Thank The Lord For Friends...
I've got to get my last two sermons from our Decalogue series up on the web. I've got the manuscripts and recordings - I''ve just been working on getting Designed in Mission ready to go so I've not had the time to get them properly uploaded and posted.
Truth be told, I've not been very happy with this series (a point which I've made before). I simply don't like taking broad journeys through Scripture to show how the Decalogue was worked out in the life of God's people in both Testaments. I suppose I could just point out what each of the commandments is and then go off on a rant about how evil our world is compared to the world of the Bible - but I'm just not that sort of preacher (I hope I'm not that sort of Christian). Since I'm preaching the Decalogue, I have a compulsion to point out that folks in the Bible were wrestling with the same garbarge we deal with, screw up the same things we do, and depend on the grace of God every bit as much as we do. That way, I can challenge and point people to the grace of God. It's just that the sermons feel so shallow to me - like 10 weeks of nothing but introductions.
Yet, this is why I'm thankful I've got friends in Christ whom I trust, and whose opinions and counsel I value. Why? Because if I were left on my own I would likely have never done a sermon series on the Decalogue - my ingrained aversion to survey-type sermons would have always stepped in and taken me in another direction. In fact, before the suggestion to preach the Decalogue came this past summer I had never considered preaching the Decalogue. It wasn't even on my radar!
I'm always in need for folks to point out blind-spots like to me. Without their encouragement I'd never grow as a pastor, preacher, and Christian- even if their encouragement leads me to preach a series of sermons that people find informative (and to be honest, I'm getting some great questions from these sermons - particularly from a woman that I wouldn't have expected in a million years to pose them me), but I can't personally stand! I only hope I can constantly return the favor!
Truth be told, I've not been very happy with this series (a point which I've made before). I simply don't like taking broad journeys through Scripture to show how the Decalogue was worked out in the life of God's people in both Testaments. I suppose I could just point out what each of the commandments is and then go off on a rant about how evil our world is compared to the world of the Bible - but I'm just not that sort of preacher (I hope I'm not that sort of Christian). Since I'm preaching the Decalogue, I have a compulsion to point out that folks in the Bible were wrestling with the same garbarge we deal with, screw up the same things we do, and depend on the grace of God every bit as much as we do. That way, I can challenge and point people to the grace of God. It's just that the sermons feel so shallow to me - like 10 weeks of nothing but introductions.
Yet, this is why I'm thankful I've got friends in Christ whom I trust, and whose opinions and counsel I value. Why? Because if I were left on my own I would likely have never done a sermon series on the Decalogue - my ingrained aversion to survey-type sermons would have always stepped in and taken me in another direction. In fact, before the suggestion to preach the Decalogue came this past summer I had never considered preaching the Decalogue. It wasn't even on my radar!
I'm always in need for folks to point out blind-spots like to me. Without their encouragement I'd never grow as a pastor, preacher, and Christian- even if their encouragement leads me to preach a series of sermons that people find informative (and to be honest, I'm getting some great questions from these sermons - particularly from a woman that I wouldn't have expected in a million years to pose them me), but I can't personally stand! I only hope I can constantly return the favor!
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Comments
Most of the time when I've heard anyone talk about the commandments its just a reiteration that you should/shouldn't do what is stated. Such as: Honor your mother and father. This is how Jesus honored his mother and father so you should do it to.
You are actually bridging the gap of what the commandments meant to the people who they were intended for, how in the new testament they are reiterated and changed a bit so they can apply to non Jews, and how they can be applied today even though we are now very removed from both time periods.