Oaks Parish

di Oaks Parish

Stagione 3

Sermon: Shall Not Steal (March 23, 2025)

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-15 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Paul David Tripp, Redeeming Money God created us to be dependent. He created us to follow his commands and to submit to his will. Real life and true freedom are found when we willingly and joyfully surrender to the One who created us, knows what we need, and rules what we could never control. But something else is vital to remember: we were never designed to put ourselves in the center of our world and make our lives all about us. We were never created to live for little more than our personal comfort, pleasure, happiness, and success. In God’s plan for us, we will never find the rest of heart that we all seek until we live according to the purpose and glory of the One who created us. Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments Have you ever noticed that Jesus is sometimes less “spiritual” than we might think? That doesn’t sound right, but here’s what I mean: we might think that Jesus would tell us, “Do you want possessions? Shame on you. Do you want security and safety? Shame on you. Why don’t you desire something more important?” He doesn’t do that, though. Instead, he taps into the desires of all human beings. We want to make sure that we have something that will last. We want to make sure that we have enough for the future. Jesus says, “Okay, I get that. Let me tell you how to really be happy: store up treasures in heaven!” John Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life The biblical ideal is certainly not that we all become poor. Rather, it is, first, “godliness with contentment” (1 Tim. 6:6). The wisdom teacher recognizes that there are temptations in both wealth and poverty, so he asks God to give him just enough: “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me” (Prov. 30:8; compare “our daily bread” as the Christian’s request in Matt. 6:11). But if God does give poverty, or riches, we must expect temptation and be ready to deal with it. R. Kent Hughes, Set Apart: Calling a Worldly Church to a Godly Life Every time I give, I declare that money does not control me. Perpetual generosity is a perpetual de-deification of money. Application Questions 1. Why can our relationship to the material world become enslaving? 2. As a central aspect of worship, how can tithing deepen our relationship with God? 3. Within each of our vocations, God brings about opportunities to help those in need. How can Oaks Parish partner with you?

Sermon: Shall Not Commit Adultery (March 16, 2025)

Sermon Text: Exodus 20:1-14 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Ann Voskamp Your naked body deserves the honor of being shared only with someone who is covenanted to never stop loving your naked soul. Preston Sprinkle, “What is Marriage” Is marriage the union between two consensual adults—who fall in love and are committed to each other? Or, is marriage the union between two sexually different persons? I would suggest that the Bible says the latter. Marriage is the union between two sexually different persons. It’s not as if marriage is between two people, and oh, by the way, we Christians have always believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Even that doesn’t capture the historically Christian view. It’s not as if sex difference (male/female) is an arbitrary add-on to a Christian view of marriage. Rather, sex difference is an essential part of what marriage is. Marriage by definition is the union between two sexually different persons and not simply the union between two humans regardless of sex difference. Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments The relationship between Christ and the church is a paradigm for the relationship between a husband and a wife. The mystery is that the union of Christ and the church finds expression in a man and a woman becoming one flesh in Christian marriage. God designed for a Christian husband and wife to come together in such a way that this union of Christ and the church can be symbolized. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves We use a most unfortunate idiom when we say, of a lustful man prowling the streets, that he ‘wants a woman.’ Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want. He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. Application Questions 1. Why does Scripture celebrate sex, and how does this biblical vision compare to how sex was understood and discussed in your upbringing? 2. How can emotional self-awareness shape a godly vision for sex and intimacy? 3. How can sex, according to God’s vision, be a life-giving and spiritually enriching part of your life this week?

