Grace Lutheran Church Sermon April 2, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Commandments 4-10

April 2, 2006

Today we conclude our three part sermon series on the ten commandments. The first week we studied the very basic question of how to use the ten commandments. The second week we studied the first three commandments. So far we have examined the first three commandments, which direct our focus towards God. Now follows the other seven, which relate to our neighbor.

As much as discussions about homosexuality consume a lot of newsprint, there is more to morality than sex. Mention morality today and most Americans will think of abortion, gay marriage, and other sex-related debates in our country. But the Ten Commandments are not issue statements or positions. As we work through these commandments I want you to keep in mind the structure that Jesus gave us for understanding these commandments. Jesus said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

What does it look like to love another?

The answer to that is found in the commandments we will study today.

The fourth commandment is "Honor your father and mother." Please say it with me, "Honor your father and mother."

I know that some parents feel like they are having trouble with their children and I want to give some sense of reassurance. This is not a new problem. Parents from Adam and Eve onward have struggled with the disobedience of their children. The demand for honor from children was taking very seriously in Moses' time. In fact Exodus 21:17 states, "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death." I don't think we want to go about memorizing that nugget of scripture. But we do want to take very seriously the importance of a healthy relationship between parents and their children.

Parenthood is a design of God. It is built into the very creation that we have a mother and a father. Parenting is God's idea to hold things together. All other relationships of God-given authority spring from the structure of the family. Our relationships to our bosses, heads of state, and law enforcement all belong to this commandment.

Some of us have had crummy parents. That is why I give thanks that when we cannot say the words father with love we are given the opportunity to turn to our Heavenly Father. In the Lord's Prayer we will always find our Lord God Almighty being our father with love and care for us. Your father in heaven desires to have a relationship with you, but he also does not want you to abandon your relationship with your father and mother. If you are still in conflict with your parents, I encourage you to take the first steps toward reconciliation. Allow the words father and mother to mean something again in your life.

The fifth commandment is: "You shall not murder." Please say it with me, "You shall not murder."

I know that many of you may have learned this commandment with the word kill instead of murder. But we want to accurately reflect the words of scripture and the words murder and kill mean different things. Murder is the willful neglect of human life and the taking of that life. Killing unfortunately does have its place even in the Christian's life. Ecclesiastes 3 says, "There is a time for war and a time for peace." In Romans 13 Paul reminds us of the God-given authority of the government to punish wickedness and curb violence so that God’s Word may be freely read, taught, and believed..

This fifth commandment is very much concerned with the value we place on life. Life is a sacred act of our Father in heaven and murder is the intentional unjust taking of another human life.

Jesus goes deep into the human heart in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of old. 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”

Violence is too common. Hatred and anger infect too many of our relationships. If you find yourself on the edge of frustration, you need to do something about it. Anger and frustration in our hearts is the source of wounding words and damaging actions.

Even as we treat life carelessly with our anger and violence, Jesus comes to be our life for us. He was the victim of intentional, unjust violence. Who brought that violence upon Jesus? In a narrow sense the Romans, but in a much more honest way we must also include ourselves. But three days later he came back to give you life. Your life is a gift of Christ bought with his very own blood. You belong to Jesus and this truth affects all of our relationships. Life is a sacred gift and we are to be about encouraging and supporting life.

The sixth commandment is: "You shall not commit adultery" Please say it with me, "You shall not commit adultery."

This is the PG-13 part of the sermon today. We are created by God to be sexual beings. But this is not a gift that we use according to the roving desires of our eyes. All the gifts we have, including being a sexual being, are given by God to be used according to his purposes. God's design for sexual satisfaction is found only in marriage. It is in the faithful lifetime commitment of marriage that we find God supporting intimacy. Unfortunately, God's plan gets distorted by sin.

A husband and a wife went to a Christian counselor. The husband had admitted to his wife that he had committed adultery. But in counseling he was clearly not ready to repent of his sin but making excuses and self-justifying his behavior. He explained that he knew that God wanted him to be loved and to love another. He justified his adulterous behavior by believing that God had blessed him with a new woman in his life so that he could once again love and be loved.

