Grace Lutheran Church Sermon March 26, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Commandments 1-3

March 26, 2006

Last week we began a three-part sermon series on the Ten Commandments. We studied how to use the Ten Commandments according to their divine purposes. Today we will examine the first three commandments and next week we will conclude by studying commandments four through ten.

So let's get right into it and begin with the first commandment. "You shall have no other gods." Would you please say that with me, "You shall have no other gods."

This may make some people uncomfortable, but the one true God claims in this commandment exclusive rights over you. Exclusive rights in legal terms refers to the legal power to prohibit or exclude all others from taking a certain action. You probably our most familiar with this idea in terms of copyright. Imagine if you wrote a novel and then went into Wal-Mart and saw the same novel being sold by someone else and they were profiting off of your work. That not only would be frustrating, it is also illegal.

I would imagine it would be frustrating to have your life stolen by someone else. Certainly identity theft is becoming a financial security threat in our country. I have claim to my name and story. It is not for another to use apart from the purposes for which I give it.

In the first commandment God claims to have the exclusive rights to be your God. There are no other gods and anyone else or thing that makes such a claim is a thief, a phony, an artificial, a fake god. You may think that this is obvious and that we don't have the false idols of the Canaanites, Philistines, or ancient Egyptians. The truth is not about a clay statue on a mantle. We all have problems with having other gods in our lives. Power, position, pleasure all serve as our idols that draw our lives away from the one true God. Family, fun, and football all have the power to subvert our trust in God. Jesus said, "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matt 10:37) A god is anything we give our heart and trust in more than God.

We also are guilty of creating gods, friendly gods that don't challenge us. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Steven Van Zandt, guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band said, "I am a reformed Taoist, part-time Buddhist, Hindu, animist, pagan, Jewish mystic, and Christian. I always got along great with priests and rabbis and mullahs and gurus, even though I spend most of my life constructively criticizing them."

Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of the former TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," said this "I consider myself a spiritual person. I believe in an idea of God, although it’s my own personal ideal. I find most religions interesting, and I’ve been to every kind of denomination: Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist. I’ve taken bits from everything and customized it."

Gellar and Van Zandt and honestly a lot of Americans, not just celebrities, believe not in the God who is, who was, and is to come, but in the god they have invented. The first commandment does not allow for this kind of Frankenstein manufacturing of God.

No matter the false gods we might be more comfortable with or be surrounded by there is an exclusive claim to be the one true God in the first commandment. The triune God revealed in the three persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the one true God.

Beyond the exclusive claim to be our God, God has the exclusive rights to your life and love. He wants all of your life and love. We are not allowed to compartmentalize God into our Sunday mornings and avoid him the rest of our days. He is your God all the time. He does not take vacations. Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

A third exclusive right that is made by God is the exclusive right to tell you how you are supposed to live. You might be uncomfortable with this claim. But the first place to start with obedience to God in your life is to trust in God. God has made you and desires the best for you and for all. When temptation come knocking on your door, trust in the law of God. Joseph in the Old Testament had been sold into slavery by his brothers. Taken to Egypt he was bought by Potiphar. Potiphar's wife made repeated sexual advances towards Joseph. But Joseph did not trust in the power or pleasure he would have had by accepting her hooks. Joseph trusted in the commands of the Lord to guide him.

The fourth exclusive right of God is the exclusive right to save us. Isaiah 43:11 promises, "I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior." Any claim of salvation that is made apart from the saving name of our Lord is a false claim. God makes these claims on your life because he created you. He made you. You are his. His exclusive rights to you are made because he is your creator. But this claim is not just based on creation but in fact he has redeemed us. He told the Israelites, "I am the Lord that brought you out of Egypt." And we can look to the cross and know that he is the God who has redeemed us out of death. God thinks so much of you that he was willing to lay down the life of his only begotten son, Jesus, for you.

It is because of who God is, the creator, redeemer, and sanctifier that he does not want us to misuse his name.

The second commandment is, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." Please say that with me, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God."

A name carries the purpose, character, and identity of that person. Would you like it if your name was used by some one else to murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, or deceive your neighbors?

When you hear the name of a person, you remember not just that person's name you remember stories. Consider the name Katrina and how that name will be for our generation inseparably linked to the August 2005 hurricane that devastated the Gulf Coast.

In the Bible names especially have a purpose. In 1 Samuel 25:25 there is the humorous story of Abigal telling king David about her husband saying, "Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he." Nabal means in Hebrew "fool," which Abigal certainly thought of her husband.

God is serious about his purposes for you. His desire is for you is to know his name and call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks. The name Jesus means God saves. That name has purpose. That purpose was made reality when Jesus died on the cross and took away the sin attached to your name and gave you the righteous of his name instead.

We misuse God's name in three common ways.

We uses God's name empty of his purposes when we use the name of the Lord carelessly. Bill Cosby famously said that his father confused him because from ages one to seven he thought his full name was Jesus Christ Bill Cosby.

The name of God is a priceless treasure. Acts 4:12 records St. Peter saying to the rulers and elders and scribes in Jerusalem of the central importance of proclaiming Jesus by declaring confidently, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

We use God's name in dishonest ways when we take a vow and don't follow through with the promise. To put it simply do not swear by the name of God unless you intend to be faithful to your promise. We should intend to make our yes mean yes and our no mean no!

Thirdly we use God's name in profane ways when we use his name for the same purposes of the foul language of secular profanity. The problem is not so much with secular profanity but when we use God's name in profane ways. I don't want people forget the true purposes for which the name of God has been given.

The name of the Lord is holy and perfect to be used to bring salvation to the nations. I want you to consider your name that was recognized at your baptism. You were marked as a child of God, with now with praise in your heart you desire to give glory to God.

A story is told of a young soldier that was causing all sorts of problems in his unit during the time of Alexander the Great. This soldier was brought before Alexander the Great, the Greek king who was conquering Persia and India. He said to the young man, "What is your name?"

The young soldier answered, "My name is Alexander."

In response Alexander the Great said, "Change your name or change your conduct."

The Third Commandment will conclude our study of the Ten Commandments for today. The third commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." Please say that with me, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."

I want to begin our devotion of the third commandment by asking for a raise of hands of how many people are retired.

Retirement means the withdrawal from one's position or occupation.

Retirement is a popular goal and a large amount of planning goes into successfully retiring. Financial magazines generally will have sections devoted to retirement. Even at my age I know the need to be careful with retirement planning.

Sabbath is a Hebrew word that means rest or retire. God desires to be your rest. We cannot survive off of our pension, IRA, or 401k. We survive by living off of the Word of God. Our bodies need rest. God has given us the day and the night. In the night we find rest for our bodies. God has also given us the Word of God. In the Word of God we withdraw from our own vain efforts and find ourselves lifted up by the Word of God.

Retirement with God lasts forever. His pension fund never goes bankrupt because the spiritual rest that God provides is not secured with gold or silver or precious jewels. You have been bought out of your sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to hold sacred the Word of God and gladly hear and learn it. It is in Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh that we find our Sabbath, our retirement, our rest from our labors.

Thanks be to God. Amen

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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