0:01

Welcome to the

0:01

bear with me podcast where we

0:04

aim to integrate belief and

0:04

practice in the Christian life

0:17

that you've never seen

0:20

I have never spent

0:20

a night in jail. Like, have you?

0:23

No. Oh. But you've gotten in

0:23

trouble with the law. Yes, I

0:27

have in. Can you tell me that

0:27

story? Or stories?

0:32

Couple tickets.

0:32

Okay. The ones I'm most ashamed

0:35

of? Yes. Are two texting while

0:35

driving technically, but texting

0:41

at red lights. In Victoria,

0:45

you got ticketed

0:45

for texting while driving in

0:48

Victoria. But you

0:49

both times

0:49

stopped at a red light or stop

0:52

at a red light completely

0:52

stopped touching my phone.

0:57

And how did how did they catch you?

0:59

Okay, so the first one was like a sting operation. Okay, at Blanchard

1:01

and hillside. And they were

1:06

hiding behind the Boston Pizza.

1:06

And it was an undercover cop who

1:11

crossed the street at the

1:11

crosswalk. And I was the first

1:14

one in line

1:15

guised as a

1:15

pedestrian. Yes. common citizen,

1:18

and I'm touching

1:18

my phone and it's little holder,

1:21

texting, drop off went well

1:21

gymnastics camp. And he just

1:26

walked straight up to my window

1:26

and says you're not allowed to

1:28

do that. Oh, okay.

1:28

And then did what do you pulled

1:31

you over? Yeah. Then I had to go

1:31

into the parking park over here.

1:35

Yeah,

1:36

I gotta take it.

1:36

I still had my Philadelphia

1:38

plates on my car. So a little

1:38

bit was like you might have been

1:42

profiled. Yeah, like, yeah,

1:42

Philadelphia and it was like,

1:48

$300 Wow. 360 something. It was.

1:48

I felt really really bad.

1:54

So this

1:54

interesting. Okay, so the sting

1:56

operation is they're trying to

1:56

get people who are stopped

1:59

texting is texting.

2:00

Yeah. I didn't

2:00

know it was illegal

2:05

to text while you're stopped at us.

2:07

Yeah. Something

2:07

it is. And I see so many people

2:09

doing it now. Like, if you look

2:09

over, people are looking down.

2:13

Yeah. So they're smarter.

2:13

They're not doing it up on that

2:16

dashboard.

2:17

You were like

2:17

holding yours up like selfie

2:21

everyone to see. Okay, so But

2:21

you said this happened more than

2:27

once

2:27

did happen a

2:27

second time. It's even worse. I

2:30

was holding my phone. I was at

2:30

stopped at the red light

2:34

adjacent to the Victoria Police

2:34

department

2:38

office. But you weren't going to the police department? No, you just happen

2:40

to be in that area. Yeah,

2:43

Caledonian quadrotors. A higher

2:43

concentration fleet.

2:47

There. There was

2:47

one right next to me that I

2:50

hadn't noticed on his motorcycle.

2:51

He's looked over. Yeah. Okay.

2:53

So my alibi for

2:53

that. Is that I was driving the

2:56

cruise. muskies fan. Yeah. I

2:56

don't know why must have picked

3:00

up children or something. So I

3:00

was in a new car. So in my car,

3:05

I have my holder like and I it

3:05

reminds me like don't touch

3:08

that. You got to take it once

3:08

for touching that. Just keep it

3:11

up. But I didn't have the holder

3:11

and so out of habit. I like

3:16

checked it or something. Yeah.

3:16

But it's because I wasn't in my

3:20

my usual car. So I forgot. He

3:20

didn't care. No. Yeah. Didn't

3:26

care. And if I get a third one,

3:26

it's like really bad. So I don't

3:29

do it anymore. Interesting.

3:33

Well, that's great

3:33

stories.

3:36

Thanks, Andy. I

3:36

think having recorded

3:39

about getting in trouble the law so I'm glad that you

3:41

You're welcome.

3:43

But I wanted to

3:43

want to talk a bit about law

3:47

and, and maybe based on your

3:47

experiences now this will skew

3:52

your answer to this question,

3:52

but what do you what comes to

3:55

mind when you hear the word law?

3:58

No, I'm Texas.

3:58

Yeah. Texting while driving. In

4:04

law makes me feel feels cold. It

4:04

feels like the image that comes

4:13

to mind is like a big huge Bible

4:13

open in a courtroom. Okay, kind

4:24

of thing. Law gavel Yeah, yeah,

4:24

that kind of

4:27

thing called down

4:27

in this probably has been

4:32

colored by your experiences with

4:32

definitely here in Victoria.

4:37

Yeah. It is not taking into

4:37

account that you were stopped.

4:44

Okay, and that it came from the states where people like, take videos of

4:46

themselves while driving. At

4:50

least in Philadelphia. They did.

4:54

Right. K cold

4:54

Bible courtroom. distant. What

5:02

else?

5:05

It's such a

5:05

short word. You know, but it's

5:09

so powerful. Law.

5:12

Yeah. Law. What

5:12

about it? And you've already

5:16

kind of brought this in with the

5:16

Bible. But what about when I say

5:19

God's law?

