Shane Kennard's Blog

How do we respond to people who don’t have the law written on their hearts?

The reality of someone who doesn’t have faith in Jesus is this…

• Their life is lived attempting to live up to the law, but always falling short.
• Satan is there holding them back from the law.
• Satan is there tempting them to break the law.
• Satan is there telling them how bad they are to not keep the law.
• Without hope, they’ll give up.

The church can respond in a couple of ways. Sure, this borders on overgeneralization, but our response generally is either to…

1. Beat those who don’t have faith over the head with the law that they’re struggling to achieve.
2. Help them understand the grace behind the law, they don’t have to–and will never–achieve it and that Jesus wants to write it on their hearts.

Here is what God says is the relationship the law should have on the nations…

6 Keep them and do them [God's commands], for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples [the nations], who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Deuteronomy 4:6-8.

God’s initial design for his law was to cause the nations to be jealous of Israel. Israel was to Hear & Obey. Their collective lives were to be a light to the nations. The nations then looked at their god(s) and said, “You’ve never proven you were ever close to me. You’ve never told me the best way to live out my life. What’s the deal?!” Then they smash their god(s) and follow Isreal’s God as the One True God.

In a sentence…

Israel was to pass on their Hear & Obey relationship to the nations.

Jesus says it this way…

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8.

This statement isn’t out of the thin air. This statement has its roots in Deuteronomy 4:6-8. The nations aren’t just the lands far off. The nations are anyone who isn’t a part of God’s people.

Our neighbors who don’t have faith. The nations.
Our classmate who doesn’t have faith. The nations.
Our coworker who doesn’t have faith. The nations.
The people across the world who has never heard. The nations.

We don’t have a Hear & Obey relationship with the Father just for our benefit.

Our Hear & Obey relationship is supposed to cause the nations to be jealous that we have a God who will talk with us, be close to us, tell us how to live a hopeful, joyous, grounded life. Jealous enough to come closer to find out about this God.

The 10 Commandments aren’t about following a set of rules. It’s about the grace God has to write them on our hearts. Then it’s about the grace that he has for the nations through our lives.

**BTW, our Hear & Obey relationship is also to be passed on to our children. See the CrossPoint Church blog for a blog post about passing on our relationship with God to our kids.**

God had a greater power coming. A power that would defeat sin once and for all.

In Genesis 3:15, God promised a seed or a kid who would come that would defeat Satan, sin and death. In every story in the Old Testament, we see that sin isn’t defeated. The 10 Commandments only defeat sin if we can follow them perfectly. Only one tiny problem with that.

We can’t follow them perfectly.

So when we get to the New Testament, we’re longing for a guy to defeat sin. And this guy must follow the 10 Commandments perfectly.

Jesus is that Guy.

But we still don’t match up and that’s a problem. If he is the standard by which we are graded, we don’t make the grade.

Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world with his life. He came to save the world with his life. Paul describes it this way…

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Jesus put sin on so that we can put his righteousness on.

God through Jeremiah predicts this…

This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. Jeremiah 31:33.

There is something better than living the 10 Commandments perfectly. Them being written on our hearts is much better. It’s much more permanent.

The 10 Commandments are to permeate our lives. Jesus takes out his sharpie and writes them on our hearts, then they just start oozing out of us. When Moses retells the 10 Commandments, he surrounded them with this permeating thinking…

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they [the commands] depart from your heart all the days of your life. Deuteronomy 4:9.

5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7  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. 8  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9.

Why do we read the Bible? To learn about what is written in our hearts.
Why do we hear teaching? To learn about what is written in our hearts.
Why do we hang with other believers? To learn about what is written in our hearts.
Why do we pray? To learn about what is written in our hearts.

There is grace behind the 10 Commandments. The grace is that we don’t live up to them. Grace is letting God tattoo them on our hearts.

Hearing and Obeying is about power.

Whatever you give the most power in your life, you’ll give the most attention to.

Before God gave his 10 Commandments, he established his power.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Deuteronomy 5:6.

So many think that the 10 Commandments was God flexing his muscles, showing his power and oppressing people. No.

God already showed his power. But notice, his power wasn’t about him oppressing people. His power was for the benefit of others.

This is what he’s done since creation.

• God used his power to provide through creation.
• God used his power to provide Abraham a son.
• God used his power to put Joseph in a great position.
• God used his power to free his people.

He wants his people to Hear and Obey. But he first wants his people to know that he’ll go to great lengths to be in relationship with them.

It is all about faith. Seeing things the way God sees them and acting on it. Faith to see God’s power, his relationship and trusting him with all of our lives.

But, there is a greater power than just following a bunch of rules. God wants to permeate our lives.

In my personal time with God, I just read through Jeremiah.

I like the prophets. We get the image that they are these angry people representing an angry God. It is true that God is coming in justice through the prophets. It is equally true that God seeks repentance through the message of the prophets.

What is the biggest theme from Jeremiah?

Will Jeremiah and Judah hear and obey despite the message being counterintuitive?

God shows up to Jeremiah as a youth and tells him that he has a message for him to speak to his people. Would Jeremiah listen even though he was so young?

Students and Young Adults, know this, if you hear and obey, God will use you to accomplish his purposes even now.

Jeremiah’s key message is for the people to go to Babylon and volunteer exiles. This was counterintuitive. God told the people that they would save their lives if they heard and obeyed. Instead the king and most of the people bowed up. They were prideful. They decided to stay and stick it out. The result was a 2+ year siege and awful carnage that was preventable.

