Tawa Baptist

Prevention

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:20; 7:25; Exodus 20:17; Matthew 6:19-24

Video Link: https://youtu.be/CtbHmRzQrW0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Do not covet – it’s about prevention
  • Taking care of yourself
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Have you ever stood on the edge of a cliff and been tempted to take a peak over the side? It’s a pretty risky thing to do. You could slip and fall. You could be caught by a gust of wind and lose your balance. Or the ground on which you are standing may give way and take you with it. The smart thing to do is stay well away from the edge, then you eliminate the risk of falling.  

Today we continue our series in Deuteronomy. We are up to that part (in chapter 5) where Moses reiterates the ten commandments of Yahweh. This morning our focus is the last command, in verse 21, which can be summarised as you shall not covet.

The word covet means to desire strongly, yearn for or set your heart on something that belongs to someone else. Coveting, therefore, is about one’s inner life. It is not so much an action, but rather the thought and feeling (or the

motivation) that precedes the action.

Do not covet – it’s about prevention:

The command to not covet is like a fence at the top of the cliff which prevents you going anywhere near the edge. If you can keep the command to not covet, then you won’t come close to breaking any of the other commandments. Do not covet is that stitch in time that saves nine. It is that ounce of prevention that is better than a pound of cure.

The command to not covet requires us to take care of our heart; to pay attention to the workings of our inner life, our thoughts and feelings and desires. But before we get into taking care of our inner life, let’s look more closely at the actual wording that goes with the command to not covet.

In Deuteronomy 5, we read…   

21 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife.

You shall not set your desire on your neighbour’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”

As you know by now, the ten commandments were given twice in the Bible. Firstly, in Exodus 20, at Mount Sinai near the beginning of Israel’s time in the wilderness and then a second time, in Deuteronomy 5, nearly 40 years later when the people of Israel were preparing to enter the Promised Land.

Both versions are written from a patriarchal perspective and so they probably make us cringe a little bit today. But the wording reflects the reality of that time. Three to four thousand years ago men tended to be the ones in charge and women were generally subservient to men.

I don’t think God (or Moses) was meaning to exclude women with this commandment. Nor is this an endorsement of patriarchal culture.

To the contrary, the law was given to protect women and other vulnerable people, from abuse by those in power (and men held most of the power). If a man decided he wanted someone else’s wife or house or servant, it was usually the women and children who suffered the most.

So women are not excluded from this commandment. Translating this for our own contemporary context we would say that no one should covet.

We need to avoid a literalistic interpretation. The examples given in this commandment are not exhaustive, they are by way of illustration. Not many people own an ox or a donkey these days but if you are a farmer then you probably own a tractor (which is equivalent to an ox) and most of us own a car (which is equivalent to a donkey).    

When we put the Exodus version alongside the Deuteronomy version we notice, they are not exactly the same. In the Exodus version, wives are lumped together with houses and donkeys. But in Deuteronomy 5, wives come first and are treated separately from houses and livestock.

It appears like something happened those 40 years in the wilderness that changed the way men think.  

In Christian tradition, the Catholics and Lutherans have followed Deuteronomy and treated the injunction to not covet as two separate commandments. That is: you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife is the ninth commandment and you shall not set your desire on your neighbour’s stuff is the tenth commandment.  

The Protestant tradition has followed Exodus and lumped everything together, which lends itself to being misunderstood.

I prefer the Deuteronomy version and am treating wives separately from chattels. We dealt with the command to not covet your neighbour’s spouse a few weeks ago, when we talked about adultery and doing the Wordle on the train, so there is no need to cover that again today.

This morning’s message focuses more on the second part of Deuteronomy 5, verse 21, about not coveting your neighbour’s house and contents. If you don’t set your heart on your neighbour’s stuff you will avoid falling off the cliff edge of murder, adultery, theft and lying.

Although there is a direct connection between coveting and the other commandments, coveting is unique in that it is a secret sin. No one can witness you coveting, like they might see you stealing or hear you lying. Which means you can’t face legal proceedings or go to jail for coveting.

Yet this does not make coveting any less dangerous. If anything, the internal, hidden nature of coveting makes it more dangerous. With coveting the poison is inside you. It’s not like dirt on your hands which you can wash off. Coveting is more like sugar in your petrol tank; it wrecks your engine.

Coveting is insidious in that it undermines the foundation of our relationships, not just our relationship with our neighbour but also our relationship with God. Coveting can lead to idolatry, the worship of things God has made.

In Deuteronomy 7 we read:  25 The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire. Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it…  

In the context of Deuteronomy 7, Moses is instructing the Israelites to destroy Canaanite religion because it is like acid to the human soul and therefore detestable to God.

Jesus was well aware of the danger of coveting. He saw the connection between coveting and idolatry. In Matthew 6, Jesus warned against the dangers of setting your heart on earthly wealth. From verse 19 we read…

19 “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. 20 Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. 21 For your heart will always be where your riches are.

22 “The eyes are like a lamp for the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; 23 but if your eyes are no good, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly dark it will be!

 24 “You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Jesus is warning against the dangers of greed and material wealth here. Although he doesn’t explicitly use the word ‘covet’ in these verses, it is implied by the little parable about the eyes being a lamp for the body. We tend to covet things with our eyes. We see it, we want it.

Jesus is speaking metaphorically. A person’s eyes, in this context, refer to that person’s perception of others. So the phrase, ‘if your eyes are sound’, means if your perception or your way of looking at others is generous, warm and open hearted, then your body will be full of light. You will have a right perspective and generally be happier, in other words.

But if your eyes are no good, that is: if you look at others with meanness of spirit or if you look at others with greedy or coveting eyes, thinking how can I take advantage of this person for my own ends, then you will be filled with darkness. You will lose perspective and become cynical, cold and suspicious of others.

Greed, coveting, love of money, all goes hand in hand with idolatry, with the worship of things God has made, things that are beneath us. And when we worship the things God has made (rather than God himself) we tend to devalue our neighbour who is made in God’s image.

Okay, so we have talked about what coveting is and how dangerous it is as a gateway to all sorts of evil. The purpose with the command to not covet is to prevent us from breaking any of the other commandments. How then can we avoid coveting?

Taking care of ourselves:

Well, four things you can do to take care of yourself and guard against coveting: Renew, Reflect, Remember and Relax. Renew your mind. Reflect on your true desires. Remember who you serve. Relax and enjoy what you have.

In Romans 12, Paul says: 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Renewing your mind is about thinking well. It’s about replacing the lies we tell ourselves with the truth.

For example, if the pattern of this world is, I must make lots of money and be rich in order to be secure, then renewing your mind means changing the script and replacing the lie with the truth, namely: Security comes through right relationships with others. Therefore, taking care of my relationships needs to be the priority.       

Or, if the pattern of this world is, I must be successful in the eyes of others in order to be accepted, then renewing your mind means changing the script and replacing the lie with the truth, namely: God accepts me in Christ. I need to be faithful. What other people think of me is none of my business. 

The trouble with the pattern of this world is that we don’t usually recognise it at first, because it is all we know. We often believe the lie to be true. What lies do you believe in? What truth do you need to replace these lies with?

Reflecting on your true desires is the second thing you can do to guard against coveting.  

Augustine wrote in his Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Or, as Bono puts it, ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’.

Sometimes we think we know what we want but when we get it, we are still dissatisfied, still hungry for more. Which tells us we didn’t really understand our true desire in the first place. Our desires are like an onion or a Russian doll, they have layers. 

For example, we might think we want a fourth and fifth glass of wine when what we really want is someone to love us. While the wine does numb the pain temporarily, no amount of alcohol can take away loneliness.

Rather than reacting to every desire that raises it head (like a game of whack a mole) we do better to press pause and reflect on what our true desire is, the deeper underlying desire.

Most of our desires are perfectly legitimate in themselves. The desire for intimacy, the desire for identity and belonging. The desire for our lives to have lasting significance. Nothing wrong with these. The problem is the way we might try to satisfy those desires.  

Take the desire for affection. Nothing wrong with wanting affection. But if we try to satisfy our desire for affection by pursuing someone else’s spouse, then people get hurt. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be accepted. But if we try to satisfy our desire for acceptance by harming someone else’s reputation, then our belonging is based on a lie.

The point is, sometimes bad behaviour is driven by legitimate desires. Before we react to every little craving, we need to reflect on what it is we really want and find a better strategy for meeting those desires.    

For example: If you want to belong, build trust. If you want intimacy, find the right person to be vulnerable with. If you want your life to have meaning, love God and love your neighbour. If you want to be wise, listen more than you talk. If you want to be great, become the servant of all. If you want to be righteous, look to Jesus to justify you.        

Augustine believed the deepest desire of all, the hunger that drives every other hunger, is our desire to be reunited with God. Our heart (our inner life) is restless until it finds its rest in God. Jesus came to give us that rest. He came to reunite us with God.

