We draw now to the close of our study of the 10 Commandments. From the first to the last, God has been showing us how to live in community with God and with each other. It is not an easy task that God has placed before us. With many of the commandments, as Luther interpreted them in the Small Catechism, we are to be more concerned about our neighbors than about ourselves.
These final commandments, that we heard read this evening, are not exception. In fact the last two, regarding coveting, point us to the cause that drives us to break the others. When we see what someone else has, whether it is their spouse, implements, land or hired hands, and we have a strong desire to have them for ourselves, we may be tempted to do whatever we can to get them. This leads us to steal, kill, spread lies, and even commit adultery in order to get them for ourselves.
Have you ever wanted something so bad that you more than just wanted it; you desired it, you craved it? The drive of desire is strongest when you see the item of desire in the possession of someone else, perhaps a friend. You are so driven to possess it that you would stop at nothing to have it for yourself. Not, probably not. We’re all fairly level headed adults here; but it may have occurred to you as a child.
Although we don’t grasp the concept as a child, coveting is the root fear of sharing. On the one hand the child who does not have the toy wants it for themselves. Sure, they say they just want to play with it, but give them an inch and the will take the mile. Just try to get the tow back when playtime is over. That’s why we don’t like to share. We are afraid that we won’t get our toy back. Both kids experience jealousy, one over not having and the other over not wanting to lose the toy.
Why and how do we succumb to the eighth commandment? The easiest and most socially acceptable way of getting what we want, away from someone else is to make up stories, or help perpetuate the truth, no matter how damaging it may be. Every couple of years we are bombarded with the flagrant misuse of the 8th Commandment as election time rolls around. Politician A tells us what is so wrong about Politician B and vice versa. We never know why we should vote for one, but know every reason why we should not voted for the other. Coveting drives this whole world.
A story is told of a day when President Lincoln was walking down the street with his two boys. The boys were crying and squabbling and carrying on. When a passerby asked him, “Abe, what’s wrong with the boys?” He replied, “It’s the same thing that is wrong with the whole world. In my hand I have three walnuts and they each want two.”
Such is nature that we all begrudge another person having as much as we have. Everyone acquires all he can and lets others look out for themselves. Yet, we all pretend to be upright. We think up sly tricks under the disguise of justice. We brazenly dare to boast of it and insist that it not be called mischievousness but shrewdness and business wisdom. In this we are supported by jurists and lawyers who twist and stretch the law to suit their purposes.
The commandments, then, are not addressed to those whom the world considers wicked rogues, but to the upright who wish to be commended as honest and virtuous because they have not offended against any of the other commandments. When we think the world revolves around us, we begin to think of others in terms of what they can do for us. Our sinful actions develop out of our basic inability and more so our unwillingness to trust God.
November 16th, 1930, Henrietta Garret passed away at the age of 81 years. Her death sparked a great conflagration in US inheritance law history. She left no will to direct the distribution of here $17 million estate. At the time of her death she only hand one known living relative, a second cousin. Within a short time, however, more than 26,000 people from 47 states and 29 countries laid claim to her estate claiming to be long lost relatives. The various tactics employed were faking family records, altering data in family Bibles, changing their own names, and concocting tales of illegitimacy. As a result 12 were confined, 10 received jail sentences, 2 committed suicide and 3 were murdered. It was a story of greed, of covetousness, in which many went to great lengths to get what rightly belonged to another.
It is an inward sin that is manifested in all of the others. In the New Testament the word, covet, has as its root meaning to have more. It is really a combination of two words: have and more. So the word “covet” means to desire to have more. When we think in terms of covetousness we think primarily about money. Of course, people do desire to have more money. In I Timothy 6:10 the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after, they have erred from the faith and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. So, there are many people who covet for material things.
Someone asked the millionaire Howard Hughes, "How much money does it take to make a man happy?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." So, the word, covet, means to have more. At the root of the word is the word, desire. It really is a two- pronged definition, actually. First of all, it is an excessive desire for something you do not have. It is when your desire for something you do not have becomes the ruling passion of your life. Modern words would be words like greed or materialism. Excessive desire for something you do not have.
Here, then, we have in the 10 Commandments, a summary of divine teaching on what we are to do to make our whole life pleasing to God. Luther calls them the true fountain from which all good works must spring.
The First Commandment illuminates and imparts its splendor to all the others. When we keep the first three commandments, the fear, love, and trust should impel us not to despise God’s word, but learn it, hear it gladly, and keep it holy and honor God’s name and Word.
So on through the rest of the commandments, which concern our role as community members, everything proceeds from the power of the 1st Commandment. We honor our parents, and others in authority, not on their account but for God’s sake. Likewise, we are to do our neighbor no harm, injury or violence to himself, his spouse, his property, is honor or rights. Rather we are to uphold our neighbor out of love to God. Thus you see that the 1st Commandment is the fountainhead of all the rest.
After Martin Luther died in 1546, his friends found a scrap of paper in his pocket on which he had scribbled a few words: "We are beggars. This is true." He meant that even though God brings our daily bread to us in so many ways each day, we know that sinners like us don't deserve a bit of it. In truth, deserving has nothing to do with it. Certainly we don't deserve God becoming human in Jesus and then dying for our salvation.
When we learn how much Christ does for us, it creates what Psalm 51 calls "a clean heart." We can relinquish our hold on the center of the universe. Our unbounded desires will focus on faithfulness in an unbounded service to our neighbor and an undying praise of God. When the fullness of God's mercy hits beggars head-on, even they have something to share.
The 10 Commandments are to be exalted and extolled. Let all wise men and women and all saints step forward and embrace God’s words and instruction. Let us therefore prize and value God’s commandments above all other teachings as the greatest treasure God has given us.
Thank you to Martin Luther and numerous other pastors who inspired and added to these Lenten Ramblings.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
"Hands Off" - 5th Wednesday of Lent
Although definitely not a fan of The Simpsons, I was intrigued by the synopsis of an episode from their second season. In this episode the moral question was laid before the audience, that of just what we would get away with if we could. It's a cruel world that says, "If you don't look out for yourself, no one will." "Watch your back, because someone else is ready to take advantage of your weaknesses." When the world around us teaches these lessons and when our own sinfulness starts worrying us about our future, it's no surprise that we take what we can get, regardless of who might already own it. It starts out small with sins of omission, like cutting corners in our work. But the problem can grow much bigger – into outright theft and robbery.
After seeing Ned Flanders reject an offer from a man to get an illegal cable hook-up, Homer chases after the cable man and wants to be hooked up for free. He likes the new channels he gets, which the family watches with him. Lisa, however, feels suspicious about this. Following a Sunday School lesson regarding the existence and nature of Hell, Lisa becomes terrified of violations of the 10 Commandments, the adherence to which she is assured will keep one’s soul safe from Hell. She fears that because Homer violated the Eighth Commandment, he will go to Hell when he dies. She additionally opposes other examples of common thievery all around her. She convinces Marge to pay the cost on two grapes in a grocery store which she has eaten but not paid for. Lisa pays a visit to Reverend Lovejoy at church, where he suggests that Lisa cannot turn her father in to the police (since she must continue to Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother, according to the 4th Commandment), but he instead encourages Lisa to not watch anything on Homer’s cable hook-up, setting a good example.
