Love the Commandment – Serve

Well, we are in our summer series entitled "Love the Commandment" and we'll begin this morning by showing you four images. Each of these are related but slightly different but all will help illustrate where we are going this morning. The first is a picture that will trigger PTSD in some.

I think almost every parent at some point in their child's development tries to get their kid to learn some musical instrument. Perhaps you have been on the receiving end of this cruel and unusual punishment. Every musician must go through it. There are some really lame moments of rote learning. There are zero rewards.

You have to drill the flashcards into the memory banks and it's horribly painful and laborious.

But once you do it, you are able to read music. And when you can read music, you can play songs. And that is really enjoyable. And when you can play songs, you can participate in bands or orchestras. And that is even more enjoyable. And now when you listen to songs, you can appreciate them more. And every level of musical proficiency that is achieved releases you to enjoy in new ways what you thought you previously enjoyed but only mildly enjoyed by comparison to your new perspective.

You see, musical pleasure is always available. The piano is right there. The potential exists. But only a few have their minds trained in such a way that they can take advantage of it. Untrained minds/souls are not in the right shape to receive that kind of enjoyment.

Here's another example:

This is a hand-written copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and is considered the greatest Chinese novel of all time. Now, what if someone handed this to you and just started raving about it. I mean they were so electric and gushing with enthusiasm. All this thrilling adventure, intrigue, and beautiful character development is right here, ready to be enjoyed. Now read it for yourself. Problem: I don't read Chinese. You see your mind and soul are not in the right shape to receive it.

Or how about this one.

On several top ten lists of most famous paintings or most beautiful paintings, this bad boy shows up, Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Some of you, because you have been trained to appreciate art, look at this and marvel in ecstasy. When I look at this, I think, "That's pretty good, for a kindergartener." If you were to lay it down next to 50 other paintings I'd vote this one last. I'm not skilled in art criticism. My eyes are not trained to notice and appreciate. I don't have the categories of thought to see ideas in art. In fact, Van Gogh himself rebukes me:

Apparently, I cannot see and I have not been a very good student. He's totally mocking me here as an obtuse, thick-lidded brick. Again, my mind and soul are not in the right shape to receive it.

A final example.

This was voted the most beautiful equation in the world by a top group of mathematicians and physicists.

There may be only a few in the room who could even identify it much less appreciate it. Physicist Jon Butterworth of University College London who spent his entire life trying to understand the laws by which the material world operates, said, "I love the Dirac equation because it combines elegant mathematics with huge physical consequences."

I'm not a scientist but apparently, this equation combines quantum physics (how big stuff moves) with particle physics (how small stuff moves) and predicted things like antimatter which is the mirror image of all known particles. And apparently using things like particle accelerators, they've discovered the Higgs Boson and other such crazy things.

Even with that explanation, you just can't appreciate it. For most, our mind and soul are not in the right shape to receive it.

Now, that introduction was to make this point:

- Is God more beautiful than the most amazing painting in the world? Yes.
- Is he God more complicated than the craziest formula in the world? Yes.
- Is he more elegant than the most marvelous musical masterpiece? Yes.
- Is there a bit of a foreign language that you need to be learned to understand God? Yes.

Then certainly, if it takes some shaping to appreciate these lesser things, these aspects of his creation, it will take significantly more shaping for us to be able to appreciate and see him in his beauty, complexity, singularity.

If we can readily admit that we are not in the right shape to run a marathon or read a Sanskrit or Ugaritic text or not in the right shape to digest a chemistry formula, shouldn't we be even more ready to admit that there's no possible way we even have the categories of thought to appreciate the God who made all those things?

It is pretty arrogant to assume that we are currently in spiritual shape to appreciate an infinite God.

Now certainly, the Scriptures speak to the principal of our unfitness for spiritual realities. Let's not forget them! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:2,

What happens if you try to feed a baby solid food? He chokes and throws it up. Why? Because his body isn't sufficiently developed. The problem isn't with the food. The food is really amazing. Strawberries, prime rib, artichokes, asparagus, mangos, grapes. A baby could die if he chokes on a grape or olive! He needs more practice swallowing. He needs to develop teeth. His bacteria in his gut needs to develop. His body needs to develop in its ability to metabolize. Great food awaits after he has matured. And in a similar way, there are all these spiritual delicacies that are way better than the milk we are drinking but because of spiritual immaturity, we can't handle it yet.