5:24

They feel it feels a little bit like an oxymoron to me, God's law,

5:25

because God I associate with

5:31

goodness, love, grace. And then

5:31

law is like, feels like a hard

5:38

line. And so loves hard line,

5:38

that it feels a little bit

5:44

awkward. God's law.

5:47

Yeah. Yeah. You're

5:47

probably not alone in that I

5:51

really, that's kind of what

5:51

sometimes I would anticipate

5:54

with with conversations around

5:54

law in general, like the Old

5:57

Testament law and or the God's

5:57

law, when we talk about that.

6:01

But that's what I want to talk

6:01

about today is the law,

6:07

especially as we look at it

6:07

given in the Old Testament. So

6:09

going back to Exodus. I believe

6:09

that it isn't an oxymoron.

6:17

Really, I

6:17

believe you've been so excited

6:20

about God's law, I

6:21

know that the Old

6:21

Testament law is an expression

6:24

of God's deep love and care to

6:24

his people. And that's what I

6:28

want to talk about. That's

6:28

lovely. So maybe matching up law

6:34

with your image of God. So for

6:34

men, I talked about this last

6:42

time, but we're talking about a

6:42

lot lately. But in Strength

6:47

Finders, yes. LA is one of your

6:47

strengths. This is not one of my

6:51

strengths. Context. You said my

6:51

top five Yeah, but this last

6:55

time, and it is so important,

6:55

because you get so much from

6:59

context, totally surroundings.

6:59

We talk about being grounded

7:02

last time. Yes. And, and that's

7:02

true, especially when we read

7:09

the Bible, because it is so

7:09

confounding sometimes. Yes. So

7:14

it feels complicated. You get

7:14

lost, like, why is God doing

7:18

this? Or God saying this? Why is

7:18

that person doing it? Is that

7:20

right? All these things you just

7:20

couldn't get lost? But if you

7:24

back up, and we're looking at

7:24

okay, well, what's the setting

7:28

what's actually happening around

7:28

what I'm reading? And you get so

7:31

many clues to help you kind of

7:31

piece together. This maybe

7:35

confounding document was written

7:35

1000s of years ago, and

7:39

different culture and language

7:39

and different assumptions and

7:41

all these things. Yeah. So when

7:41

we look at the law we're looking

7:44

at, just kind of recap the story

7:44

a little bit. This is Exodus.

7:48

It's the second book of the

7:48

Bible we're thinking about. A

7:51

lot of people think about the 10

7:51

commandments. When we think

7:54

about the Old Testament law

7:54

where Moses or Charlton Heston

7:57

is on the top of the mountain

7:57

coming down with two stone

8:00

tablets. He's got the, the hair

8:00

and the beard and the robes and

8:05

everything. And this picks up

8:05

the story in Exodus 20, where

8:12

they're at the mountain, okay,

8:12

we're at Mount Sinai, it's got

8:15

two different names, but it's

8:15

the mountain of God out in the

8:17

middle of the desert in the

8:17

middle of nowhere. And these

8:20

people are there and Moses comes

8:20

down with the law, but so much

8:23

has happened to get to them to

8:23

that point what so much, so we

8:32

don't have time. Okay, so of

8:32

Genesis one through Exodus 90,

8:35

okay. That's like 59 chapters.

8:35

Wow, okay, a lot. That is a lot

8:41

of life. Basically, God has

8:41

chosen a family in Abraham way

8:46

back in Genesis 12, to reveal

8:46

himself to the world to the

8:50

nation's pick, this one family

8:50

I'm going to be with you are

8:55

going to be with all your

8:55

generations, so that the world

8:58

can be blessed through you. It's

8:58

beautiful. Sounds nice. Yeah,

9:01

positive. So by the end of

9:01

Genesis, this people, God's

9:06

people are a small group of

9:06

around 70 or so down in Egypt.

9:12

Interesting that getting in

9:12

there. It's a really great story

9:14

and go back and read it some

9:14

time. Exodus picks up a few 100

9:19

years later, they've been down

9:19

there for generations, and

9:21

whereas things were well with

9:21

them at the end of Genesis,

9:25

things are not well with them

9:25

now. Because of their

9:28

relationship to Egypt, in its

9:28

government. And its politics.

9:34

They are now essentially slaves.

9:34

They're working seven days a

9:41

week things have changed on the

9:41

clock. hard labor. It's really

9:46

not going well. Egyptians are

9:46

really, they look down on this

9:51

this race of people. They They

9:51

not only use them for labor, but

9:57

they control their population.

9:57

Wow. So this is This is killing

10:01

the males of, of the women who

10:01

give birth a serious birth.

10:07

Yeah, that's why that's why

10:07

Moses story. That's why he has

10:10

to hide in the basket and like

10:10

push them down the river that

10:12

like they're desperate that this

10:12

this boy can live this baby can

10:16

live off well that's that's

10:16

their solution. Right so that's

10:21

his sister Marian was looking

10:21

for remission he goes into the

10:24

reeds and then the Egyptian

10:24

princess Yeah, finds them and

10:27

raised the takes them into

10:27

Pharaohs households. Yeah, Moses

10:30

survives in Pharaoh's household

10:30

anyway, Prince of Egypt go see

10:34

it or read the book. Anyways,

10:34

you fast forward several years,

10:40

and Moses is now in exile.

