Sermon Notes
March 151h, 2009 Ex.
20: 1-17
Trivia
(take about 30 seconds for each challenge; you
will find the correct answers at the end of the sermon)
1. Name the seven titles that comprise the Harry Potter series.
2. Name any six characters from the TV show “Lost”.
3. What are the ingredients found in a McDonald’s Big Mac?
4. Name the 10 Commandments (60 seconds are okay for this one):
In 2007 a survey showed that 80 % of Americans knew the Big Mac had two
all-beef patties. Only just over 50 % knew “you shall not kill” was a
commandment. Only 14 % knew all 10 commandments. The top two mentioned
commandments — You shall not kill and You shall not steal — were
recalled by 70 % and 69 % . The Big Mac was more memorable — 79 % knew of its
all-beef patties and 76 % knew it came with lettuce.
A few weeks ago, we heard that God made a covenant with Noah. With this
covenant God promises not to destroy his people. The 10 commandments have the
details for our part of the covenant. And: Keeping the commandments is
NOT what earns us eternal life! God’s love is what grants us access to heaven!
So why the 10 commandments then?
God gave the Israelites the 10 commandments at a time when the people of
Israel
became a nation. It happened when this group of nomads where about to settle
down, become organized for the first time and form a society. When a group of
people starts living together permanently, they need rules. The series of the
10 commandments is addressed to the single Israelite (as can be seen in the
original Hebrew text). The single person in a society needs rules to get along
with the rest of the people he or she lives with.
The Israelites are also now coming formally into a relationship with
God. The 10 commandments are God’s expectations, not in order to make salvation
possible by keeping them, but to establish a standard of holiness for the
people of God. God wants the Israelites to become better people, not as a
ticket for eternal life. Just because he loves them so much. Don’t we want the
people we love to be able to accomplish more?
The 10 commandments were not anything new for the Israelites though.
It’s not like Moses gave them the 10 commandments, and they’re saying, “Oh,
wow! We didn’t know that! We’re so glad you told us.”
Israel had the same problem we often have:
It’s not that we don’t know better; it’s that we don’t behave better.
We’ve heard the law; but we don’t do the law. The giving of
the 10 commandments illustrated a very real truth about human nature: Very
often we ignore what is right, and do what is wrong instead, which is
ultimately not good for us.
God gave the Israelites the ten commandments to help them become better
people. Written in stone they were a constant reminder. We need this constant
reminder as well. God wants us to become better people too. Not in order to
make it into heaven. The 10 commandments are a result of God’s love. And the 10
commandments will help us to love God, which is one of our purposes in life. If
you have a look at the first 3 commandments you’ll see that they deal exactly
with that: no other gods / no idol, no misuse of God’s name, and honouring the
Sabbath day so that we have a whole day just to focus on God. The other 7 commandments
help us to love our neighbour which is another purpose in our life. The 7 commandments
about honouring our parents, no adultery, no stealing, no murder, no lying, and
no jealousy help us in our relationship with one another.
We are made for relationships,
this is why we need the 10 commandments !
We are made for a relations hip with God, and we are made for a
relationship with one another. This is why the commandments are so important.
This is why we need to keep the commandments from disappearing or from becoming
trivial. They are so important because we are meant to love God and to love our
neighbor.
And loving God and loving our neighbor are connected:
One expression of our love for God IS loving our neighbor. One of our
purposes here on earth is to be in relationship with one another. God has made
us that way that we are meant to live in communities, in families, and not all
by ourselves.
Aristotle, a philosopher in ancient Greece, said: that man is a zoon
politikon, a being that strives for community. That’s the way God made us.
That’s the way we are wired.
The commandments that are meant to help us in being part of a community.
They are meant to make us better people but they are also meant for our
protection. God is like
a parent telling their child: don’t touch the burner on the stove. It’s hot.
You’ll hurt yourself. God says don’t steal, don’t murder, don’t lie,
don’t commit adultery, don’t be jealous. It’s not good for you, you’ll
hurt yourself eventually (and others of course).
If we lie, people won’t trust us anymore even if we speak the truth. In
an emergency this can be very dangerous. I remember a movie where a woman was
pretending to be drowning in a lake, only to be rescued by the man she was in
love with. When she ended up being in real danger this man wouldn’t come to her
rescue because he thought it wasn’t real anyway.
If we murder a person, another person might take revenge or we end up in
jail. It is the same with stealing: If we don’t respect other people’s
possessions, they won’t respect ours. If we don’t honour our parents we are a
bad example for our children. We shouldn’t be surprised then, if they don’t
honour us as parents. If we cheat on our spouse we will very soon be very divorced
and very lonely. If we are jealous all the time people would not want to be
with us anymore. In the end we hurt ourselves.
The commandments help us to protect ourselves and others. The
commandments help us in our relationships by making us more authentic, more
courteous, more encouraging, more respectful, and more hospitable. In one word:
more loving!
Keeping them, and taking them seriously is the expression of the love we
have for God and for one another.
Amen.
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Answers to the trivia
questions:
Harry Potter: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone; Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban;
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix;
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Lost: Hugo, Claire, Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Jin, Sun,
Juliet, Locke, Sayid, Ben, Desmond, Charlotte,
Daniel, Michael and Miles.
Big Mac Ingredients: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce,
cheese, pickles, onion, sesame-seed bun.
10 Commandments (Lutheran Version):
1. you shall have no other gods before me.You
shall not make for yourself an idol
2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God,
3. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it
holy.
4.Honor
your father and your mother,
5. You shall not murder.
6.You shall not commit adultery.
7.You shall not steal.
8.You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s
house; coveting
10. you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave,
or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