For most of us that reunion with God is a slow train coming. Becoming a Christian doesn’t automatically mean the end of all wanting. God is faithful and gives us what we need to be sure. But he doesn’t always give us what we want. We have to wait for Jesus’ return before we can fully realise true rest from desire.

In the meantime, we do well to ask ourselves: what are the deeper desires driving my behaviour? What is it I really want? And, do I need better strategies for managing those desires?

The third thing you can do to avoid coveting is to remember who you serve. 

In Deuteronomy 5, as part of the Sabbath commandment, we read…        

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 

This verse (along with much of Deuteronomy) is an instruction to the people of Israel to remember who they serve. The Israelites no longer serve a tyrant like Pharaoh. Nor do they serve themselves. They serve the Lord God Almighty, who is both powerful and kind.

Yahweh set Israel free from Egypt in order to be his holy people. Likewise, Jesus has set us free from sin and death so that we can be God’s holy people too. We are not set free to do whatever we want. We are set free to serve God’s purpose.

Remembering who you serve is closely related to remembering who you are. In the gospels of Matthew & Luke we read how Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

The evil one did not tempt Jesus with obvious sins like murder or adultery. Satan appealed to Jesus’ desires by trying to entice Jesus to covet. ‘If you are the Son of God, satisfy your hunger by turning these stones into bread. Make a name for yourself by jumping off the temple. Get power for yourself by worshipping me.’

But Jesus wasn’t buying any of it. Jesus remembered who he was and who he served. Interestingly, the Scriptures Jesus used to resist Satan come from Deuteronomy chapters 6-8.

Where Israel failed in the wilderness, Jesus made good on their behalf. Where we fail in our times of testing, Jesus makes good on our behalf. And so we belong to Christ, we serve Jesus.

We remember who we are and who we serve by maintaining simple rhythms like daily Bible reading, giving thanks to God before every meal, spending quality time with other believers, and not letting ourselves become too busy but making space to be still.        

So the question is, what rhythms (or spiritual disciplines) do you maintain to remind yourself that you serve Jesus?

We are talking about how we take care of ourselves in order to avoid coveting. Renew your mind. Reflect on your true desires. Remember who you serve, and fourthly, relax, enjoy what you have.

God didn’t give us the ten commandments to make our lives more stressful or difficult. When applied properly, God’s Law supports human flourishing and indeed the flourishing of all creation.  

Distress is one of the hidden costs of coveting. Wanting what we can’t have creates a pressure in us. It puts us on edge. It robs us of our peace and joy. We are generally happier when we relax and enjoy what we already have, rather than chasing after something we can’t have.

In Mark 2, Jesus says: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. We are not machines. God did not make us to stay ‘on’ all the time. The Lord provides one day off in seven for us to relax and enjoy what we have.

When we practice Sabbath, when we take time off to relax, we find that many of those desires which are unhelpful, evaporate, like the morning mist after sunrise. God’s law supports the flourishing of his creation.  

I wonder then, how do you relax? Do you practice Sabbath, taking one day off in seven. What is it you do for enjoyment?

Conclusion:

In Psalm 37 we read…

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Much of what we set our heart on in this life doesn’t last. Houses, cars, career, status, reputation. These sorts of things are here today, gone tomorrow. But the Lord is forever.

Delighting yourself in the Lord is about taking pleasure in God himself. It’s about loving the giver more than his gifts. It’s about being mindful of God’s grace in the present and not longing for the past or worrying about the future.

Delighting in the Lord is the fence at the top of the cliff, preventing us from coveting. Delighting in the Lord renews our mind and puts us in touch with our true desires, most of all the desire to be close to God. Delighting in the Lord reminds us of who we serve and who we are. What’s more, delighting in the Lord enables us to relax and enjoy what we have.

Let us pray…

Father God, your ways are life to us. Forgive us for the times we pursue things we shouldn’t. Help us to think well and find our contentment in you. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • In what sense is the command to not covet like a fence at the top of the cliff?
  • How does coveting affect our relationship with God? How does coveting affect our relationship with our neighbour? How does coveting affect us personally (internally)?
  • What does it mean to ‘renew your mind’? How do we go about renewing our mind? What lies do you believe in? What truth do you need to replace these lies?
  • How might we identify our true desires? What underlying desires are driving your behaviour at present? What strategies do you have for managing those desires?  Do you need some better strategies? 
  • Why did Jesus set us free? What rhythms (or spiritual disciplines) do you maintain to remind yourself that you serve Jesus? Are these rhythms an effective reminder? If not, what needs to change?
  • How do you relax? What do you enjoy? Make a list of the good things in your life. How might you best enjoy / celebrate these good things?

In Exodus 20 we read…

17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”

Tawa Baptist

Honesty

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:20; 19:15-19

Video Link: https://youtu.be/_3dB1FprMWo

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Honesty promotes justice in the court room
  • Honesty promotes trust in the neighbourhood
  • Honesty promotes humility in the heart  
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Let’s begin with a simple multi-choice question. When was the first time you can remember telling a lie? Were you: A. under the age of 10; B. over the age of 10; C. I have never told a lie; Or D. I can’t remember, it was too long ago.  

I expect most people would answer either A. under 10 or D. I can’t remember. If you answered C. (that you have never told a lie) then you are either Jesus or you are telling a porky. Lying is probably the easiest, most inclusive, all-age sin there is. Almost anyone can lie. And, eventually, everyone does.

Today we continue our series in Deuteronomy. We are up to that part (in chapter 5) where Moses reiterates the ten commandments of Yahweh. This morning our focus is the command, ‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour’, in verse 20.

The general aim with this commandment is to be honest and tell the truth. Honesty promotes justice in the courtroom, it promotes trust in the neighbourhood and being honest with ourselves promotes humility in the heart.

Honesty promotes justice in the courtroom:

In the context of the ten commandments, you shall not give false testimony is primarily about not lying in a court of law. Or not perverting the course of justice in other words.   

For society to function in a peaceful way there needs to be justice. And justice depends on people being honest and telling the truth. In the ancient world they didn’t have forensic science like we do. They weren’t able to check for finger prints or DNA and so eye witnesses were essential for providing evidence.

In Deuteronomy 19, verse 15, we read…

15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

The requirement for two or three witnesses (whose testimonies agree) provided a safe guard against miscarriages of justice. However, this safeguard was not full proof. It was still possible for two or three dishonest people to conspire against an innocent third party. And so Deuteronomy 19 goes on to say…

16 If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, 17 the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. 

We see a number of examples of false witnesses in the Scriptures. One such example is found in the book of Esther.

There we read how Haman trumped up false charges against Mordecai. Haman was so confident of his plot he constructed gallows in anticipation of Mordecai being found guilty. As it transpired, Haman’s false testimony was uncovered and Haman himself was hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

Perhaps the most famous example of people bearing false witness though was at the trial of Jesus. In Matthew 26 we read…

59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 60 But they did not find any [who could agree], though many false witnesses came forward.

Ironically, Jesus was put to death for giving truthful testimony about himself. When the high priest asked Jesus if he was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus replied, “Yes, it is as you say.” No one in that court believed him, despite the evidence of his miracles, his fulfilment of Scripture and his followers.    

Okay, time for another multi-choice question. You don’t have to put your hand up for this one by the way. Simply consider what you might do. Here’s the scenario…

Your best friend was involved in a car crash but fled the scene before the police arrived so they could not test his blood for alcohol. You were seen with your friend at the pub the night of the crash but you were not in the car at the time. You are required to take the stand in court as a witness.

The prosecution asks if you saw your friend drinking the night of the crash. You answer ‘yes’. Then they ask you, how much was he drinking? You know that it was enough to put him over the limit but you don’t want to make things worse for your best mate. How do you answer?

Do you: A. tell the whole truth, it was four jugs of beer and two shots of tequila; B. fudge the truth to cover for him, it was only half a pint of beer; C. Lie by saying you can’t remember; Or D. remain silent and refuse to answer.

In this scenario you are not being tempted to get someone into trouble for something they haven’t done. You are being tempted to withhold the truth in order to protect a friend who is clearly in the wrong. Is it okay to do that?

Well, no. When Deuteronomy 5, verse 20, talks about giving ‘false’ testimony, the word false, means empty testimony. As Daniel Block explains, the concern is testimony that does not move the case forward, that hedges the truth or detracts from the pursuit of justice with misleading or trivial responses. [1]

In the context of a courtroom, the purpose with the command to not give false testimony is to ensure justice is done. Fudging the truth or leaving out crucial facts or pretending you can’t remember or saying nothing, are not allowed if those strategies derail the course of justice.

Okay, so we’ve talked about not giving false testimony in the context of formal legal proceedings. What about outside of a court of law. How does the command to not give false testimony apply in the neighbourhood? And by the neighbourhood we mean in the home, at school, in the work place, in your street, and so on.    

