Put God First: The Path to True Righteousness
This past Sunday, Pastor Adam kicked off a powerful new teaching series at New Hope that is sure to rock his congregation's world. He's unpacking the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20 - that famous passage even non-churchgoers have likely heard referenced in movies or pop culture.
As Pastor Adam launched into this series, he made a compelling case for why the Ten Commandments are so pivotal and worth taking the time to understand deeply. The big idea he drove home?
"What matters most will determine what matters next."
Those words landed with weight. The things, priorities, pursuits, or even people that are most important to us ultimately shape the trajectory of our lives. The decisions, actions, and habits that come next will inevitably flow out of whatever/whomever we have allowed to take the supreme seat of influence.
And according to Exodus 20, that supreme, all-encompassing priority is meant to be God alone. The very first commandment comes out swinging: "You shall have no other gods before me." No ambiguity there. God asserts His rightful place as the singular, preeminent focus of our entire existence.
Pastor Adam made it clear - if we don't get this first commandment locked in as the lens through which we view everything else, all the other commands will fall apart. They'll seem like random rules without purpose rather than guideposts for whole-life worship of our Creator.
He admitted he used to have a tendency to see the Bible as more of a dusty rulebook of dos and don'ts rather than a compass pointing to deep relationship with Jesus. Rules like don't commit adultery, don't lie, don't murder seemed isolated and arbitrary rather than connected to something bigger.
But as Pastor Adam explained, looking at it through that rulebook lens misses the entire point and heart behind the commandments. God's moral law isn't an arbitrary list designed to cramp our style. Rather, it's a revelation of God's own character and a chance for us to realign our minds and lives with His - to return to the functional purpose for why we were created.
The commandments show us that God prizes righteousness, justice, love, faithfulness because HE IS righteous, just, loving, and faithful. And His intent isn't to burden us but to invite us into the only path of true human flourishing - living surrendered and devoted to Him.
But here's the convicting truth Pastor Adam landed: We can't obtain that righteousness apart from God's intervention. As he put it, "The law was never intended to make people righteous, but to show us what righteousness looks like and that we can't attain it on our own."
Those words exposed the folly of trying to earn God's approval through behaving well and checking off religious boxes. The truth is, no matter how hard someone white-knuckles and strives, they'll never be capable of perfect righteousness apart from Jesus.
This highlights the wisdom in Pastor Adam's perspective on the right way to view the Bible's laws and commands. It's not about grinding out external works and rule-keeping. It's about God's laws revealing our inability and driving us to the soul-renovating power of His grace!
This is why, Pastor Adam explained, Jesus raised the bar even higher on concepts like lust, anger, and hate in His famous Sermon on the Mount teachings. The Lord was showing that true righteousness is an inside job - a matter of the heart subdued and surrendered to Him, not just outward actions.
While convicting, this truth is also refreshing because it tells us we don't have to muster up our own righteousness through grit and grinding. We can rest in the power of the cross which gives us right standing with God and transforms us from the inside out!
So how then do we actually live out the moral uprightness defined in the Ten Commandments? How do we handle temptations to harbor idols, to create false images of who God is, to act out in anger, to indulge lusts, etc.?
Pastor Adam gave three practical suggestions:
1) Focus on God's actions, not man's. Rather than obsessing over others' behaviors or your own deficiencies, train your mind to marvel at WHO God is and WHAT He has done. Look to Him first.
2) Center yourself on God's Word over humanity's word. Our culture constantly barrages us with counterfeits for truth, righteousness, and ethics. We have to keep realigning our minds with God's definitions in Scripture.
3) When facing decisions or transitions, let the love of God be your guiding force. You may not have clarity on the path, but you can't go wrong pursuing what helps you love God and others more. His love is the magnetic north.
These suggestions take the pressure off striving for righteousness through self-effort and discipline. Instead, they point people back to an adoring focus on their Savior, humble submission to His truth, and trusting pursuit of His unconditional love. A paradigm worth growing in!
Because the truth is, we're all broken, messed up people in need of God's grace. Even the hyper-religious Pharisees condemned by Jesus as "whitewashed tombs" remind us that no one has it all figured out through external self-righteousness alone.
True heart-level obedience and righteousness isn't attained through rule-following and appearances. It comes through relinquishing everything to Jesus, letting Him deconstruct our self-righteousness, and receiving His unmerited favor and love. Then and only then can we experience transformation!
That's why Pastor Adam summed up his message with this quote from Martin Luther: "Live like Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back tomorrow." In other words, live each day conscious of the all-encompassing gospel reality - the finished work of the cross, the power of the resurrection, and the hope of Christ's return shaping your priorities.
This is a perspective worth embracing rather than stressing over standards, checking boxes, or comparing morality. The key is being smitten and enthralled with the God who sacrificed Himself to redeem us. Living joyfully surrendered to His supreme guidelines which were written to reconnect us to Him!
That's the heart behind the Ten Commandments: reorienting us to the God-centered, others-focused posture we were created for. Not rules for the sake of rules, but signposts pointing away from sin's dead-ends and toward the path of abundant life in Christ. A path of resting in His love, marveling at His actions, and aligning with His truth!
Pastor Adam brought the first two commandments to life, revealing how putting God first and allowing Him to redefine righteousness is the only path to true moral transformation. We can't wait to dig into the rest of these commandments over the coming weeks and have our souls further wrecked and reawakened to the goodness and grandeur of our great God!
