Creekside Church Sermon of March 26, 2000 "Keeping the Ten Commandments" Exodus 20:1-17	Rev. David Bibbee
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Since the ruling that the commandments can stay put, at least for the time being, the intensity of the debate has diminished, but there still remains sharp divisions over the matter that may intensify because there are now efforts under way to have the ten commandments displayed in the Elkhart community schools. Since the Bible lectionary text for today includes the Ten Commandments, I decided this would be a good time to share thoughts on this matter.

First let me say that championing the cause of the commandments is understandable, given the state of our society. There is no longer an agreed upon moral center from which individuals and societies operate. Ethical absolutes are now approximations. Society suffers from a moral malaise which has weakened the family and fidelity.

Institutions both small and large are rife with corruption. Our public schools have changed from being centers of learning to shooting galleries. If more people lived by these lessons than their own desires, ours would be a better world. But displaying commandments outside government buildings or in schools alone will not do it.

Soon after the suit to remove the commandments was filed, a young Christian couple camped out at the site and vowed to remain as long as necessary to keep the monument in place. They were interviewed on a local news cast and said that God had told them to take this action, and then said that God would take the lives of those responsible for removing the commandments. I thought to myself, "God must be getting pretty desperate to be so concerned about a piece of granite in Elkhart, Indiana."

Let's suppose the scriptural text chiseled on the granite came not from the Bible, but from the Koran, or the Bhagavad Gita, or the Tibetan Book of the Dead? What message would that communicate to you? The Ten Commandments are a Jewish text, and correct me if I am wrong, but I didn't hear of any Jewish groups supporting the monument's presence. None of my Jewish acquaintances have "Keep the ten commandments" stickers on their cars. This should tell us something.

The Church of the Brethren, the Mennonites, the Methodists and Presbyterians and many other Christian churches affirm the separation of church and state. The job of the government is to govern and provide for the good of all people. The job of the church is to change the world one at a time. Some of the darkest periods of history came about when the church and the state saw their mission as one in the same. Our primary identity is not as citizens of the state but as children of God's kingdom. In Christ we are a chosen race, God's own people, called to declare the wonderful works of Him who called us out of the darkness and into the light. The Ten Commandments are a totally trustworthy foundation for life, but the commandments do not need government endorsement. I believe in the necessity of teaching children to pray, but not in public schools. The church is in a sad, sad state if it must rely on the government and the schools to help it do its job.

I want to make the case for learning and rooting our lives in the wisdom of the Ten Commandments. Their power doesn't come from being carved in stone or being matted and framed on the wall of some public school. To be effective, they must be written upon our hearts.

Over the centuries some bold claims have been made about the Ten Commandments. In Judaism there are 613 different laws, and a famous rabbi once said, "All the 613 commandments are contained in the Ten Commandments." Martin Luther once said, "Anyone who knows the Ten Commandments perfectly knows the entire scripture." That's quite a claim to declare that all Biblical truth is contained within the span of seventeen verses. The first four verses have to do with our relationship to God:

You shall have no other Gods before me. You shall not make a graven image. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

These commandments have to do with how we worship God. The next six provide the boundaries for our relationships with others:

Honor your father and mother. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery, steal, bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or house.

We could call them, "The essential guide to getting along with God and others." But the Ten Commandments aren't just a guide. In the first five books of the Bible there are two kinds of law... conditional and absolute. Conditional law states that if this happens, then that will be the legal consequence. Absolute law on the other hand is "No ifs, ands, or buts" law. You shall. You shall not. No exclusionary clauses. No "You shall not commit adultery, unless you're really in love." No "Thou shalt not steal, unless it's something no one will miss." Live by the commandments and you will live. Disregard them, and deal with the consequences.

Exodus 20 is not a moral code. It is not just rules of conduct. It is a gift. See how the commandments are introduced. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of bondage..."

God is not just the creator who got everything going and then settled back on the Lazy Boy recliner of eternity. God is not a detached observer who simply watches how everything evolves. God cares. God listens. God loves. Therefore, God acts. God called Israel to be his people. God delivered them from slavery and established a covenant between them. Exodus 19: 3 says, "I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the people. The whole world is mine, but you shall be for me a holy nation."

As codes of conduct go, the Ten Commandments is a great one. But so is the Boy Scout oath and the Rotary Club fourfold truth. The Ten Commandments is far greater. It is God's gift and our vocation. The world lives by its standard. We live by God's. The commandments aren't just words fashioned into rules. Someone is behind them... someone who hasn't left us to figure things out for ourselves. God isn't just a rule giver. God is a life giver, and it is our vocation to bear witness to Him.

Charles Schwab, president of the world's largest independent steel company, dead. He lived the last five years totally broke. Sam Insull, president of the world's largest utility company. Dead. Penniless in a foreign land, a fugitive from justice. Howard Hopson. President of the world's largest gas company. Insane. Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator. Died broke. Committed suicide. Leon Fraser, president of the Bank of International Settlements. Committed suicide. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange. A felon. Sing Sing Prison. Albert Fall, a member of the president's cabinet. Dying. Pardoned from prison to die at home. Jesse Livermore, the greatest bear on Wall Street. Committed suicide.

Moses told the people of Israel, "See...the Lord has set before you this day life and death, so choose life, that you and your descendants may live." The commandments were given by God as a gift of life. The first focus is not upon the commandments themselves, but upon the One who gave them. "I am the Lord your God...who brought you out of the house of slavery." But how well we do at "keeping" the commandments depends on our view of God.

God is a redeeming God to us in our hour of need, but there are may Christians whose picture of God won't let them experience the commandments as a breath of life. Too many of us picture God as a policeman who is always following us two car lengths behind, waiting for us to commit a violation so he can, with sadistic pleasure, jump on us with a penalty just right for our infraction. But who wants to draw close to a God like this?

I like Bruce Larson's analogy of God as a Coast Guard Commander who has gone to the trouble of placing markers designed to keep is in the safety of the channel as we navigate our way toward safe water. He has given us a way to avoid the reefs and shoals that can ground us. He guides us around the dangers, and when we do run aground, as all of us in the course of our lifetimes will do, he is ready to rescue us and lead us on.

The commandments are concise and to the point, but notice there is not a lot of detail about their application. This is why we come together each week to worship, pray, and reflect upon what it means to be the people of God. The church is where the commandments belong. The commandments cannot be taken from the synagogue or the church. They are not found on tablets of stone, but on the hearts of believers in the community of faith who are guided by a commander whose face looks a lot like Jesus.

I read about a young boy who received his religious training in the Presbyterian Church. He was deeply influences by a Sunday School teacher who taught the Westminster Confessions which begins, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." The boy was enthralled with the thought that life had a purpose and that the enjoyment of God and life was at the heart of it. However, he made the mistake of sharing his enthusiasm with the important adults in his life who weren't so confident and enthusiastic about the boy's insight. In time, his enthusiasm died. It was replaced by burdensome obligation. Years later he decided he should rewrite the Westminster Confession to read, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and endure him forever."

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