WEBVTT 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:08.880 Hello everyone, this is Pastor Benjamin. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.000 You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City Orlando. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.439 At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:20.239 For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.600 Join me in this prayer of illumination. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:38.960 God our Father, by your Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our minds to your word and lead us into your truth for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:39.840 Amen. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:46.320 Please remain standing for our scripture reading from Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 1 through 15. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:01:11.680 Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:25.599 Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you in the land flowing with milk and honey. 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:30.079 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:35.439 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:54.159 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontless between your eyes. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:58.239 You shall write them on your doorpost of your house and on your gates. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:19.759 And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:28.719 When you eat and are full, then take care least you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.479 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:36.560 Him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:42.159 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:52.240 For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God, least the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.080 This is God's word. 00:02:54.080 --> 00:02:56.960 Please be seated. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:00.080 Good morning. 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:11.120 Got my water bottle today because you who are parents know that our kids are going back to school, and that means they bring home gifts of disease to us. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.719 So had a little congestion that just won't go away. 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:16.080 I don't know what to do with it. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:18.080 So the water helps. 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:28.800 But this morning, um, I want to tell you about a phenomenon that psychologists label earning behavior or performance-based attachment. 00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:32.240 It can happen uh when children are adopted. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:37.759 Uh they're chosen by a parent, they're brought into that parent's household, they've signed the paperwork. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.120 This child belongs to them, lives and dwells in their house. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.759 They're entitled to everything that any beloved child is entitled to. 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:52.879 And yet, sometimes they can't help but feel like they have to earn their place at that table. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:04:03.919 Every uh homework assignment, uh, every chore, uh, every sport becomes an opportunity for the child to fulfill this question in their heart is do I really belong here? 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:09.280 Let me make sure that I will keep my father and my mother's love. 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:16.480 And those same psychologists will tell you that that's often has nothing to do with the way that they're parented, but something has happened. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:29.439 Uh, and isn't that Satan's way to take even something so beautiful and good as adoption and to move our lie-prone hearts towards a wrong way of understanding the love that we can receive? 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.560 Adoption is a very common theme in scripture. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:38.000 In Deuteronomy 6 and 7, we see that the Lord has chosen this people, right? 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:46.800 He's laid his promises on them, he's delivered them from Israel, he's bringing them home to the promised land, and he's giving them his very self there, right? 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.920 There they will experience the blessing of God. 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:52.399 This is adoption language. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:57.040 In Romans 8:15, Paul says that this is true of us as well in Christ. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:03.279 He says, We have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:17.279 And it is from this place of steadfast love, of God's love being laid on us, that our work and witness flow forth, our work and witness being our laboring in the world and our loving those around us. 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:30.079 However, the enemy loves to lie to our lie prone hearts about what makes us secure and significant, twisting our work and witness into selfish idolatry or legalistic burdens. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:31.759 So, what does that look like? 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:38.959 Well, at work, maybe you pursue that promotion until success becomes the voice telling you that you matter. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:47.199 In parenting, your child's success becomes proof that you're a good parent, and their failure becomes a verdict upon you. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:56.079 In church, maybe you get to serve your heavenly father, but it quietly becomes, I need to make myself useful so God will be pleased with me. 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:04.399 Maybe at home you're caring for your family, but it becomes resentment when no one notices because their appreciation has become the measure of your value. 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:13.600 Even in evangelism, your neighbor's salvation can become something you need to accomplish rather than faithfully and joyfully entrusting that work to God. 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:22.000 And with money, right, your money can begin to become idolatry when your account balance starts saying, now you're safe. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:31.040 Or in spiritual disciplines, prayer and scripture become legalism when missing a few days makes you feel like you have to now earn your way back into God's favor. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:42.879 The result is that our work and witness becomes about our personal significance as an idol, or it becomes a burden, leaving us exhausted, anxious, prone, and unsatisfied. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:44.959 That's not what God wants for us, though. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:53.279 See, God's steadfast words of love are meant to drive our work and witness, his love overflowing in our work and witness in all that we do. 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:58.240 These are my two points today: the Lord's work and witness and our work and witness. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:02.079 Go ahead and look with me at Deuteronomy 6, verse 10. 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:11.680 It reads, And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:14.639 See, I want you to notice what is not said here. 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:14.959 Right? 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:19.839 What is not said is, Israel, when you stake your flag in the promised land, right? 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:22.319 Like we staked our flag on the moon. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:25.040 If you believe that happened, I don't know where you stand on that. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:27.680 But that he doesn't say that, right? 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:37.759 He doesn't say, hey, when you manifest, right, the future that you want, uh, he also doesn't say, when you execute that strategy, right, that you came up with perfectly. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:40.000 No, he doesn't say any of those things. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:48.240 It says, and when the Lord your God brings you, see that word bring in Hebrew can have a sense of bearing, carrying, or guiding. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:54.480 But regardless, this is the Lord Himself bearing, carrying, and guiding Israel, right? 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:55.199 His people. 00:07:55.199 --> 00:08:06.079 He's the one who is drawing them into the land, who's delivered them, who's provided for them, who's revealed what it looks like to worship him and is going to bring them into the promised land. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:10.800 And that land, of course, was promised to Abraham back in Genesis. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.519 Uh, God gives to him his covenant of grace. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:22.000 He promises to make a people from him, to give that people a land and to bless them, that they might be a blessing to all the nations. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.920 And of course, Abraham receives that by faith. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:36.240 His work is a response in faith, trusting that God's steadfast love will persevere, trusting in the promises of God, that God will accomplish that. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:44.720 See, the Lord laid his love on Abraham and all those who would come from him to draw them, to adopt them into his family. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.879 And what makes that land special is nothing innate to the land itself. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:51.039 God owns all things, right? 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:59.679 What makes that land special is that that is the place that God has chosen for his chosen people to dwell with him in worship, right? 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:06.480 To dwell with him in a flourishing relationship, that they might have all that they need to live in relationship with him. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:15.679 Ephesians 2, 8 says, By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:25.519 By grace, God called Israel and gave to them the promise, and by grace, God calls us into communion with him and brings us to salvation. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:38.399 And so, however, we can know that, and yet still, when we think about the future, right, when we think about five, ten years from now, uh, when we do that, I wonder what fills your heart. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:39.840 Uh, is it anxiety? 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:57.519 Because you think about all the things that need to happen uh in order for you to stay secure, to be financially secure, in order for your family to flourish, in order for your children to flourish, in order for you uh to make sure that you do everything you have to do, because who else is going to look out for you? 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:17.600 Or is it uh that you're you're so focused on uh your vision board and on what you want to see happen in your life that uh you're willing to give up anything to get there, even attending a church service, even Christ-centered community, even spiritual practices like prayer and worship and scripture. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:26.799 See, both of these things can be ways that our work and witness are influenced not by the grace of God, but about lies that we believe. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:29.360 See, really, we are children of God. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:34.000 We who are children of God, we know that our heavenly Father will bring us home. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.919 He has promised as much. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:40.080 See, uh, my children experience this when I go on road trips. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:45.919 We were in North Carolina this past summer, uh, and it was actually strangely hot up there, which was disappointing. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:47.360 But it was a good trip. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:55.200 And uh we spent some time with my uh wife's parents, and on the way home, we decided to leave at 4:30 in the morning. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:57.279 Yeah, I heard the rumblings. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:58.080 That's early. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:05.360 Uh, and my children, though, they slept for several hours in the backseat, which was wonderful for them, wonderful for me. 