Homer invites his friends from the power plant, as well as Moe, and Barney to watch “The Bout to Knock the Other Guy Out!” on cable. Lisa tries to boycott the party and doing so results in Homer making her stay outside. Meanwhile, Bart has set up posters on the back door for his showing of an adult channel for 50 cents (although he does set his age requirement at eight), but he is caught a few seconds later by Homer. Homer’s conscience eventually bothers him, more in the form of his daughter’s distress than a moral objection to stealing cable, and he gives in to Lisa’s protests, begrudgingly choosing not to watch the last minutes of the fight. Marge, Maggie, and Bart (otherwise reluctant) join them as well. He sits the fight out and when everyone leaves, he hesitantly (and unprofessionally) cuts his cable hook-up, despite Bart’s objection. Of course in true form of Homer–wisdom he accidentally cuts the electricity to all of Springfield in his random wire-cutting before finally cutting the cable wire.
We are presented this evening with two commandments that we probably most unwittingly infringe; that of adultery and stealing. While we do kill in ways other than murder, such as killing someone’s reputation or destroying their faith, it is often less done than these two. We don’t always honor our parents, or keep the thought of God holy, but it is as much about our attitude towards any of the commandments as it is in the actual carrying them out. Over the years of public media, electronic and print, we have become almost immune to the affect the commands have, or should have on our lives.
“You shall not commit adultery”: “We are to fear and love God so that in matters of sex our words and conduct are pure and honorable, and husband and wife love and respect each other.”
The purpose of the 6th commandment is the same as for the previous two; protection. In the same way that God protects the gift of life in our homes and neighborhoods, God also wants to protect what is nearest and dearest to life itself, friendship and love. From the beginning of creation God has been concerned that all people have some companions that no one is left alone. Next to life itself, companionship is one of God’s best and most important gifts. God wants to make sure that we have plenty of it while we await his return.
When a man and a woman become one in marriage, it has all the marks of a friendship. They enjoy one another’s company, confide in one another, and depend on each other for help. As they come together in marriage, they are united so they can be together without fear or shame, sharing all they have - their days, months, and years; their abilities and disabilities, their gifts and needs, their whole selves.
Marriage is both private and public. It is a private companionship, one that belongs to husband and wives by themselves. As children are added to the family marriage also become public. The husband and wife become parents, either by birth or adoption. The community has interest in marriage, too. Communities of people begin in marriages and families, receiving not only more people but the help and service each family gives.
“You shall not steal”: “We are to fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or property, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of making a living.
Why does God worry about property? In each of the other commandments he’s been protecting life in one way or another. Is property as important as life - important enough for God to be concerned about? Think about it this way, before things are yours or mine to use, they are God’s to own. God directs our use of possessions for the benefit of others. Thus the commandment has a sharply honed negative edge. We are not to take from others, either through outright stealing or in legal but still wrong ways. This applies to us both as individuals and as members of contending human communities. All things belong to God. They are given to us both to enjoy for ourselves and to use for the good of others.
God is also concerned about our property because there are some things we can’t live without. Food and clothing to start with and that means money with which to buy them. We need a place to live and medicine when we are sick and the list can go on; in essence “daily bread”, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. God has forbidden anyone to take them from us unfairly.
God doesn’t give us property to be kept only for ourselves. God gives it to us to be used for God’s benefit and the benefit of our neighbors. God won’t stand for selfishness, greed and hoarding. Each day God gives us everything we need to live while we wait for his return.
As with the commandments as a whole, the 6th and 7th commandments are also interrelated. If you really think about it, when one commits adultery one is stealing. That stealing is not necessarily, but does include at times, the stealing of someone else’s spouse such as in the case of King David and Bathsheba. When we commit adultery we are also stealing from others. We are stealing from our own spouse if we are married. The love that we vowed to hold exclusively for our spouse we steal away for someone else. We steal from God the vows that we made to faithful to our loved one. We steal from the family that we have formed. We steal from the community the security of family structures. We could even reflect back on last week’s lessons and see that when we commit adultery we are killing as much as we are stealing. When we commit adultery we kill the whole concept of the sanctity of marriage.
Fidelity in marriage and business are equally on slippery slopes. Like Marge not paying for the two grapes she ate at the grocery store, we often overlook the small acts that seem so inconsequential. Jesus spells out the expectations of the 6th Commandment when he says that if we even look at another person with lust in our eye for that person over and against our own spouse, we are committing adultery. In the same manner when we steal, it might be a bit of change here or there a grape or two that we taste to check the quality before buying. We can also steal something intangible. Like I said with adultery when we steal from another we are actually stealing security and trust from the community. We can also steal a person’s sense of self worth. We can steal a person’s reputation by speaking falsely about them, of which we will speak more next week. We can steal a person’s sense of spiritual security as well.
Stealing, like adultery, then is not to be confined to narrow limits but must extend to all our relations with our neighbors. On one hand it is forbidden to do our neighbor any injury or wrong, or even to consent or allow such a thing, but to interpose and prevent it. On the other hand, it is commanded that we promote and improve his interests in family and property, and when our neighbor suffers, that we help, communicate, and lend both to friends and foes.
Luther says in the Large Catechism that no matter how big or small all of it is stealing. Whenever we try to get what belongs to someone else, property or spouse, through unjust dealings, it's stealing. The daily bread God promises to give us includes things like relationships, government, and good weather, as well as food and clothing, a home, some money in our pocket and shoes on our feet. To live safely and securely in this world, we need to be able to trust that what is ours will remain ours. Thus, the Commandment condemns those who would take our things, including our spouse, or anyone’s spouse, and it also condemns us when we do the same to others. God, who creates life, demands honor for those who bring it into existence.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We're called to care about what happens to the people who share the Creation with us and whether they have honest, dependable ways to get what they need for life. We’re called to watch out for how others are treated in the give and take of daily life.
As we fear, love, and trust God, we will know and live knowing that God provides everything needed for this life. God's love is so rich and abundant that God really does make sure we have enough.
After seeing Ned Flanders reject an offer from a man to get an illegal cable hook-up, Homer chases after the cable man and wants to be hooked up for free. He likes the new channels he gets, which the family watches with him. Lisa, however, feels suspicious about this. Following a Sunday School lesson regarding the existence and nature of Hell, Lisa becomes terrified of violations of the 10 Commandments, the adherence to which she is assured will keep one’s soul safe from Hell. She fears that because Homer violated the Eighth Commandment, he will go to Hell when he dies. She additionally opposes other examples of common thievery all around her. She convinces Marge to pay the cost on two grapes in a grocery store which she has eaten but not paid for. Lisa pays a visit to Reverend Lovejoy at church, where he suggests that Lisa cannot turn her father in to the police (since she must continue to Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother, according to the 4th Commandment), but he instead encourages Lisa to not watch anything on Homer’s cable hook-up, setting a good example.
Homer invites his friends from the power plant, as well as Moe, and Barney to watch “The Bout to Knock the Other Guy Out!” on cable. Lisa tries to boycott the party and doing so results in Homer making her stay outside. Meanwhile, Bart has set up posters on the back door for his showing of an adult channel for 50 cents (although he does set his age requirement at eight), but he is caught a few seconds later by Homer. Homer’s conscience eventually bothers him, more in the form of his daughter’s distress than a moral objection to stealing cable, and he gives in to Lisa’s protests, begrudgingly choosing not to watch the last minutes of the fight. Marge, Maggie, and Bart (otherwise reluctant) join them as well. He sits the fight out and when everyone leaves, he hesitantly (and unprofessionally) cuts his cable hook-up, despite Bart’s objection. Of course in true form of Homer–wisdom he accidentally cuts the electricity to all of Springfield in his random wire-cutting before finally cutting the cable wire.
