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“MORE THAN SUGGESTIONS – Part Two”
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE TEXT:
EXODUS 20:1-17

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 2, 2009

SCRIPTURE TEXT:  1 And God spoke all these words: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me.” 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” 7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” 8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” 12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” 13 "You shall not murder.” 14 "You shall not commit adultery.” 15 "You shall not steal.” 16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

MESSAGE:  Last week I began a sermon message on the Ten Commandments.  Of late the Ten Commandments have been a subject of much public debate in our nation.  Virtually everyone in this room, I strongly suspect, thinks very highly of the Ten Commandments.  But, being brutally honest, few here really know these great Ten Commandments -- as given by God Himself.  Thus my purpose in these two messages, the first of them last week and the second today, is simple and basic: I desire to teach you the Ten Commandments.  That way, you won’t ever have to “guess” at what God’s basic requirements of us are – you’ll know them!

Acknowledging that remembering a “list” of ten items might be difficult for some of us, I’ve attempted to help you by breaking down this overall “long” list into three shorter lists:  vertical, bridge, and horizontal commandments.  There are three vertical commands, two bridge commands, and five horizontal commands.

The first three commandments are “vertical,” which is to say they govern human relationships to God.  The first command is “You shall have no other gods before Me.”  God is jealous; He demands to be number one -- and number only – in our lives.  The second command, in short form, is “no idolatry.”  Nothing in this world can be allowed to become the focus of that sincere and unique devotion which is due only to God Himself.  The third command is, “You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God.”  The Name above all other names which we, as Christians, have been given and by which we call upon God is “Jesus.”  Jesus is a worthy and wonderful name, a name always to be spoken with reverence – never as a swear word.

The next two commandments are “bridge” commands – they include both godly and human concerns.  Commandment number four is “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”  One-seventh of the time we enjoy here on earth is to be different from the other six-sevenths.  Business-as-usual is to be set aside; God is to be worshipped.  Commandment number five is “Honor your father and your mother – and God will prolong your days.”  Our parents are worthy of honor, not for what they do or don’t do, but simply for who they are.  God says so – and God promises length of days in return for honor shown to one’s parent.

That’s where we stopped last Sunday, exactly halfway through the great Ten.  Today we move into new territory:  the final five commandments.  These are all “horizontal” commands, which is to say they govern our human relations with other humans.

Commandment six is “You shall not murder.”  Life is precious – it’s a gift from God Himself, the most basic gift God offers to each and every human being.  Life is only God’s to give, and only His to take.  When another human intentionally takes a human life, that’s murder, and murder is forbidden by God.  Most of us understand this.  Thankfully, the crime of murder is still considered a grave offense by both sacred and secular society.  The major problems associated with this commandment today don’t concern what most of us term “murder.”  Rather, multiple predicaments are being created by our secular society’s dabbling in issues of life and death – encroaching upon God’s sovereign territory.  At one end of the human age spectrum the dilemma is abortion, at the other euthanasia.  And in both arenas we meddling humans have already made so many mistakes that it should be obvious to us all that life and death issues really are best left in the hands of the author of life – God.  You shall not murder.

Commandment seven:  “You shall not commit adultery.”  Let me be exacting and correct with definition here:  Adultery is sexual intercourse by a currently married person outside the bonds of that marriage.  There’s lots of sexual sin in our world, and every such sin misses the mark of God’s desire for human perfection.  But adultery, in God’s sight, is in a class by itself – a class that sinks to the level of requiring inclusion in the great Ten Commandments.  Sexual relations outside the bonds of marriage, for the currently married, is adultery.  It’s not an “affair,” a “fling,” or a “temporary liaison.”  It’s adultery – and adultery is abhorrent to God.

The eighth commandment is “You shall not steal.” This is a command that probably shouldn’t require a whole lot of explanation.  If something doesn’t belong to you, don’t take it.  Walking out of Wal-Mart with a pair of gloves you didn’t pay for is stealing.  Most church people understand this, so they don’t do it.  But what about stealing in other, less tangible ways?  What about copying a file of music that you like off the internet?  If you don’t pay for it, you’re stealing from the artist who wrote that song -- and who depends on royalties from the sales of his songs to make a living.  What about cheating on your income tax?  That’s stealing from all your neighbors, because the burden of what you owed, but didn’t legitimately pay, has to be spread around to every other U. S. citizen.  What about underfunding a pension plan for your workers so that your stockholders can receive a higher quarterly dividend – and grant you a bigger bonus as company CEO?  That’s stealing, too, on a very large scale.  There’s a lot of theft that goes on in our world today, and most of it is way beyond taking a candy bar off the shelf at a 7-11 and walking out with it.  But that’s where it all starts.  Jesus said that those who are trustworthy in the small things are likely to be trustworthy in the big ones – and those who steal small are likely to steal big.  So be careful not to steal even in the tiniest way.  You shall not steal.

Commandment number nine:  “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  The shortened form of this one is usually rendered as “No lying.” And while that’s certainly not a bad rendering of the intent behind this commandment,  the actual commandment itself, like the seventh commandment specifically against adultery, is not written to cover any and all forms of lying.  Rather, it envisions a courtroom scene wherein one is under oath to tell the truth – but lies in order gain advantage over his or her neighbor.  Elsewhere in the Bible God expresses His distaste for liars of all stripes.  But lying when under oath to tell the truth in a court of law, like adultery among other sexual sins, is so serious as to warrant a place among the great Ten.

The tenth great Commandment is “You shall not covet….anything that belongs to your neighbor.”  We don’t use the word “covet” very often in day-to-day speech, so this is often a misunderstood commandment.  Simply admiring your neighbor’s new car and saying to yourself, “I sure wish I had a car like that” is not covetousness.  Were that the case, every human being would be guilty of breaking this commandment dozens of times daily.  These great Ten Commandments are not intended to cover “garden variety” human failings, but only the most serious disturbances of God’s plan for human perfection.  Covetousness moves beyond mere desire or even envy – it implies a single-minded fixation, an obsession that will stop at nothing until the focus thereof is acquired.  When you become so infatuated with your best friend’s husband that you are determined to steal him away from her by hook or crook, that’s coveting.  And it’s forbidden by God.  “You shall not covet.”

The Ten Commandments.  Let’s review them once more:
1.   No other gods.
2.   No idolatry.
3.   No misuse of God’s Name.
4.   Remember and keep holy the Sabbath.
5.   Honor your parents.
6.   No murder.
7.   No adultery.
8.   No stealing.
9.   No false witness.
10. No coveting.

Again, as I said last week, none of these commandments is a “suggestion.”  They aren’t merely “good advice” from the preacher to the congregation.  Rather, they are God’s expectations for His people.  They’re commandments.  Learn them well – and keep them, people of God.  Amen.

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