10:44

Because he's murdered in

10:44

Egyptian trying to stand up for

10:47

his own people. Right. But it

10:47

doesn't go well. He's took the

10:52

law into his own hands. Yeah.

10:52

He's out, tending sheep tending

10:56

the flocks of his father and

10:56

Loggins up getting married. See

10:59

lots skipping? Okay. Very brief.

10:59

And he's out. And this is where

11:06

he has that experience where

11:06

there's some there's this bush,

11:09

that seems to be on fire. Right?

11:09

Not burning up. Yeah, being

11:13

consumed. So it's like, that's

11:13

strange. There's not a lot to

11:16

do. And we'll have nowhere

11:16

tending sheep. So it's like,

11:18

I'll go to look. Right. So this

11:18

is where he has this encounter

11:21

this first encounter with with

11:21

God. And God says, basically

11:27

says to him, I'm, I'm not far

11:27

off. I've heard the cries of my

11:32

people. I know what's going on.

11:32

I've seen them. And I hear them.

11:37

Right? And so this is Exodus

11:37

three. And so he sends Moses

11:41

back. He wants them to be his,

11:41

his, his mouthpiece is

11:47

ambassador to Pharaoh to go tell

11:47

Pharaoh. Let my people go.

11:51

Oh, this is all

11:51

before. Oh, yeah, yeah.

11:55

Okay. All before

11:55

then. This is like Exodus five

11:59

through seven is? Is God

11:59

confronting Pharaoh confronting

12:04

his peoples oppressor, the one

12:04

who's the slave driver? In the

12:08

murder? Right? And then Exodus

12:08

seven through 15 Is the

12:13

recounting of God's delivering

12:13

of his people from Pharaoh.

12:18

Pharaohs oppression. So that's

12:18

the, the other 10 words against

12:22

Egypt. So yeah, 10 words here in

12:22

Exodus 20. The what we call the

12:26

commandments. You get the 10

12:26

words or you say curses or works

12:32

against Pharaoh in the plagues?

12:32

No way. Yeah, there's 10 of

12:37

them.

12:38

Really legs.

12:38

Yeah. And then you get 10 words

12:41

later words. Yes. This is

12:41

intentional. That is so cool. I

12:45

never heard that relationship

12:45

before. Yeah.

12:48

And you get these

12:48

10 plugs in it culminates on

12:51

this 10th one. That's the death

12:51

blow literally. And Pharaoh

12:56

finally lets them go for a

12:56

while, and then they leave and

13:01

that's where you have the parting of the Red Sea, this miraculous deliverance when

13:02

they're trapped because Pharaoh

13:05

changes his mind and goes after

13:05

them and then the sea collapses

13:08

in on the enemy. And God's

13:08

people Hebrews are safe on the

13:12

other side out in the middle of

13:12

nowhere out in the wilderness.

13:15

So he delivers them and then

13:15

they're in the wilderness from

13:18

chapter 16 to 19 We always

13:18

forget this part. But how many

13:21

years is that? It's I think it's

13:21

just a few weeks. Oh, okay.

13:25

Yeah, but there's nothing to

13:25

eat. Oh, and there's nothing to

13:28

drink okay, because it's the

13:28

middle of nowhere Yeah, desert

13:31

that's and God provides for

13:31

them. Is that mana? i Yeah, I

13:36

think the man that comes in

13:36

here. I can't remember because

13:39

there's man there's quail. Yeah,

13:39

I'd have to go back and look.

13:42

And then there's there's water.

13:42

Yeah, out of raw nowhere. Yep.

13:45

And then and then that's when

13:45

they come to the mountain.

13:50

Okay. That does

13:50

feel different to know all that.

13:55

Okay, before the mountain.

13:57

So and in in

13:57

Exodus 19 God tells them I want

14:05

to be with you all of this all

14:05

of this is so that we can have

14:11

relationship I am your God you

14:11

are my people. And I want to go

14:16

with you and be in your midst.

14:16

This is this is pretty nuts.

14:20

This is not something that that

14:20

we you get in other cultures in

14:26

the ancient Near East. This

14:26

makes Israel stand out like a

14:29

God designed to be present and

14:29

showing up on this mountain and

14:34

revealing himself. So this this

14:34

is the setting of the 10

14:38

commandments. Okay. Okay. The

14:38

setting is God already loves

14:42

them. He's heard them he cares

14:42

about them. And he's rescued

14:46

them. He's saved them out of

14:46

this. This space,

14:50

which probably

14:50

felt impossible. Yeah. To be for

14:54

their lives to be different than

14:54

what it was adequately

14:56

shifted. changed.

14:56

Yeah, there they'd been

15:00

delivered out of this impossible

15:00

horrible situation. They would

15:03

not have been able to do

15:03

themselves. Yeah. And, and now

15:09

now, the setting is

15:09

relationships love rescue

15:12

relationship. Okay. So now how

15:12

might thinking about this story

15:18

this background? changed the

15:18

tone of the 10 commandments or

15:23

the law? For you?

15:24

It does Andy so

15:24

well yeah, it totally changes

15:35

it. It doesn't feel like some

15:35

arbitrary. Okay, now I'm gonna

15:44

like, I can't think of the

15:44

phrase something about like

15:47

showing your right arm or

15:47

something like strong arming. It

15:52

feels so much more like the next

15:52

chapter in something more like a

16:00

love story.

