, no, I cant do that. I cant do that! but there is within us the flesh that entices. There is a tempter outside of us that seeks to make darkness look like light. There is the relentless bombarding of the world that says, Bend down and kiss. Bend down and worship. Bend down and ascribe worth to these things, and we do.

Were like, Man, I cant believe I did that! We come to find out that they dont satisfy like they promised they do. That power corrupts; those possessions dont satisfy, so we end up suckers, duped, fooled, bamboozled-I could go on.

So when God says He is a jealous God, it is not as we think jealousy. It is not based on insecurity. It is based on love because God knows that if we bow down to another god, if we bow down to serve another idol-we serve these things-its going to be empty. Its going to be unfulfilled.

There is nothing inherently wrong with many of the things here. There is nothing wrong with beauty, but you and I have all seen Hollywood celebrities that will pay thousands of dollars to preserve their youth through cosmetic surgery. Most of them end up looking worse than they did before. They just let things go. We read in the paper all the time people who sacrificed their integrity to acquire one of these things. Its empty. Its not what was promised.

God knows that since He is the one who made us and knows how we tick; and He knows what we need and that if we will give our allegiance to Him, He knows well truly experience the fulfillment that we seek-only through Him. So when He says no other gods and when He says dont bow down to an idol, its not based on any insecurity. Its based on love. The jealousy is an anger that is angry at those who would steal away the hearts of His people, getting them to buy a lie. Only He has the cure that we need. Only in Christ do we find what we are looking for. Only in Christ do we have the answer to the sin that besets our souls. That is the Gospel, and Law is foundation is love.

The children of Israel did not want to forsake God. That was never their plan. When they went into this region and they started worshipping other gods, it wasnt to forsake God. They just wanted to have God and the other gods too. Im still going to worship the God of Israel. Im still going to worship the God of my fathers, but, you know, its probably not a bad idea to have an ace in the whole, a little something in my back pocket in case. Im going to have God plus Im going to have the other gods too. Thats idolatry. Idolatry is a lack of faith. It is trusting in something or someone other than the living God to supply what we need.

What we have to do in this series is we have to do some introspection. We have to make sure that God is on the thrown in our hearts; that there arent idols that were bowing down to; that were not buying in to the placebos the world offers us. We know there is only one cure to what ails us; its only been found in one place, and thats the living God-the God of the Scripture, Lord Jesus Christ.

We have to make sure because it is so easy to compromise, it is so easy to buy into the lie, its so easy to give in to the pressure… God is looking after a people who will return His love, whose hearts will belong solely to Him. Thats what this series is about. I hope youll join us. Were going to cover a lot of ground together in the next few weeks.

Lets pray together:

Father, as I bring this portion of the service to a close, our hearts reflect upon these Commandments. To those who would lack in understanding of Your Word, those who would not dig deeper below the Commandment, when Your Word says You are jealous, they are quick to point a finger and say that You are insecure, that You have an ego problem. Lord, when we understand that the Law is based upon love, we understand that this Commandment is here so that we would not ruin our lives or ruin other lives, that we could know true joy and peace. Father, wed come to embrace it. Wed come to see it for what it is, its value and its words in significance. Lord, till the day we die, these other voices will clamor and compete for our allegiance, commanding us to bow down, to give in, to sacrifice, to pursue that which does not satisfy. Lord, help us to be wiser than that, to rise above that, to see the air in the lie, to be drawn to the Truth that is found in You, Lord Jesus. Lord, help us in this series to break through some walls that have kept us back, to gain victory in areas where we have known defeat, to bring some things to the cross that have waged war against our souls, that we might know the freedom that You desire to bring us in Christ. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.