We are presented this evening with two commandments that we probably most unwittingly infringe; that of adultery and stealing. While we do kill in ways other than murder, such as killing someone’s reputation or destroying their faith, it is often less done than these two. We don’t always honor our parents, or keep the thought of God holy, but it is as much about our attitude towards any of the commandments as it is in the actual carrying them out. Over the years of public media, electronic and print, we have become almost immune to the affect the commands have, or should have on our lives.
“You shall not commit adultery”: “We are to fear and love God so that in matters of sex our words and conduct are pure and honorable, and husband and wife love and respect each other.”
The purpose of the 6th commandment is the same as for the previous two; protection. In the same way that God protects the gift of life in our homes and neighborhoods, God also wants to protect what is nearest and dearest to life itself, friendship and love. From the beginning of creation God has been concerned that all people have some companions that no one is left alone. Next to life itself, companionship is one of God’s best and most important gifts. God wants to make sure that we have plenty of it while we await his return.
When a man and a woman become one in marriage, it has all the marks of a friendship. They enjoy one another’s company, confide in one another, and depend on each other for help. As they come together in marriage, they are united so they can be together without fear or shame, sharing all they have - their days, months, and years; their abilities and disabilities, their gifts and needs, their whole selves.
Marriage is both private and public. It is a private companionship, one that belongs to husband and wives by themselves. As children are added to the family marriage also become public. The husband and wife become parents, either by birth or adoption. The community has interest in marriage, too. Communities of people begin in marriages and families, receiving not only more people but the help and service each family gives.
“You shall not steal”: “We are to fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or property, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of making a living.
Why does God worry about property? In each of the other commandments he’s been protecting life in one way or another. Is property as important as life - important enough for God to be concerned about? Think about it this way, before things are yours or mine to use, they are God’s to own. God directs our use of possessions for the benefit of others. Thus the commandment has a sharply honed negative edge. We are not to take from others, either through outright stealing or in legal but still wrong ways. This applies to us both as individuals and as members of contending human communities. All things belong to God. They are given to us both to enjoy for ourselves and to use for the good of others.
God is also concerned about our property because there are some things we can’t live without. Food and clothing to start with and that means money with which to buy them. We need a place to live and medicine when we are sick and the list can go on; in essence “daily bread”, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. God has forbidden anyone to take them from us unfairly.
God doesn’t give us property to be kept only for ourselves. God gives it to us to be used for God’s benefit and the benefit of our neighbors. God won’t stand for selfishness, greed and hoarding. Each day God gives us everything we need to live while we wait for his return.
As with the commandments as a whole, the 6th and 7th commandments are also interrelated. If you really think about it, when one commits adultery one is stealing. That stealing is not necessarily, but does include at times, the stealing of someone else’s spouse such as in the case of King David and Bathsheba. When we commit adultery we are also stealing from others. We are stealing from our own spouse if we are married. The love that we vowed to hold exclusively for our spouse we steal away for someone else. We steal from God the vows that we made to faithful to our loved one. We steal from the family that we have formed. We steal from the community the security of family structures. We could even reflect back on last week’s lessons and see that when we commit adultery we are killing as much as we are stealing. When we commit adultery we kill the whole concept of the sanctity of marriage.
Fidelity in marriage and business are equally on slippery slopes. Like Marge not paying for the two grapes she ate at the grocery store, we often overlook the small acts that seem so inconsequential. Jesus spells out the expectations of the 6th Commandment when he says that if we even look at another person with lust in our eye for that person over and against our own spouse, we are committing adultery. In the same manner when we steal, it might be a bit of change here or there a grape or two that we taste to check the quality before buying. We can also steal something intangible. Like I said with adultery when we steal from another we are actually stealing security and trust from the community. We can also steal a person’s sense of self worth. We can steal a person’s reputation by speaking falsely about them, of which we will speak more next week. We can steal a person’s sense of spiritual security as well.
Stealing, like adultery, then is not to be confined to narrow limits but must extend to all our relations with our neighbors. On one hand it is forbidden to do our neighbor any injury or wrong, or even to consent or allow such a thing, but to interpose and prevent it. On the other hand, it is commanded that we promote and improve his interests in family and property, and when our neighbor suffers, that we help, communicate, and lend both to friends and foes.
Luther says in the Large Catechism that no matter how big or small all of it is stealing. Whenever we try to get what belongs to someone else, property or spouse, through unjust dealings, it's stealing. The daily bread God promises to give us includes things like relationships, government, and good weather, as well as food and clothing, a home, some money in our pocket and shoes on our feet. To live safely and securely in this world, we need to be able to trust that what is ours will remain ours. Thus, the Commandment condemns those who would take our things, including our spouse, or anyone’s spouse, and it also condemns us when we do the same to others. God, who creates life, demands honor for those who bring it into existence.
Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We're called to care about what happens to the people who share the Creation with us and whether they have honest, dependable ways to get what they need for life. We’re called to watch out for how others are treated in the give and take of daily life.
As we fear, love, and trust God, we will know and live knowing that God provides everything needed for this life. God's love is so rich and abundant that God really does make sure we have enough.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
"Life" - Fourth Wednesday of Lent
In the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy one of t recurring characters is Marvin. Marvin is a robot created in a time and place where robots were given human personality traits. While some were given the capacity to be annoyingly helpful and happy to the point of being manic, Marvin came at the end of the production line and received the only human trait left; one that no other robot would accept. Marvin received depression. What made his life even more depressing was that as a robot, a robot with the IQ of astronomical proportions, he was made to be in service to humans. In respect to his IQ, that of humans was so astronomically small that it would take centuries to write out all the zeros after the decimal point before coming to a whole number. One of his lines could tell the whole story, “Life. Don’t talk to me about life. Tonight we are, however, going to talk about “life” and its value that Marvin could never understand.
The two commandments that we have before us in Exodus 20:12-13 seem unrelated on the surface but both do relate to life. The 4th commandment, honor your Father and mother, brings us into the second set of commandments. You may recall that Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment was. His answer was simply, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might. And the second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself. On this stand all the law and the prophets.”
Truly this answer does sum up the whole of the 10 Commandments. The first three inform our relationship with God. Now, starting with the commandments on parents and others in authority, as Luther adds, we move into our relationship to each other. We are not created to be lone wolves or hermits. We are created to be in community. Right from the git-go God created humans to be in community - Adam and Eve. Whichever creation story you read you see that human were rerated to be in community.
Yes, both of these commandments do concern life - our lives. Truly our lives do start with our parents. Conception aside, when it comes to our knowledge of life and what it means to live in community, we learn first from parents; they may be our natural parents or our foster or adoptive parents.
Whatever form these parents may take, they are as much a gift to us from God as we are to them. We often tell parents that their little bundle of joy is a gift from God, but how often do we remind ourselves that our parents are a God’s gift to us. In fact we often question God’s wisdom concerning our parents, especially when we are teenagers. Do you notice, though, that the older you get the wiser your parents get?
Whether we want to admit it or not, our parents are our source of life. For this reason God put this commandment first of those dealing with community. Without our parents we would not be in community. We and our parents are the first community that we encounter.
Also, as God’s gift to us, parents stand in God’s authority in our lives. It is for this reason that as Luther begins the Small Catechism se states that it is for the parents, the bishop and bishopess of the house, to teach their children.
The community that begins with the family begins to grow in ever increasing circles; as when you drop a pebble in the water. It expands throughout the world, family, friends and neighbors and on out into the world. These relationships as they grow give structure to life. Without structure the best we could hope for would be a little bit better than chaos.
