Sermon For October 3, 1999
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
HEBREW TESTAMENT: “God’s Words for God’s People” ~ Exodus 20:1-20
Every time this passage comes along I remember a friend of mine from my lectionary group in Omaha. David was usually a pretty serious guy, but when the topic was the Ten Commandments he talked about a movie he remembered. A movie called “The End”, with Burt Reynolds. Burt is upset and wants to end his life. He heads out into the ocean, swimming, intending to just swim until he can’t swim anymore, bringing an end to things. As he is swimming, he starts to change his mind. He finally decides to turn around and head for shore, but he has made it out pretty far. He begins to make deals with God. He starts to say all of the things he will do if God will just help him get back to shore. He says, “If you help me get back I’ll follow all the Ten Commandments for the rest of my life. I won’t kill, and I won’t steal and I won’t…and I’ll learn all the rest of the Commandments.”
Most everyone has a high regard for the Ten Commandments. But not everyone can tell you what all the Commandments are. Nor do they necessarily use them to guide their daily life. In my first congregation there was a farmer who always insisted that if we could just get back to the Ten Commandments we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. Usually we regard rules as something that has been set up to tell us when we are in trouble and when we are not in trouble. The use of the Commandments as rules to help us know when we are good and when we are bad starts out when we are very young. We are told, “Yes, it is fine to do this.” “No, don’t you do that because if you do you’re going to be in trouble.” We approach the Ten Commandments in the same way. But, if we do, we are only getting part of the good out of them. If we look at the Commandments…don’t put any other gods before me, worship just one God, don’t take God’s name in vain, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t covet your neighbor’s wife. All of those rules are good guides for living. If we follow them all many of our problems would go away. They’re much along the lines of what Fulgum shares in his “Whatever I need to know, I learned in Kindergarten”. But just following rules isn’t the full intent. It isn’t what God wants us to do. It isn’t part of the abundant life that Jesus wants us to live, as followers and lovers of God. Instead we need to approach those rules, not as the final determination of whether we make it into heaven or not, but instead as part of our ongoing relationship with God. God and Moses didn’t work out a deal for the Ten Commandments to drop them on the people of Israel without any context. Instead the rules came as part of an ongoing relationship.
The people of Israel have told their story in the Hebrew Testament. The Scripture passages that we have heard all summer long and now into the fall have all come from the Book of Genesis and Exodus at the beginning of the Bible. In those two books we read why the Jewish people consider themselves to be the chosen people. With a special relationship with God. They can go back generation after generation to say, “God has been with us at every point. When we thought we were alone we found that God was with us. When we thought that we had been deserted, we found that our Creator was still there. God was with our father Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel. All the way through we can see God being with us. When there was a famine, our people went down to Egypt and found food to eat. Moses came to bring us out of bondage, and to take us to the promised land. Our God has saved us. Our God has carried us through.”
It is in this context that the Commandments come. Not a list that God holds up and says, “You hit these ten, you’re into the promised land. If you miss them, then it’s back to Egypt.” Instead God says, “We have a covenant relationship. I’m your God, you are my people. If you want to know what it means to live as my people, here are ten things to keep in mind.” That is a different context than to just say, “Here are the laws. Break these and you’re behind bars.” Instead it says that we are already loved. We are already saved. We are already accepted. If we want to respond with the same sort of love, here are some directions about how to do that.
Paul says, in his letters to the Philippians, that the laws are not enough. He doesn’t say that the laws are unnecessary, he just says that there is more to be said. He talks about what it means to look to God, to put God as a first priority. He says, “If any of you think that by your own efforts you have achieved everything, you have achieved nothing compared to what is possible.” Those sound like some arrogant words, but Paul is making a point. He says, “If you think that you follow those rules and now have assured your place in heaven, I want to tell you that I was born a Jew. I was circumcised on the eighth day. I was born to the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee. One of the law. I persecuted Christians. If you want to talk about pedigree, I have got it. If you want to talk about being one of the chosen people, I stand firmly in the line all the way back to Abraham.” Then he says, “Even though I have appreciated the laws, I count everything, my heritage, the laws, I count everything as loss compared to the love of God I know in Jesus Christ.” It is all only preparation. It’s only prelude. It’s only extra background information, about living life. The most important thing you have to know is that God created you good, that you are loved. Then, if you soak all that in, then your response can only be one of love in return. How do you be a loving person in the world? Remember the things that you learned in kindergarten. Remember the things that you learned in the Ten Commandments.
Once again, if you chose not to get up for the nine o’clock Adult Sunday School Class, you’ve missed some good things. We’re watching some video tapes about the Book of Revelations, the fourth of a six week series. One of my favorites of the film series that we have had over the last couple of years is a Methodist Pastor by the name of Janet Wolf of Nashville, TN. The participants are talking about the place in the Book of Revelation where Jesus is represented as a lamb. Evil is also at one point represented as a lamb, an imposter lamb, that calls on your devotion, but is really misleading you. Janet talked about the ways in which people have used the language of the church to do bad things. The ways in which scripture was used to support Apartheid in South Africa. The ways in which Scripture was used to support segregation in the United States. The ways in which Scripture was used to deny women an opportunity to provide religious leadership. To keep women out of the pulpit. The ways in which Scripture has been used to deny rights and a welcome to gay and lesbian people. She says, “People use the words of faith, and the words of faith should bring life, but when they are used by this imposter they bring death.” When religion is abused it brings death and not life. We want to know how to live our lives, how to respond to God’s love. We want to respond to the extraordinary revelation that we are created good and loved by God. The way we do that is to live our life in the world in a way that is life enhancing. In a way that brings the fullness of life that we experience out to share with others. If there is any question about how you are going to do something… How you are going to treat someone… How you are going to respond to a magazine article or a television program… The way that you should respond is in a way that enhances life. In a way that shares the love of God. If you have any rule, a Commandment or a kindergarten rule, or one that you find somewhere in a sentence of Scripture, that conflicts with the law of love, then there is a mistake. Love should always be our measure
Just give us those Ten Commandments. But more than anything else, give us God’s love and show us how to live it. Amen.