Honesty promotes trust in the neighbourhood:

In Leviticus 19 we read: Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.

And, jumping ahead to the New Testament, in Ephesians 4 we read: Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour… 

These verses are talking about being honest in our everyday relationships with the people in our neighbourhood. If the primary purpose of being honest in a court of law is to promote justice, then the primary purpose in being honest with our neighbours is to promote trust.

The air in the atmosphere we breathe is about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other gases. As much as we need oxygen to survive, too much oxygen is harmful. In fact, breathing pure oxygen will kill you.

Honesty is like oxygen to the atmosphere of our relationships. We need honesty in our relationships. Honesty keeps trust alive. But too much honesty will kill the relationship. Honesty needs to be tempered with the nitrogen of discretion.

Discretion is not lying. Discretion is choosing when to speak and when to hold your tongue for the sake of the relationship; for the sake of trust.

For example, if you meet a friend at a café and as part of the conversation say, very loudly so everyone can hear, ‘how are your hemorrhoids?’ Or, ‘your breath smells really bad’. Or, ‘that dress makes you look fat’ Or, something else that might be honest but also embarrassing for them, then you will undermine trust and kill the friendship. There is such a thing as being too honest.

Being honest doesn’t give us a license to disclose other people’s business. In the context of the neighbourhood, honesty needs to be tempered with discretion, otherwise no one will trust you.

Imagine you are waiting by the coffee cart on the Main Road here in Tawa when one of the cool kids, someone quite successful and generally liked by everyone, starts talking with you while you are waiting for your morning fix. The conversation begins innocently enough but then takes a turn for the worse.

This popular person, who you admire, starts talking about another person’s failure behind their back. There may be some foundation to what they are saying but it is not entirely true and it certainly is not kind, much less anyone else’s business. How do you respond?

Do you: A. collude with them by agreeing; B. listen and say nothing; C. call them out (and correct them); or D. subtly change the topic of conversation.     

I guess most of us would like to think we had the courage to call them out and correct them, even though that might make us the target of their gossip with someone else. But I imagine most (if not all) of us have employed all four strategies at one point or another.

In 1st Corinthians 13, Paul describes the most excellent way, saying…

5 Love does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, 

Honesty can be a brutal thing, if it is not motivated by love. We may harm others with our words and then justify ourselves by saying, ‘I was just keeping it real’ or ‘I was only being honest’.  Yes, love rejoices with the truth. But that does not mean love is insensitive or that it takes pleasure in seeing people hurt.

The truth is too big for any of us to know. We don’t have the full picture and so we need to be honest with ourselves and admit the limits of our understanding. Our words need to be motivated by love and humility. We must be careful not to dishonour others with our words. We need to protect the reputation of others.

As a teacher, Robyn sometimes has kids coming to her telling tales. She poked her tongue out at me. Or he peed in the pool. There may be some truth to these tales but there isn’t much love.

Robyn has an acrostic she uses with the kids in her class. It spells the word THINK. (I’ve shared this with you before.) She tells her kids to THINK before they speak. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? And is it Kind? If it is true, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind then it is worth saying.  

The apostle Paul summed it up in Ephesians 4 when he said…

Say only the good things people need to hear, that will really help them.

When our words are honest and kind, we foster trust in our relationships. Trust is the foundation really. Without trust there is nothing to build on and the neighbourhood collapses.

These days our neighbourhood is not just a physical place. Many of us also inhabit a virtual online neighbourhood. We live in the information age. There is so much data at our finger tips, on the internet. Unfortunately, not all of it is true. The recent pandemic has revealed the power of misinformation to mislead people and undermine trust.  

Jesus teaches us to be discerning in what we accept as true and what we filter out as false. In Matthew 7, Jesus says…

15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 

Jesus wants us to be discerning about what we accept as true because buying into a lie makes it harder to trust and easier to become cynical.

Okay, so we are talking about the importance of being honest. Honesty promotes justice in the courtroom, it promotes trust in the neighbourhood and being honest with ourselves promotes humility in the heart.

Honesty promotes humility in the heart:

Jesus had quite a bit to say about keeping our heart honest. Jesus was particularly tough on religious hypocrisy. A hypocrite is an actor, someone who gets by in life by pretending to be something they are not. Listen to some of the things Jesus said to the religious leaders’ faces, from the gospel of Luke…

39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 

41 But… be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

46“And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

An ignorant person might hear those words and think, Jesus is taking a shot at all professional clergy. But he’s not. Anyone can be a Pharisee. You don’t even have to be a believer to be like the religious leaders Jesus is describing here. Those words fit for anyone who is dishonest with themselves.  

Imagine you are in church singing a worship song. You are finding the song difficult to sing. Not because the music is complicated but because the words are pricking your conscience. All to Jesus, I surrender, all to thee I freely give. I will ever love and trust you, in your presence daily live. I surrender all…

You know in your heart that you are failing to live up to those words. It’s not that you have a sensitive conscience. In fact, your conscience hardly ever bothers you, which (truth be told) is how you like it.

But the Spirit is present, this particular day, and you know Jesus is putting his finger on something in your life, something you would rather not face. Perhaps some dodgey dealings at work or school. Or maybe you are cheating on your boyfriend or being violent with your wife or neglecting your children. 

Whatever it is, do you: A. ignore your conscience and sing louder; B. lip sync without actually singing the words; C. stop coming to church altogether; or D. put things right and return to church the next Sunday to sing with a clear conscience.

Hopefully we would all do D. put things right and sing with a clear conscience. Having said that, I’m all too aware that sometimes we human beings are tempted to use religion as a cloak of invisibility, to hide what’s really going on in our personal lives.

Now, I’m not suggesting we stop singing worship songs in church every time we do something wrong. If we did that, no one would ever be able to sing.

The point is we need to be honest with ourselves and with God. Other people can’t see into our hearts but God can. There is no fooling him. We don’t have to be perfect to call ourselves a Christian but nor can we fake it.

When we mess up we need to confess our wrong doing to the Lord, do what we can to put it right and continue following Jesus in faith, trusting ourselves to God’s grace, without pride or pretence. 

One of the ways we keep our heart honest is through the spiritual discipline of self-examination and confession. Confession is when you tell God (aloud) what you have done wrong. When confession is done well, it releases us from guilt and enables to walk humbly with God.

Trouble is, we don’t always do confession well. We may spend too much time examining our heart and become too critical of ourselves, not allowing any room for grace. Or we might go to the other extreme and charge through life without any self-awareness, leaving a trail of hurt people in our wake.     

When I was a teenager, I remember attending a church service. The guest speaker was talking about the value of confessing our sins to each other. Not wanting to be hypocrites, and perhaps also wanting to unburden their conscience, a number of people got up and confessed their deepest darkest secrets to the whole congregation.

In hindsight, I don’t think that was a good idea. While there is a place for accountability, perhaps with a mentor or in small groups, it doesn’t really work in a bigger gathering. Some people over shared and others didn’t share anything. The whole exercise just made people feel awkward or misunderstood and consequently more disconnected, which defeats the purpose of church.

Confession works best when done in the same context in which we committed the wrong doing. For example, if you lie to a colleague, one on one, then you put that right by confessing the truth to that colleague, one on one. You don’t need to tell the whole church what you did.

However, if you stand up in a church meeting and say something false or hurtful, then you put that right by admitting your mistake in a church meeting. Confession works best when done in the same context in which we committed the wrong doing.    

Conclusion:

We’ve talked this morning about the importance of honesty. Honesty promotes justice in the courtroom, it promotes trust in the neighbourhood and being honest with ourselves promotes humility in the heart.

But are there any circumstances when it is okay to lie? Well, if the purpose in being honest is to promote justice, trust and humility, then we may be forced to lie if telling the truth would undermine justice, trust and humility.

One last multi-choice question to illustrate what I mean. Imagine you live under a ruthless dictatorship, one in which the authorities are hell bent of eradicating anyone with red hair. The ruler of the country has lost his mind. People with even a hint of ginger in their beard are being hunted down and sent into exile on Stewart Island to shuck oysters.

The law is completely ridiculous. Having red hair is not a moral issue. There is no justice in this decree. It undermines human dignity, destroys trust and promotes bigotry and prejudice.

Do you: A. set up a secret hair salon in your basement to dye people’s hair black; B. Dye your own hair red in solidarity; C. lie to the authorities to protect your red headed neighbours; or D. report people with red hair to the police.

I think, in an extreme situation like that, lying to the authorities is (paradoxically) a more honest option than reporting red heads to the police.

(My apologies to people with red hair and anyone living on Stewart Island. I mean no disrespect. I’m 98% sure this scenario would never happen.)

Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for Jesus who shows us what it means to hold grace and truth together. Help us to be honest with you, honest with our neighbours and honest with ourselves. May justice be upheld in our courts of law. May trust be strengthened in our neighbourhoods and may we walk humbly with you. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.  