16:02

Yeah, well,

16:02

attention has to change the

16:04

purpose, right. So if for one, it can't be these are

16:12

for our salvation, we have to

16:15

check these boxes in order for

16:15

them to like us or love us or

16:19

want to do anything in our

16:19

lives. That cannot be true. He's

16:23

already done everything right in

16:23

terms of bringing them out of

16:26

this awful space. So fast

16:26

forward to the Christian life.

16:34

And maybe growing up in the

16:34

church or, or working out a

16:38

relationship with God. And

16:38

whatever that is. It's the

16:41

easiest one is to think I need

16:41

to be good, in order to be

16:46

loved. Not even just not just

16:46

with our relationships with God

16:50

with our that's, that's a

16:50

tendency for us for anything,

16:54

because I have to prove myself,

16:54

I have to be likable. I have to

16:57

be a good person, I have to fill

16:57

in the blank, I have to do this,

17:01

I have to be enough of something

17:01

in order to be worthy in order

17:05

to be loved. But then God in

17:05

this story, and he's going to

17:10

the story as a pattern for the

17:10

whole New Testament is saying,

17:15

actually, when you were a mess,

17:15

and probably considered

17:20

unlovable. And before you even

17:20

knew one commandment, to please

17:25

me, and to do what I want, I

17:25

loved you then and I rescued

17:30

you, then

17:31

that's so cool. It's like the counterpart to that verse in the New Testament.

17:33

While we were still

17:38

Paul in Romans

17:38

while we were still dead, yeah,

17:40

in our offenses, in our

17:40

inability to check the boxes to

17:45

do anything that pleases God.

17:45

God demonstrated His love for

17:49

us. That Christ died for us

17:49

while we were still centered he

17:54

so this is the new Exodus we're

17:54

talking about that God does a

17:57

new deliverance for not just

17:57

Israel, but for that invites

18:03

everybody in. That's a bigger,

18:03

even a bigger deliverance than

18:08

the political one in Egypt.

18:08

Because this has to do with our

18:15

whole lives and our souls and

18:15

our are the deepest parts of who

18:19

we are. Is God delivering us but

18:19

anyway, we're getting ahead of

18:22

ourselves, we got to get them to

18:22

the law. Okay.

18:25

Okay, context

18:25

matters,

18:27

big size.

18:27

Everything, the law cannot

18:31

whatever the law is for it can't

18:31

be to, to, for us to to impress.

18:38

Go ahead. Yeah, to get God's

18:38

attention. Like, look, God, how

18:40

good I'm doing. Yeah. That's

18:40

kind of a big deal. What is the

18:48

purpose? If it's not for that?

18:48

What's it for

18:50

Hindi tell us?

18:53

The Law, God is

18:53

giving us a gift. Here's the

18:56

whole setting, like I want to be

18:56

in relationship with you. This

18:59

is how to be in relationship

18:59

with me and one another. That's,

19:03

that's the law. Now that so

19:03

Exodus 20, got the 10

19:06

commandments, those are the ones

19:06

we remember, mostly, maybe get

19:10

seven out of 10 of them from

19:10

memory or whatever. But then it

19:13

goes on. Like it's longer.

19:13

There's more. There's, there's

19:15

more lists after that. Okay,

19:15

this is how you live together,

19:19

right? So all these all these

19:19

laws in that it's hard for us to

19:24

read because they can they can

19:24

kind of be a little bit

19:29

specific. Yeah. And they can

19:29

feel non relevant. But we'll get

19:34

to that back to that in a

19:34

second. Okay, but just let's

19:36

just stay on this, that there's

19:36

this gift of here's how to be in

19:39

relationship with me. And one

19:39

another.

19:43

That sounds

19:43

beautiful, Brent. Yes, it sounds

19:46

a little bit more like a map.

19:48

Yeah. Let's, let's

19:48

live together. Here's how we're

19:52

going to do that.

19:53

And I'll get

19:53

really specific you know, when a

19:56

friend is not doing well or a

19:56

partner or something like that.

20:02

And they are able to say really

20:02

specifically, you know, what

20:06

would help me so much is if you

20:06

would blank. And you're like,

20:11

Thank you. Thank you for telling

20:11

me you would blink at no blank

20:16

fill in the blank. Blank. Yeah,

20:16

you know, they like fill in the

20:19

blank. Like, if you could pick

20:19

up friends have COVID Right now

20:24

the whole family. And so I ran

20:24

into another friend and she

20:27

said, Oh, yeah, I just texted

20:27

him like, you know, what can I

20:29

pick up and they said toilet

20:29

paper? So she dropped off toilet

20:31

paper, it's like really helpful.

20:31

When someone's like, Yeah, we

20:35

could really use toilet paper

20:35

and you're like, got it? Yeah,

20:38

I'm gonna get that sort of

20:38

trying to guess yes. It's just

20:40

like, the possibilities are

20:40

overwhelming. When someone can

20:45

be really specific about this is

20:45

how I would, this would really

20:49

help this would really make me

20:49

feel loved. Whatever. Yeah, huge

20:53

gift.

