The resurrection transforms lives, changing doubters into missionaries and deniers into bold confessors. Surely our living Savior's work transforms us, but how? He has been in the business of transforming lives since Eden, but He lays out what "new life" should look like at Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.
Many of usresist God's commandments because they view them as burdensome rules or tools of performative religion. However, God introduces the Ten Commandments with a crucial reminder of His completed work of salvation. The gospel order is essential: Done (God's salvation through Christ), then Do and Don't (our response). When we start with Christ's finished work rather than our performance, God's law becomes not a burden but a gift - pathways to flourishing life for those already loved and saved.
It was common for a rabbi, for a great teacher, to teach others how to talk to God. When Jesus' teaches his disciples to pray he does so in response to their request for him to teach them "as John taught his disciples". But Jesus begins his prayer "Our Father", an incredibly intimate and therefore entirely radical way to approach God. Ever since, the Lord's prayer has been the foundation of all Christian prayer.
