Torah - Jews call the first five books of Scripture “Torah,” which means “guidance or help”; since the Ten Commandments are found twice in the Torah, we know they are God’s guidance. I loved discovering that for many centuries, devout Jewish rabbis agreed there are 613 laws in what we call the Old Testament; 365 of them are “thou shalt nots” and 248 are “thou shalts”. These experts in the law also determined that all 613 laws can be traced back and find their origin in the Ten Commandments.
Isn’t that amazing and profound? The condensing of the whole into concise commandments reminds me of the art of stenography. Those trained in this can communicate a lengthy message with the smallest marks, abbreviating a huge amount of content into a tighter script. I think God did that brilliantly through the Ten Commandments. The first four summarize the relationship all believers are meant to have with God; in 5-10 we’re guided in our relationships with others. Today we begin with the 5th commandment. Have you ever heard someone say to their kids “Obey your parents, it says so in the Bible?” But does it? Is God speaking directly to children, telling them they are required to always obey, or follow parents’ rules and instructions? If kids had to do that, can you see how that could have some awful consequences? Not all parents have maturity or insight into parenting well; others just don’t much care. Let me set the record straight: what the Bible actually says is, “Honor your parents.” We all have parents, so this commandment is one we’re all expected to follow. We may have birth parents, adoptive parents, or guardians who fed, clothed, and sheltered us. Some may have been loving and gave us good guidance in raising us. Other parents may have been absent or abusive, and perhaps they gave us poor guidance in becoming a responsible adult. Whatever our upbringing, the 5th commandment instructs us to show basic respect to those who were our caretakers. We can listen to our parents, but we don’t have to agree with their opinions. We can see how they live and accept that as a good model for us; we can reject it, but we should never shame or condemn our parents. Whether it’s easy or incredibly difficult for you to show basic respect to your parents, God is reminding us to be unconditionally kind. But I’m convinced there’s a much larger purpose at work. I think God’s calling us to be role models for our parents and the wider world. The manner in which we show self-control matters. Being courteous, even if that isn’t returned, matters. We’re setting an example for children, for their peers and our neighbors and friends with our example. This is also the only commandment with a promise: the Israelites were told they would live a long life if they honored their parents. The 6th commandment is broken often. We hear about it all too frequently in the news. Someone was murdered. In our legal system that is the “unlawful, premeditated killing of one person by another.” We know that God, who values every human being, sees us all as people of sacred worth. His clear and potent word for us is, “Do not murder.” But some people don’t believe in God - when angered they may take matters into their own hands and end someone’s life. This profoundly grieves God because He’s the only One who should not only give life but determine when it should naturally end. Anyone who interferes with that wrongfully steals time from another human being. Their violent actions also cause great grief for family members and friends of the victim. Anyone who murders, killing another person in a pre-meditated way, has either rejected or never known the Christian faith. Chances are they also went against the good example and teachings of some of their loved ones and friends. They have knowingly broken the law and, if caught, the legal system will pass judgment on them, perhaps taking time from their life by locking them in prison. God also takes murder seriously and will rightfully judge every heart. This tremendously serious offense has some similarities, for me, with the 8th commandment: “You shall not steal.” Robbing someone of their belongings, intentionally taking their personal property, is not God’s will, and in our legal system it is classified as a crime. What I see in common with murder is that both violate a person. If you’ve ever been robbed, you can lose your sense of feeling safe and secure. If that vulnerability continues, you may struggle with anxiety or suffer from insomnia. Depression can set in. One who robs another’s possessions steals so much more from them than they may ever realize. I want to expand on this 8th commandment, because I think we can limit its scope to maybe a “break-in” at our home or place of work. Have you ever thought about plagiarism, secretly copying someone else’s hard work? That’s a form of theft. You’re taking their ideas, their “intellectual property”. The same is true if we use or record music or movies; the law and God prohibit us from stealing from others. Shoplifting is another example of theft; it’s recently become so organized Walgreens and other companies are closing some of their stores. And what about our workplaces? Are there times we or others shorten our work hours by taking longer breaks than allowed, leaving early, or just wasting time instead of doing our assigned work? Those are ways an employer can be cheated. If you’ve ever been a supervisor or owned your own business, you’ve probably