20:54

Israel definitely thought this way the Old Testament is filled with, with

20:56

these ideas that the law is a

21:02

gift with thanksgiving for the

21:02

law. It's very counterintuitive

21:05

for us. It's, it's like writing

21:05

a love song to the law. Could

21:10

you imagine a love song to the

21:10

law. This is Psalm 119, the

21:15

longest chapter in the Bible is

21:15

a love song. To the law. Wow, it

21:22

doesn't stand out other than for

21:22

length. It's like this is all

21:25

over the Psalms, it's all over

21:25

the Old Testament is what a

21:29

gift. God has given his people

21:29

in giving them the law. Wow. And

21:34

it's like they understood it.

21:34

What it was for it was to know

21:39

how to be in relationship with a

21:39

God who desired to be present to

21:42

them. And that was unique in

21:42

Israel, from what I can

21:46

understand looking at other this

21:46

surrounding cultures is the gods

21:51

were mysterious. He didn't know

21:51

how to please them. They didn't

21:55

communicate what they wanted. So

21:55

you guessed and you did all

22:00

sorts of things to try to get

22:00

their attention to try to please

22:02

them all sorts of sacrifices and

22:02

all this and that and the other.

22:05

And so for in there's other law

22:05

codes that overlap with with the

22:12

10 commandments, but they're the

22:12

ways that they overlap are all

22:16

with the horizontal how we relate to one another, like don't murder, the adultery

22:18

stuff, right? How to Treat your

22:21

neighbor. So

22:21

you're saying is

22:21

your ancient Near East? That

22:25

kind of thing,

22:26

that kind of thing that was common. You saw that like the code of Hammurabi is a

22:27

famous one nice similar kind of

22:30

stuff. Yeah. But this Hort, this

22:30

vertical one, what how to relate

22:37

to God, or this particular God?

22:37

You don't have that interest is

22:42

different. That stands out in

22:42

the 10. Yeah. And in the law of

22:45

Israel.

22:47

Wow, it's so so

22:47

different than how the

22:51

connotations with the 10

22:51

commandments are with the law.

22:56

I think it's

22:56

difficult for us, because our

22:58

relationship to law is very I

22:58

don't remember what the word is,

23:04

but it's very, we think of the

23:04

legal system and the court.

23:07

Yeah. And the codes, the law

23:07

codes, and yes, you get a ticket

23:10

and this and this. Yeah. And law

23:10

in the ancient world function

23:14

very differently. These kinds of

23:14

writings, they are more seen as

23:17

wisdom. Yeah, this is how to

23:17

live how to live love it like

23:21

that. So Darrell Johnson, titled

23:21

his sermon series on the 10

23:27

commandments as the

23:27

manufacturer's specifications.

23:29

Oh, my God, you get the idea?

23:29

Yeah. This is the one who

23:32

created all of creation in you

23:32

and me. And he's letting us in

23:36

on how we work best in

23:36

relationship to him to one

23:40

another into the creation. Yeah,

23:40

it's beautiful. And it's a

23:45

wisdom emphasis, rather than a

23:45

punitive justice emphasis. I

23:48

think those the other side of

23:48

the Justice stuff is still it

23:51

comes into it. But it's much

23:51

more about here's how to make

23:54

life work out. If you want to

23:54

live with this God. And if you

23:58

want to live well with one

23:58

another. This is here's here's

24:01

how to do it.

24:03

It kind of sounds like God's rule of life. I love a Rule of Life. Like

24:06

it's, it's a beautiful idea.

24:10

It's on my strengths finder.

24:10

It's such a beautiful way to me

24:16

to demonstrate a love for life

24:16

and for God. And for the life

24:23

God has given me Yeah, is a Rule

24:23

of Life. It kind of sounds a

24:26

little bit like God's rule of

24:26

life. Yeah.

24:30

So if we if the

24:30

Israelites didn't see this as

24:34

like a huge burden, like oh my

24:34

gosh, now we have all these

24:37

rules to do they saw it very

24:37

differently. Yeah. And I think

24:42

like what a treasure yeah,

24:42

there's an invitation for us in

24:44

this as well. To say, Oh, how do

24:44

we how do we approach this as an

24:51

invitation to relationship and

24:51

to the the series that we're

24:56

doing at the table were for the

24:56

10 pounds we're trying to live a

24:59

life of rescue Trying to keep

24:59

remembering the setting out of

25:03

which these come. It's like God

25:03

rescues. Moses had already

25:10

violated one of the commandments

25:10

by murdering someone. Right. And

25:13

he chose Moses. Yeah, to be the

25:13

deliverer of the people and to

25:18

bring the law down. And so it

25:18

kind of frees us up from this

25:22

burden of oh, I have to have

25:22

this checklist to do into like,

25:25

no, no, that's an invitation to

25:25

wise living into good living.

25:28

Yeah, it does. I

25:29

think it does have

25:29

meaning. Consequences. Want to

25:33

like water it down. Yeah, that's

25:33

important. But it's just a shift

25:36

in terms of how we receive and,

25:36

and live with the law. As a as a

25:41

good thing. And maybe, maybe law

25:41

is such a hard word. Torah

25:45

literally means instruction.

25:46

Like here's even

25:46

that is different instruction to

25:50

do it. It's helpful. Yeah.

25:53

So we get bogged

25:53

down like that. The 10 are, kind

25:56

of make some sense to us.