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • When was the first time you can remember telling a lie? What happened? How did you feel? Were you able to put it right?
  • Why is it important to be honest? What does honesty promote? 
  • Can you recall a time when someone lied to you? What happened? How did you feel? Was your ability to trust affected? If so, how? 
  • How might we handle a situation in which someone talks negatively to us about someone else behind their back? How do we maintain trust?
  • Is it ever okay to lie? If so, under what circumstances? What principles can we use to guide us?
  • How might we keep ourselves honest? What does healthy confession look like in practice? Make some time this week to examine your heart, confess your short fallings to God and make things right with others if necessary.

[1] Daniel Block, NIVAC Deuteronomy, pages 166-167.

Tawa Baptist

Security

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 5:19; 19:14; 23:15-16, 19-20, 24-25; 24:6-7, 10-15, 19-22; 25:13-16 and 1st King 21

Video Link: https://youtu.be/voWPWYrYbm0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Generosity, not greed
  • Security, not anxiety
  • Trust, not threat
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

When I was growing up in the 1970’s people didn’t lock their house during the day. You trusted your neighbours and complete strangers for that matter. If you popped down to the dairy to pick up a bottle of milk, you could leave the keys in your car, with the engine running, and not give it a second thought. You felt safe, like no one was going to pinch your stuff.

It’s not like that now. Almost every week we hear reports of ram raids and smash and grab crimes. Just two weeks ago I noticed a $200 charge on our credit card for something we had not purchased. Theft through the internet. We quickly cancelled the card to stop any further loss.

Many of you have got rid of your landline phones, partly because we use cell-phones now but also because many of the calls we get on our landline are scam artists, trying to weedle their way in our bank account.

It used to make me angry, especially when I thought of someone more vulnerable being taken advantage of. But then I thought, how desperate must someone be if they are having to resort to committing fraud for a living.

Even the post is suspect now. You take a risk sending anything of value in the mail. A number of times we’ve had things going ‘missing’ in the post.   

All these nasty little experiences breed cynicism and anxiety, undermining our sense of security and our ability to trust.

Today we continue our series in Deuteronomy. We are up to that part (in chapter 5) where Moses reiterates the ten commandments or the ten words of Yahweh. This morning our focus is the command, ‘You shall not steal’, in verse 19.

You shall not steal is perhaps one of the broadest commandments. It covers a wide range of activity. On the face of it, you shall not steal affirms the right to own personal property and provides protection for one’s material assets.

When we look at Deuteronomy as whole we get the sense that, you shall not steal is about fostering trust between people. It’s about promoting security in the neighbourhood. The kingdom of God is to be a place of generosity.

Generosity not greed, security not anxiety and trust not threat, this is the kaupapa or the purpose with the command not to steal.

Moses gives heaps of examples of how, you shall not steal, applies in daily life. Let’s start with land. The right use of land has to do with generosity. All too often human greed gets in the way.  

Generosity, not greed:

In Deuteronomy 19 we read: 14 Do not move your neighbour’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

To move a boundary stone is to take land that does not belong to you. These days moving your neighbour’s boundary stone would equate to building a fence in the wrong place, so as to disadvantage your neighbour. In ancient Israel moving a boundary stone reduced your neighbour’s capacity for growing food.

Worse than this though, it was an offence against God. You see, land for the ancient Israelites, was not privately owned by individuals. Land is owned by God.

The Lord allocated portions of the Promised Land of Canaan to the various tribes of Israel. Each tribe and clan and family were to act like kaitiaki or guardians, caretakers of the land entrusted to their care. The section of land you were responsible for was to stay in your family and be passed down from generation to generation.

You could use your allocation of land to graze your sheep or grow your grain but you could never sell the land. If a family fell on hard times they could lease their land, for a specified period of time, to someone else from their tribe (ideally a close relative) but they could never permanently sell it.

As a safe guard, once every 50 years, the allocations of land were to be returned to the original family holdings.

In first Kings chapter 19, we read how king Ahab (arguably the most evil king Israel ever had) wanted to buy Naboth’s vineyard so he could grow vegetables. Ahab basically told Naboth to name his price.

Naboth, who was a regular citizen and also a God fearing man, said ‘no’ to king Ahab. ‘God forbid’ that I ever sell my land to anyone. In Naboth’s mind, Ahab was essentially trying to bribe him to move a boundary stone.

Ahab started sulking around the palace and so his wife, Jezebel, arranged to have Naboth killed so that Ahab could seize Naboth’s field. God responded by sending the prophet Elijah to pronounce judgement on Ahab and Jezebel.

We might wonder how this story applies to us in our world today, because we buy and sell land all the time.

Well, the situation of ancient Israel is not exactly the same as contemporary New Zealand. I don’t think we should interpret the law of Moses to be saying we can’t buy and sell land ever. Selling your house to buy a new one is simply a practical necessity in the world in which we live today.

We need to look deeper than the letter of the law in order to find its spirit. The purpose (or kaupapa) of the law is generosity not greed. The land is one of God’s generous gifts to us. It is part of God’s hospitality to humanity. If we misuse the land for our own selfish gain, then we are essentially treating God’s generosity with contempt. We are stealing from God.

In practical terms, not moving your neighbour’s boundary stone, means people should not be pushed off their land. Big business interests need to give way to people’s welfare. In particular, the real estate of indigenous people needs to be respected and restored where it has been stolen.   

We do well to think of ourselves as caretakers of the land and of our neighbours. With this in view, the idea of protecting fertile land, so it cannot be turned into housing or carparks but rather used to grow crops, is a sensible one. 

The command to not steal also applies to paying a fair price for things. If land is being sold under a mortgagee sale, that is no excuse to drive the price lower in order to get it for a steal (as the saying goes). As believers we need to pay what it is worth. That is what it means to be generous and not greedy.

So, generally speaking, as long as no one is being taken advantage of, it’s okay to buy and sell land in New Zealand today. In any property transaction though, we need to be thinking of how that transaction will affect others.

For Christians, the Promised Land of Canaan is a symbol or a metaphor for the Kingdom of God. Through faith in Jesus we get a share in God’s kingdom. As believers in Christ we are meant to be more attached to Jesus than we are to land. God is our eternal home, our place to belong.

So, not moving a boundary stone (in a spiritual sense) means not abandoning our faith in Jesus. It means not selling out for some temporary short term gain. It means staying loyal to God, like Naboth did.      

Security, not anxiety:

Closely related to this principle of generosity is the idea of security. In Deuteronomy 23 we read…

24 If you enter your neighbour’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket. 25 If you enter your neighbour’s grain field, you may pick kernels with your hands, but you must not put a sickle to their standing grain.

These verses help us to see where the line is drawn between reasonable use and theft. The spirit of the law here is to encourage land owners to be generous, not stingy. At the same time, the law provides a measure of food security for the poor. Generosity and security are held together in these verses.  

In a by-gone era people who were starving in Europe got sent to jail (or to Australia) for stealing a loaf of bread or a handful of potatoes. This kind of hard line punishment against the poor, who are already in a vulnerable position, is not condoned by the Bible. 

That said, I don’t think you can help yourself to grapes and apples when you are walking through the fresh produce section of the supermarket.

It is Moses’ intention to promote security, not anxiety. In Deuteronomy 24 we find another example of food security…

19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 

The Lord Almighty (Yahweh) was generous to his people up front, without them having to do anything to earn his favour. The farmers were to pay Yahweh’s generosity forward by leaving plenty of produce in the field for the poor to collect. Boaz famously did this for Ruth.     

I guess we do something similar when we leave garage sale items outside for the wider community to help themselves to.

When the principles of generosity and security are practiced, the poor do not need to be anxious. Of course, being poor or in need is not the only cause of stealing. Some people will steal anything, without any good reason.

Here, at church, we’ve had brass door latches taken, small shrubs stolen out of the garden and copper pinched off the roof. I’m not sure why people would steal from a church? What I do know is that the cost of those thefts was far greater than the value of the items stolen.

Quite apart from the physical damage burglars do to a building, on forcing entry, there is also the damage a burglary does to one’s soul. I’m talking about the erosion of trust, the heightened anxiety you might experience going into an empty building at night and that feeling of being violated in some way.

Thieves don’t just take your stuff; they can potentially rob you of your peace of mind. Who wants to live in a society where you are always looking over your shoulder, always second guessing your neighbour’s motivation?   

By the same token, when someone takes care of your stuff, it has a restorative effect on your soul. It helps you regain some capacity to trust. It makes you feel more positively connected, more at home in the neighbourhood.

In Deuteronomy 22, we read…

If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner… 

It is not enough simply to avoid stealing. We need to actively protect our neighbour’s stuff. This is about being your brother (or sister’s) keeper. It’s about providing security and reducing anxiety in the neighbourhood.

Probably the worst kind of theft is kidnapping. Taking another human being against their will in order to exploit them in some way. This is also known as people trafficking or slavery.