felt this frustration in a personal way. The Bible names one other way we can cheat. In the book of Malachi, it says we’re to bring our full tithes to the Lord. The principle back then was to give 10% of your year’s harvest or wages to God. There’s no place in the Bible that says otherwise; you may only be exempt if you’re in true poverty. While most of us aren’t farmers, with some intentionality lots of us can probably live on 90% of our income. Is it eye-opening, even jarring, to think about how giving less than 10% of our income is considered stealing from God? If you feel uncertain, look in the Bible for yourself. And if God is nudging you, at all, to change I hope you’ll listen. I do think it’s OK to increase our giving gradually. I’ve seen positive results from people who tried this; their faith has grown as they have seen God providing for them, and there’s increased joy in their life. The dividends of following this 8th commandment are faith and joy. The three remaining commandments are “Do not lie,” “Don’t commit adultery,” and “Don’t covet (or greedily long for) what your neighbor has in their life.” A common denominator in these is falsehood, being deceptive. God’s teaching us through these commandments that there are lines we may not cross as believers. For example, if you’ve ever told someone a “half-truth”, it’s partially honest but also misleading. It’s like the drunk driver who’s pulled over by the police. He steps out of his car, unsteady on his feet. He says “Officer, I’ve only had two beers. I swear that’s the truth.” That was a factual statement, but he was omitting that he’d also consumed a quart of vodka. If the police officer had believed him, he would have come to that false conclusion because he believed the driver’ half- truth was the whole truth. Another way we can break this commandment is by keeping silent when we’ve seen or heard about a wrong. If we remain mute, people can be harmed or their reputation tarnished. Staying quiet makes us complicit, part of the wrongdoing itself. History past and present has revealed the steep cost of keeping something a secret that should have been reported. It allows a false narrative to thrive, and truth to be buried. Christians should not lie, tell half-truths, or be complicit through our silence. Adultery, the 7th command, is also one that involves falsehood. When one partner in a marriage breaks the vows they’ve made before God and others, becoming sexually intimate with another, they break the bonds of trust and love for a couple. This may be a spur-of-the-moment decision, but most often has been considered well ahead of time. Aren’t there underlying conditions that can weaken a couple’s relationship, making “someone else” seem alluring? Do marriages become dull? Can too much business in daily life fray a solid relationship? If someone feels neglected, or unattractive to their spouse, can that lead to insecurity or loneliness? I believe two people can be together in a relationship but feel all alone. There are many reasons people go astray, their eyes and hearts roaming, looking for someone who’ll give them undivided attention, compliments, fresh excitement. Temptations are with us always, but the Bible says that when that happens there is always a way out. The time to repair something is while it still has some stability. An ounce of prevention, through good maintenance, is worth a pound of cure later! If any of this applies to your life, push through any denial you may have, find someone you can be accountable to, pray and don’t give up. U-turns are possible. Finally, there is the 10th commandment, “Do not covet.” This actually applies to some of the earlier commandments. We may steal because we are greedy for what others have and we lack. We can tell a lie to cover up how jealous or needy we may feel about what others have and we don’t. We can fake being happy in a marriage, so we can keep an illicit liaison with someone we’re not married to. These are all cases where we want something in our lives, but we’re going about getting it in wrong ways. God tells us we must each work if we want certain “nice” possessions. We must tell the whole truth even if it embarrasses us in the short term. We also need to devote regular attention to a marriage, so it isn’t shattered by infidelity. Again, these are all about preventive maintenance! The Ten Commandments, a total of 286 words in the English language, are God’s guidance, his condensed wisdom, first shared with the Israelites by Moses. Jesus, our Lord, kept all these commandments. May we today follow in their footsteps. May it be so – amen. For three weeks we’ve focused on what Christians believe, using the Apostles’ Creed. We call that our core doctrine. Now we’ll focus on how Christians can live a holy life, by following the Ten Commandments. Do you know how these commandments were given to us? Moses, a leader chosen by God, spent 40 days on Mount Horeb after leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. God knew the Israelites would begin to take shape as a nation on their journey toward a Promised Land. But they had been deeply shaped by their experiences as captives - not able to make choices for themselves and surrounded by those who believed in multiple gods. When Moses went back down the mountain, he revealed two stone tablets. On each were commandments: God’s own finger wrote 10 holy laws that would guide their relationship with God and also with others.
