Today is my first sermon in a three-week series on the 10
Commandments! How do you preach on 10
commandments in 3 weeks, well, carefully, with some fear and trembling. We'll hope for the best. Let's get right to it; the 10 commandments
are of divine origin. They were given
by God's authority, not human authority.
They are authoritative for all people, for all time, for all
places. God gave them to Moses who
passed them on to the Jews. Centuries
later Jesus reaffirmed their authority for His followers.
They are preoccupied with goodness. They focus upon our relationship with and
behavior toward God and other people.
The 10 commandments are a summary of the will of God, God’s spiritual
and moral imperatives for humanity. I
acknowledge author and radio talk show host Dennis Prager for some insights
into these commandments.
The foundation of the 10 commandments is captured in the Old
Testament book Deut. 6:4. It is called
the mispah, the Hebrew word for hear. “Hear
O Israel
Our first responsibility is to love God with our whole being
- heart, soul, mind, and strength. We
are to love God alone with the unswerving, complete, steadfast loyalty that is
the very foundation of the covenant community.
The 10 commandments are not old fashioned, culturally
relative, passe, outdated, archaic religious rules, but rather they are as
contemporary today, as they were when God passed the tablets of stone to Moses
on Mt. Sinai ,
in the Sinai Peninsula , over 3,000 years ago.
People picture God in different ways in their minds. A police helicopter high in the sky spotted a
car racing down the interstate. The
officer radioed a patrol car who stopped the speeder and an officer began
writing a citation. “Officer, how did you know I was speeding”
the man asked? The patrolman didn’t say
anything, but pointed skyward. Tilting
his head toward the heavens the driver mumbled: “Don't tell me your against me too?”
The majority of people in America say that they believe in
God. I am heartened whenever I hear
this. My question is what do they mean
by god. Which god? What is their concept? Is it the God spoken of in the Bible: the God
of creation, the God of Israel, the God of the church, the God and Father of
Jesus Christ, the author of the 10 commandments or some other notion of
god?
What are the commandments and what is their context? They are laws, imperatives, mandates given by
God to His followers, after God carried out an astonishing historical
miracle. God is saying in them that
people are to treat other human beings morally.
God's will in these commands is about decency, justice, fairness,
morality and righteousness.
God gave His people an astounding gift, deliverance,
freedom, liberty. “I am
the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
slavery, you shall have no other gods before me.” God hates slavery. God hates oppression. God hates injustice. God loves freedom. God's desire is that human being live in
political, religious and social freedom.
God demonstrated this by freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt .
God says: “Because I
did this, you have an obligation to me, you shall have no other gods before me,
don't chase after other gods.” And
the right response of people is: “God because you saved me from slavery, I
commit my life to you, I will worship you alone and obey your laws.” The underlying spirit infusing the
commandments is gratitude, thankfulness for God what God has done, for God's
act of deliverance.
Further, the commandments pertain not just to Jews, but to
Christians, to all humanity who acknowlege and worship this one true God. Following the commandments is a way of
saying: “Thank you God for delivering me, thank you God for my freedom, freedom
from slavery in Egypt
The First commandment says no other gods! Stay away.
Parents say to their children – be careful whom you hang out with. Exercise good judgment and discretion. Don't follow the wrong crowd, don't run with
that group of kids, resist peer pressure.
I recall Nancy and I talking about that when the boys were little. Worship, obey, follow God alone, not other
gods.
The Second command says no idols! Don't worship things, symbolic gods. Don't worship money or material things or
real estate or the stock market or land or technology or nature.
No idols! Why,
because idols are false gods, imposters, frauds and there are many false gods
which threaten to lure our devotion today, right? Why not follow them? Why not devote our lives to false gods? Because bad things result, parents know
this. We know this. Bad things happen, evil things happen, you
hurt yourself or others, you can ruin your life, you can end up in the legal
system for the rest of your life, whether the false god is money, and how many
stories do we hear daily of greed, robbery, theft, embezzlement and stealing,
as well as gods of popularity or lust or power. Worship, obey, follow the one true God
alone, not idols.
