Exodus 19:3-7; 20:1-17
(sermon note: 10-11 sermon note)
3 Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me. 6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”
7 So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the Lord had commanded him.
Then God gave the people all these instructions:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 “You must not have any other god but me.
4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 “You must not murder.
14 “You must not commit adultery.
15 “You must not steal.
16 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a husband and his wife hiking through the woods one day. After a few hours, they ended up at the edge of a cliff. The only way forward was to walk across a very suspicious-looking, old swinging bridge. Ever the hero, the husband turned to his wife and bravely volunteered to go across the bridge first and test its reliability. He was about halfway across and going strong when his wife called out, “Is the bridge stable?” To which the husband shakily responded, “As stable as our marriage. Ignore all the warning signs along the way, everything will be just fine.”
Kind of makes ya wonder…if only us men would actually stop ignoring the warning signs along the way, then perhaps there would be less failed marriages in the world? Of course, I suspect there would be even less failed marriages if women stopped enabling or encouraging their men to stupidly go out on the rickety, old bridge in the first place! Let some other man take the risk, the two of you will find another way to cross the divide together. But what do I know about failed marriages…
But there is an important element of that one that relates to our reading for this morning, the element of stability. We heard last week how Moses similarly brought the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea with nowhere to go. He couldn’t turn back to Egypt because the angry Pharoah was coming for them. They didn’t have any time to go around the sea either, so they were stuck. We heard how God miraculously parted the sea, thus enabling them to cross on dry land. Once safely to the other side, God brought the waters down upon the Egyptians, killing every last one of them. Moses continued leading the Israelites through the wilderness and it wasn’t very long before they were grumbling with hunger pains. Again, God miraculously provided daily manna and quail for them to sustain their bodies. Well, Moses didn’t have much of plan after that so he naturally led the people to the foot of Mt. Sinai so that he could reconvene with God on top of the mountain for further instructions. And this is where our reading for today picks up.
Moses had quite the task laid out for him, to somehow bring God’s people to God’s promised land. They were frightened people, completely unfamiliar with living unstructured lives. Say what we will about the barbarity of slavery, it does provide structure and familiarity. It even manages to provide a large degree of stability. A sick, twisted stability but stability, nonetheless. God understands this all too well. The stability of slavery is nothing but a mirage. Ask any slave who lives in constant fear! No, the familiarity of slavery mustn’t be confused with stability. True stability is only found in freedom and God understands this. When Moses went to God for direction, he was in essence asking for stability for the frightened Israelites. And God once again provided for them in the form of his Ten Commandments.
At their core, all laws seek, or at least should seek, to establish stability amidst the chaos of this world. We need stability for any chance of surviving the chaos of this world. God’s law most certainly provides that stability. We reflected on his commandments earlier this summer, so we know that they serve to stabilize both our relationships with God and our relationships with each other. Relationships themselves can be quite volatile entities. They can be quite chaotic at times. They need rules to set boundaries and expectations. Relationships can’t and WON’T exist without rules! They must have rules and boundaries to enable stability to exist. And we know relationships are so, very important for the existence of anything. God knows this as well as the importance of stability.
Stability allows for peace and harmony within all relationships. Without it, relationships will fail. We need to live in peace and harmony. And our God is a God of stability. What does scripture tell us? Our God is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Heb. 13:8) Actually it says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever but Jesus is God so yeah, like I said. Our God wants us to know stability at all times. As David sang in his 40th psalm, “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” (vs. 2) If He can do it for David, He most certainly do it for you and me! Our God gave the Israelites, and us, his concise commandments to simply stabilize us. Not to restrict us or limit us but to simply stabilize us and our relationships. We need to appreciate them for what they truly are, stabilizers. God doesn’t want to restrict us or limit us. God wants to free us! God wants to save us as we reflected on last week. And God wants us to defeat sin and chaos in this world. Believe it or not, it isn’t impossible to overcome sin and chaos. All we have to do is obey God and his commands and place our trust in him. As the prophet Isaiah boldly proclaimed, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thought are fixed on you!” (26:3) We simply need to trust and stay fixed on him!
By trusting in him, we will naturally live righteously. And guess what? Jesus says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matt. 6:33) All that we could ever possibly need comes from trusting in God. His commandments provide a much-needed stability to our lives and our relationships. Let us honor them faithfully and always give thanks for them. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