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:15.840 And uh it was an opportunity, though, to reflect on the fact that we had to drive thousands of miles to get back home, navigate through the mountains, through rain, uh, through traffic. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:19.200 And my kids were oblivious to all of it, right? 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.840 Because they didn't have to navigate. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:28.000 They had trust in their father to drive them home, to bring them back home. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:33.200 They knew what was my responsibility and what was theirs, and they could rest in that. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:41.600 And so this is the Lord's word of promise for our for his work and witness, but we also see the Lord's work of mercy. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:45.600 Look with me at Deuteronomy 6, 10 through 11. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:12:02.879 With good and great cities you did not build, God gives to them, and houses full of good things you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and when you eat and are full. 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:13.919 So notice all of these things that God is working, that God is building, that God is providing for his people, the first of which is good cities, good and great cities that they did not build. 00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:19.200 Now, Israel, they have been uh they have been sojourners or slaves up to this point. 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:26.080 Ever since Abraham, they've either been sojourning in the land in slavery or again sojourning towards the promised land. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:32.320 And so the idea that they would have cities, right, that the Lord would lead them into that they did not build is incredible. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.399 Cities, of course, were places of security. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:41.360 They had walls to keep them safe, they had homes, they had marketplaces, societies and families can flourish there. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.360 And these are good and great cities. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.559 And he goes on to have houses full of good things you did not fill, right? 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:53.200 That's food on the table, that's family, that's friends, that's children laughing, right? 00:12:53.200 --> 00:13:04.399 This is community, this is what you see in uh Hallmark commercials and in commercials around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but those play on things that are deep desires in us, things we were created for. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:06.720 God fills our homes with them. 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:10.000 And then cisterns that you did not dig, right? 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:16.399 Uh, cisterns for for water, things, all of their basic needs are provided by the Lord, right? 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:24.720 Their bank accounts will have enough money, their water will be full, they'll have the food they need to eat, and even more vineyards and olive trees. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.879 You did not plant, right? 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:32.320 Vineyards and olive trees would be great for commerce, but also just a taste of what is good, right? 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:36.000 All of this is a flourishing life that he is offering them. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:38.559 And he's saying, You did not do an inch for it. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.080 You cannot claim an inch of it. 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:42.879 It's mine, and I'm giving it to you. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:51.120 In Ephesians 2, 9, Paul says, Our salvation is not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.360 And truly, Israel here, that's true for them. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:54.559 But that's true for us as well. 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.799 When we often think of salvation, we think of where our souls are going to be, right? 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:00.799 In heaven, in the new heavens and new earth. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.559 But salvation is much more than that. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:07.279 For Israel, salvation meant that they were set up to flourish in all of life with God. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:11.759 And when God invites us home to him in Jesus Christ, the same is true. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:19.600 He invites us to give our whole lives to him, that we might see flourishing in all parts of our life, which doesn't mean that we won't struggle, right? 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:28.559 Things won't be difficult, we won't have labor to do, but that we will do it with him and have all that we need as we seek him first and see him provide. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:38.480 In Hebrews 11:10, we read that Abraham was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:45.679 So Abraham, he was looking forward not just to the promised land, but the city of God, the garden city we will see in the new heavens and new earth. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:53.519 We live here like Israel as tenants of this land, tenants of these bodies, knowing that we are being brought to the new heavens and new earth. 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:58.960 We will where we will work and worship and service to our God. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:03.360 And so we see that is the work and mercy of God. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:09.120 And then in Deuteronomy 6.12, we see how that frees our work to be life-giving. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:17.679 Deuteronomy 6.12 says, Then take care lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:34.639 Now, the word forget uh doesn't just mean a temporary or permanent lapse of memory, but rather it means when we ignore his commandments, when we follow other gods, when we live in fear of things other than God, when we fall out of relationship with the Lord. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:38.879 In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 6, we have the Shema. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:43.039 It says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.759 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:52.399 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:16:04.399 Now in Jewish tradition, they often bound the words of the Shema on their arms or head or around their doorposts, in a very kind of literal understanding of we want the words of the Lord upon us, right? 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:07.600 We want it to shape and form everything in our lives. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.159 But even understanding that figuratively, right? 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:19.200 We understand that the words of the Lord are meant to change our behavior in all of life, in all of our work and witness, in all of our labor and all of our love. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:25.440 So, my question for you is what words are driving your work and witness? 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:31.120 When you get up in the morning and you think about all that you need to do, are you filled with anxiety? 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:37.600 When you think about the future and where God is taking you, are you wondering where the resources are going to come from? 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:45.200 When you when God is inviting you to step out in faith and share the gospel with somebody near you, uh, what is coming to mind? 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.960 Are you working from the steadfast love of the Lord or from fear and scarcity? 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:58.799 To as I reflected on the power of words, uh, I was thinking about my relationship with my kids. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:03.759 I often have opportunities just to love and enjoy and rejoice in them. 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:04.960 And I love to do that. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:12.720 Tell them how I love them, uh, tell them and so that they know that their my love is not dependent on their work, right? 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:26.880 Uh, that uh and then rejoice in their work, not because they've accomplished something that I was expecting of them, but simply because I rejoice in what God is doing in their lives, how He's created, what He's made them for, and that they're finding fulfillment and living that out. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:38.720 And yet sometimes I can find myself being a little critical of them, wanting to adjust their behavior, um, and saying things that maybe are unhelpful. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:46.160 And in those moments, sometimes I think about my own relationship with my father, and times he did that with me. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:56.160 And it's interesting how you know he never intended uh the evil of these of the words that Satan would try to twist in my heart. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:04.960 But some of those criticisms from him, right, lead to me hearing, don't be a disappointment. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:11.920 And I wonder what words you've heard growing up in your life. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:17.279 They're leading you to strive for a love that's already yours. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:22.799 They're leading you to wonder if God loves you enough to actually provide for what you need. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:28.160 To wonder if he will fulfill his promises for you. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:41.119 In Deuteronomy 7, 628, we see that our God wants us to hear his words of love from him and for us to internalize them and know them. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:45.279 In Deuteronomy 7, 6 to 8, he says, You are a people holy. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:49.680 You're my treasured possession out of all peoples. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:54.480 It says the Lord has set his love on you and chosen you. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.799 Not for anything except that the Lord loves you. 00:18:58.799 --> 00:19:02.400 He said that to Israel. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:09.119 And that word for set your love on is actually a word for a passionate, pursuant love of desire. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:24.720 God is essentially saying, I desire you so much that I will go to such great lengths to lay my promises on you, to deliver you from Egypt, to bring you through the wilderness, to go with you into the promised land, to drive out the peoples before you. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:31.039 I will do whatever it takes to pursue you and win you in love, not because you've earned it. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:36.480 Israel certainly did not earn it, but rather because that's who I am. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.880 God's immutability means that he does not change. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:40.960 What that means is that his love never changed. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:47.200 When he has set his love on you, he pursues it until it is fulfilled. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:56.880 And so it is out of God's steadfast love, his work and witness of love in and for us that leads to our work and witness. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.920 Look with me at Deuteronomy 6.13. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:04.960 It says, It is the Lord your God, you shall fear. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.240 Now, fear is not something we can just do like Nike. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:10.400 We can't just wake up in the morning and will it. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:19.839 Like, I'm just gonna fear the Lord today, um, which is good because I think of people who like wake up and like, I'm just gonna run like several miles this morning, or like get a strong workout in them. 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:21.680 Man, I don't have willpower for that. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.519 I can barely get up and make my coffee in the morning. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:24.480 You know what I mean? 00:20:24.480 --> 00:20:28.160 So it's good that this is not based off of our willpower. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:37.200 Rather, the fear of the Lord is developed through a lifestyle of living with piety, reverence, and respect and growth and character. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:42.160 It's covenant friendship with God that leads to our work and witness. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:48.640 And in Deuteronomy 6, 1 through 3, we see there's a pattern that God shows us to have covenant friendship with him. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:21:01.759 Uh, it's his teaching us who he is, it's our listening to him and obeying his commands that forms us over time into people who flourish in relationship with our God and all of our work and witness. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:03.680 And we see that in Deuteronomy 6, 1. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:19.200 He says, This is the commandment, the statutes and rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and commandments. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:30.480 See, the sphere of the Lord uh is formed as they keep his statutes and commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, that your days may be long, and there's the flourishing, right? 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:35.359 And so oftentimes we don't want to do things that feel inauthentic in our culture today. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:39.920 We don't want to just obey the Lord and obey his commands because that's kind of legalistic, right? 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:47.839 Uh however, what God is teaching his people is that uh a covenant friendship with God requires work, right? 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:54.880 It doesn't require us to will it, but rather it requires us listening and obeying him, being formed by doing life with him. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:56.559 It's like a marriage, right? 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:01.839 When you marry somebody, uh over time you begin to realize all The ways that they're a little different from you. 00:22:01.839 --> 00:22:23.920 But what it would take is listening to them, listening to their heart, listening to their desires, understanding who God has made them, doing things to love them, not because you want to do them, but doing them because you know that they will love and appreciate what you're doing, doing life with them, being formed over time into people who have a flourishing marriage together, right? 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:27.599 Because you put in the relational work to love one another. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.279 You've made that choice together. 00:22:29.279 --> 00:22:32.160 And so God's people weren't supposed to just will it, right? 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:36.559 They don't immediately turn around and say, okay, we're gonna love God the same way he's loved us. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:42.079 No, God's inviting them to become a people who love the Lord. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:45.119 And they do that in relationship with him. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:51.039 In Matthew 4, 8 through 10, uh, Jesus is first uh baptized just before this. 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:55.599 He hears the Father say, This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.920 And then he goes out into the wilderness. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:04.799 Uh and as he goes out into the wilderness, the devil takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:11.039 And he says to him, All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:19.599 Then Jesus said to him, Be gone, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone you shall serve. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.720 See, he's quoting our very passage. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:29.680 And Satan actually, it's it's he's it's a little on the head when you read it right here, but Satan's a devio, right? 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.880 He's giving Jesus what it seems to be good, right? 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:34.400 Jesus is going to be king of the world. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:38.319 Wouldn't it be nice if Jesus could just skip the crucifixion, right? 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:45.599 If he could just skip the death, he could skip being rejected by his own people, and instead he could just rule over the world. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:48.400 How then does Jesus do this? 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:56.640 Now, Jesus is fully God and fully man, and yet in his humanity, he is intentional to form his fear of the Lord. 00:23:56.640 --> 00:23:57.119 Right? 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:01.440 We see him continually go away in prayer throughout the gospel account. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:06.559 We also see him continually say, I only do what I see the Father doing. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:10.480 See, Jesus was formed, he was the new Adam, right? 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:12.240 He was the more perfect Israel. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:23.599 He was the one who listened to the teachings of God, was formed in listening and obedience, uh, and ultimately in flourishing in righteousness and obedience to the Lord. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:29.200 And so I wonder what temptations does Satan put in your path? 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:40.400 What ways is he speaking into your life, seeking you to take shortcuts to form you away from formation with the Lord? 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.400 One way that he does that in my life sometimes is Instagram. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:53.279 Now, I frequently download and then undownload and then re-download Instagram because I find I get a little addicted to it, and yet I still want to come back to it. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:25:00.000 And so um the other day I was putting my son Corbin down to sleep, and he's two years old, so he takes a while to go to sleep, right? 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:06.559 And I was like, well, I just want to watch some like funny parenting videos because Instagram's algorithms, they know me, right? 00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:09.920 They know what I find funny, they know when I need to be empathized with. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:10.640 So I did. 00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:12.960 I found some funny videos, and it was a good time. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:21.920 And uh then I showed my wife those videos and she laughed and woke up the next morning, and I did a good job of not going straight to my phone, but reading scripture and praying. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:26.640 Uh, but then uh over breakfast, you know, I get bored just sitting there chewing my food. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:29.599 So I decided I wanted to scroll on Instagram while I was there. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:34.559 So I did, and I looked at things about the new Marvel movies coming out, and it was interesting. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:38.240 But then I hopped in the car, went to work, and I prayed on the way to work. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:47.359 Uh, and before I knew it, I had stopped praying and started thinking about all the Marvel and comic book content. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:51.119 I was looking at it on Instagram, and I was taken aback. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:59.200 I didn't, I had I had no memory of when my mind switched over from prayer to you know the new Spider-Man movie. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:09.839 And uh I in reflecting on that, I realized that the things that we think are neutral, that we give our attention to, are really not, right? 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:20.880 Instagram, its algorithms are made to find out the things that I love the most in the flesh through all of my clicks, give them to me constantly, and keep me hooked as long as possible. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:26.160 And I think when I click off my phone and put it in my pocket, that I can switch my mind to something else. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:32.240 But in reality, my mind, my attention is still focused on what I was looking at. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:32.720 Right? 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:37.839 And that's an example of the things that we have in our life that form us away from the Lord. 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:51.440 And whether or not you think that's demonic, I'm sure that Satan is quite happy when uh things that are forming my mind away from the Lord keep me from things like prayer, keep me from growing in the fear of the Lord. 00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:57.279 And that leads me to Deuteronomy 6.13, which says, Him alone you shall serve. 00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:08.319 Now, serve can mean compel one to labor, but in scripture, when service is offered to God, it's not bondage, but rather a joyous and liberating experience. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:11.519 It means work, worship, or cultivation. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:12.799 It's relational. 00:27:12.799 --> 00:27:16.640 Israel was repeatedly called the servants of the Lord, right? 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:22.799 Their identity was wrapped up in God's work in them and their work as servants of God. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.319 And unless you think work is just a result of the fall, right? 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:29.680 Work was actually given to Adam and Eve in the garden. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:34.240 They were called to work and to cultivate the garden, but they did that with the blessing of God. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:36.960 They did that with God Himself present with them, right? 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:48.720 They had power to see God's uh image go out into the world to glorify God uh through subduing the world and bringing God's blessing to the world around them. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:28:00.720 In Ephesians 2.10, Paul tells us that we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:05.680 So even here now in Christ, we are created for good works, right? 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:17.519 God first works in us, he creates us, he gives us the gift of faith, he draws us to himself, he sets his love on us, and then he sends us out to do the good work he has called us to do. 00:28:17.519 --> 00:28:18.480 Right? 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:21.519 He invites us to participate in that with him. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.880 And some of us, we think about how we want to work to retire. 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:26.640 Whatever we do, it doesn't really matter. 00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:28.960 We're we're moving towards is retirement, right? 00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:34.880 Get to go uh hit on the golf course, get to eat the food you want, get to travel to around the world. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:38.079 It feels like everyone goes to North Carolina, to North Carolina. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:46.240 And um and some of us think, well, you know, post-COVID with all the wars in the world, I don't even know if I'm gonna make it that long. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:48.880 I need passive income now, right? 00:28:48.880 --> 00:28:52.319 We want to live the right life we want to have here and now. 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:55.839 And then other of us uh have a positive view of artificial intelligence. 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:59.279 We think maybe we're gonna get to that point where we none of us have to work anymore. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:02.559 We just get to sit back, you know, enjoy life. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:07.599 Um, it's probably like Jin Z, you know, that hasn't watched The Matrix, you know. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:35.359 Regardless, uh what God calls us to, and what all of those things are missing is that we were made to be co-workers with God, to cultivate the earth, to glorify him by being his image-bearers to one another and all creation, to worship him in all that we do, to steward all that he's given us, to co-create with him the mission that he is accomplishing uh that will be fulfilled in the new heavens and new earth. 00:29:35.359 --> 00:29:40.880 The question is here and now, whom do you serve? 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:53.599 I have a good friend uh who, or rather, someone I met recently, uh, who's becoming a good friend, but he uh is in construction and he only does construction for very high-end clients, uh, which is good for him. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:03.440 But one of the things that he got to do recently is create a fireplace for someone in the same way that it was created in his childhood home. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:10.160 And so what he did was he looked at the fireplace, he saw the veining, he found out that it was from a quarry in Italy. 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:13.680 So he went over there, realized the quarry was underwater. 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:27.200 And so, like any normal person, he found a company that could drain the whole quarry of water, and then another one to mine out what he needed, ship it overseas, and build the exact fireplace that this guy wanted, right? 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:28.400 That's incredible. 00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:35.200 It would be incredible to have unlimited resources to do the work that God created us to do. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:39.440 And that is what God promises us. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:42.799 He doesn't promise us the fulfillment of our desires in the flesh. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:58.720 He doesn't promise that we're always going to love our jobs, but he does promise that the work of glorifying him, of worshiping him, of co-creating with him, uh, all that we need to find joy in this life is available to us at the throne of grace in Jesus Christ. 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:06.400 And we know again, we are tenants in this life, and we will have that in full in the new heavens and new earth. 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:12.079 Which leads me to the next thing that he invites us into, which is full allegiance to himself. 00:31:12.079 --> 00:31:18.799 Deuteronomy 6, verses 13 to 15 says, And by his name you shall swear. 00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:22.960 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:33.279 For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you and he destroy you off the face of the earth. 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:38.480 See, swear uh in scripture is not what we're used to uh with my kids. 00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:45.359 Uh, don't tell them this, but we told them uh last year we might get them guinea pigs when they started school this year. 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:49.759 And my wife has told me in no uncertain terms that that's not going to happen immediately. 00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:55.759 And so, you know, that song plays in my head, promises, promises, you knew you'd never keep. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:31:56.160 Right? 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:58.640 I feel like that happens more often than I would like. 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:03.039 But in scripture, swearing is an unbreakable word. 00:32:03.039 --> 00:32:07.119 It's a solemn oath, it's confirming a covenant before God. 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:12.480 And what they're being invited to here is not to swear that they will accomplish this, right? 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:21.680 Uh it's it's they're swearing before God, trusting in his truthfulness, in his faithfulness, in his person and promises. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:22.319 Right? 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:36.160 God is saying, I want you to give your full self to me and surrender so that I can do my work in you and produce the fruit of faith, produce the fruit of faithfulness, produce the fruit of the fear of the Lord. 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:38.799 It's an invitation into relationship. 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:44.720 It's a binding oneself to God, who is the one who accomplishes his task. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:48.480 This also comes out of God's exclusivity, right? 00:32:48.480 --> 00:32:53.039 He alone is to all of their worship. 00:32:53.039 --> 00:33:00.319 Now, Satan uh likes to make us believe that we can we can choose what we want to give to God. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:00.720 Right? 00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:13.119 In the West, right, we can go to the church that we want to or the religious service, we can choose not to go, we can go when we want to, we can live where we want to, we can practice our faith the way we want to, we can listen to the preachers we want to. 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:20.240 There's an unlimited buffet of ways we can choose to live out our faith, whatever that might be. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:30.960 But God reveals here in Scripture that there is only one God, and he alone is due all of our worship. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:35.759 Jesus brings this out in his response to Satan, right? 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:38.240 They're in quoting this verse. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:45.519 One way I think we can see this is through none other than our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. 00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:50.880 Now, don't worry, no spoilers on the new movie, although it's great, you should see it. 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:56.160 Uh, but Spider-Man, uh, in whatever iteration, he is bitten by a spider. 00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:57.279 Uh, Peter Parker. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:59.920 Now, if you didn't know Peter Parker was Spider-Man, that's on you. 00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:03.440 Um, you gotta, you know, crack open a comic book. 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:07.680 But Spider-Man receives extraordinary abilities, right? 00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:10.400 And in the beginning, he struggles with what to do with these abilities. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:12.559 Do I use it to get the girl that I want? 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:15.119 Do I use it for fame or fortune? 00:34:15.119 --> 00:34:22.000 Uh, and that's when you hear Uncle Ben's words with great power comes great responsibility. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:28.400 Now the question isn't whether his gifts are good or bad, it's who are they for? 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:33.840 For Spider-Man, that was New York, saving the people of New York, keeping them safe. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:45.039 And Jesus tells us, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, because what you serve reveals what you worship. 