Literally hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked throughout the world each year. Some are forced into the sex trade and others are made to do manual labour for next to nothing. People trafficking is revolting to God.  

In the case of stolen goods, the law of Moses stipulates that what was stolen be replaced at least two fold. But for the one who steals other people, the prescribed punishment is death. That is how serious it is.   

I don’t expect anyone here is a slave trader as such but we have probably all purchased an item of clothing made by an exploited worker at some point. Perhaps the least any of us can do is buy fair trade goods whenever we can.

The problem is we are disconnected from the supply chain. So it is often impossible to know if we are making ethical purchases.

The slave trade is the opposite of God’s law. Kidnapping for exploitation is greed in an extreme form. It threatens the life of those who are enslaved and it creates anxiety in those who wish to do the right thing.

No one is beyond God’s redemption though. Although Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph was (in the end) able to forgive his brothers saying: What you intended for harm, God intended for good.    

Trust, not threat:  

Okay, so the purpose of God’s command to not steal is to encourage generosity not greed, to promote security not anxiety and to foster trust not threat within the neighbourhood.

Poverty was a real threat for some in ancient Israel. God’s concern and practical care for the poor is seen again and again in Deuteronomy.

For example, in chapter 24, verses 14-15, we read: 14 Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy… 15 Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it.

Sometimes the rich and middle class don’t have too many clues about how the poor live day to day. We may be completely unaware of the realities our neighbours face. God’s law requires us to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and consider things from their perspective.

We need to be thinking, how can I promote security in my neighbourhood? How can I alleviate my neighbour’s anxiety? How can I promote trust? Paying a fair rate in a timely way helps with all three.   

Sometimes, when it is difficult to make ends meet, people may be forced to borrow money. The law of Moses prohibited charging interest on loans to fellow Israelites, although they could charge interest to foreigners.

This might seem like a double standard to us but in all likelihood the foreigners Moses had in mind here were probably not poor. They might be merchants who bought and sold goods for profit. 

So the distinction is between commercial loans and compassionate loans. It is okay to charge a reasonable rate of interest on commercial loans because the borrower is not hard up and they are using your money to make a profit.

But it’s not okay to charge interest on compassionate loans to the poor because that would be profiting from someone else’s misfortune. That would be like stealing from the poor.

A compassionate loan lets people keep their dignity because they are going to pay it back, it’s not charity. At the same time, an interest free loan is generous not greedy. It promotes security and reduces anxiety in the neighbourhood.

Whether the lending is commercial or compassionate, these verses warn against loan sharking and charging unfair rates of interest.

But there is also an encouragement, for those who can afford it, to offer small interest free loans to help family members or fellow believers who are in need. Of course, common sense dictates that you should never lend more than you can afford to lose.       

In verse 6, of Deuteronomy 24, Moses talks about security for debt and how lenders are to relate with those who have borrowed from them. That is, in a trusting way, not in a threatening way. Moses says…

6 Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a person’s livelihood as security.

And, in verses 12-13 we read:12 If the neighbour is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. 13 Return their cloak by sunset so that your neighbour may sleep in it… 

To take someone’s millstone as security for a debt was like taking their fry pan or their bread mixer. It was a threatening thing to do, because without a millstone the poor borrower couldn’t make bread.

Taking a poor man’s cloak as pledge was also a threatening thing to do. Without their cloak they might be too cold to sleep at night.

Moses wants to prevent the haves from intimidating the have nots. He wants people to use their power (their money) to help the poor. This requires lenders to trust God and not threaten people by taking things that are vital for their survival.

Yes, there will be times when you lend to someone and they won’t repay you. Nevertheless, God will act as guarantor for the financially vulnerable. If you loan money in good faith to help someone in need and they fail to repay you, the Lord will see that and credit it to you as a righteous act.

Trust, not threat is the purpose or the kaupapa at work in the law here.  

Another form of theft (which undermines trust) is the use of dishonest weights. Scales that disadvantage the buyer. In Deuteronomy 25, Moses says: 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures… 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who deals dishonestly.

In today’s terms that means more than just having accurate scales. It means not winding the odometer back when selling a second hand car. It means not misleading people about the discount they are getting by inflating the retail price. It means not skimping on the meat in a steak and cheese pie. It means not pumping chickens with water to make them heavier. It means being honest with nutritional information on labels.   

Honest weights support trust. Dishonest weights threaten trust. 

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard how the command not to steal applies in a variety of areas of life. The purpose with this command is to promote generosity and discourage greed. The intention is to create a sense of security in the neighbourhood and reduce anxiety. You shall not steal is also about fostering trust between people and preventing threat.

When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we notice the Lord was not really that attached to material possessions. His main concern was for eternal life with God the Father. Following this train of thought, our greatest love needs to Jesus, for it is in and through Christ that we have eternal life with God. 

When we are more attached to Jesus than things like money, cars, clothes, houses and furniture, then material possessions will hold less sway over us. It’s not that material things are bad. They are useful and we still need them in this world. But at the end of the day we will lose all that stuff anyway. You can’t take it with you. But nothing invested in God’s kingdom is ever lost.

Let us pray…

Gracious God, thank you for your generosity to us. May we be generous like you. Forgive us for the times we have threatened the poor, through our own ignorance and self-interest. Forgive those who have stolen our stuff, robbed our peace of mind and undermined our trust. Holy Spirit, strengthen our attachment to Jesus we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What was the world like when you were growing up as a child? How is it different today?
  • Have you been through the experience of being robbed? What happened? How did you feel / respond? Conversely, have you ever stolen from others? Why did you do this? How did stealing affect you?
  • How might the command not to move your neighbour’s boundary stone apply to us today?
  • In what ways did the law of Moses provide security for the poor? What can we do to strengthen security and reduce anxiety in our neighbourhoods today?
  • Why is the slave trade (kidnapping) so offensive to God?  When is it okay to charge interest on loans and when is it not okay?
  • What practical things can we do to strengthen our attachment to Jesus?
Tawa Baptist

High Fidelity

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:18 and Matthew 5:27-28 & 31-32

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Pva-KR5maAE

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • What is adultery?
  • Strengthening marriage
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Kia ora whanau and good morning everyone.

Normally my messages are rated PG but today’s sermon is more like an R16. Content may disturb. 

If I say the word, Hi-Fi, what am I talking about? [Wait]

That’s right, a Hi-Fi is a stereo system, for playing music. Hi-Fi is short for High Fidelity, meaning high quality sound reproduction.

Fidelity is another word for faithfulness. So a High Fidelity sound system is one which faithfully reproduces the original music to a high standard. A Hi-Fi sound is a pure sound, unadulterated.

Today we continue our series in Deuteronomy. We are up to that part (in chapter 5) where Moses reiterates the ten commandments or the ten words of Yahweh. Today our focus is the command, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, in verse 18.

In actual fact, God wants us to do more than just avoid adultery. His real intention here is for marriage to be high fidelity. Because a high fidelity marriage clearly reproduces the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of God is music to the ears of his creation.

When we look at where adultery is placed among the ten commandments, we see it comes between murder and theft. In some ways, adultery is like murder in that it (usually) kills a marriage and breaks up a family. At the same time, it is also like theft in that it takes something precious that does not belong to you. 

The command prohibiting adultery is about protecting marriage. When you protect marriage, you protect families and when you protect families you strengthen society.  

Our message today puts the instruction of Moses (in Deuteronomy) alongside the teaching of Jesus (in the gospel of Matthew). Broadly speaking, we will look at what adultery is and how we might strengthen marriage.

What is adultery?

First though, what do we mean by adultery? Well, from a contemporary secular perspective, adultery is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her spouse.

Or to put it more plainly, adultery is when a person who is married willingly has sex with someone they are not married to. Usually my sermons come with pictures to illustrate what I mean, but it doesn’t seem appropriate in this case.  

The Bible agrees with the secular definition of adultery, except that Jesus takes it even further.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says…

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

So by Jesus’ (kingdom of God) definition, you don’t need to have sex in order to commit adultery. You can be guilty of adultery without touching anyone. 

Like much of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, the Lord is setting the bar of holiness very high indeed. There are a couple of things to clarify here.

Firstly, Jesus appears to be addressing married men in these verses, for he says anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery. Is he being sexist? Does this mean that only men can commit adultery and that women are not culpable?

No. Jesus is not being sexist. Women are just as capable of adultery as men and can be just as guilty. We need to understand that Jesus was speaking into a patriarchal culture. In a patriarchal society men are in control and women are generally subservient to their husbands. So there is a power imbalance.

As I read it, Jesus is addressing married men because they are the ones with the power. He is telling men to be responsible and use their power to protect their families by guarding against adultery.

At the same time, I think Jesus is undermining a common male prejudice that women are the problem; that women are somehow to blame for adultery. It’s her fault for dressing like that. Or it’s her fault for flirting with me in that way.

