You guys are in for a fun ride this summer! We are going to be looking at the Ten Commandments and we will also being looking at what Jesus has to say about each of these ten sayings from God the Father.
But, before we start plumbing the depths of each commandment, I want us to understand the purpose of the Ten Commandments, because so often we view them simply as rules for living our individual lives. I once had a T-Shirt that said, “Life not going well? Just follow the rules,” and it had a picture the Ten Commandments. The insinuation being, “If you follow them, you are good and life is good.” “If you do not follow them, you are bad and life is bad.”
But, God has so much more in store for us when we look to these ten sayings. For God, these ten sayings give life. They maintain grace and love when embraced by a community. They are a gift.
But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. Before we get into that, I want to ask you simply to list the Ten Commandments as you learned them in Sunday School.
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Lutheran: The
First Commandment You
shall have no other gods. The
Second Commandment You
shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God. The
Third Commandment Remember
the sabbath day, and keep it holy. The
Fourth Commandment Honor
your father and your mother. The
Fifth Commandment You
shall not murder. The
Sixth Commandment You
shall not commit adultery. The
Seventh Commandment You
shall not steal. The
Eighth Commandment You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The
Ninth Commandment You
shall not covet your neighbor's house. The
Tenth Commandment You
shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or
donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. |
Reformed/Protestant: The
First Commandment You
shall have no other gods. The
Second Commandment You
shall not make for yourself an idol. The
Third Commandment You
shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God. The
Fourth Commandment Remember
the sabbath day, and keep it holy. The
Fifth Commandment Honor
your father and your mother. The
Sixth Commandment You
shall not murder. The
Seventh Commandment You
shall not commit adultery. The
Eighth Commandment You
shall not steal. The
Ninth Commandment You
shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The
Tenth Commandment You
shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's
wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to
your neighbor. |
Again, the Ten Commandments are not simply rules that you make sure to follow so that you can be a good and holy person. They are so much more. And, to get at that, I want to talk to you about “The Smasher.”
“The Smasher” was our elementary school dodge ball nemesis. The Smasher was bigger than everyone else in the class, and thus he was much stronger than everyone else in class. For the most part, The Smasher was a pretty nice guy, until he entered the dodge ball court. You never wanted to throw the ball in the direction of The Smasher because if he ever caught the ball, you were in for a whole lot of hurt. This guy was able to whip that ball so hard that it would leave huge welts. Fear and speed were the methods that The Smasher employed in order to win. And, win he did.
One day a new kid showed up in class, one who looked as if he could possibly put up a challenge to The Smasher, and the Smasher immediately went after this new threat. Relentlessly, The Smasher would pelt the new kid with the ball, beating up his body game after game. The rest of us were more than happy to step aside as he went after this new target; there were no self-sacrificing soldiers on this playing field.
Finally, it got so bad that our gym teacher had to step in. She made a rule against hard throws, and anyone who broke the rule would be sent to the bench for the rest of that round. You can imagine who found themselves on the bench, a lot, the next few days: The Smasher, of course. And, for the first time the game was kind of fun for the rest of us, including the new kid. The game was now challenging in a way that allowed everyone else to finally hone their dodge ball skills. And, the fun started precisely because a rule or a boundary was set by the teacher.
And, that is what the Ten Commandments are. They are a gracious gift of boundaries provided by God so that life can go well for all of us, not just the most powerful, or the most liked, or the shrewdest and wealthiest of us.
The Ten Commandments are not put here on this earth by God as a test to pass in order to get to heaven. They are not put here on this earth by God as a way for us to somehow prove how great of people we are. They have nothing to do with that. God says right in the Bible what the purpose of the Commandments are:
“Observe them diligently, so that it may go well with ‘you-all,’ and so that ‘you-all’ may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you” (Deuteronomy 6:3).
God does not need your good works. God does not need you to keep the commandments. But, your neighbor does. Your neighbor needs you to not steal and not lie and cheat, just as you need the same from your neighbor so that “it may go well with you-all.” The commandments are a gift from God that allow us to live together, and grow together, and have a little fun together. And, when we love the LORD our God with all our heart, and soul, and might, and our neighbors as ourselves, we do not have to live in fear of one another. And, when we do not have to live in fear of one another, it is all a little more fun.
“The Smasher” protested the teacher’s new rules. He could no longer just power his way to a win. “This is not fair. I cannot help that I am the most powerful. I cannot help that I am the best at this game” he tried to convince the teacher from the sidelines.
And, I hear this a lot. “Might equals right.” “The best deserve the best.” “If you lose, just try harder.” And, though there is real value in this message of hard work and striving to be the best, the teacher put it best in her answer to him:
“There are other things to learn in sports than just being the best. In sports we learn focus and self-control. In sports we learn how to help others to become the best they can be for the sake of the team. In sports we learn how to be a team. We learn how to be a community. It is not all about being the best. And, when we can all play without needing to fear for our safety, it is all a lot more fun. My rule will stay.”
Do you want to know who benefitted the most of all? The new kid. He was no longer the target. He was no longer the outsider who needed to be destroyed, literally by a small, red ball. He was no longer left to fend for himself as he took the beating no one else wanted. Jesus had a lot to say about the outsider and the rules.
After being questioned if the rules of loving God and neighbor really had to include everyone, Jesus told a parable about a man who had been beaten by robbers and left on the side of the road. You know how the story goes. The holy people who have places to be and hands to keep clean ignore the bloody mess of a man, but an outsider, a Samaritan, a man of a despised race, is the one who stops and helps the guy. The outsider shows mercy. The outsider plays by the rules better than those who should have known better. The outsider shows mercy, just as God shows mercy.
These commands of God are a gift of God to everyone and are for the benefit of everyone, so that life can be a little more fun for us all. When following the commands of God, we find life together. We find love together. And, we find peace together, or as the Jews say it, we find “Shalom” together. Commands for all, to give life to all.
So, as we dig into these Ten Commandments in the Sundays ahead, I want you to remember that they are not so much a demand from God as they are a gift from God for the sake of us all. And, yes, even The Smasher learned how to just have fun with us.
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