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:49.119 See, Satan's offer is this is the same as it was to Jesus. 00:34:49.119 --> 00:35:00.880 Let the promotion tell you you're successful, let the 401k make you secure, let your children show you that you're a good parent, let your work, home, or sport become your identity. 00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:07.119 But Jesus entered the wilderness already carrying the Father's words that were also meant for us. 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:10.000 This is my beloved son. 00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:18.159 He worshiped God alone, he stood where we fall, and at the cross, he took the verdict we spend our lives trying to outrun. 00:35:18.159 --> 00:35:19.760 You're not enough. 00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:21.920 Your work isn't enough. 00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:24.400 You'll never make it home. 00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:26.800 And Jesus was victorious. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:29.920 So now we don't work to become loved. 00:35:29.920 --> 00:35:33.519 We work because in Christ we already are. 00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:39.920 Uncle Ben said, with great power comes great responsibility, but the gospel gives us something better. 00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:51.440 With every God-given gift, there is responsibility to serve and worship the Lord, but that's undergirded by a promise that no matter what in Christ, you are already loved. 00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:55.599 And the beloved are finally free to serve. 00:35:55.599 --> 00:36:05.599 In John 6, 27 through 29, Jesus says, Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life. 00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:08.960 And they asked, Well, what work does God want from us? 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:14.480 And Jesus answered, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. 00:36:14.480 --> 00:36:19.360 So I wonder this morning, what is the work God is inviting you into? 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:27.039 Maybe you've uh are not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, and God is inviting you this morning to ask for a gift of faith. 00:36:27.039 --> 00:36:33.039 Ask the Lord if this is true, to lay his love on you and surrender your life to the Lord. 00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:45.440 Maybe the Lord is asking you to surrender your work, your relationships, your family, to trust that he is the one who has given those things to you and he will bring to accomplishment his purposes for your life. 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:47.440 Or maybe it's church planting. 00:36:47.440 --> 00:36:52.880 As you hear us talk about church planting, I wonder what are the thoughts that go through your own mind. 00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:56.000 Is it, I just need steadiness in my life right now? 00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:58.000 I'm not ready for something like that. 00:36:58.000 --> 00:36:59.599 Um burnt out right now. 00:36:59.599 --> 00:37:03.760 I don't know what I'm gonna be able to do in a church plant. 00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:12.880 Whatever the case may be, whether God's calling you into a church plant, calling you to surrender, calling you to know him, calling you to know and love your neighbors. 00:37:12.880 --> 00:37:23.440 The invitation is the same to surrender what you have to the Lord, to trust in his love upon your heart and to follow him wherever he would lead you. 00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:28.159 So for some of you, I invite you to come to the Planting Garden City meeting tonight. 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:32.320 Maybe you weren't planning to come, but we'll have Huey McGoose, we'll have free child care. 00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:35.039 So, parents, you're more than welcome to come and just have fun. 00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:44.960 Uh, but we'll also have an opportunity to talk about what it looks like uh to be part of a church plan and then just to reach our neighbors uh in work and witness with the gospel. 00:37:44.960 --> 00:37:55.119 Uh it's an opportunity to choose to follow the Lord, to give him an opportunity to speak into your life about what he may be doing in the places you live, work, and play. 00:37:55.119 --> 00:37:59.440 And finally, I want you to know and remember what God has done for you. 00:37:59.440 --> 00:38:02.880 The Lord has laid his promises on you before you were born. 00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:06.320 The Lord has pursued you in passionate, desirous love. 00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:10.079 The Lord has revealed himself to you, the Lord's brought you here this morning. 00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:28.719 He's given his own son, becoming so vulnerable in his pursuit of us that he incarnated in Jesus Christ, not only opening himself up to be denied by us, but crucified on a cross for our sins, rejected as utterly as he could be, and yet still providing a path for those who place their faith in Jesus. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:36.559 Let their sins be upon his life, that he would die for their sins, raise to new life, and offer us salvation in him. 00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:45.599 To know that he is bringing us home, to know that he has made his home in us, to know that his steadfast love is on us forever. 00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:51.199 So you are loved, you are free to follow him, free to work, free to witness, free to go. 00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:52.480 Let's pray. 00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:56.800 Lord Jesus, we thank you. 00:38:56.800 --> 00:38:58.880 We thank you that you've called us here this morning. 00:38:58.880 --> 00:39:01.599 We thank you that you have set your love on us. 00:39:01.599 --> 00:39:19.920 We thank you that regardless of how we come in this morning, whether or not we're feeling confident in our formation in the fear of the Lord, whether or not we have surrendered our work and our families and our witness to you, however, we come in this morning, you invite us to know and love you. 00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:23.679 You invite us to receive your love laid upon us. 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:32.239 You invite us to come and lay it all at your feet, to be known and loved, and to be empowered and to work and witness. 00:39:32.239 --> 00:39:33.679 We praise in Jesus' name.