Exodus 20:1
Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other
gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form
of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship
them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the
iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject
me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love
me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of
the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do
all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you
shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave,
your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the
Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the
seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land
that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not
commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall
not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or
anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The message
Last week, I
talked about the 10 commandments in their original context. To understand what
the 10 commandments were for, we have to understand when and where they were
given to the people. They are rooted in
the exodus experience of the people of Israel as they were released from
slavery in Egypt and trying to survive and figure things out in the wilderness.
The 10 commandments (along with the 600
or so other laws given to the people) served religious and secular purposes,
reminding people that they are loved and saved by God and helping to organize a
fair, just and lawful society. The law set the people apart from other
neighboring tribes and people and places God at the center of the community. The first 4, including you shall not have any
other gods beside me and do not use the Lord’s name in vain govern our
relationship with God. The other 6 commandments, ones like do not steal or do
not covet / be jealous are concerned with the relationships
between people.
Now, we are
going to look at what the 10 commandments mean for us today. I used to say that
the 615 or so laws of the Old Testament were a lot. In the US today, we have an estimated 30-
40,000 regulations on gun ownership, 100,000s of pages of regulations on
banking, an incredible number of people in prison and a legal code so extensive
and long, I doubt anyone has ever seen or read the whole thing. There is a long
Jewish and Christian tradition dating back 1000s of years for interpreting and
understanding what it means to follow each of God’s laws. There are ancient Jewish commentaries on what
is and is not permitted on the Sabbath (emergency work, saving a life), how to honor your father and mother or what
technology can and cannot be used. In the new testament Jesus is often at odds
with the religious authorities of the time. The authorites are very well versed
in the how of keeping the law but not the why.
Jesus stresses the spiritual purpose of the law, to show and take people
to God’s grace (Jesus is fine with healing on the Sabbath, picking grain to
eat). Jesus has little concern for the secular purposes of the law ( under the
law, the woman who is caught in adultery is to be stoned to death, instead,
Jesus announces mercy and forgiveness, asking the crowd, whoever is without sin
can cast the first stone). A few years
after Jesus death and resurrection, Paul starts another complicated
relationship with the law. For Paul,
even basic and ancient requirements like circumcism do not need to be kept if
they interfere with teaching and telling the good news of Jesus Christ, dead
and risen for the forgiveness of sins,
If the law is an obstacle to the good news, it must be removed.
One of the
challenges with established laws that Jesus and Paul avoid is that you can
justify anything. There are loopholes, tricks, and inefficiencies. Following the letter of the law often does
not lead to real obedience Many of our
legal systems around the world today fail. Innocent people are convicted, the
guilty are free, there are huge disparages in incarceration rates that show our
systems definitely see things like race, age and gender. There are no loopholes in God’s grace, no
tricks we can pull, all are sinners who fall short of the glory of God, all
must find their salvation apart from good works. .
To
understand our faith tradition’s view, we start almost 500 years ago with Martin
Luther and the Catechisms. These
pamphlets are the foundation of what Christians should know and believe,
written by Luther in the years after the Reformation and widely
distributed. Luther created them after
visiting churches all over the place.
Luther (and other visitors) all saw and reported the same thing, people
in the pews and in many cases the pulpits had very little knowledge of
scripture, theology or the meaning of their faith. The small and large catechisms were written to
address a general lack of knowledge amongst church goers and pastors. In them, we see Luther’s attempt to define
what it means to follow God’s law. The 10 commandments are the first part of
these catechisms or teaching guides. Luther expands on and explains each one,
for example The Seventh Commandment. You shall not steal. What does this mean?--Answer.
We should
fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or property, nor
get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his
property and business [that his means are preserved and his condition is improved].
For Luther,
to simply say the 7th commandment meant you could not physically
take something that you did not properly acquire was insufficient. Luther expands what the 7th
commandment means so that it covers theft and lots of other things, like not
helping your neighbor, buying things made in sweatshops or unfair conditions or
not holding people accountable for their abuses. Luther gives this treatment to each of the
commandments, By the end of that section, people are left hopeless, chanceless,
totally unable to actually fulfill the law.
For Luther, that is proof we cannot earn our salvation by good works or
obedience to the law. You cannot wiggle
out of Luther’s 10 commandments, there are no loopholes, Our sinful, brokenness
is exposed. The remainder of the small
Catechism drives us to the cross, to God’s saving work in the death and
resurrection of Jesus.
Since I was
7 or 8 years old, I always slept in the front bedroom, closest to the sidewalk
and street and the loudest part of the house.
When I first moved into the parsonage, I naturally just set up in the
front bedroom. Now each spring, we
start opening the windows to get some fresh air. This also means I can hear the sounds of the
neighborhood. It’s not all children
laughing and couples saying I love you, we hear fights, drug deals, bad drunks,
and screaming. Of course none of these
things are new or spring and summer only events, we just realize they are
happening because the windows are open and sound can travel. From time to time, we will end up calling the
police if it seems like someone is in danger. In the same ways open windows expose what is
happening on our supposedly quiet block, the 10 commandments expose our sins
and drive us to inaction, to depend on God’s grace.
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