In the “eyes” of the bible, human life is priceless. With that in mind we can see why, when Luther wrote the short answers to the 10 Commandments, each answer took into consideration the community. Everything that we do, every thought that we are to posses must take our neighbor into consideration. Not only are we not to endanger our neighbor’s life we are to do whatever we can to help enhance that person’s life.
Again, when we look at this as being community centered we must realize that we are also the neighbors who need protecting. We are responsible to and for each other.
As I read for this sermon, I found it interesting how many crimes against parents and against human life in general were punishable by death. God considered our parents and our very lives so valuable that the one who committed the crime had to be purged from society, even from actually living.
If you strike your parent out of anger or even hold them in contempt you could be executed. In every biblical law both Father and mother are expressly mentioned. A child who defies the parent’s discipline in pursuit of a self-indulgent life may be brought before the city elders. After being formally charged, the child is to be stoned by the people. (Deut 21:18ff) Even the authority of the supreme court of appeals was enforced by the death penalty for all who disobeyed its decisions.
The 5th commandment directly refers to the premeditated murder on one by another. Murder was presumed if a) the killer lays in wait for the victim b) there is enmity between the parties involved or c) murderous weapons were used. Death resulting from an act that was only intended to harm was also punishable by death. If the death was accidental, the death penalty was not used even though the perpetrator was still to be labeled a manslayer. Self-defense and slaying in battle did not entail blood guilt.
As we look at all of this and take into consideration how many crimes and thus sins were punishable by death, it is not too surprising that Jesus had to die on the cross. We profess that Jesus died for our sins. If sins are any act or thought that separates us from God and from each other, thus destroying community, then Jesus had to die in order for us to be forgiven of our sins. Sure, from God’s point of view, God could have snapped his fingers and started all over again from scratch; but God say, in reference to the flood, that human nature would prevail and evil actions and intent would win out.
For this, and for us, Christ came to give his life for our sakes. Without his life the best we could hope for would be a little better than chaos. Jesus did give his life for ours, and out of a sense of thanksgiving we strive to live in community with those around us.
The two commandments that we have before us in Exodus 20:12-13 seem unrelated on the surface but both do relate to life. The 4th commandment, honor your Father and mother, brings us into the second set of commandments. You may recall that Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment was. His answer was simply, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might. And the second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself. On this stand all the law and the prophets.”
Truly this answer does sum up the whole of the 10 Commandments. The first three inform our relationship with God. Now, starting with the commandments on parents and others in authority, as Luther adds, we move into our relationship to each other. We are not created to be lone wolves or hermits. We are created to be in community. Right from the git-go God created humans to be in community - Adam and Eve. Whichever creation story you read you see that human were rerated to be in community.
Yes, both of these commandments do concern life - our lives. Truly our lives do start with our parents. Conception aside, when it comes to our knowledge of life and what it means to live in community, we learn first from parents; they may be our natural parents or our foster or adoptive parents.
Whatever form these parents may take, they are as much a gift to us from God as we are to them. We often tell parents that their little bundle of joy is a gift from God, but how often do we remind ourselves that our parents are a God’s gift to us. In fact we often question God’s wisdom concerning our parents, especially when we are teenagers. Do you notice, though, that the older you get the wiser your parents get?
Whether we want to admit it or not, our parents are our source of life. For this reason God put this commandment first of those dealing with community. Without our parents we would not be in community. We and our parents are the first community that we encounter.
Also, as God’s gift to us, parents stand in God’s authority in our lives. It is for this reason that as Luther begins the Small Catechism se states that it is for the parents, the bishop and bishopess of the house, to teach their children.
The community that begins with the family begins to grow in ever increasing circles; as when you drop a pebble in the water. It expands throughout the world, family, friends and neighbors and on out into the world. These relationships as they grow give structure to life. Without structure the best we could hope for would be a little bit better than chaos.
In the “eyes” of the bible, human life is priceless. With that in mind we can see why, when Luther wrote the short answers to the 10 Commandments, each answer took into consideration the community. Everything that we do, every thought that we are to posses must take our neighbor into consideration. Not only are we not to endanger our neighbor’s life we are to do whatever we can to help enhance that person’s life.
Again, when we look at this as being community centered we must realize that we are also the neighbors who need protecting. We are responsible to and for each other.
As I read for this sermon, I found it interesting how many crimes against parents and against human life in general were punishable by death. God considered our parents and our very lives so valuable that the one who committed the crime had to be purged from society, even from actually living.
If you strike your parent out of anger or even hold them in contempt you could be executed. In every biblical law both Father and mother are expressly mentioned. A child who defies the parent’s discipline in pursuit of a self-indulgent life may be brought before the city elders. After being formally charged, the child is to be stoned by the people. (Deut 21:18ff) Even the authority of the supreme court of appeals was enforced by the death penalty for all who disobeyed its decisions.
The 5th commandment directly refers to the premeditated murder on one by another. Murder was presumed if a) the killer lays in wait for the victim b) there is enmity between the parties involved or c) murderous weapons were used. Death resulting from an act that was only intended to harm was also punishable by death. If the death was accidental, the death penalty was not used even though the perpetrator was still to be labeled a manslayer. Self-defense and slaying in battle did not entail blood guilt.
As we look at all of this and take into consideration how many crimes and thus sins were punishable by death, it is not too surprising that Jesus had to die on the cross. We profess that Jesus died for our sins. If sins are any act or thought that separates us from God and from each other, thus destroying community, then Jesus had to die in order for us to be forgiven of our sins. Sure, from God’s point of view, God could have snapped his fingers and started all over again from scratch; but God say, in reference to the flood, that human nature would prevail and evil actions and intent would win out.
For this, and for us, Christ came to give his life for our sakes. Without his life the best we could hope for would be a little better than chaos. Jesus did give his life for ours, and out of a sense of thanksgiving we strive to live in community with those around us.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Holy Holy Holy - Third Wed of Lent
“Holy Holy Holy”
This evening we move to the next part of our covenant with God, name the 2nd and 3rd Commandments. These two commandments are about acoustics, you might say – speaking and hearing. The Second Commandment requires that we speak honestly and respectfully of God so that we can hear what God actually says about God’s decision for us. The Third Commandment reminds us of our need to stop and to listen to what God says to us; to make regular time in our lives to listen, pray, and to gather for worship. Let’s take a look at these two commandments and see how they fit together for the good of God’s people.
First of all let’s look at number 2 that reads: “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God.” About the 2nd Command Luther says, “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God’s name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise and give thanks to God.”
The heart, by faith, gives God the honor due God. This is what we pick up from the 1st Commandment. Through it, God invites us to respond to God in love. As a result of God’s decision to be God for us, we respond to God by growing in our knowledge of God and God’s ways and to trust in God to care for us and for the world. It means that right where we are, in the middle of the conflict between life and death in which we all find ourselves, we have been given the faith necessary to entrust our self to God for life.
As we entrust ourselves to God we are assured that we can call upon God’s name in every joy and sorrow. All too often, however, we hear others, or even from time to time find ourselves slipping up in the manner in which we call on God’s name. For some, maybe even some of us here tonight, it is easy to use God’s name in less than respectful ways. To misuse God’s name is to call on God’s name to support a falsehood or wrong of any kind. What this commandment forbids is appealing to God’s name falsely or taking his name upon our lips when our heart knows or should know that the facts are otherwise, like when people take oaths in court and one side lies against the other. God’s name cannot be more grievously abused than for purposes of falsehood and deceit.
Just as there are improper ways of using God’s name, so, too, are there proper ways of using God’s name. God’s name has been given to us for our use and benefit. We are to use it in time of need, praise and thanksgiving. Psalm 50:14-23 puts it this way, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. {15} Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." {16} But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? {17} For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. {18} You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers. {19} "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. {20} You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother's child. {21} These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. {22} "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver. {23} Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."