The author of Hebrews uses the same word picture.

You can see the idea. Let's just admit it this morning. We are out of shape. And because we are not in the right shape, we cannot receive the beauty of God. There are prerequisites and categories of thought necessary for appreciating and enjoying and digesting spiritual truth.

So all this was to set us up so that we can understand where we are in our cycle

If you've been here for the last three weeks, you'll recognize this chart. This chart serves us in describing a cycle that is always at work in our hearts to either create or deepen love our deconstruct or remove love.

So thus far we've looked at the quadrant of belief and the quadrant of pursuit. Just as a reminder of how this works. We begin by believing a truth claim that affects our fulfillment. We believe that this thing out there that I do not yet possess is somehow objectively fulfilling and has the capability of fulfilling me. Let just use the Chinese novel as an example. You believe that this book will be a very enjoyable read based on the testimony of your friend who has read it. So that's the belief quadrant.

But the problem is that I'm here and the object of fulfillment is over there. So that represents the pursuit quadrant. Pursuit is all about closing the gap. You can't read the Chinese novel if it's in a library in China. So you have to go get it. You have to get yourself into the right location.

So you get on an airplane. You get an UBER. You drive to the ancient manuscript library. Now you have the book, but you still can't read it. The pleasure isn't yet unlocked. You aren't in the right shape to receive it.

This is the point of the third quadrant, with the cultivate commands. These are pursuit commands of a different species. The cultivation commands are not about getting you into the right location. They are about getting you into the right shape.

And the more in shape you are, the more enjoyment you can extract. You could imagine someone with a rudimentary Chinese education, a conversational Chinese education, and a scholarly Chinese education all experiencing varying levels of fulfillment while reading this novel.

So the cultivation commands of the Bible are the largest and most diverse set of commands. They are commands that shape us: serve, sing, worship, pray, speak, tell, love, obey, enjoy, be.

These commands tell us ways we are to be and usually describe other things we are not to be. They usually tell us ways we are to behave and other ways we are not to behave.

Refrain, do not be, do not love, abhor, put off.

Honestly, these are the commands that if you obeyed them all, you'd be a very moral person. They relate to behavior, how you treat other people, how you speak, what you do with your body, etc.

Now again, these are commands that should be obeyed. And why? What's the point of obedience? The commands shape us. This is the misunderstanding of the moralist.

These commands force us into unnatural positions, positions we have never experienced, positions that feel totally foreign and bizarre to our typical habits and instincts, but once we are in that position and practiced in that position we suddenly understand what it feels like to be happy. We are finally in the right shape to be fulfilled.

I learned to play golf as an adult, and if you've shared in this experience, it's the most unnatural thing in the world. The one thing everyone shares in common as a beginner golfer is that you are guaranteed to do it wrong. You can see what a good golf swing looks like but you have no idea what it feels like.

- So your friend is telling you to keep your left arm straight.
- Swing path like this.
- Finish like this.

And all these commands are forcing my body into the most freakish, unnatural positions but then all of a sudden one day it happens where you flush a ball and the light clicks on! Ah, that's what it feels like. You'd never have that experience without first submitting yourself to the unnatural positions.

But here's what's even cooler. Now future swings are not so much trying to obey commands, but they are mentally recalling what that good swing felt like. You've had an experience that now can be recalled in the mind. The obedience was required to create the experience. And now the experience drives future attempts.

So all the cultivation commands of the Bible are commands that get us into the right shape to receive the goodness of God. They are commands that help us learn the foreign language of God, learn the physics behind the formulas of God, learn the artistic categories so we can appreciate the beauty of God. Obedience to the cultivation commands shapes us so that we can behold and be fulfilled by God.

- The fact is, our eyes need to be re-calibrated. We are focused here and missing what's here.
- Our ears need to be tuned to a different frequency.
- Our interpretation algorithm is all jacked up.