Jesus is not having any of that. Guys, you can’t blame women for your own selfish desire. That’s not fair. A man needs to take responsibility for controlling himself. He needs to keep it in his pants, especially in a society where women are not treated equally.  

Okay, so what does Jesus mean by looking at a woman lustfully? Well, lust is the hunger or the desire to possess someone else for your own self-gratification. Let me explain by way of example. And for this example to work you need to think of yourself as married.

You might be taking the train into the city when you notice someone who looks quite attractive. You think to yourself, they’re handsome or they’re beautiful. You don’t stare at them though. You don’t want to possess them for your own self-gratification. Instead you check the emails on your phone and your mind quickly moves on to its next thought. That is not lust or adultery.

But what if, in that scenario, an impure thought momentarily and involuntarily enters your mind. You quickly caste it out with a silent prayer, then distract yourself by doing the daily Wordle. Is that adultery? No. That is not adultery. That is temptation.

Temptation is that thin line between right and wrong. Temptation is the doorway to evil deeds. In the scenario I just described you did not cross the line of temptation. You backed away from it. Well done you.

Okay, so when does it become adultery? Well, you are on the train. You see the beautiful person. An impure thought enters your mind but this time, instead of distracting yourself with the Wordle, you welcome the thought in. You start undressing that person in your mind or you imagine them in the shower. Okay, now stop imagining. (I did warn you, this message is R16.)

If you entertain that kind of fantasy you have crossed the line of temptation and you have committed adultery with that person in your heart. You have wanted to possess that person for your own self-gratification.

You might say, that’s disgusting, I would never think like that. The truth is you don’t know the depths of your own heart. None of us knows what we might do given the opportunity. Remember how king David fell. He watched Bathsheba from a distance as she bathed naked and then he sent for her so he could sleep with her. So he could possess her for his own self-gratification.

Having said that, I don’t want you leave here today thinking, everyone is undressing me with their eyes. Most people are not thinking about you at all.

The point is, we have to be very careful with our thoughts. Thoughts are like seeds. A good thought grows into good actions. But the seed of a bad thought bears the fruit of all sorts of wrong doing. Where lust is the root, adultery is the fruit. Jesus wants us to nip adultery in the bud and prevent wrong doing before it has a chance to bear fruit. 

Choose prevention, not perversion. Choose self-denial, not self-gratification.

We are talking about what adultery is and what it means to look at someone lustfully, because by Jesus’ definition lust qualifies as adultery.

Now at this point some of you may be thinking, what about pornography? How does that fit with Jesus’ definition of adultery? Well, pornography encourages lust. Pornography provides the means for self-gratification. So, by Jesus’ standards, the use of pornography is a form of adultery.

The ancient Greek word for sexual immorality, in a general sense, is porneia, The English word pornography comes from the Greek word porneia. Pornography literally means ‘sexually immoral images’.  

In mainstream media, the use of pornography is accepted as normal and okay, provided it doesn’t involve children. But for Christians no form of pornography is acceptable, whether you are married or single.

Some people might say, ‘What’s the problem with pornography? No one is getting hurt’. That is simply not true. People are being hurt by pornography.

The use of pornography has the potential to destroy a marriage. God’s intention is for a husband and wife to give themselves to each other fully. If the husband is giving part of himself to dirty magazines and dodgey websites, then his wife is not getting the best of him.     

Deeper than this, pornography hurts the one who uses it. The more someone uses pornography the more likely they are to have impure thoughts about random strangers on the train. Pornography distorts our perception. It causes us to see other people as objects for our own self-gratification. Things to consume rather than human beings made in the image of God.

Whether you are married or single, please (for your own sake) do not go down the path of using pornography. It will put you in a prison that is very difficult to escape from.  

Deuteronomy 5, verse 21, reads: “You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife”.

In Catholic and Lutheran tradition, this verse (about not coveting your neighbour’s wife) stands alone as the ninth commandment. It is not lumped together with coveting your neighbour’s house and donkey. Wives are qualitatively different from houses and cars.

In the Greek version of the Old Testament, the word translated as covet is the same word Jesus uses for lust in Matthew 5. Lust / covet, same word in the original Greek. This is because coveting (like lust) is about the hunger or the desire to possess someone or something for our own self-gratification.

The implication here is that adultery isn’t just about sexual desire. Adultery can be about desiring someone else’s spouse for any reason. For example, a woman may covet her neighbour’s husband because he is good at earning money. In that case the lust isn’t sexual, it’s about greed or insecurity.    

Adultery doesn’t always present itself as so obviously evil. More often the temptation to self-gratification presents itself as something good, at first, but we don’t realise the path we are on until too late.

Returning to our train scenario. Imagine someone sits beside you on the train. You don’t have any inappropriate thoughts. You talk about the weather.  A couple of days later you sit together again and they share a few small details of their life. Turns out they work in a government department.

The weeks go by and you look forward to your daily commute. Your train buddy is easy to talk to. You feel comfortable with them. One day, their hand brushes against yours. It feels electric. You wonder if they felt it too. 

You find yourself thinking of them more and more after that. Innocent enough thoughts. You wonder what they might be having for dinner, whether they are watching the same TV programme as you, what they are planning for the weekend, that sort of thing.

Over the course of weeks and months you learn bits and pieces of their story. How their husband or wife left them to raise a child on their own. You feel a kind of empathy for their situation and before long you imagine yourself coming to their rescue, being their white knight or their Fraulein Maria.

Next you find they are populating your every waking thought. You become jealous when you see anyone else talking with them. You start going to the gym more often and eating a little less to get in shape, just in case.

At the same time, you pull away from your own spouse. You stay later at work, you talk less when you come home, you are more irritable with your family and you choose to withhold sex from your husband or wife.

Occasionally, you have a twinge of guilt but it soon passes. How can this be wrong when I feel so good? Besides, you are not sleeping with your train buddy (at least not yet). But still, your loyalty is divided. You are having an affair of the heart. You are trapped in a fantasy, an illusion which gratifies your ego or at least dulls the pain you feel. This too is a form of adultery.

Okay, so we’ve talked about the physical act of adultery, which is normally preceded by mental and emotional adultery, an adultery of the heart. But there is another kind of adultery too. In Matthew 5, verses 31-32, Jesus says…

31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

This is high fidelity stuff. Again, Jesus’ words here need to be understood in their proper context. A man in ancient Jewish culture could divorce his wife simply by writing her a letter of dismissal. Jewish women had no legal right to divorce their husband. It was a patriarchal society. Power imbalance.   

The conservatives of Jesus’ day said the only justifiable cause for divorcing your wife was if she was guilty of sexual immorality of some kind (porneia). The liberals, on the other hand, said a man could divorce his wife for anything. Maybe if she burnt the dinner or if he decided he liked the lady on the train more.

Not all husbands were so callous. Some loved their wives and remained loyal to them. But, by and large, men at that time felt entitled to send their wife away at a moment’s notice.

This was incredibly unfair to women, especially when we remember they had no social welfare benefit to fall back on and career options were limited.

Jesus took a hard line approach on the issue of divorce because he could see men were abusing the law at the expense of women and children. Some husbands were using a loop hole to get rid of their old wife so they could marry a new one. Serial monogamy. That is effectively the same as adultery, just with a thin veil of respectability.

Jesus is saying, it’s not okay guys for you opt out of your marriage commitment for your own convenience. Men, you need to stay loyal to your wife.

Now I imagine there will be some here who have been through the pain of divorce and remarriage. These words of Jesus are not meant to condemn you. Jesus’ intent is to protect those who are most vulnerable.

Your attitude to marriage and the reasons for your divorce may be entirely different from the problem Jesus was addressing in the first century. If you have left a marriage because you were abused or abandoned or betrayed, that’s a different matter. 

Whatever the circumstances of your divorce, God is gracious. I believe the Lord is willing to forgive anyone who is genuinely repentant.

The other thing I want to make plain is that, by Jesus’ standards, almost everyone listening to this is guilty of committing adultery, if not in deed then in their heart. And so no one here has the moral high ground. We are all in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness.

Returning to the main point. As Christians we are called to high fidelity in marriage. For us, marriage needs to be about commitment, not convenience. Divorce, in order to trade up to someone you like better, is not allowed for believers.

Strengthening marriage:

Okay, so now that we have explored what adultery is, let’s turn to something more positive. How do we strengthen marriage? How do we improve fidelity in marriage? I have three D’s for you: Discipleship, delight and disclosure.

Many people these days look to marriage as a means for self-fulfilment. They approach marriage with the mind-set of what can I get out of this? How can this benefit me? How can this make me happy? Me, me, me.

That sort of expectation puts way too much pressure on a marriage. As soon as one partner is unhappy, they look for a way out.

There are benefits and happiness in being married but marriage can also be difficult at times. A husband and wife need to be prepared to weather some unhappiness and stick with each other through the tough times.  