25:56

Because they're, they're fairly,

26:00

they're fairly big picture

26:00

stuff. And then it gets it gets

26:03

into this a bit into the nitty

26:03

gritty. Like, that can feel

26:11

arbitrary or strange or weird

26:11

to, like, for example, one of

26:17

them is that you have to have a

26:17

parapet on the roof. Okay, which

26:20

is like a subtle kind of

26:20

enclosure, like a fence. Yeah.

26:24

And the reason for that is

26:24

because the type of houses that

26:31

the Israelites would have, you

26:31

did a lot of living up on the

26:34

roof. Really? Yeah. Like you use

26:34

the whole part of the house.

26:37

It's like your patio wasn't like

26:37

it was flat, and for safety and

26:43

for wellbeing, and hospitality

26:43

for your neighbor who might be

26:46

over No way. And their kids, you

26:46

better have a parapet on your

26:51

roof. That's the law. Okay, it'd

26:51

be responsible.

26:54

Okay. But that's

26:54

such a good metaphor for the law

26:58

in a way, like the the roof

26:58

fence care about? Yeah. In order

27:03

to increase hospitality safety,

27:03

well being generosity, because

27:08

you might be like, well, we'd

27:08

have them over the neighbors,

27:11

but we don't have our fence. So

27:11

that's just too stressful. So

27:16

we're not going to

27:18

it doesn't apply

27:18

to us because we don't have we

27:21

don't live on our roofs. We

27:21

don't have life on our roofs.

27:23

Yeah. But we should probably

27:23

have a fence around our patio or

27:27

deck.

27:28

I mean, talk to well about that. It like increases or Yeah, our yard but

27:30

our deck

27:32

like just you know

27:32

that that makes sense. Oh, love

27:37

it. Others.

27:38

I love it and

27:38

love stuff like that. Yeah.

27:40

So so this is

27:40

where it gets tricky. Because we

27:44

look at the Old Testament law,

27:44

is it still binding? Or is it

27:46

not? It's like, well, yes. And

27:46

no, it's like, this was for

27:50

Israel a few 1000 years ago. The

27:50

big 10 I think are pointing to

27:55

much bigger things like that

27:55

hasn't those have not largely

28:00

changed is still cast in the

28:00

language of a certain society

28:04

that needs to be adjusted a

28:04

little bit. But they're but

28:07

they're much bigger things that

28:07

get particularized in the way

28:11

that the Israelites lived. It is

28:11

just different from the way that

28:14

we lived. But you still want to

28:14

care about your you still. And

28:18

this one Jesus sums it up. Love

28:18

God with everything you got.

28:20

Love your neighbor as yourself.

28:20

Yeah. put a fence around your

28:24

deck.

28:25

I love it.

28:25

Right. I want to read all those.

28:29

Particularly some of

28:30

them are really

28:30

like there's so they they're

28:33

maybe just lost, like, what does

28:33

something going on? That was

28:36

important for that. But a lot of

28:36

them you can kind of do a little

28:39

bit thinking like okay for them.

28:42

But doesn't that

28:42

give you inspiration about our

28:44

lives? Like the the idea that

28:44

God would care? So much? Yeah,

28:54

that there is actually a way to

28:54

live in 2022 on Vancouver

28:59

Island. Well, yeah. Lovingly in

28:59

our context, which feels so

29:07

mixed and difficult and weird.

29:07

And hard. Yeah. That's amazing.

29:15

So inspirational.

29:17

Yeah, so So Jesus

29:17

Christ. So in part of the thing

29:23

when Jesus comes on the scene,

29:23

the laws important to him, I've

29:28

come to fulfill the law, not to

29:28

abolish it. I've kind of like

29:30

the law is good, like

29:30

instructions are good. They've

29:33

not changed. God hasn't changed.

29:33

Some of the particulars get

29:39

changed. And he's going to do

29:39

away with some of the do away

29:44

with because he fulfills them

29:44

like some of the food laws and

29:47

some of those particulars that

29:47

were specific and important for

29:50

a time because they related to

29:50

the temple. And in Jesus view,

29:56

the new temple is here. So we're

29:56

going to shift some of these

29:58

things. God isn't chain inched,

29:58

but how we're relating to God is

30:02

changing because of Jesus with

30:02

how we're connecting how this

30:06

relationship piece gets shifted

30:06

a little bit. But you look at

30:10

these 10. And they they're still

30:10

very helpful for us to figure

30:17

out how do we do that? So we

30:17

look at the first four kind of

30:21

pertaining to our relationship

30:21

with God. And then the last six,

30:26

a bit more of the horizontal,

30:26

like how do we connect well with

30:29

one another. And Jesus coming in

30:29

fulfilling that and showing us

30:33

how to do it well in reminding

30:33

us like, Don't get bogged down

30:37

in the details. Remember the

30:37

heart that's where he got a lot

30:39

of that. sparring with the

30:39

Pharisees is the Pharisees were

30:45

great because they cared about

30:45

the law. And their view was the

30:50

reason we're in trouble is because we've not cared about the law. And Jesus. I think one

30:52

argument one good argument why

30:56

Jesus fight so much to the

30:56

Pharisees is because they're

30:58

actually the closest, he doesn't

30:58

go out to the scenes. Yeah,

31:03

we're living out in the middle

31:03

of nowhere, because of their

31:05

theology. He sometimes interacts

31:05

with the Sadducees. But they

31:11

have such a different theology,

31:11

you don't conflict as much, the

31:14

Pharisees and Jesus conflict so

31:14

much, because they both care so

31:17

much about the law. Interesting.