So that's what the cultivation commands are for but the problem is it doesn't feel this way. It doesn't feel like we need this kind of recalibration.

Now, let's compare our analogies for a moment. We can look at one page of a Chinese novel and realize we are not in the right shape to receive whatever that thing is. Clearly, if I'm going to extract the enjoyment of that story, I've got some learning to do.

Compare that to Van Gogh's Starry Night. Because I'm not skilled in appreciating art, it's very easy for me to be dismissive of what's here. I can say to myself, "I know exactly what I'm seeing and I recognize all these elements. A house, lights, hills, moon, clouds. Yep, I understand everything that I need to know and it's not amazing." So I'm moving on.

This is much more what it's like when we approach God.

- Yeah, I see what God is offering.
- I get the basic idea of religion.
- I get the concept of an all-powerful God.
- I see what God is saying, but it doesn't do much for me.

I'm not attracted to God. Moving on.

Now the reason I say that is to make this point: you will have the most success in obeying the cultivation commands of the Bible if you believe with strong conviction, you are not in the right shape.

In the case of the artwork, if you really believe that the problem is not the artwork- the problem is with you who can't appreciate the artwork- then you will begin to learn art in anticipation that one day your mind will be large enough to take it in.

And in a similar way, if you really believe that Jesus Christ is the source of fulfillment but you are not in spiritual shape to benefit from all he has to offer, then you will get after it. If you believe the problem with my disinterest in Jesus is a problem with my spiritual unreadiness and spiritual unfitness then I'm going to become very eager and very obedient to these soul cultivation commands. Conversely, if you believe that Jesus is genuinely uninteresting, then the last thing you are going to do is submit yourself to a set of cultivation commands issued from an uninteresting guy.

So what are these commands? There's no way we can visit all the cultivation commands in the Scriptures. So rather than try to list them all, we are going to observe two of the main things these cultivation commands teach us. We will answer the question:

- What aspect of our being is transformed such that we are able to take in God more fully?
- What liability is removed when we obey the cultivation commands?

Now here's the idea: when we obey the cultivation commands, the Holy Spirit is able to help us see and appreciate spiritual realities.

Obeying the cultivation commands invites the Spirit to help us see. Now it's so important to see this in the text itself. Get your nose in the Bible and see this.

Now earlier we read 1 Corinthians 3 which is God explaining to us that there is much that God is holding back. There's this truckload of spiritual benefit that could be ours but we are unfitness for spiritual realities. Let's just refresh what we read:

And so here Paul is calling us out as babies. Steak and wine over here. A loaf of french bread and cheese over here. Strawberries and rhubarb pie and apple pie are all here. And your mouth is watering. And you say, "Give it to me!"

But you are all babies. You are all so immature, I'm going to give you a bottle of milk. When I hear that I say, "Well, I don't want milk. What's the problem?" In what way am I a baby? What's this spiritual liability that is so inhibiting? Well in the next verse he tells us!

Man, this is gold. Don't let this pass you by. There is so much spiritual content that awaits you but the problem is that jealousy and strife and disunity among you. Does this not describe our country? Jealousy and strife. Let's make sure as we see this in our church we deal with it or we have no hope of ever maturing. Acting in the flesh and destroying unity are among the most significant inhibitors to being able to digest spiritual things.

Why? Because in doing this, we take off our spiritual glasses. You see, if we need spiritual eyes to see spiritual things then we need the Spirit of God. The problem of not being able to appreciate God is that we lack the Spirit of God. Look at how it is said at the end of chapter 2 right before this section we just read. The Spirit of God is the lens we need.

Do you see how clear this is? We can never hope to understand God without the Spirit of God. He's like the telescope or microscope that pulls in entire worlds previously invisible. He's like the infrared camera that helps us see an entire spectrum of reality that's always existed but we could never see.

So if we want to have any chance of seeing God's beauty, appreciating his complexity, loving his intricacies and simplicities, we will need the Spirit of God. Do you see that? The Spirit of God is required. And how do we involve the Holy Spirit?