God’s name is hallowed where God is praised, where truth and justice are established, where falsehood is refuted, where people are reconciled, where obedience is rendered and quarrels are settled. To keep God’s name holy we need to form the habit of commending ourselves, body, mind and soul to God every day, and not just ourselves, but also our spouse our children, all who work for us and all that we have; commending this all to God for God’s protection.
When we do that, we find ourselves able to speak to God and we discover that God listens to us. To enter into a conversation like this with God is to pray. Such speaking and listening to God can take place silently or aloud, in the car or in the church, in carefully worked out language or in hastily uttered phrases or without conscious words at all. Because the opportunity to listen to God and speak to God in the confidence of being heard is part of the Christian faith, the language of prayer turns in one way or another to praise and thanksgiving.
Number 3 reads: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” About this Luther writes, “we are fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.”
Our word “holy day” or “holiday” is so called from the Hebrew word “Sabbath”, which properly means to rest, that is, to cease from labor. The roots of this commandment are all the way back in the first creation rendition, Genesis 2:3. After six days of creation God rested and sanctified, made holy, that day of rest.
For the people of Israel, observance of the 3rd Commandment meant that they were required to set aside the Sabbath day for rest and reflection. They were to abstain from hard work and to rest, so that both human and beast might be refreshed and not be exhausted by constant labor.
Christians do not understand themselves to be under that obligation. We keep the Sabbath for the sake of bodily need. Nature teaches and demands that people who have attended to their work all week long should retire for a day to rest and be refreshed. We also keep holy days so that people may participate in public worship, to assemble in order to hear and discuss God’s Word and then praise God with song and prayer. All our life and work must be guided by God’s Word if they are to be God-pleasing.
We are not restricted, as the Jews were, to worshiping at a particular time, for no one day is better than another. Actually, there should be worship daily. Since this is more that most people can do, at least one day in the week must be set apart for it; Sunday being the most common from ancient of days.
Since we observe holidays anyhow, with Sunday being a weekly holiday, we should devote ourselves to learning God’s Word. Just being a day of rest is not enough; even non-Christians take a day off for rest and idleness. What make this day holy is the hearing and learning of God’s Word. The special office of this day, therefore, should be the ministry of the Word for the sake of all people. The 3rd Commandment reminds us of our need to stop and to listen to what God says to us. It invites us to make regular time in our lives to listen, to pray, and to gather for worship.
With these catechism lessons in mind, then we need to ask ourselves “what does it mean to keep God’s name holy and to keep a Holy Sabbath?” Both God’s name and the Sabbath are holy in and of themselves, but we ask that they may be kept holy in our hearts. These two Commandments along with the 1st, are, as Jesus said to the Pharisees, the greatest commandment. It is from these first Commandments, as they inform our relationship with God, that we receive guidance and strength to honor the rest of the commandments that inform our relationship with each other.
Even though we may think we know the Word of God perfectly and have already mastered everything, still we are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon us unawares, to kindle in our hearts unbelief and wicked thoughts against all the commandments.
Therefore we must always have God’s Word in our hearts, upon our lips, and in our ears. But where the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has done the damage before we are aware. On the other hand, whenever it is seriously contemplated, heard, and used, it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakening new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and producing a pure heart and pure thoughts. For the Word of God is not idle or dead, but creative, living words.
God desires far more than lip service. He wants a relationship with us that stems from the heart. Jesus tells us, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). In the end, it is not enough just to avoid misusing God's name or in making sure we make it to church every week.
God wants us to love and respect Him every moment of every day. Honoring God begins in our thoughts. We must know who and what God is. We must know what God requires of us and why. We should admire God’s wisdom, love, fairness and justice. We need to stand in awe of God’s power and recognize that our existence depends on God’s goodness.
Then we should talk to God in prayer—every day. We should follow the admonitions in the Psalms to give God thanks and praise God, openly expressing our appreciation for all that God gives us. We should acknowledge God’s greatness. We should ask God to create in us God’s way of thinking and character. We should request the power of God’s Spirit to enable us to wholeheartedly obey and serve God.
This evening we move to the next part of our covenant with God, name the 2nd and 3rd Commandments. These two commandments are about acoustics, you might say – speaking and hearing. The Second Commandment requires that we speak honestly and respectfully of God so that we can hear what God actually says about God’s decision for us. The Third Commandment reminds us of our need to stop and to listen to what God says to us; to make regular time in our lives to listen, pray, and to gather for worship. Let’s take a look at these two commandments and see how they fit together for the good of God’s people.
First of all let’s look at number 2 that reads: “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God.” About the 2nd Command Luther says, “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God’s name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise and give thanks to God.”
The heart, by faith, gives God the honor due God. This is what we pick up from the 1st Commandment. Through it, God invites us to respond to God in love. As a result of God’s decision to be God for us, we respond to God by growing in our knowledge of God and God’s ways and to trust in God to care for us and for the world. It means that right where we are, in the middle of the conflict between life and death in which we all find ourselves, we have been given the faith necessary to entrust our self to God for life.
As we entrust ourselves to God we are assured that we can call upon God’s name in every joy and sorrow. All too often, however, we hear others, or even from time to time find ourselves slipping up in the manner in which we call on God’s name. For some, maybe even some of us here tonight, it is easy to use God’s name in less than respectful ways. To misuse God’s name is to call on God’s name to support a falsehood or wrong of any kind. What this commandment forbids is appealing to God’s name falsely or taking his name upon our lips when our heart knows or should know that the facts are otherwise, like when people take oaths in court and one side lies against the other. God’s name cannot be more grievously abused than for purposes of falsehood and deceit.
Just as there are improper ways of using God’s name, so, too, are there proper ways of using God’s name. God’s name has been given to us for our use and benefit. We are to use it in time of need, praise and thanksgiving. Psalm 50:14-23 puts it this way, “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. {15} Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." {16} But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes, or take my covenant on your lips? {17} For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. {18} You make friends with a thief when you see one, and you keep company with adulterers. {19} "You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. {20} You sit and speak against your kin; you slander your own mother's child. {21} These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I was one just like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. {22} "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver. {23} Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me; to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."
God’s name is hallowed where God is praised, where truth and justice are established, where falsehood is refuted, where people are reconciled, where obedience is rendered and quarrels are settled. To keep God’s name holy we need to form the habit of commending ourselves, body, mind and soul to God every day, and not just ourselves, but also our spouse our children, all who work for us and all that we have; commending this all to God for God’s protection.
When we do that, we find ourselves able to speak to God and we discover that God listens to us. To enter into a conversation like this with God is to pray. Such speaking and listening to God can take place silently or aloud, in the car or in the church, in carefully worked out language or in hastily uttered phrases or without conscious words at all. Because the opportunity to listen to God and speak to God in the confidence of being heard is part of the Christian faith, the language of prayer turns in one way or another to praise and thanksgiving.
Number 3 reads: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” About this Luther writes, “we are fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.”
Our word “holy day” or “holiday” is so called from the Hebrew word “Sabbath”, which properly means to rest, that is, to cease from labor. The roots of this commandment are all the way back in the first creation rendition, Genesis 2:3. After six days of creation God rested and sanctified, made holy, that day of rest.
For the people of Israel, observance of the 3rd Commandment meant that they were required to set aside the Sabbath day for rest and reflection. They were to abstain from hard work and to rest, so that both human and beast might be refreshed and not be exhausted by constant labor.