31:17

And Jesus says you're missing,

31:21

you're missing the heart the

31:21

bigger point of this, which is

31:24

you gets expressed in the Sermon

31:24

on the Mount. Go the extra mile,

31:30

give him if he asked for, to

31:30

Nick give him two. Right. So

31:35

he's trying to point the law is

31:35

about generosity and love, not

31:39

about these, not about freedom,

31:39

right and freedom. Like, let it

31:44

let the Torah, the instruction,

31:44

capture your heart. That's what

31:47

God cares about not just, again,

31:47

checking the boxes and getting

31:51

getting misguided on what the

31:51

laws for

31:53

Wow, interesting.

31:56

Love God with

31:56

everything you've got. Love your

32:00

neighbor as yourself, that sums

32:00

up the law fulfill the law, and

32:05

the prophets.

32:07

Wow. Even that

32:07

makes has is like juicy are kind

32:12

of in context to the 10

32:12

commandments in the law that was

32:17

given. And how you said the

32:17

longest chapter in the Bible is

32:23

a love letter to the law to the

32:23

instructions given by God that

32:26

God would communicate himself in

32:26

such specific ways for the

32:34

purpose of doing life together,

32:38

they said it was

32:38

more valuable to them than gold.

32:41

Like that knowledge, that

32:41

insight. And this has to do with

32:45

Revelation because the the

32:45

implication the deep implication

32:48

of this is that this is not some

32:48

of this is not intuitive. Like

32:52

people were dying in the ancient

32:52

world, trying to figure out what

32:55

the gods wanted. And it was not

32:55

clear like you get some clues

33:02

through creation, because it's

33:02

God's handiwork. So you get you

33:06

get a bit of sense about the

33:06

artists. But the this is the the

33:11

kids are doing youth alpha. And

33:11

the the great example he had is

33:14

if someone makes you a cake, and

33:14

it gives it to you can, you know

33:19

that maybe there was like, it's

33:19

a nice cake. It's really good,

33:22

they're good. But you don't know

33:22

that much about who the cooking

33:25

or the chef is? Or the baker is

33:25

right? Without them actually,

33:30

you would know who it was. It's

33:30

the same thing with create like

33:33

God is, this is another

33:33

important dimension to all this

33:39

is that God is not like us in so

33:39

many ways. He's not like his

33:43

creator. He's different. He's

33:43

separate. And so it is truly

33:46

like this encounter at Sinai,

33:46

you go back and read it. It's

33:49

it's pretty nuts. It's like,

33:49

it's like a Alien Encounter.

33:54

Yeah, it's like some other being

33:54

is making contact. Yeah, and

33:59

intense. And I think we tend in

33:59

my experience in Christian

34:04

circles, we can tend to think of

34:04

God like ourselves totally make

34:07

him in our own image, which is

34:07

the second commandment don't do

34:10

that. Because like I am unlike

34:10

anything in heaven and earth,

34:16

and the seas beneath you.

34:16

There's there's nothing in

34:18

creation or your imagination

34:18

that will capture who I am.

34:23

Okay, Andy, how

34:23

you keep How do you do number

34:25

two, then did you say that was

34:25

number two? Yeah. Are we gonna

34:28

get to that Manish

34:29

no image we'll get

34:29

I think we'll do that. I think

34:32

we'll do that one. Because it's

34:32

a really important like, how

34:34

do you live

34:34

keeping in mind that God is

34:39

nothing like, well, not maybe

34:39

nothing like but way different,

34:44

bigger than anything. You can we

34:44

can imagine. Like, how do you

34:48

live with that?

34:50

Yeah. That's

34:50

that's a good question. I mean,

34:53

have you ever tried to imagine a

34:53

being that has no beginning? No.

34:58

It's hard to do. Yeah. There's a

34:58

limit to our imagination and

35:01

this is the is the danger in the

35:01

warning of, of boxing God in and

35:08

is your idiot You're right. It's

35:08

a human propensity. That's why

35:11

idolatry was such a problem.

35:11

That's why everyone made idols,

35:15

like physical idols in the

35:15

ancient world is like they

35:18

needed something tangible,

35:18

something to see that and we

35:23

still do. Yeah, when we haven't

35:23

changed. I mean, it feels like

35:27

we have because we don't use

35:27

that land, a lot of us in North

35:30

America don't have that kind of

35:30

relationship with physical

35:33

idols. But you could make the

35:33

case that we still do this, and

35:38

Jamie Smith will go into that

35:38

with a cultural liturgies stuff

35:40

and other other things that are

35:40

tangible visual cues of that

35:44

shape our values and what we

35:44

value most, which is the

35:48

definition of worship, what are

35:48

we ascribing the most worth to?