God wanted to bring life to the people. Instead they chose death. Why? Because they refused to hear and obey.

Despite being counterintuitive, hearing and obeying God brings life. This is a lesson I’m learning daily. He is our Father and desires our good, but also his glory from our good. Hearing and obeying brings strength through the drought.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 says it best…

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

When Moses heard and obeyed God, things got worse.

Yeah, that’s right. Things got worse. If you have been around the church at all, you’re familiar with this story. But we think about the big things. We think about the burning bush. We think about the 10 plagues. We think about the Red Sea. We don’t see what happens between the burning bush and the Red Sea.

Moses did everything God said, but things got worse.

Pharaoh got ticked. The Israelites were lazy. That’s why they wanted to worship. He’d fix that. Make things harder on them.

Israel’s elders got ticked. Life was hard before Moses arrived, but things got harder after he opened his big mouth. They basically asked them to go back from where they came.

This wasn’t exactly how it was supposed to go. Why?

Because Moses hadn’t learned the last lesson of powerful faith.

Powerful faith preservers. Exodus 5:17-23; 6:1, Hebrews 10:39.

Moses had to learn that powerful faith preservers. It’s one thing to hear and obey God when everything goes up and to the right. But what if it goes down and to the left? What will we do then?

Moses went back to God to ask him a few questions. A few pointed questions…

O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.” Exodus 5:22-23.

Aka…”I did my part, God, why didn’t you do your part?!”

Have you ever had that moment? The moment where you’ve done what you thought you were supposed to do, but nothing happened. What do you do next?

My wife and I have gone through that. We weren’t perfect, but we do feel like we heard and obeyed God to plant a church. Even though we heard and obeyed, everything fell a part after two years. God, why did you even send us if this was what was going to happen?

Here is God’s answer…

But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” Exodus 6:1.

Aka…”You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

This was the moment of trust for Moses. I don’t think it was the burning bush. It was important. It started the journey. But this was it. Was he going to go back home? Or was he going to stick it out and see what God had up his sleeve? He could get impatient, dormant or reluctant again. Or he could move forward.

Moses decided to hear and obey. God was right. They hadn’t seen anything yet!

We didn’t stay in the same city/context we tried to plant a church. However, by God’s grace, we kept hearing and obeying and he kept leading us. He lead us right into the perfect situation for us. But the temptation to be impatient, dormant and reluctant continues. We must always hear and obey.

The writer of Hebrews explains it like this…

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

The people were being tempted to be impatient, dormant or reluctant. The writer was saying, “Keep going. Persevere. There are tons of people who went before you that had faith. Hear. Obey.”

This is what being a disciple is. It is hearing and obeying.

One.
Step.
At.
A.
Time.

Moses found his way into powerful faith. Parting the Red Sea faith. How did that come about?

Moses heard God and he obeyed. Exodus 4:18-20.

Moses was convinced enough to get up and request permission from his Father-in-Law to take his family back to Egypt to rescue God’s people.

I can’t prove it, but I think Moses was still a little reluctant. Maybe I’m projecting myself on the story. Why else would Moses request permission to leave? Maybe he was hoping Jethro would say, “No you’re not going to Egypt. You’re not taking my daughter and grand kids. Get back to tending sheep.” Then Moses would be able to say to God, “Well, I tried.”

In the end, Jethro gives Moses his blessing to leave and now Moses has zero excuses. He hears and obeys.

The faith of a disciple hears and obeys. The is the foundation of the relationship that we have with God. It doesn’t matter if we start out being reluctant about hearing and obeying. What matters if we actually hear and obey.

You want mountain-moving, Red Sea-parting faith? What is God saying to you today? What small thing does he want that you’re reluctant about?

Hearing and obeying isn’t about acting on every whim or “voice.” We have to filter through God’s Word, prayer and other Christians who you know have this type of faith.

And another thing. We have this perspective that if we hear and obey God that he’ll send us to a place we don’t want to go. Yes, Moses was reluctant and didn’t want to go to Egypt. However, God equipped Moses for this role. Maybe you’re reluctant, but God will equip you to fulfill the role he has for you. Part of that equipping is a love, passion, desire for what he has. Moses ended up taking a lot of crap from a lot of people. He did this because God gave him the ability to take it.

God’s message is progressive.

This is a vital point to remember. God will not tell you everything right now. God is smarter than that. He’ll reveal things in a progression.

He told Moses that Pharaoh would let his people go. God didn’t tell Moses that it would take him looking like a fool to Pharaoh and his own people and 10 plagues to get the job done.

God isn’t going to give you every detail now. For a couple of reasons…

1. He wants to know if you’ll trust him. What is there to trust if he has the entire path cleared out before you start?
2. He doesn’t want to freak you out. If God told my wife and I the journey we’d go through in church planting, we wouldn’t have signed up. But I wouldn’t want to go back and exchange the journey we’ve been on. He will take you through this to equip you.

Take the step he has cleared off for you. That’s all he wants. Powerful faith takes one step at a time. So often we want a powerful movement of God, but we just want to pray it into existence. Will it take prayer? Yes. But faith requires action. What is he saying is your first step in making that happen? I’d hate for your weak, impatient, dormant, reluctant faith to get in the way.

Think of it this way. You can’t hit a Grand Slam with no one on base. You need 4 ordinary actions (4 singles or 4 walks) to make a Grand Slam possible.

So…What’s your next step of hear and obey faith?