Christians do not understand themselves to be under that obligation. We keep the Sabbath for the sake of bodily need. Nature teaches and demands that people who have attended to their work all week long should retire for a day to rest and be refreshed. We also keep holy days so that people may participate in public worship, to assemble in order to hear and discuss God’s Word and then praise God with song and prayer. All our life and work must be guided by God’s Word if they are to be God-pleasing.
We are not restricted, as the Jews were, to worshiping at a particular time, for no one day is better than another. Actually, there should be worship daily. Since this is more that most people can do, at least one day in the week must be set apart for it; Sunday being the most common from ancient of days.
Since we observe holidays anyhow, with Sunday being a weekly holiday, we should devote ourselves to learning God’s Word. Just being a day of rest is not enough; even non-Christians take a day off for rest and idleness. What make this day holy is the hearing and learning of God’s Word. The special office of this day, therefore, should be the ministry of the Word for the sake of all people. The 3rd Commandment reminds us of our need to stop and to listen to what God says to us. It invites us to make regular time in our lives to listen, to pray, and to gather for worship.
With these catechism lessons in mind, then we need to ask ourselves “what does it mean to keep God’s name holy and to keep a Holy Sabbath?” Both God’s name and the Sabbath are holy in and of themselves, but we ask that they may be kept holy in our hearts. These two Commandments along with the 1st, are, as Jesus said to the Pharisees, the greatest commandment. It is from these first Commandments, as they inform our relationship with God, that we receive guidance and strength to honor the rest of the commandments that inform our relationship with each other.
Even though we may think we know the Word of God perfectly and have already mastered everything, still we are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon us unawares, to kindle in our hearts unbelief and wicked thoughts against all the commandments.
Therefore we must always have God’s Word in our hearts, upon our lips, and in our ears. But where the heart is idle, and the Word does not sound, he breaks in and has done the damage before we are aware. On the other hand, whenever it is seriously contemplated, heard, and used, it is bound never to be without fruit, but always awakening new understanding, pleasure, and devoutness, and producing a pure heart and pure thoughts. For the Word of God is not idle or dead, but creative, living words.
God desires far more than lip service. He wants a relationship with us that stems from the heart. Jesus tells us, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45). In the end, it is not enough just to avoid misusing God's name or in making sure we make it to church every week.
God wants us to love and respect Him every moment of every day. Honoring God begins in our thoughts. We must know who and what God is. We must know what God requires of us and why. We should admire God’s wisdom, love, fairness and justice. We need to stand in awe of God’s power and recognize that our existence depends on God’s goodness.
Then we should talk to God in prayer—every day. We should follow the admonitions in the Psalms to give God thanks and praise God, openly expressing our appreciation for all that God gives us. We should acknowledge God’s greatness. We should ask God to create in us God’s way of thinking and character. We should request the power of God’s Spirit to enable us to wholeheartedly obey and serve God.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
ONE God - Second Wed of Lent
We start our study of the Ten Commandments where it all starts, with God. I mean that all of life all that is in existence has its beginning in God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Everything has its beginning in God. Thus it should come as no surprise that the Ten Commandments have their beginning with God, as well.
“You shall have no other gods before me”, God says right off the bat. While that statement often confuses us and we try to get a handle on what gods we might have before God, it would have been very obvious to the children of Israel. They were surrounded by gods of every shape and size.
For a couple of generations, since the time of Joseph, the Israelites were living in a foreign land. Their holy places were far away in time and place. Not only were they not in the Holy Land, the Holy city of Jerusalem had not yet been established as a place of worship. The people did, or at least early on in their sojourn in Egypt, knew of the God of their ancestors; of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The stories would have been told down through the generations. The first generation of sojourners would have sung praises to the God who rescued them from the famine by bringing them down to Egypt.
Now, after a few generations had passed, and being slaves to the Egyptians, their songs of praise have transformed into songs of lament; of misery and woe. It may have even begun to cross their mind that maybe there really wasn’t a God like the God their ancestors told them about. The God of their ancestors sure didn’t seem to be caring about them now, let alone trying to rescue them from their oppressors.
Yet, God had heard their mournful songs. God had heard their crying in the night. God’s mind was made up that whatever it took, they would be brought out of the land of Egypt and returned to the land that had been promised to Abraham and all his descendants. Part of the “whatever it takes” was to establish a covenant with the people of Israel. It would be a covenant that would establish Yahweh as their Lord, their God, and them as God’s chosen people and what that covenant would mean for daily life.
The Commandments deal with the most practical issues of community life and life dependent on God. Most are stated prohibitively. The first four address Israel's relationship to Yahweh, and the remaining six deal with their relationships with one another. Most of life is lived in the ordinary. It is not every day that waters are parted and we cross over to safety. Most of the time, we are wandering around in the wilderness, trying (and truthfully, not trying at times) to love God and neighbor. The Commandments are a reminder of whose and who we are. In addition, they draw a sketch of the kind of people God intends us to be.
The First Commandment demands ultimate confidence, trust, and faith in God alone. When this Commandment is fulfilled, the keeping of the others follows. All the Commandments flow from the first. With full trust we look to God as the source of all goodness and life. We see every molecule of creation held together by God's will. We trust that God does indeed bring daily bread to all people. We hope for a future dependent on God's graciousness rather than our own achievements. We recognize that every single breath happens at God's behest and that both life and death are held in God's hand.
As far as gods were concerned, the people knew about gods. Ever since they arrived in Egypt they had been surrounded by the images of the gods of Egypt. There were gods of every color, shape and size. There were gods that the people prayed to for rain. There were gods that the people prayed to for good crops. There were gods that the people prayed to for children, livestock, and long life and so on. There was no lack of gods for the people to worship. It was becoming harder and harder with each subsequent generation to keep the people from turning to the gods of the Egyptians.
As God was rescuing the people out of Egypt, God wanted to make it clear that when it comes down to brass tacks, there is only one God and Yahweh was that God. “I am the Lord your God … You shall have no other gods in front of me.” God knew that not only had they been surrounded by gods while in Egypt, but that as they returned to the Promised Land and for the whole life of Israel, they would always be surrounded by other gods and by priorities that would try to usurp God’s position in the hearts of the people.
The First Commandment's explanation in Luther's Small Catechism, to "fear, love, and trust God above all things," asserts God's proper place in our lives. It virtually shouts out an echo of God's words to Moses: "I am what I am. What I am is your God. And you shall not put any other person or thing in my place!" God allows no one else a place on the divine throne.
Although we know the Commandment, we forget daily that God is truly God. Thus the First Commandment is a wake-up call shaking us with its radical demand for full trust. No halfway measures will do. Simple agreement with statements about God is not enough. No good works, good intentions, or good will toward God can achieve compliance.
This Commandment requires us to look to God for everything we need in life, in good times and in bad, when we rejoice and when we grieve. Only God is God; all else is less than divine.
This Commandment tells the truth both about us as sinners and about God. When we look honestly at ourselves, we see we don't put God in the foremost place in our lives. The truth is, like the Israelites and their golden calf, we regularly chase after other gods, thinking and hoping they can rescue us.
The First Commandment proclaims that this is not how God intends for Creation to work. God insists that all of life rests in God's unending mercy and care. Every morsel of food you eat, every ray of sunshine on a spring day, every breath you take—God is the one who gives us each of these things and more. God speaks the First Commandment to put an end to our fantasies about ourselves and our illusions about our own power, but also to make us ready to hear a new word we can trust.