I read a great true story recently about a pastor dressing up as Moses for Vacation Bible School one summer. He asked one of the younger groups of kids if they knew the 10 Commandments. There was a bit of awkward silence, then a boy blurted out, “Do not lie.” When the pastor praised him, another voice piped up, “Don’t ever run with scissors in your hand!” That made the pastor chuckle. Other kids began to speak up, one after another. “Don’t drink and drive” said one. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” said another. “Never touch the top of the stove.” What those kids came out with that day, they must have heard grownups say to them. Adults, who wanted to protect their kids from harm, gave them rules for their own good and safety. That is very much what God, in his love, did for the Israelites. They needed guidance and protection. The Ten Commandments were boundaries God in His wisdom established for their own good! And those commandments are ones we’re meant to follow today. They are timeless, not bound by any culture or time period. Jesus said to his disciples in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” That means Christians then and now should know these and follow them. When they’re well understood they aren’t a burden, something reluctantly followed; instead, they shape our thoughts and influence our actions in powerful and life-giving ways. Let’s get started! The first four we are covering today focus on our relationship with God; the last 6 we’ll consider next Sunday concern our outward behavior and our relationships with others. “God is first” - that’s how I’ve heard the first commandment summed up. Is God first in your life today? Are you oriented toward God as you move through each day? Some people can easily say “yes”. If you asked them how that came to be, they’d likely tell you something similar to this Friedrich Nietzsche quote, “It was a long obedience in the same direction”. Any devoted disciple of Jesus Christ whom you see putting God first, again and again, will tell you that their relationship with God grew stronger through simple math. First, they asked God to help them subtract, or take away, whatever thoughts, habits, words, or actions that separated them from God. Remember that the Holy Spirit will be our Helper in this. But the other secret involves addition. What we fill our lives with is seen by those who observe us, and especially by those who know us best. So, if you want God to be first in your life, do the math. Subtract what God says needs to go and add in all that God is waiting to put in your life. The second Commandment says: “Do not make any idols.” On the surface that may seem like the most remote and irrelevant of the commandments. Idols were carved from wood, stone, or even metal and then prayed to and worshipped long ago, when Moses and the Israelites lived. You may assume that idol-making and idol worship are of no concern for a modern-day Western Christian. But pay attention and you’ll discover how the relatively recent spread of Hinduism and Buddhism has meant statues of gods and goddesses are seen in their places of business and in their homes. And have you noticed the growing fascination with Eastern religions in general? In our globally connected world, we encounter people and practices we could never have imagined 75 years ago. There is curiosity and experimentation; figurines of gods and goddesses are bought as charms or to worship. This is something we should be aware of as Christians. There is a second way idol worship is thought about these days. If you have made anything the center of your life, if much of your time and attention revolves around it – has that become like an idol for you? That’s a pretty good question to think about and answer honestly. Now on to the third commandment: “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” This means, don’t use it in a disrespectful or irreverent way. Yet how often have we heard someone say, when angry or frustrated, “Jesus Christ”? They are not speaking to God’s Son; they are using his name in a blasphemous way. They are taking the holiest of names and turning it into a nasty-sounding swear word. I honestly doubt most people hear themselves, let alone stop and think about it. How many times have you heard someone say “God__it.”