Sermon for June 10

The reading

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

We are now in our third of four weeks with the 10 commandments. This will be my last time with this series here. Next week I will be covering at Grace Lutheran Church in Forest Hills so there will be another pastor here to lead our worship.  This morning, I wanted to look at what the 10 commandments might mean in the future.  So far we have looked at the 10 commandments in their original context and today.  2 weeks ago, 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, trying to survive and figure things out in the wilderness. This freedom was God’s work, an incredible interference with history, the world’s power and rules.  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, 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.  Guiding those 2 things, our relationship with God and our relationship with other people are the main concerns of the law.  To follow them immerses someone in a world of peace, comfort and awareness that he or she is loved by God (and so is the person next to you) 

Last week, we looked at what the 10 commandments mean for today. I focused on Jesus, Paul and Martin Luther’s view of the 10 commandments / law. 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 and picking grain to eat. These actions are seen as violations of the law but for Jesus healing points to God’s power and picking grain points to God’s sustaining presence, both obey the law as they lead people to God’s grace.   Jesus has little concern for enforcing the secular purposes of the law. For example under the law, a woman who is caught in adultery is to be stoned to death, instead, Jesus stops it, announces mercy and forgiveness, asking the crowd, whoever has no 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.   We also looked at Martin Luther’s use of these laws in the Small and Large Catechsims, where they expose our sins, shows we cannot earn our own salvation and drives us to God’s grace.  Once we know we are saved by grace, then we celebrate and show God’s love in keeping the law.   There are no loopholes in God’s law, you are a sinner saved by grace.  For Jesus, Paul and Martin Luther, in each of these understandings of the law, the focus of the law shifts from an obsession with keeping the rules to revealing that you are loved by God.  In each case, knowing you are loved by God will truly lead to a law abiding life. (obedience comes from faith)   

With my last few minutes with the 10 commandments, I want to look at what they can mean for the future. I used to say 620 laws in the Old Testament like that was a lot. It’s really nothing.  Today, in the US, there are literally millions of pages of laws, rules and regulations that attempt to organize every aspect of life. There are 30-40,000 regulations on gun ownership, tens of thousands of pages of regulations on hiring and firing and a literally unknown number of banking rules.  A civil rights attorney wrote a book claiming that the average law abiding citizen unknowingly commits 3 felonies a day. He offers little evidence for this claim but it is certain we have a lot of laws and they are enforced.  Per capita we have more people in prison in the US than in any other country on earth, the break down of incarceration rates by race and income are shameful and in places prison is a for profit business that needs prisoners.   

Many of our laws are unknown, unclear and even contradict each other.  A few days ago, the Supreme court decided the case of a Christian baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding, The case centered around Colorado’s Anti-discrimination laws vs freedom of religion / first amendment rights.  The justices completely avoided the hard question “can a person be excused from obeying anti-discrimation laws on religious grounds”. That question was left at we don’t know.  Instead they decided in favor of the baker because Colorado acted in a way hostile to religion (the state commission had previously not convicted several other people for refusing to make cakes on non-religious grounds).  It was also decided that baking a cake was an act of speech / expression and protected by the first amendment.  2 dissenting judges said that Colorodo was not that hostile to religion (probably more concerned with future cases).   

Right across the street from us, PS 12 is dealing with an issue about voting regulations and school safety.  Here is an every growing number of people involved and city, state, and federal regulations that contradict each other.   There are Ethical issues with shareholders first and public good, Uber and Lyft, are subsidized by tax payers. (using the standard IRS deduction for mileage means driver pay little or no income tax, which is the only way they can afford to work this type of job and investors can make money).   There are ethical issues with technology, privacy, cyber bullying, access, addiction and science.   Slot machine developers, for years, the leaders in making addictive machines, are now turning to phone game makers for ideas.     

There is a whole industry of 10 commandments books and courses. The 10 commandments of buying a home, 10 commandments of investing, 10 commandments of brewing beer, 10 commandments of playing guitar, 10 commandments of  computer ethics, 10 commandments of applying to college, 10 commandments of flea market shopping, 10 commandments of swimming, the 10 commandments of virtually anything you can do.   The 10 commandments have become the 10 most important rules, 10 of millions of rules.  That matters in a world where figuring out what is lawful has become more and more complicated. We are dangerously close to people saying who cares, who needs more rules  There are changes in technology that no one ever imagined and uncertain or selective enforcement of rules.  There are rules about how every group understands every other group.  Add in a philosophy of moral relativism (that right and wrong is not definite, it matters based on when and where you are),  Is it lying to bluff in poker, the agreed to, known rules of the game, allow for lying,  how about in negotiating or for the greater good.

The 10 commandments are not the 10 most important rules.  Thinking of then in that way can be dangerous. We could be left thinking we did it when we have done little or nothing.  Instead, I think we should look at the 10 commandments as an invitation to live God centered lives. Its what Jesus does  Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”   37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  This was a trap, which leads to the parable of the good Samaritan and quieting all of Jesus critics.   The commandments speak to Who we are and what we do:  We are both sinners and children of our loving God, we are asked to see our neighbors the same way (not literally the people next to us, or like us, but Jesus big definition of neighbors).  That is our law.