How seriously do you take sin - really?

I’m sure you take murder seriously. But adultery gets more complicated doesn’t it. Unfortunately, people just don’t see it as serious as murder. Statistics indicate that 74% of men say they would have an affair if they knew they would never get caught. And the church isn’t exempt. So how seriously do you take adultery?

The word ‘globalization’ has a negative ring to it, doesn’t it?

You think of fast food chains, crawling across America, jumping the ocean to country after country, until you can buy the same burger, fries and Coke all over the world at the same time.

Thankfully, God was thinking globally long before us – and for the good. Here in this passage, you need to imagine a time when the Good News of Jesus was known in Jerusalem; and only just beginning to spread from there into the surrounding countryside. But God had his sights set on the world.

Have you ever wondered why? Children are good at asking the “why” question. When it comes to loving God we have to know why. Like a parent speaking to his children Moses addresses the nation of Israel with the law of God. As beautiful as the law is, he can anticipate a time when the nation will ask why? Why all these decrees and statutes? And Moses replies with the command to love. Jesus affirms it in the first and greatest commandment. But like little children we go further and continue to ask why? Again Moses says why but instead of a command he tells a story. In doing so he tells Israel about the most advanced version of the gospel at the time. Only the gospel gives the right motivation to love and keep His commands.

You might have heard that on June 24, Nik Wallenda became the first person to cross the Grand Canyon on a tightrope – without a safety harness.

Imagine the faith it takes to even give that a go. Imagine the courage it takes to tell people you’re going to do it – so that they’re watching, televising – maybe televising your death.

But that’s the kind of attitude God wants in us too, in regard to him. Do we believe that Jesus is Lord of the heavens and the earth; that God raised him from the dead?

Is that reflected in how we tell others about him?

We might struggle to immediately see the relevance of the first 2 commandments today, until we look at them a bit more closely. But isn’t this a commandment that has clear relevance today?

Don’t you hear people misusing God’s name everywhere? It’s the one form of swearing that gets past a PG rating.

It’s the one form of swearing that’s even accepted in public gatherings, while people hold back on their other choice words.

It’s even becoming increasingly accepted in Christian circles.

In spite of all that though, God tells us not to misuse his name; and that he won’t ignore those who do.

The letter of James is very practical and down to earth. In facing trials of many kinds James wants us to be people who absolutely depend on God in prayer. When we are sick he expects Christians to call on the elders to pray and rely on God for healing. Part of the healing process involves the use of medicine and the confession of sins to one another. Throughout the process God is sovereign over all circumstances including sickness and health. We ask the question: what kind of qualification does the righteous man of v. 16 need in order to be praying the prayer of faith in v. 15 so that the sick person will be healed? We take a timely look at the relationship between the faith of the pray-er and healing and find the courage and humility to pray.

Last Sunday night we looked at the first of the 10 commandments, which tells us who to worship. God says, ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ Tonight the 2nd commandment tells us how to worship, ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol … and bow down and worship it.’

I haven’t been to the Hindu temple on Warton Rd. But I imagine that inside there’s an idol that people make offerings to, and possibly bow down and worship. Popular Buddhism does the same. You can go to Maddington Centro, buy a little Buddha statue, and set it up in your own shrine at home if your that way inclined; and worship.

But this is the kind of thing God tells us not to do as we worship him.

If you’ve ever spent time on a farm, maybe you got to watch the farmer, as he took the carcass of a dead animal he found in the paddock, and threw it on a fire to get rid of it. You watched over the next hour or so, as the carcass was slowly transformed into bones and ashes.

You don’t realize it as first, but that’s the kind of image Paul picks up on here in these verses. He’s drawing on the Old Testament sacrifices, and the pagan sacrifices that the Romans would have been more familiar with. They had stood by, as the sacrifice they had brought was burnt before their eyes, slowly transformed into dust and ashes.

Here, though, it’s us that are urged to offer ourselves as sacrifices; with the way to do that, and the outcome, rather different to the OT and pagan sacrifices.

I wonder how you felt the first time you were dragged before authorities of one sort or another: maybe pulled over by the police for the first time; maybe finding yourself in court? Were you confident; ready to use it as an opportunity to proclaim the good news about Jesus? If you’re anything like me, I suspect not.

But Peter here, filled with the Holy Spirit, just sees this as another gospel opportunity. He has an audience. Why not tell them the good news? It’s hard to believe it’s the same Peter that denied Jesus 3 times, isn’t it?

We’re all familiar with keys, aren’t we? They come in all shapes and sizes - the old metal kind, or the newer electronic kind, like a PIN.

And we all know what they do. They lock and unlock things – cars, houses, bank accounts, phones, or a thousand other things.

But what are these keys of the kingdom Jesus talks about here? And what is this binding and loosing. At first read, some of this doesn’t make too much sense.