Sermon: Do Not Murder (March 9, 2025)

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-13 Quincy Robinson

Sermon: Honor Your Father & Mother (March 5, 2025)

Ash Wednesday Service Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-12 Bryan Buck

Sermon: Remember the Sabbath (March 2, 2025)

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-11 Pat Roach

Sermon: Honoring the Name of God (February 23, 2025)

*We apologize for the poor sound quality at the beginning of the recording. It resolves in about 20 seconds! Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-7 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself. Justin Cronin, The Ferryman There is power in a name. It is through names that we bring all things into this world, and when they leave, it is names we carry with us, so they are never truly gone. Alec J Moyter, The Message of Exodus What were the people really asking for when they wanted to know God’s ‘name’? In the Bible, names often had a serious significance, and in the case of the Lord his ‘name’ was his ‘story’; it summed up who he was and what he wanted to make known about himself. John Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life The one who gives a name to someone else has some measure of control over the one who receives it. The parent names the child, the conqueror names the conquered city, and the Lord names his people. Yahweh names himself, for there is no one higher than him. Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments The way to see God’s glory is to hear his name. To know the name YHWH, the merciful and gracious one, is not to merely know something about God; it is to know God himself (Ex. 34:6–8). God shows himself by speaking his name. Application Questions 1. What power is found in a name? 2. How does calling upon the name of God open the door for his transformative power? 3. In what ways are you moved toward a more public faith, bearing witness to God’s name?

Sermon: Counterfeit Worship (February 16, 2025)

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-6 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments If the first commandment is against worshiping the wrong God, the second commandment is against worshiping God in the wrong way. John Calvin, Commentary on Exodus God wishes to be worshiped in a spiritual manner. If we turn away from this, we lapse into idolatry. Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give. John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life Idolatry has two senses: (1) worshiping a false god, and (2) worshiping any god by means of an idol. The first commandment deals primarily with the first form of idolatry, while the second commandment deals with the second form of it. But of course the two are intimately connected. To worship a false god (first commandment) is to direct our worship to something creaturely, namely an idol (second commandment). And to worship an idol (second commandment) is to rob God of worship that he alone deserves (first commandment). So the two commandments imply one another and serve as two perspectives on our worship. In that way, the second commandment, like the first, covers all aspects of human life. Application Questions 1. Idols can be real both individually and corporately. What idols hold power in the American church today? 2. John Calvin writes that “God wishes to be worshipped in a spiritual way.” What value does that have for faith? 3. How does true and false worship shape generational faith? How have you seen this to be true in your own life?

Sermon: No Other Gods Before Me (February 9, 2025)

Scripture Text: Exodus 20:1-3 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Kevin D. Young, The Ten Commandments The good news of law, C. S. Lewis once remarked, is like the good news of arriving on solid ground after a shortcut gone awry through the mud, muck, and mire. After fumbling about in the squishy, stinky mess, you’re relieved to finally hit something solid, something you can trust, something you can count on. John Frame, Doctrine of the Christian Life The document begins with God’s name: Yahweh, the Lord. As God so identified himself to Moses in Exodus 3: 14–15, so he now identifies himself in the direct hearing of all his people. This identification ensures, first, that the covenant is a personal relationship. 15 Ultimately, we are to obey the law, not just because its principles are true, but because of the one who commanded them. I have argued that the personality of God is indispensable to ethics. Worldviews that reduce the personal to the impersonal lose any basis for ethics. Ethics is based on a family relationship. In this world, we learn ethical standards in the family, in a context of love and loyalty. 16 Similarly at the ultimate level, we learn right and wrong from a heavenly Father, an absolute personality. Only such a personal relationship can communicate principles that are absolutely authoritative. Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Powers of a New Affection There is not one of these transformations in which the heart is left without an object. Its desire for one particular object may be conquered; but as to its desire for having some one object or other, this is unconquerable. Its adhesion to that on which it has fastened the preference of its regards, cannot willingly be overcome by the rending away of a simple separation. It can be done only by the application of something else, to which it may feel the adhesion of a still stronger and more powerful preference. Such is the grasping tendency of the human heart, that it must have a something to lay hold of - and which, if wrested away without the substitution of another something in its place, would leave a void and a vacancy as painful to the mind, as hunger is to the natural system. It may be dispossessed of one object, or of any, but it cannot be desolated of all. Application Questions 1. When you consider the Ten Commandments, what comes to mind? 2. How does the context of Exodus inform and reshape your understanding of God’s law? 3. As you consider the first commandment, what will you turn away from and turn toward as we begin the rhythms of Lent?