Well here's a hint: not by disobeying. By loving the cultivation commands. By obeying.

The Scriptures speak of quenching the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19), grieving the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). So clearly sin is a Spirit killer.

Now you might be tempted to try and flip that around and say if sin is a Spirit killer than obedience is a prerequisite to get the help of the Holy Spirit. Absolutely incorrect. So typical of the way we think. No, the Holy Spirit, whether you are believer or unbeliever, is always trying to help and disobedience pushes that help away.

The only prerequisite, if you even want to call it that, is don't push him away.

Listen to how Stephen says it in Acts 7 when speaking to the religious leaders. After laying out God's sovereign, redemptive plan of salvation, he turns to them, looks them in the face, and says,

What is the Spirit doing in this verse? Trying to persuade, trying to empower, trying to change the heart, trying to help. The Spirit is always trying to help; disobedience is the spiritual stiff arm. It's the resistance mechanism. Galatians 5:17 says, "The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit."

Picture the Spirit of God as throwing you a life preserver ring over and over again and sin is pushing it away. It's ignoring it.

So when we obey the cultivation commands, we allow the Spirit of God to do the work he's wanting and trying to always do. He helps us to see spiritually discerned things.

This is one of the ways in which we are most significantly scarred as fallen people. We are simply unable to tell what is good and what is bad. The fact that we cannot do it is bad enough. But there's something even worse. Most of us think we are really good at discerning what is good and bad when in reality we are really bad at it.

We are all like that tone-deaf person who thinks they are really good at singing, but they lack the sense organ to self-evaluate accurately. We are spiritually tone-deaf and we think, "Oh yeah, I absolutely know what is good and what is bad."

But we are deceived. Satan is known as the deceiver and plays of this spiritual liability. His entire job description could be boiled down to this: make what is not good look good.

In the garden, Satan is described as the most crafty of all the created order. Second Corinthians 11:3 says that "Satan deceived Eve with his craftiness."

How did he succeed? Think about it. Somehow he made disobeying God look like a good idea! Like, the worst idea in the world would be to disobey the sovereign Creator of all things. How in the world did Satan make that appear like a good idea? Somehow he did it. That's the point of deception.

Satan is the great deceiver. In Revelation 12:9 he's called the dragon, the serpent of old who is called the devil, who deceives the whole world.

The best deceivers present something to you in such a way that it looks really, really good, really, really innocent, really, really beautiful but in reality, it is actually hideous, monstrous, and pure evil.

The ultimate example I think is Satan himself. After speaking about the deception of false teachers he says,

So you're walking along and you think, oh my goodness, I just saw an angel. What could be purer than that? That's really good, an angel of light. What could be more innocent? What could be more disarming than an angel? What could be more beautiful and pure than an angel? He's here to help me. And so you open your heart to him.

And yet, the reality is, it's Satan's goal to destroy.

Now that feels hopeless. How can I ever avoid such trickery? There is hope because no deception is perfect. If it was perfect it would be a replica, not a deception. All deceptions have variations. There's always a slight difference. There's always the smallest little tip-off. Something just doesn't feel right.

Picture a worm on a fish hook. It deceives most fish. But the giant 28-inch trout hanging out at the bottom of the largest hole says, "Hold on. That doesn't look quite right. It's not wiggling totally naturally. I think something's off." And even though he's really hungry he stands back. Then the young trout in his haste and inexperience gobbles it up and gets fried up for dinner.

Now here's the point: obedience in the cultivation commands trains you to identify good and evil. It helps you identify the pure and push away things that look good but in reality, are poisonous and deadly.

What looks like good is often not but how can you know? How do you get good at identifying those nuances and slight differences? How do we avoid being tricked? Look how this is specifically called out in Hebrews 5.

Do you see the idea here? The idea is that by obeying the cultivation commands, but constantly doing good things, you will be able to discern between actual good things and things that appear good but are actually just illusions.

By constantly doing, interacting, and obeying what is good, you begin to have an automatic sense of what is good. You are able to sort and distinguish automatically.