When Jesus talked about marriage it was often in the context of discipleship.    A disciple is a student or an apprentice. A disciple of Christ is someone who is learning to be like Christ. Marriage is one way to learn to be more like Jesus. It’s not the only way but if you are married it is probably the main way.

When we think of marriage not as something that fulfils me but rather as an opportunity to love and serve our partner, even when that involves sacrifice, then our expectations will be far more realistic. Over time, we will strengthen our marriage relationship, we will build our character and become more like Christ.

For example, there might be times in your marriage when you go months (perhaps longer) without having sex, due to illness or busy-ness or whatever.

If that happens you don’t think, where can I go to get some satisfaction? (Maybe I’ll take the train to work today.) No. As a disciple you think, how can I learn to be more like Christ through this experience? Jesus was celibate. I too will practice self-control and find other ways to be intimate with my spouse.

Another example of how discipleship works: In any marriage there will be little things that irk you about your partner. Small frustrations. Maybe they always leave the toilet seat up or they put the milk bottle back in the fridge when the bottle is empty or they don’t replace the toilet roll or they throw the tooth paste out before it has been fully used, or they restack the dishwasher after you’ve already done it, or something else that might annoy you.

Those moments of frustration are part of your discipleship. They are an opportunity to develop patience and show grace, as Jesus does for us.      

Our second D stands for delight. Husbands and wives can strengthen fidelity in marriage by delighting in each other. This means having fun together in a whole variety of ways, including enjoying each other’s bodies.

As we read in Proverbs 5: 18 May your fountain be blessed, may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19 A loving doe, a graceful deer— may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.

Although that verse is addressed to a man, it applies to women as well. Wives, may you rejoice in the husband of your youth, may his fountain satisfy you always.

The point is, when a husband and wife are looking for ways to make each other happy, they will have no need to look elsewhere.

Disclosure is another way to strengthen fidelity in marriage. Disclosure is about being open and honest with your spouse. Not keeping secrets. Now, as a pastor, I can’t tell Robyn everything about my work. There are some things people tell me in confidence and that stays with me.

Disclosure in marriage means answering any question your partner asks in relation to you and your relationship together. It means letting your spouse have access to your phone, your computer and your diary. It also means paying attention and listening well to what your husband or wife is saying to you.     

Disclosure, being honest, is not always easy to do. It is a learned skill. It takes patience and time. Saying the first 90% of what you need to say is relatively painless. It’s the last 10% of your truth that tends to hurt. But at the intersection of truth and love, trust is formed and intimacy is allowed to breathe.

Viewing marriage as a pathway of discipleship, delighting in your spouse and learning the art of graceful disclosure, all these things strengthen fidelity in marriage.  

Conclusion:

There’s one more thing I want to share with you, a single verse from Deuteronomy 24, which reads: 5 If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.

Moses was wise. This is about laying a good foundation in your marriage. And its great advice for anyone who is married, whether it’s been one year or 50 years. Don’t just avoid adultery, foster high fidelity in your marriage. Bring happiness to your wife or husband.

Let us pray…

Loving God, you are faithful through all the seasons of life. By your standards most of us are guilty of adultery, if not in deed then in our hearts. Forgive us we pray. Whether we are married or single, may you satisfy our hunger for love. May our relationships be characterised by commitment, not convenience. By self-giving, not self-gratification. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Next week we look at the commandment about not stealing. I expect the message will be rated PG. So you should feel more comfortable, unless you are a burglar. May God bless you (and be careful on the train this week). 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is adultery? How does a secular understanding of adultery differ from Jesus’ teaching on adultery? What is adultery of the heart? Where do you draw the line?  
  • Why did Jesus specifically address married men in Matthew 5:28?
  • How might we deal with impure thoughts? How might someone recover from pornography?
  • Why did Jesus take a hard line approach against divorce in Matthew 5:32? Why did Jesus insist on such a high standard of fidelity in marriage? 
  • What difference does it make thinking of marriage as a pathway of discipleship, rather than a pathway to self-fulfilment?
  • What practical things can people do to strengthen fidelity in marriage?
Tawa Baptist

Protect Life

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:17; 19:1-13; 21:1-9 and Matthew 5:21-26

Video Link: https://youtu.be/3jKtfMUW85s

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Murder – protect life
  • Manslaughter – pursue justice
  • Mystery – provide atonement
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Have you ever noticed how many books, TV series and movies involve a murder mystery? Most of us would recoil in shock and horror if we were ever involved in a real life murder but, for some strange reason, we still like a good who dun it story.

Why is that I wonder? Is it simply the desire to solve the puzzle? Or is it the satisfaction of seeing justice done? Or maybe a fascination with own our mortality? I don’t know?

Personally, I have enjoyed G.K. Chesterton’s character, Father Brown, and also James Runcie’s hero priest, Sydney Chambers. They are pretty tame though. Anything too violent I don’t find entertaining.   

This morning we continue our series in Deuteronomy. We are up to that part (in chapter 5) where Moses reiterates the ten commandments or ten words of Yahweh. Today our focus is the command, ‘You shall not murder’, in verse 17.

You would think a short command like that would be fairly straight forward. You shall not murder. Sounds like a good idea. Sermon done. Well, not quite. It turns out killing can be quite complicated.

Our message this morning looks at three of the problems that come with killing. There is the problem of murder, the problem of manslaughter and the problem of mystery deaths. Deuteronomy has a method and purpose in dealing with each of these problems.  First, let’s consider the problem of murder…

Murder:

Some Bibles translate the commandment as You shall not kill while others go with You shall not murder. So which is it? Because murder has a different nuance of meaning to the word kill.   

If you kill a wild deer, when you are out hunting, that is not considered murder. Likewise, if a soldier kills someone in battle, that is not considered murder either. Murder normally refers to the premeditated killing of an individual person, outside the context of a war. 

Well, the Hebrew word for kill, in a general sense, is harag. (Please excuse my poor pronunciation.) A shepherd might harag a wolf to protect his sheep. Or a soldier might harag an enemy soldier to protect his country.

The Hebrew verb, normally translated as murder, is ratsakh. A different word from kill.

Deuteronomy 5:17 uses ratsakh, which usually means the wilful, premeditated killing of another human being out of hatred, anger, passion, envy, fear or for some other reason the community regards as illegitimate. [1]

To complicate matters, the word ratsakh is sometimes also used when talking about accidental killings. However, the context always makes it clear what the writer means. In the context of Deuteronomy 5, the command is best understood in English as, you shall not murder.

For us 21st Century Western readers, the prohibition against murder raises a whole raft of questions. For example, why is murder outlawed in the Old Testament, while Holy War is permitted under certain circumstances?

Some might also ask questions of the Biblical text that the original writers were not trying to answer. For example, is abortion murder? What about euthanasia, how does that fit with this command?

These sorts of questions need to be taken seriously and the people whose lives are affected by these questions need to be treated with respect. For that reason, I’m not going to attempt to answer these concerns in this sermon. We simply can’t do justice to these subjects in the time available.

I will say this though: one of the main purposes of the law of Moses is to protect life. Protecting human life is certainly the purpose with the prohibition against murder.

Thou shalt not murder is not unique to Jewish / Christian religion. It goes back centuries before Moses. Pretty much every culture and religion has a rule against murder.

In Genesis 9, after the great flood when God was cutting a covenant with Noah, the Lord said: 6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.

Human beings are made in the image of God and that makes our lives sacred. In addition to the harm a murder causes families and the wider community, to murder someone is to assault the image of God. It is a personal affront to God.

The Law of Moses commanded the death penalty for murderers. In the historical context of the time, the death penalty provided a strong deterrent to murder and it satisfied natural justice, putting an end to the matter. The death penalty was also a way for Israel to maintain the moral purity of the nation.

Does that mean we should return to the death penalty today? Well, the larger Biblical narrative shows a God who is both just and merciful. A God who makes people accountable for their actions but who also looks for ways to redeem wrong doers.

God protected Cain after Cain had murdered his brother Abel, although there were still consequences for Cain. Likewise, God did not have David killed after David murdered Uriah. By the same token, God did not let David get off Scott free. David and his family still faced judgment.      

Looking at the Bible as whole, I don’t think we should think of the death penalty for murder as an ideal to strive for. Jesus shows us through his teaching and his example the ideal of God’s Kingdom. In Matthew 5 we read…

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment.

As I understand these verses, Jesus is wanting to prevent murder from happening in the first place, by nipping anger in the bud. If murder is the fruit, then anger is the root. When we learn to positively manage our anger, we have a better chance of avoiding violence.

In order to manage our anger, we must first be aware of when we are feeling angry. What are our triggers? What are the things that press our buttons? Try to avoid those triggers if you can.

Anger is normally a secondary emotion. So the next question is, what’s fuelling my anger? Is my anger unrighteous; the product of my own envy, hate ignorance and fear? Or is my anger righteous; a reaction to some kind of injustice?