? They may be plenty mad, but they aren’t praying God will bring destruction down. Here’s another insight into this commandment. When the Hebrews heard this in their language it came out as, “Do not ever speak God’s name as if He had no substance.” As if he were a vapor, which is what the word vain means. I would not want to be the one saying God has no substance - no real weight, presence, or power. You and I know otherwise. But, who here who has used some other expression – spewing it out when suddenly hurt? Plenty of words are used as a curse. Profanity is abundant. You might use a word you’ve heard time and again when the hammer hits your thumb, but you wish you hadn’t. God can help you decrease and get rid of that habit. Our last commandment, the fourth, is called the most joyful of all: “Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy.” Sabbath is the 7th day in a week. We learn this in Genesis when we’re told God rested after 6 days of creating. Does that mean the Almighty got tired; he overdid and needed to lounge around? Not at all. The truer meaning here is that God “ceased” doing things. That was a choice, not a necessity. But we humans have bodies that are not designed to work non-stop. We must cease working. However, Sabbath-keeping is much more than vegging on a couch all day. It’s meant to be a day of restoration. Some people spend time with family, if possible, perhaps sharing a meal. It can include venturing out to enjoy creation. There should also be time set aside to grow closer to God, strengthening that relationship. To help make the day be all it can be, some people limit things like phone usage and screen time. If you’ve never taken this 4th commandment to heart, please try taking Sabbath. However you spend it, remember: it is God’s plan and His gift for you. You’ll never know how renewing it can be for your body and soul, your relationships and much more, unless you honor the Sabbath and keep it as a holy day where you cease working! May it be so, Amen. This is the third and final week on the Apostles’ Creed. It begins with “I believe” and touches on all the major doctrines of the Christian faith. Most churches around the world and across denominations have solemnly recited this for over 2,000 years. Yet not once, in the 24 years I’ve pastored, have I ever offered Sunday messages on the meaning and the larger purpose of the Apostles’ Creed. Anyone a bit curious about, “why now?”
I’m offering “back to the basics” sermons this fall because I’m convinced, more than ever before in my ministry, that every Christian needs to know the fundamentals of their faith. Our church attendance is declining across much of America; millions have no idea what’s contained in the Bible. Meanwhile so many people are seeking truth - they want real answers for the unmet needs in life. People are lonely, without hope… they see nothing good in their future. We, my brothers and sisters in Christ, possess the life-changing, joy-filled message they seek; it is packaged up in this amazing, powerful creed. Do you know that in the early church, new believers learned this creed so they could recite it with others in worship - but it was also used as a teaching tool for sharing their faith with seekers! It was an ancient way of sharing the message of salvation. Can you see how possible it might be for us to do the same thing? If a grandchild in middle school asked you if you believed in God, or someone at work, can you see how this creed could help you explain? You could say, I believe… This a good lead-in to this week’s portion of the creed. We pick up with “I believe in the Holy Spirit”. That is the in-dwelling presence of God that fully enters us when we become Christians. I think of it as our holy power source, always available, helping us do what we never could on our own. Do you know that the Holy Spirit helps open our eyes to see and understand Scripture’s full, deep truths? It helps convict us when we sin, giving us the choice to stop. It empowers us to use our spiritual gifts to build up God’s church. The Holy Spirit also gives us wisdom about God’s will for our lives - may we always listen well. It empowers us to witness about our faith, knowing God will give us the right words when we need them. The Holy Spirit also helps us as we pray for others. It can carry our needs to God as well, when we may not have any words in us because of pain or loss. There is far more I would love to share about the Holy Spirit, but for today let’s praise God for this great gift, given by God to empower us to live holy and faithful lives as Christians. The next phrase in the creed, “I believe in the holy catholic Church”, made me feel vaguely uncomfortable for years. As a youth I wondered why grown-ups hadn’t noticed this obvious misprint in their worship book. I was not a Catholic. My solution, to be on the safe side, was to skip over the word. I thought saying “catholic”, capitalized or not, meant I was confessing I was Roman Catholic. Have you, or others you know, had some similar, anxious thoughts? Now I know that catholic, with a lower case “c” means universal. I can happily affirm that; I do believe Christ’s churches are universal, all around the world. There are two other important words to look at here. We say the church is holy; that means something is “set apart for God”. We say “the Holy Bible” because we believe it comes from God and belongs to God. If someone has a holy calling, it means it comes from God. So when we say the church is holy, we’re saying it comes from and belongs to God. We also say: “we believe in the church”. That can sneak right past our awareness. I bet you know people who boast they don’t need “the church”; they can commune with God out in