And it does so by constantly helping you to handle the good. I have spent a lot of time handling screws and bolts and nuts in my life. And I can tell you just by picking up a screw what the pitch of the screw is. That's a 1/4-20. That one's a 10/24. I can look at a hex head and say, "That's a 7/16 socket. That's a 1/2 socket."

Others of you who have spent a lot of time with music can listen to a E note played on a guitar and say, "That's a little flat or sharp."

Others of you who have spent a lot of time painting can identify a color a million miles away, "That's burnt sienna."

This is the idea. By doing truly good things, over and over again, you learn to identify the counterfeits. You see the slight differences, the things that appear to be good but are evil.

By filling your mind with good thoughts over and over again, you learn to identify a bad thought, something that only appears good but will actually corrode your soul.

Obedience in the cultivation commands, helps you acquire the taste for the divine.

So what types of cultivation commands must we obey to invite the Spirit to alter our view of reality? What type of cultivation commands can we obey that will train us through constant handling to be able to discern between good and evil? Probably my favorite passage to illustrate this is Romans 12. Chapters 1-12 is Paul telling us all these true things about what Christ has done for us and who we are in Christ and then when you get to chapter 12, there's this incredibly long section of imperatives. There's a list of commands that just make your head spin.

And it keeps going. I won't read it all, but doesn't that feel a little overwhelming. Is Paul a moralist here? He's just trying to get me to obey externally but doesn't care about the heart. Not it at all.

Paul is saying, "You can't change the heart without the Spirit of God. But man, you're resisting the Holy Spirit who wants to help you."

This is Paul saying, straighten the left arm, accelerate through the ball, hit down on the ball. Make a wider arc. Your swing path needs to go from inside to out. Keep your head still. Utilize your core.

And all of a sudden, as we submit to these commands we find that we flush it. Instead of our flesh fighting and resisting the Spirit, the Spirit is now at work transforming our sight and giving us new values and new levels of appreciation. It's a magical moment where we just experience what it's like to be a Christian living under the influence of the Spirit of God.

And by obeying these commands we find ourselves truly tasting goodness so that evil becomes obvious. We develop an instinct for good and now desire it and that good heals us.

So I'd encourage you, if you want a place to start in the cultivation commands, write these down this week and just try to do them. Force yourself into these unnatural positions, not so that you can earn God's favor. You have God's favor in Christ. Force yourself into these unnatural positions so you can get into the right shape to understand a God who has made every good thing and has saved you.

Now as we close, we should remind ourselves of the power of the choice. We should pause and think of the commands of the Bible as a choose your own adventure story. C.S. Lewis said:

Choices shape us. Our choices change us. Do you believe that? But that shaping takes time. Either for good or for evil, either way, it takes time. To serve something means you submit to the process. Consider going to a gym. Sure you believe that it will help. You pursue it. You actually close the proximity gap. You get off the couch, you drive to the gym. And you actually work out. Now what? You look in the mirror and everything is the same. Something is happening that you can't see. It's slow. But it's happening. That choice that you made to cultivate is changing you.

And what is really changing at the deepest level, is the object of your affection, your perception of what has worth and value. Here's the call from the message today. Submit to that process. Submit to it and your love will change!

When I was in high school, I liked to play video games. But now I never play video games. I prefer other things. Here's the thing: of the things I prefer to do now, there is not a single one of them that I enjoyed the first time I tried it. Reading, exercise, hobbies. All of them had to be learned. But now I prefer these things way over video games not because video games have gotten less interesting (they've actually become way more interesting), but because of the fact that other things have eclipsed them. But I had to serve them, I had to be shaped to receive their gifts and benefit.

Now, friends, how much more with Jesus Christ? We are not slaves to our own disposition. We can change what we love. How? By serving the Lord. By submitting ourselves to these soul shaping cultivation commands of the Bible.

Listen, your choices change you. How will you choose to be shaped? Commandments represent something you control.

- You can't control world politics.
- You can't control your spouse.
- You can't control your kids.

But you can control your choices. And choices made in a direction over time are very powerful. God says that when we obey, the mystery of God's sovereignty meets us there. Work out your salvation for it is God who is at work. Let us obey with excitement and change what we love.