35:52

But anyway, let's save that for

35:52

let's save that to kind of dive

35:55

in. Cuz I think there's a lot

35:55

there to unpack. Yeah. But in

35:58

the meantime, I think the

35:58

important thing to remember is,

36:02

we would not have gotten here on

36:02

our own. who this God is what

36:07

this God is like the nature and

36:07

character of God, it requires a

36:11

revealing a self disclosure,

36:11

that there is God, there is a

36:18

connection for us to God because

36:18

he's made us and there's this,

36:21

this image, but there's also

36:21

this, this otherness that we

36:25

have to be let in on. And so

36:25

that's the important of the

36:29

important tense of this

36:29

revealing that we get the words

36:34

of God that we get. That's so

36:34

beautiful, why they wrote these

36:37

loves, like, thank you so much

36:37

for this insight. Yeah, we get

36:42

we get inside info on who you

36:42

are. Yeah. It's pretty special.

36:47

It's so

36:47

beautiful. God's self

36:50

disclosure. I love that through

36:50

these instructions. Through

36:55

these like wisdom pieces.

36:57

Yeah. So and so I

36:57

think it's time to wrap up. I

37:01

just want to hear from you. One.

37:01

Your one takeaway? Oh, gosh,

37:05

morning that if if God told you,

37:05

I'm gonna let you remember just

37:10

one thing from this morning for

37:10

the rest of your life and never

37:13

forget it. What would it be?

37:16

Wow, Andy

37:16

fresher is on okay. While I

37:19

think about it, how about from

37:19

you? Like you've you've been

37:23

working on this series? So I

37:23

know you're so excited about so

37:28

much of it. But how, what does

37:28

it change for you? The context

37:34

and this reorientation? around

37:34

like what the 10 commandments

37:39

actually are?

37:40

Yeah, I think the

37:40

one thing is that that big piece

37:43

of this is God out of love

37:43

revealing Himself to us. That's

37:49

such a shift to think what what

37:49

does the law mean to you, God

37:53

out of love for us revealing

37:53

Himself to us, that's the law.

37:56

That's the instruction like,

37:56

Hey, this is who I am. And this

38:00

is who you are. And that that

38:00

setting is one of rescue,

38:04

instead of getting it the other

38:04

way around the cart before the

38:07

horse like, Oh, we got to do this and this and this, and then God will, will do what we want

38:09

or love us or whatever. It's not

38:13

that kind of relationship.

38:13

That's pretty.

38:16

It's beautiful.

38:16

Okay, I think my main, like

38:20

what's evoked for me, if I had

38:20

to narrow it down from all this

38:25

is like, the feeling of being

38:25

given some, some treasure, like

38:32

cherishing something. Like I

38:32

think of being a younger girl.

38:38

And just having a book that I

38:38

absolutely love. Like Shel

38:42

Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk

38:42

Ends, or loves Nancy Drew, and

38:50

Anna Green Gables, and walking

38:50

around with like this treasure

38:56

of words. And thinking of the

38:56

law like that, and thinking of

39:03

the Bible like that, rather than

39:03

this thing that hangs over my

39:07

head. I think that's the

39:07

alternate image is kind of

39:11

walking with, with some things

39:11

hanging over my head that I

39:14

can't quite live up to and it

39:14

feeling like I'm in I'm in a

39:18

catch 22 Yeah, like I don't know

39:18

how to sew. So one image is like

39:23

kind of darker was something

39:23

hanging over my head. The other

39:25

one is like, the the world opens

39:25

up. And I I like, hold on to

39:33

this beautiful thing. I was

39:33

given like this beautiful thing

39:38

I found that's that's what I'm

39:38

taking away.

39:42

Yeah. Yeah, like a

39:42

new world of possibilities, and

39:47

adventure and excitement. That's

39:47

a good that's a good image.

39:51

It makes me want

39:51

to rewrite one of the Psalms not

39:57

like the whole thing, but what

39:57

would it mean? Yeah. Yeah, just

40:00

give it a little quick revision.

40:00

But instead of law to take, you

40:05

know, 10 of the verses, I'll do

40:05

it. And I'll see what it's like

40:08

and substitute something else in

40:08

there. And see if it helps me

40:13

get in touch with. Yeah, that

40:13

posture of gratitude. Intimacy,

40:22

like, how honored? Yeah, they

40:22

must have felt to get this.

40:29

Yeah, it's good. Yeah. Well,

40:29

Andy, thanks. This is this is

40:33

like the setting for the 10

40:33

commandments. And then you want

40:37

to talk about some of them right later.

40:39

We'll see. I think

40:39

the image one for sure. Because

40:41

there's so much it's really

40:41

fascinating. What's one that

40:45

maybe disconnects with us

40:45

because like, well, we don't do

40:47

that. Yeah, I just skip over

40:47

that one. But we do like it just

40:50

it's fun for us. So that'd be

40:50

fun. And I think I think we

40:54

could do a good one on that. So

40:54

we'll see. Well, we'll do one or

40:57

two of them and see what happens.

40:59

Well, art is the

40:59

Sermon on the Mount, the

41:01

counterpart to the 10 commandments.

41:04

I think in some

41:04

ways it is the Beatitudes nine

41:09

of them. Pretend that it's like

41:13

interest interesting.

41:14

Was the blessing.

41:18

Okay, you just

41:18

changed the battle. Sandy

41:26

was back in a

41:26

couple of weeks. I don't know.

41:29

If he knows.

41:30

No, age, don't

41:30

remember. The next time