Hidden within the First Commandment is good news that will show up in its fullness later in the Small Catechism. In Luther's explanations to the Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Sacraments, we see what God does in Jesus to create the very love and trust the Commandment demands.
When grappling with the Commandments, however, it's important for us to remember that God promises to be the one to whom you can run when things go bad. God is the one who will comfort you when tears flow. God is the one who makes your next breath happen. God is the one who will raise your lifeless body from its grave. God is the one who promises that your past is forgiven and your future is assured.
With a God who knows the truth about your sins and who dies so you can be forgiven, fear, love, and trust aren't things to create on your own. With that kind of God, you can't help but place your ultimate confidence, trust, and faith in God.
“You shall have no other gods before me”, God says right off the bat. While that statement often confuses us and we try to get a handle on what gods we might have before God, it would have been very obvious to the children of Israel. They were surrounded by gods of every shape and size.
For a couple of generations, since the time of Joseph, the Israelites were living in a foreign land. Their holy places were far away in time and place. Not only were they not in the Holy Land, the Holy city of Jerusalem had not yet been established as a place of worship. The people did, or at least early on in their sojourn in Egypt, knew of the God of their ancestors; of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The stories would have been told down through the generations. The first generation of sojourners would have sung praises to the God who rescued them from the famine by bringing them down to Egypt.
Now, after a few generations had passed, and being slaves to the Egyptians, their songs of praise have transformed into songs of lament; of misery and woe. It may have even begun to cross their mind that maybe there really wasn’t a God like the God their ancestors told them about. The God of their ancestors sure didn’t seem to be caring about them now, let alone trying to rescue them from their oppressors.
Yet, God had heard their mournful songs. God had heard their crying in the night. God’s mind was made up that whatever it took, they would be brought out of the land of Egypt and returned to the land that had been promised to Abraham and all his descendants. Part of the “whatever it takes” was to establish a covenant with the people of Israel. It would be a covenant that would establish Yahweh as their Lord, their God, and them as God’s chosen people and what that covenant would mean for daily life.
The Commandments deal with the most practical issues of community life and life dependent on God. Most are stated prohibitively. The first four address Israel's relationship to Yahweh, and the remaining six deal with their relationships with one another. Most of life is lived in the ordinary. It is not every day that waters are parted and we cross over to safety. Most of the time, we are wandering around in the wilderness, trying (and truthfully, not trying at times) to love God and neighbor. The Commandments are a reminder of whose and who we are. In addition, they draw a sketch of the kind of people God intends us to be.
The First Commandment demands ultimate confidence, trust, and faith in God alone. When this Commandment is fulfilled, the keeping of the others follows. All the Commandments flow from the first. With full trust we look to God as the source of all goodness and life. We see every molecule of creation held together by God's will. We trust that God does indeed bring daily bread to all people. We hope for a future dependent on God's graciousness rather than our own achievements. We recognize that every single breath happens at God's behest and that both life and death are held in God's hand.
As far as gods were concerned, the people knew about gods. Ever since they arrived in Egypt they had been surrounded by the images of the gods of Egypt. There were gods of every color, shape and size. There were gods that the people prayed to for rain. There were gods that the people prayed to for good crops. There were gods that the people prayed to for children, livestock, and long life and so on. There was no lack of gods for the people to worship. It was becoming harder and harder with each subsequent generation to keep the people from turning to the gods of the Egyptians.
As God was rescuing the people out of Egypt, God wanted to make it clear that when it comes down to brass tacks, there is only one God and Yahweh was that God. “I am the Lord your God … You shall have no other gods in front of me.” God knew that not only had they been surrounded by gods while in Egypt, but that as they returned to the Promised Land and for the whole life of Israel, they would always be surrounded by other gods and by priorities that would try to usurp God’s position in the hearts of the people.
The First Commandment's explanation in Luther's Small Catechism, to "fear, love, and trust God above all things," asserts God's proper place in our lives. It virtually shouts out an echo of God's words to Moses: "I am what I am. What I am is your God. And you shall not put any other person or thing in my place!" God allows no one else a place on the divine throne.
Although we know the Commandment, we forget daily that God is truly God. Thus the First Commandment is a wake-up call shaking us with its radical demand for full trust. No halfway measures will do. Simple agreement with statements about God is not enough. No good works, good intentions, or good will toward God can achieve compliance.
This Commandment requires us to look to God for everything we need in life, in good times and in bad, when we rejoice and when we grieve. Only God is God; all else is less than divine.
This Commandment tells the truth both about us as sinners and about God. When we look honestly at ourselves, we see we don't put God in the foremost place in our lives. The truth is, like the Israelites and their golden calf, we regularly chase after other gods, thinking and hoping they can rescue us.
The First Commandment proclaims that this is not how God intends for Creation to work. God insists that all of life rests in God's unending mercy and care. Every morsel of food you eat, every ray of sunshine on a spring day, every breath you take—God is the one who gives us each of these things and more. God speaks the First Commandment to put an end to our fantasies about ourselves and our illusions about our own power, but also to make us ready to hear a new word we can trust.
Hidden within the First Commandment is good news that will show up in its fullness later in the Small Catechism. In Luther's explanations to the Apostles' Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Sacraments, we see what God does in Jesus to create the very love and trust the Commandment demands.
When grappling with the Commandments, however, it's important for us to remember that God promises to be the one to whom you can run when things go bad. God is the one who will comfort you when tears flow. God is the one who makes your next breath happen. God is the one who will raise your lifeless body from its grave. God is the one who promises that your past is forgiven and your future is assured.
With a God who knows the truth about your sins and who dies so you can be forgiven, fear, love, and trust aren't things to create on your own. With that kind of God, you can't help but place your ultimate confidence, trust, and faith in God.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Ash Wednesday 2009
Years ago Charlton Heston was interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show. This was at a time in Mr. Heston’s career when he had gained much notoriety over his two mega-movies, The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. During the interview Merv Griffin asked him, “Has your spiritual outlook changed any because of these two movies?” Charlton Heston thought for a moment and then replied, “Well, Merv, you can’t walk barefoot down Mount Sinai and be the same person you were when you went up.” That’s a great answer. This is exactly the way Moses felt coming down from the mountain as well.
Next to Psalm 23, the Ten Commandments are probably the most familiar scripture in our culture. The Ten Commandments are part of the covenant that God made with the children of Israel, a covenant that extends from this point of Exodus all the way through to Deuteronomy.
To start out our series on the covenant call the 10 Commandments we need to start with understanding what a covenant is. How many of you have ever entered into a written contract with someone else? That contract was a sort of covenant. You, being the party of the first part, agreed to perform some duty, or pay so much money to the other person, being the party of the second part. The party of the second part in turn made a similar promise of delivery of goods or money to the party of the first part, namely you.
In Hebrew the term translated as covenant is berit. It originally meant a “shackle” or “chain”, but came to be any form of binding agreement. It expresses the solemn contract between Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:44 or the alliance of friendship between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18;3. It describes the peace pact made by Abraham with the whole tribe of Amorites in Genesis 14:13 and the bond of marriage in Proverbs 2:17 or Malachi 2:14. It can also be a solemn treaty between kings.
Berit is a term so rich it captures the heart of Israel’s religious beliefs: 1) they are bound to an unbreakable covenant–union with their God; 2) God has made known his love and his mercy to them; 3)God has given them commandments to guide their daily life; 4) they owe him worship, fidelity, and obedience; 5) they are marked by the sign of that covenant–bond.