If you ever believe that God is leading you to find intimacy and sexual satisfaction outside of your marriage I want you to be confident that this is not the work of God but of the devil.

Even as ridiculous as that man may sound we all should be cautious that we don't think we’ve never broken this commandment or any of the other commandments of God. It by the very desires of the sinful heart that we all find ourselves guilty.

But even as marriage and sexuality is broken in our society, Christ desires to be our groom and calls us to be his bride. Christ has come to be with you, no matter how unfaithful you have been to him, he stills gives himself to you in his perfect love.

The seventh commandment is: “You shall not steal.” Please say it with me, “You shall not steal.”

I want to share with you two points that may help you in understanding this commandment. First, everything we have belongs to God. Psalm 24:1 declares, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, all who live in it." Secondly, God distributes money and property in a trust. What we have, we have because God has given it to us to take care of. We are not owners but managers.

It is this relationship of trust that is broken when we steal.

When you steal by robbery, theft, or dishonest ways of getting things you are butting yourself into the sacred relationship God has between a person and the resources God has given that person. Anybody who steals is stupid, not just because he is taking something that is not his, but because he has been so bold to try to take the place of God.

Jesus told a parable about three servants that were given each according to their abilities money by the owner. The owner went away for a long time and when he returned he asked for a reckoning of how they had used his resources. The only one that was punished was the one who did nothing with what God had given him.

Instead of being stupid we should help our neighbor to improve and protect his possessions and income. We should use our gifts to help our neighbor in every need.

The eighth commandment is: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Please say it with me, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”

In a narrow sense this commandment is about committing perjury in a court of law.

But in the wider sense it is really quite simple: don't be a liar. James Frey's false memoir that was featured on Oprah, Jack Abramoff's sleazy lobbying of Congress, Barry Bond's pursuit of records through steroids and other drugs, Enron, Adelphia, and so many other demonstrate what a broken relationship of trust exists between people today.

Spin, gossip, slander, betrayal, empty flattery, half-truths, and misrepresentations only serve to breakdown our relationships with others. At times we use these as tools to harm another and other times we may be thinking that we are helping someone by lying to them. The truth is that we cannot help a person by lying to them nor telling the truth for destructive purposes.

Jesus told his disciples, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.” (John 14:12) Jesus is the truth. He is the truth that we are sinners. He is the truth that God’s love is more powerful than our lies and deception.

At this point we come to the ninth and tenth commandments which I will treat together. The ninth commandment is: You shall not covet your neighbor's house. The tenth commandment is: You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Let's keep it simple and say, "You shall not covet." Please say that with me, "You shall not covet."

Coveting is the sinful desire for anyone or anything that belongs to our neighbor. Sinful desire is dangerous because it leads people to no longer view their neighbor as a person but an obstacle who stands in the way. In the Old Testament, the Israelite King, Ahab wanted the vineyard of Naboth. He let his wife Jezebel know how unhappy he was that he could not have Naboth's vineyard. Jezebel set up a plot to have two people lie publicly about Naboth saying that Naboth had cursed God and the king. The elders ordered Naboth stoned to death. As soon as this happened Jezebel told her husband Ahab that Naboth was dead and he should go take possession of his vineyard. The Lord condemned Ahab for his silence in allowing all this to happen.

This commandment comes down to the question, "How much stuff do you need?" The answer that question is based on trust in the giver. Do you trust God to give you all good things according to his purposes? To desire what is another's is to feel unsatisfied, disappointed with what God has blessed you with.

Hopefully as we have examined the Ten Commandments you have done some self-examination. When we study ourselves according to God’s standards we don’t look so good.

Remember that opening question, “What does it look like to love another?” Jesus knowing all he knows about you and me still goes obediently to the cross. With all of our sinful desires and weakness, even so, we have a savior that has come for us to rescue us. Jesus is my savior from sin. His sacrifice upon the cross has separated us from the punishment we deserve. Jesus separates you from sin, death, and the devil and gives you life.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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