God is not democratic.
Now I didn't say God isn't a democrat.
God is not all inclusive. God
doesn't offer Himself as one diety among many for us to decide upon, to choose,
to listen to like the field of some 6 Democratic candidates and 15 Republican
candidates running for President. God
doesn't tolerate rivals. God doesn't
share the stage. God condemns polytheism
and affirms monotheism, one God to be worshipped by all humanity. Yes, this is highly offensive to some people
who want to chose their own god. The
one true God, the God of creation and deliverance doesn't share the spotlight
with any other gods.
Jews and Christians are responsible to, accountable to,
answerable to one God who revealed
Himself to humanity in historical events and in the person of Jesus
Christ as testified to in the scriptures .
Why? Because God created us in
His image, made us for fellowship with himself. Our lives are incomplete without God. To refuse to live according to God’s will is
to violate our very nature as human beings.
Why? To express our gratitude, our praise, our thanksgiving to God for
all He had done, for His gifts and goodness in our lives.
Why? Because through our obedience God works out his plans
and purposes in our individual lives, in our families, in our communities, in
our nation and in our world. God uses
our good works, our attentive minds and hearts, our strengths and weaknesse to
accomplish his purposes: to change lives, to relieve suffering, to establish
justice, to expand His kingdom, to rebuild broken relationships, to bring hope
out of despair, to bring unbelievers to a saving faith, to feed the hungry and
to establish peace.
The first two commandments are the basis for all the
others. They are the foundation upon
which the others rest. What would the
world be like if we didn't chase after and follow false gods? Imagine it.
How many broken people would be healthy and whole again? How many burned out people would be full of
zeal and energy once more? How many
people would be filled with joy rather than despair and hopelessness? Peace would replace the violence we daily
see around us.
The first two commands call for the reverence due God
alone. Like the Christian woman who took
a trip to Israel . Later in life, she returned to the Holy Land determined to learn Hebrew before she
died. She said: “I want
to be able to greet my Creator in His native tongue.”
Let's turn to the third commandment. The third commandment in Hebrew can be
variously translated: “You shall not make
wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.” “You
shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” “Don't
take the name of God in vain.”
We often think this commandment is addressing using God's
name inappropriately or cavalierly in our daily conversation, like saying: “Oh God I had a rough day today.” Or using it in profanity, or in our common
parlance, or as an idiomatic expression.
And in my view this is bad. I
totally agree. I cringe when I hear
God's name used especially in profanity.
We should not disrespect or profane the holy name of God.
But the third commandment means more. It means we are not to commit evil by
invoking God's name or in the name of God.
The commandment says God will not forgive a person who violates this
commandment. To misuse God's name, to
make wrongful use of the name of the Lord God, is to use it as a justification
for committing evil. And extreme
radical militant Muslims today are doing just that. Certainly this commandment pertains to
Christians and Jews as well. This
commandment condemns anyone who commits evil and does so invoking the name of
God. It is a great sin and afront to
God.
The Fourth commandment is Remember the Sabbath and keep it
holy. The Hebrew word Sabbath or Shabbat
means rest. In this command God elevated
human beings. And God elevated
animals. It showed how the one true God
values human beings. No work. You must rest at least one day a week. Can I get an amen!
And that includes you, your children, your slaves, aliens or
foreigners among you, which was unprecedented prior to this command, and your
livestock. Even animals used as beasts
of burden merit a rest. This day was
meant strengthen family ties and friendships.
This day was meant to strengthen our spiritual relationship with
God. It was meant to focus our hearts,
minds and bodies upon the creator and ruler God and not upon work. God blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
One night a little boy knelt beside his bed to say his
prayers. He closed his eyes and
prayed: “God bless mom, God bless dad, God bless grandma, God bless
grandpa. And please take care of
yourself God, cause if anything happens to you, we’re all sunk.”
We gather as God's people before the one true God who
commands our deepest respect, devotion and loyalty, the one in whom we live,
and move and have our being.” Amen!
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