nature. Or they toss out how the church is full of hypocrites. What they mean is “I don’t want to go in that building, among those Christians; I know they are sinners just like I am, so why should I go in and mix with them?” Jesus knows how outsiders can judge the church. But we on the inside are grateful Jesus established the church. He in His wisdom knew we need to regularly gather each week so we can learn, pray, worship and grow in holiness, and wholeness, together. If you know Christians who haven’t been in church lately, or in a long time, I urge you to invite them. Say it with love and let God work on their hearts. You could tell them what a difference it makes in your week or life. They may just say yes and discover again, or maybe for the first time, the goodness of this imperfect fellowship of faith that we call church. Next in the creed is the communion of saints. The word saint was used in the Bible for Christians who are alive, not dead. Knowing that, what we’re affirming is the common bond we can have with other Christians, no matter where they may live. If you’ve ever gone to a Christian concert, a weekend retreat, or a conference you’ll get a chance to meet plenty of fellow Christians. Some close connections can form, enriching us in our faith and life. Let’s intentionally cultivate that; meeting up with other Christians has been valued and valuable for Christians for a long time. The next phrase in the creed is “the forgiveness of sins”. Have you ever heard it said that “If our sins are forgiven, everything else in life is details. But if sins are not forgiven, nothing else in life really matters”? That’s a pretty simple way to look at sin, but we get the point. Every one of us has a “sin problem” to deal with, don’t we? We recognize that and so does God. What amazes me is that while we were still busy sinning, Jesus died to pardon all of your sins. What kind of amazing love is that? It says in Exodus 34:67, “We have a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, One who forgives sin.” This is expressed in Scripture in many ways: God forgets our sins, choosing to remember them no more; God buries our sins in the depths of the ocean; God takes our sins, and they are far away from us as the East is from the West. One description of forgiveness I especially like, which isn’t in the Bible, is that God wipes our slates clean. I relate to that because I used a large chalkboard when I was a teacher. At the end of every day, it was wiped clean not just with a felt eraser, but a sturdy wet sponge. Everything just disappeared. It would never re-appear. And it looked so fresh. That reminds me of what God has done for me, wiping my slate of sins… clean. How good it feels to be made clean. Our next affirmation in the creed is “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” In the early, early years of the church it was worded as “I believe in the resurrection of the flesh!” That’s pretty visual. Yet each of these is exactly what we’re told will happen when Christians die. I want to squeeze in another reason it may have been put in the creed. It might have helped counter the popular beliefs of early Greeks. They believed human bodies are just containers, a sort of outside covering. When people die their soul slips out and is free, hovering about. The Hindus have a similar belief. But the apostles - they absolutely disagreed! They were eyewitnesses who saw Jesus Christ resurrected; they talked and laughed with him, ate meals and shared several weeks in his presence, along with more than 500 other people. That’s a lot of witnesses, each one saying Jesus had his normal, recognizable body. The Apostle Paul describes our resurrection this way: “This mortal body must put on immortality, this perishable body put on imperishability.” We cannot imagine what that will be like, no more than a baby in its mother’s womb can know the reality of entering the world. The final line in the creed says we believe in life everlasting. Imagine your body resurrected - you’re with Jesus in the realm of beauty and perfection we call heaven. Jesus called it paradise. Time, as we keep track of it, will be no more. Once we’re with God, we’ll truly understand that this earthly world was ours for a while; we knew happiness and found satisfaction. But what awaits us is expansively more. Our finite minds cannot grasp this future. But we believe it will be ours, this new abode, our forever home. That is almost the end of the Apostles’ Creed. One tiny word remains; it reminds me of a small caboose at the end of a long train. Don’t think it isn’t vitally important to the whole. The last word of the creed is “Amen” - that means, “it is true”. We are saying that the whole creed, every word of it, is true. We believe that. I believe that. I believe. Amen. Ephesians 4:1-6 (NRSV) Unity in the Body of Christ 4 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. |
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September 2023
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