Sermon: The Presentation of Messiah (February 2, 2025)

Scripture Text: Luke 2:22-38 Andy Tobin Quotes for Reflection R. Kent Hughes Simeon and Anna represented all who saw that their only hope was in the mercy and grace of God. Along with the poor carpenter and his wife and the outcast shepherds, they were flesh-and-blood examples of those to whom Christ comes. They personified the paradox of being profoundly empty and profoundly full—“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). They longed for the righteousness and consolation that would come only through the Messiah. They came to God’s house hungry, and they received as few others have in the history of the world. J. C. Ryle And now what do we think of Christ? This is the question that ought to occupy our minds. What thoughts does he call forth in our hearts? This is the inquiry which ought to receive our attention. Are we for him, or are we against him? Do we love him, or do we neglect him? Do we stumble at his doctrine, or do we find it life from the dead? Let us never rest till these questions are satisfactorily answered. John Piper The more deeply you walk with Christ, the hungrier you get for Christ . . . the more homesick you get for heaven . . . the more you want “all the fullness of God”…the more you want to be done with sin…the more you want the Bridegroom to come again . . . the more you want the Church revived and purified with the beauty of Jesus . . . the more you want a great awakening to God’s reality in the cities . . . the more you want to see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ penetrate the darkness of all the unreached peoples of the world . . . the more you want to see false worldviews yield to the force of Truth . . . the more you want to see pain relieved and tears wiped away and death destroyed . . . the more you long for every wrong to be made right and the justice and grace of God to fill the earth like the waters cover the sea. Application Questions 1. What hunger in your heart has Christ satisfied, or what hunger do you want him to satisfy? 2. What are your “inner thoughts” about the person of Jesus? 3. Would your life look different if it were characterized by waiting for the appearing of Jesus (i.e., his second coming)? How so?

Sermon: Persistent Prayer (January 26, 2025)

Scripture Text: Luke 11:1-13 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Hudson Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Choice Sayings: A Compilation from His Writings and Addresses Let us give up our work, our thoughts, our plans, ourselves, our lives, our loved ones, our influence, our all, right into His hand, and then, when we have given all over to Him, there will be nothing left for us to be troubled about, or to make trouble about. Michael Card, Luke: The Gospel of Amazement If you want a window into the personal prayer life of Jesus, the Gospel of Luke is the best place to begin. When you look through the various panes of the pages of his Gospel, you will see Jesus staying up all night to pray on several occasions (for example, Lk 5:16). At every turning point, whether it was choosing the Twelve (Lk 6:12-16) or preparing for the night of the transfiguration (Lk 9:28), Luke tells us that events happened as he was praying. When Jesus angrily tears up, for the second time, in the marketplace in the temple court, Luke tells us that the real reason for Jesus’ emotion is his desire that the Gentiles have a quiet place to pray (Lk 19:46). More than any other Gospel, Luke paints us a picture of Jesus on his knees. N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone The ‘Lord’s Prayer’, as many call it, is therefore not just a loosely connected string of petitions. It is a prayer for people who are following Jesus on the kingdom-journey. Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem, to act on behalf of God’s name, which had been dragged in the mud as his people had turned away from him in rebellion. He was on the way to accomplish the ‘Exodus’ in which the long-awaited kingdom of God would become a reality. He had provided bread for the journey, and ‘the breaking of bread’ was to become the sign of his presence in the church, and the bond between his followers. He was already offering forgiveness, and would accomplish it completely in his death – and he was already demanding from his followers that they imitate the graciousness of their God in forgiving their enemies, let alone each other. And, as we have already seen and will shortly see in more detail, he was waging war against the powers of evil, a war that would reach its decisive battle on Calvary. This is a prayer which grows out of the mission of Jesus himself. It has been ideally suited, both as it stands and as a framework for wider praying, for his followers ever since. Application Questions 1. How would you describe the place of prayer in your life? 2. How can the notion of persistence be an encouragement for prayer? 3. What’s one thing from Jesus’s teaching in Luke 11:1-13 that can change how you abide with God this week?

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