March 7, 2021 Text: Exodus 20:1-7
Dear Friends in Christ,
Every year in Confirmation class I get to teach the Ten Commandments to the Lord’s young people. To help these young cherubs understand the Law, this is the example given. Let’s take the stoplights away at the Corner of Oakland Ave. and Veteran’s Parkway. No stop signs or traffic cop. Who wants to go through that intersection? These nimble minds realize that there would be chaos, accidents, vehicles honking and the middle finger salute.
We may not like the law but we know we need it. We’ve all been in a classroom led by a student teacher or a substitute who had no control. Maybe fun for a while, but we all need structure in order to live the lives God has for us. The Lord knew this about us and so he gave His creation a simple set of 10 Commandments. You might hate to hear it like a parent telling you to eat your lima beans but the Law is . . .
“FOR YOUR OWN GOOD”
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (v. 3) This commandment indicts the pagan but also spears us when we devote ourselves to money, popularity, me-ism, sports, work, and the pleasures of the body whether active on Saturday night or asleep on Sunday morning. Would we rather gather around the golden calf or dwell in the House of the Lord?
Our language pollutes the air. God’s name as expletive is everywhere, even sadly in the verbiage of Christians. I wear headphones at ballgames but could use them at restaurants and shopping malls and just about anywhere. Our silence over the years has given profaners free reign.
If we forget the Sabbath we harm ourselves. It can be hard to get out of bed but once you get to church and worship you feel better. We were created to live in God’s presence.
The law is a better place. Watch a daughter mouth off to her mother at the store or look at a world where fathers are not there to provide spiritual guidance for their flesh and blood. From this vantage point, the Fourth Commandment looks better every day.
Rage and vengeance is not the answer. We can’t go around harming others. Abortion doctors who keep the remains of dead children in their homes is not the world I want to live in. We stand at the foot of the cross.
Adultery is a fruit that is tempting but the damage is long-term. Our understanding of the body has many young people abandoned and confused. The sixth commandment bleeds into the fifth and no amount of penicillin can make it better.
Who will notice if I take a little something from the office? They owe me…I work hard.
Doesn’t it feel good to speak down about others? Kind of makes me superior. But I don’t really like it when others whisper about me. The residue is left on both parties in this equation.
Why am I not happy for my friend or relative? What a wretched person I am. Do I covet their success? Can’t we be joyous for each other?
We know the society would be better if we paid a little more attention to God’s directives. I am part of the problem. You are part of the problem. We are in the middle of the intersection and we are scared to death. In order to live the Spirit induced life of love and kindness and charity and patience the law must indict us.
In the heart of the Christian it does. We know shame and regret and guilt. In this life we live under the law. For your own good though Christ lived for you and I. For our own good Christ was obedient to the law, not simply as a past event, but as a life He gives to us even now. For our own good we have been redeemed out of Egypt of our sin and death. For our own good the Lord Jesus Christ abolished the law so that in eternity we only live in the Gospel. For our own good we will be in God’s presence forever and ever.
The air is heavy in our world. The pagan is feeling pretty good. In a world that celebrates death come to worship where life is seen in the faces and actions of God’s people. Experience kindness and fellowship and generosity and encouragement and joy and occasionally when needed consolation.
We know sin remains in each of us and that the devil is still on the prowl. But the glorious word today is that Christ makes all the difference and if we can’t see that then we need to pray for the Spirit to open our eyes.
Through our living God and for our good we have been freed from our slavery to the law. The law does not bind us in chains. We are held close to the Lord and He directs our daily life for our own good. Now pass the lima beans.
Amen.