The covenant created the unity of the nation Israel, not based on a blood relationship but on a submission to the divine will and the confession that he alone is God. In turn, God pledges to be Israel’s personal protector and helper, not only against foreign enemies, but against sickness, disease, and chaos as well. Most of all, he will be present whether it is a time of prosperity or of failure, for God has laid claim to this people as his own. Yahweh is a personal God who demands personal loyalty. God gives no guarantee that his protective love and help always involves victory in battle, wealth in possessions or increase of territory; it may at times include such gifts, but more often it describes the blessing that trust in the Lord will bring: freedom from fear in the promised land, the fruitfulness of children and crops, permanent peace and the joy of knowing God is near.
What does the covenant mean to us thousands of years later, living in the shadow of the cross? Did Jesus not say that he came to abolish the law? No, he said he came not abolish the law but to fulfill the law. The law was first given by God to restrain sins by threats and fear of punishment and by the promise and offer of grace and favor. But this purpose failed because of the wickedness which sin has worked in humanity. Some, who hate the law because it forbids what they desire to do and commands what they are unwilling to do, are made worse thereby. Since they are not restrained by punishment, they act against the law even more than before. Others become blind and presumptuous, imagining that they can and do keep the law by their own powers.
The chief function or power of the law is to make our original sin obvious to us and to show us to what utter depths our nature has fallen and how corrupt it has become. This, then, is the thunderbolt by which God, with one blow, destroys both open sinners and false saints. He allows no one to justify himself.
To the office of the law the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace in the gospel. John, the baptizing one who preceded Christ, is called a preacher of repentance, but for the remission of sins. That is, John was to accuse them all and convince them that they were sinners in order that they might know how they stood before God. In this way we are prepared to receive grace from the Lord and to expect and accept from him the forgiveness of sins.
Where the law exercises its office alone, without the addition of the gospel, there is only death and hell, and humanity must despair. The gospel, however, offers consolation and forgiveness in more ways than one, for with God there is plenteous redemption. God is surpassingly rich in his grace; first, through the spoken word, by which the forgiveness of sin is preached to the whole word; second, through Baptism; third, through Holy Communion; fourth, through confession and absolution; and finally through the mutual conversation and consolation of fellow Christians.
Next to Psalm 23, the Ten Commandments are probably the most familiar scripture in our culture. The Ten Commandments are part of the covenant that God made with the children of Israel, a covenant that extends from this point of Exodus all the way through to Deuteronomy.
To start out our series on the covenant call the 10 Commandments we need to start with understanding what a covenant is. How many of you have ever entered into a written contract with someone else? That contract was a sort of covenant. You, being the party of the first part, agreed to perform some duty, or pay so much money to the other person, being the party of the second part. The party of the second part in turn made a similar promise of delivery of goods or money to the party of the first part, namely you.
In Hebrew the term translated as covenant is berit. It originally meant a “shackle” or “chain”, but came to be any form of binding agreement. It expresses the solemn contract between Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:44 or the alliance of friendship between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18;3. It describes the peace pact made by Abraham with the whole tribe of Amorites in Genesis 14:13 and the bond of marriage in Proverbs 2:17 or Malachi 2:14. It can also be a solemn treaty between kings.
Berit is a term so rich it captures the heart of Israel’s religious beliefs: 1) they are bound to an unbreakable covenant–union with their God; 2) God has made known his love and his mercy to them; 3)God has given them commandments to guide their daily life; 4) they owe him worship, fidelity, and obedience; 5) they are marked by the sign of that covenant–bond.
The covenant created the unity of the nation Israel, not based on a blood relationship but on a submission to the divine will and the confession that he alone is God. In turn, God pledges to be Israel’s personal protector and helper, not only against foreign enemies, but against sickness, disease, and chaos as well. Most of all, he will be present whether it is a time of prosperity or of failure, for God has laid claim to this people as his own. Yahweh is a personal God who demands personal loyalty. God gives no guarantee that his protective love and help always involves victory in battle, wealth in possessions or increase of territory; it may at times include such gifts, but more often it describes the blessing that trust in the Lord will bring: freedom from fear in the promised land, the fruitfulness of children and crops, permanent peace and the joy of knowing God is near.
What does the covenant mean to us thousands of years later, living in the shadow of the cross? Did Jesus not say that he came to abolish the law? No, he said he came not abolish the law but to fulfill the law. The law was first given by God to restrain sins by threats and fear of punishment and by the promise and offer of grace and favor. But this purpose failed because of the wickedness which sin has worked in humanity. Some, who hate the law because it forbids what they desire to do and commands what they are unwilling to do, are made worse thereby. Since they are not restrained by punishment, they act against the law even more than before. Others become blind and presumptuous, imagining that they can and do keep the law by their own powers.
The chief function or power of the law is to make our original sin obvious to us and to show us to what utter depths our nature has fallen and how corrupt it has become. This, then, is the thunderbolt by which God, with one blow, destroys both open sinners and false saints. He allows no one to justify himself.
To the office of the law the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace in the gospel. John, the baptizing one who preceded Christ, is called a preacher of repentance, but for the remission of sins. That is, John was to accuse them all and convince them that they were sinners in order that they might know how they stood before God. In this way we are prepared to receive grace from the Lord and to expect and accept from him the forgiveness of sins.
Where the law exercises its office alone, without the addition of the gospel, there is only death and hell, and humanity must despair. The gospel, however, offers consolation and forgiveness in more ways than one, for with God there is plenteous redemption. God is surpassingly rich in his grace; first, through the spoken word, by which the forgiveness of sin is preached to the whole word; second, through Baptism; third, through Holy Communion; fourth, through confession and absolution; and finally through the mutual conversation and consolation of fellow Christians.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Welcome to the Vineyard
This is, obviously my first entry into a blogging community. I plan to have ramblings about sermons, family, events and who knows what else. Visit my blog at www.ramblingsfromthevineyard.blogspot.com.
As an amateur vintner I have chosen the title of this site to be "Ramblings from the Vineyard". I have been making small batches of wine, not over 12 gallons at a time, since 1985. I initially learned from Paul Coen while he was interning at the University Lutheran Center in Brookings, SD. I further developed my skills under the tutolage of Frank Burns while studying at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA.
While wine making as a hobby is relatively layed back with lots of waiting between steps, the wine-in-making is anything but layed back. All of those little yeasties are active, "blowing bubbles in the bath tub", "getting it on with one another", and generally having a good time with the wine while we have to wait.
Blogging is a similar process. An entry here or there doesn't seem to be much, but over time it grows, ferments, as you will, into a greater understanding of the world around us and within us.
From time to time you might find something written here that puts you off, inspires you or just makes you question my sanity. Feel free to drop me a line whenever. It will be great to see who all out there reads these ramblings and whose thoughts start to ferment into their own batch of wine.
As an amateur vintner I have chosen the title of this site to be "Ramblings from the Vineyard". I have been making small batches of wine, not over 12 gallons at a time, since 1985. I initially learned from Paul Coen while he was interning at the University Lutheran Center in Brookings, SD. I further developed my skills under the tutolage of Frank Burns while studying at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, IA.
While wine making as a hobby is relatively layed back with lots of waiting between steps, the wine-in-making is anything but layed back. All of those little yeasties are active, "blowing bubbles in the bath tub", "getting it on with one another", and generally having a good time with the wine while we have to wait.
Blogging is a similar process. An entry here or there doesn't seem to be much, but over time it grows, ferments, as you will, into a greater understanding of the world around us and within us.
From time to time you might find something written here that puts you off, inspires you or just makes you question my sanity. Feel free to drop me a line whenever. It will be great to see who all out there reads these ramblings and whose thoughts start to ferment into their own batch of wine.
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