Although we have a preaching series for Lent (each week we lookout a phrase "when God _____, then we _____"), the texts we are using each week come from the lectionary. This week, the lectionary passage I chose to preach was the Ten Commandments. I had not preached on them in a long time. In my work on the text, I found some interesting insights - some new to me (the emphasis on "your" being singular" as described Move 2, point b) and some old (I had read Winn's book A christian Primer years ago as part of a Sunday School class I taught). I had lots of material with which to work (I think Jack Stotts' image of guardrails is particularly helpful. Of course, I generally think any insight of Stotts' is spot-on), but I never found my voice in all the material. the sermon felt like a recitation of facts or stringing together of illustrations, rather than a sermon.
I also think the Ten Commandments are worthy of a lengthy preaching series, not just one sermon! The lectionary passage only goes through vs. 17, but added the next few verses. My original thoughts were to make a bigger deal out of the Israelites avoidance of God, but that only made minor appearance in the sermon. I think those last few verses could be a good starting point for a future sermon.
”When God Makes Rules, Then….” St. Andrew, Denton; 3/4/18; Exodus 20: 1-21.
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[a] 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.
18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid[d] and trembled and stood at a distance, 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.” 21 Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Introduction: Worship through work; Jazz service; youth Sunday; now we have a regular service and crash back to earth with the Ten Commandments!
Move 1: When God makes rules, then we know God wants the best for us.
a. C. S. Lewis, the noted Christian writer, tells of a young boy who when asked what God was like replied, “God was the sort who sat around looking for ways to interfere with everyone's fun.”
1. that’s how we often look at the Ten Commandments.
2. Rules, which set up the question - do we grudgingly obey them or willingly break them?
3. notice that the Israelites wanted no part of this conversation with God. they let Moses go deal with God, and were glad to avoid God.
b. Jack Stotts, former president of APTS likens the Ten Commandments to a great bridge that spans a large body of water that is swirling and racing by underneath.
1. The bridge is enormously high, yet also remarkably narrow. It seems almost impossible to cross.
2. And yet, on either side of the bridge are guard rails that have been carefully placed to protect the crossers from falling off to either side; without those guard rials, people would be too frightened to cross, or would fall into the raging waters below;
3. so too, the Ten commandments make it possible for us to live out our Christian calling as God's people.
4. When God calls us to discipleship, to live out the foolishness of the gospel (as Paul would describe it), God gives us tools to help us live into our calling.
c. consider for a moment the first commandment.
1. actually, what you think is the first commandment depends on what faith tradition.
2. As Presbyterians in the Christian tradition, we say the first commandment is “you shall have no other gods before me.”
3. In the Jewish tradition, however, they understand the first commandment to be, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Winn, A Christian Primer, 185-186).
4. Regardless, we are reminded to read the Ten Commandments in the context in which they were written.
5. The introductory line, or first commandment, about redemption.
6. God has brought the Israelites out of Egypt; God is the God who saves.
7. And as people who have been saved, God gives us some clues as to what it means to live as redeemed people. Terence E. Fretheim; Elva B. Lovell Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Luther Seminary
Saint Paul, Minn. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2368
d. I would also point out that the Hebrew language has an imperative, that is command voice. But the “usual way to express a prohibition was not to use a negative imperative, but to use a negative future.”
7. what does that mean? Instead of “You shall not,” the most literal translation of the Hebrew would be “you will not.”
8. In his book on the Ten Commandments, Albert Winn suggests that means the Ten Commandments are about God’s promise, not a “list of no-nos”
9. In fact, he suggests that instead of calling the rules Ten Commandments, we should refer to them as Ten Promises, because they are a glimpse at the future as God’s people grow into what it means to live as people redeemed by God (Winn, A Christian Primer, 191)
Move 2: When God makes rules, then you better take it personally.
a. Some of us like rules.
1. We like having the structure.
2. We like the chance to find the loopholes.
3. We like to hold others accountable.
4. some of us do not like rules.
5. We would rather adjust how what we are “supposed” to do based on our read of the situation.
6. Regardless, we cannot escape the personal claim of the Ten Commandments.
b. Again, go back to the beginning: “I am the Lord your (singular) God.”
1. “Your” is in the singular Terence E. Fretheim, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2368
2. The words that follow are given not in a generic way, but to each of us personally.
3. the God who saves us, not just in a generic way, but a very particular way, also gives us these commands for how to live in the particular.
c. Whatever you think about the Ten Commandments, they should not be dismissed as given for someone else.
Move 3: When God makes rules, then you better be looking out after your neighbor.
a. if asked to describe the Ten commandments, most of us would say that the first section of commandments about our relationship with God, and the second section is about our relationship with each other.
1. We cannot miss how these guidelines direct us in how to treat one another.
2. If we look more closely even at the first section, we see the communal nature of the commandments.
3. “You shall not make for yourself an idol” has implications for future generations.
4. “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy” describes the responsibility to make sure your sons, your laughters, your slaves, the resident aliens in your midst, even your livestock, rest for the day. Rolf Jacobson, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2113
b. The rules God gives us are not so that we can check off everything we have done to prove we are better people.
1. the rules are so we can be better neighbors.
2. So we can have a better relationship with God and each other.
conclusion: In a few moments we come to our Lord’s Table - a visible sign of God’s saving action in Christ and God’s invitation to new life.
The Ten commandments, or the Ten promises, give us a glimpse of that new life.
When God makes rules, then we discover God’s tools for new life.
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