If my anger is unrighteous, then I need to get my heart and head straight. I need to humble myself and seek to make things right. But if my anger is righteous, then I need to take a breath and ask God what he wants me to do about it, if anything.

Jesus rightly became angry at the injustice he saw with the money changers in the temple and he overturned their tables as a prophetic statement, an acted out parable. Jesus was not envious or fearful of the money changers. Nor did he hate them. To the contrary, Jesus was acting in love to give everyone a fair deal.

We are not Jesus though. The difficulty is that, in the heat of the moment, we become blind. We may feel completely justified in calling someone an idiot or throwing a punch, but we don’t see the whole picture. Exercising self-control and managing our anger requires us to slow down and think.

Okay, so where the problem is murder, Deuteronomy prohibits murder and provides the death penalty as a deterrent. The purpose of the Law here is to protect human life.

As followers of Jesus we are not to come anywhere close to murder. We are to practice self-control. That means nipping unrighteous anger in the bud and channelling righteous anger in a non-violent way.

We can’t expect self-control to come naturally though. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit and needs to be cultivated through the practice of certain spiritual disciplines, like slowing down to make time for prayer and reflection.  

Manslaughter:

What about the problem of manslaughter or accidental killings? Well, Deuteronomy has some advice on that issue as well. In chapter 19 we read about the provision of ‘cities of refuge’ for those who accidentally kill a neighbour without malice or premeditation. From verse 5 we read…

5 For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbour to cut wood, and as he swings his axe to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbour and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities [of refuge] and save his life. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbour without malice aforethought.

When I was at High School another guy (First 15, Maadi cup, body builder sports type) pushed me to the ground and punched me in the face while I was still on the ground. I never saw it coming.

A teacher stopped him before he did too much damage and took us both to the Principal. It turns out this guy thought I had stood on his pie. I didn’t stand on his pie. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In the heat of his anger he thought he was completely justified in taking revenge. Afterwards though, when his perspective had returned, he felt bad and regretted his actions. It didn’t really bother me. I let it go and moved on. 

Life is messy. People make mistakes. Accidents happen. Sometimes wires get crossed and reason goes out the window. Moses understood this and provided cities of refuge for the innocent to escape to when things went pear shaped.   

There were to be six of these cities of refuge, three on each side of the Jordan River, and each with good roads leading to them, so the accidental killer could escape before being overtaken by the avenger of blood.

When we hear the phrase ‘avenger of blood’, we might think of Marvel comic book heroes like Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and so on. That’s not what Deuteronomy means by an avenger.

The avenger of blood was a close relative who, in ancient near eastern culture, was honour bound to kill the person who had murdered their family member. Deuteronomy did not outlaw this wild west form of retribution but it did try to restrict it so that revenge killings at least served the purpose of justice.

Sometimes the avenger of blood would act in the heat of the moment without waiting for a proper legal process to sort out the facts. This could lead to miscarriages of justice if the avenger got the wrong person or misunderstood the situation.    

The problem with accidental killings is that there are two victims. The person who died and the one who inadvertently caused the death. Imagine the burden of guilt you would carry. How do you live with that? Someone who commits manslaughter is innocent of pre-meditated murder and therefore justice requires they be treated in a more lenient way.

Having an accessible city of refuge to escape to, gave the accidental killer sanctuary until the case could be decided properly by the elders of the town. Moses was trying to promote proper processes of justice and prevent angry relatives from taking matters into their own hands.

The purpose of the law here (and elsewhere) is to encourage people to pursue justice, not revenge.

We often associate the Old Testament with the verse: ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. That saying was not intended to promote revenge. It was intended to limit revenge and ensure that justice was done by making the punishment fit the crime.

The Old Testament, like the New Testament, promotes justice with mercy. In Leviticus (an Old Testament book) we read: Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people but love your neighbour as you love yourself. 

Sounds a lot like something Jesus would say, don’t you think? Except that Jesus took it even further saying, in Matthew 5…

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

The part about loving your neighbour comes from the Old Testament. But the part about hating your enemy does not come from anywhere in the Bible. That’s just a made up saying.

Loving your enemies is the opposite of retaliation. Perhaps the greatest expression of love is forgiveness. This teaching of Jesus is incredibly difficult to apply because it requires us to submit to unjust treatment. We need to accept God’s forgiveness for ourselves before we can forgive others.

Okay, so where the problem is manslaughter, Deuteronomy says, ‘provide cities of refuge’. The purpose of the Law here is to encourage the community to pursue justice and not take revenge prematurely.

As followers of Jesus we are to resist the temptation to take revenge and practice forgiveness. Jesus shows us most clearly what love and forgiveness looks like in the way he went to the cross without defending himself.

Though he was powerful, with legions of angels at his disposal, Jesus did not lift a finger against his enemies. And though he was innocent, Jesus did not insist on justice for himself. Instead, Jesus prayed for his persecutors saying: Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.     

We’ve talked about the problem of murder and the problem of manslaughter. What to do though when there is a mystery death? Deuteronomy recommends providing atonement.

Mystery:  

In Deuteronomy 21, we read that where someone is found dead in a field and it is not known who the killer is, the elders of the town nearest the dead body shall make atonement by breaking the neck of an unworked heifer beside a flowing stream. 

6 Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, 7 and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. 8 Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, Lord, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent person.” Then the bloodshed will be atoned for,

Atonement is the action of making amends for a wrong or an injury. For example, if someone borrows your car and gets a speeding ticket while driving it, then they might make atonement by paying the fine. Or, if someone in a position of responsibility fails in their duty, they might make atonement by resigning from their job. Or, if colonists steal land from the indigenous people, then they might make atonement by returning the land.

Atonement, in a religious sense, has to do with the removal of guilt. The ritual described in Deuteronomy 21 removed any suggestion of guilt from the land and from the people who had no part in the crime.

We, who live in the contemporary western world, might struggle to see how breaking the neck of a perfectly good heifer atones for an unsolved killing. But it doesn’t need to make sense to us. The point is, it made sense to people in ancient Israel.

Having a special ritual like this did a number of things. Firstly, it protected the community from indifference. If someone is killed, that is a serious matter and should not be ignored or swept under the carpet. It needs to be brought into the light and that person’s life needs to be honoured in some way.

Furthermore, Deuteronomy 21 recognises the corporate responsibility of the entire community for the crimes of individuals. Unless the community responds to the crime, by formally declaring it’s innocence, the guilt of the individual rests on the heads of the whole community. [2]

We may struggle with that way of thinking because we live in a relatively individualistic society, one in which people are quick to avoid responsibility. We would do well to consider how our community makes atonement for serious wrong doing.

The purpose of the law, in Deuteronomy 21, is to make atonement for the land and for the community. Thinking of atonement reminds me of what Jesus says, in Matthew 5:23-24…

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

I expect Jesus had atonement in mind when he gave this teaching. ‘Making amends’ is one of the essential steps in any reconciliation process.

Jesus himself provided atonement for us on the cross. It is through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection that we are reconciled to God. There is a mystery to the cross and to the atonement Jesus accomplishes on our behalf. We can’t quite grasp how it works but we don’t need to. Atonement, with a view to reconciliation, always involves an element of faith.

Conclusion:

This morning we have heard what Deuteronomy has to say in relation to the problems of murder, manslaughter and mystery deaths. Murder is prohibited. Cities of refuge are provided for those who commit manslaughter and the community together is to take responsibility for unsolved deaths.  

The purpose of the law in all these cases is to protect life, pursue justice and provide atonement.

Jesus fulfils the law and in so doing shows us three values or practices of heaven. Namely: self-control, forgiveness and reconciliation.

What is the Spirit of Jesus saying today? How might this apply to us?

Well, how short is your fuse? How quickly do you lose your temper? Anger is dangerous. Like embers of a fire, anger takes time to cool and can easily be stirred up to full blaze again. Don’t give your anger oxygen. Don’t give it fuel. Don’t keep replaying old grievances in your mind. Let it go. Ask God for the cooling water of grace to forgive.

Perhaps you are not harbouring anger. Perhaps you are exhausted from carrying guilt over some harm you have caused. If the harm was accidental, unintentional, then you are a victim too. Not that you allow yourself the indulgence of thinking that way.

Guilt makes us a prisoner to fear. Guilt forces us to run and hide. Are you looking for refuge, a safe place to rest, to escape the avenger who is always as close as your troubled conscience? 

Jesus is a refuge for the guilty. More than that, he is the bridge of atonement. Lay your guilt at the foot of the cross. Make your confession to Jesus. Trust the Lord to justify you. Accept God’s forgiveness and let Christ make amends for you. 

Let us pray…

Father God, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Replace our fear with love. Replace our guilt with righteousness. Replace our anger with grace. Lord, we ask for mercy in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • Do you like murder mysteries and who dun it stories? If you do, what are your favourites? Why do you like murder mysteries?
  • Why did Jesus say, “anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment”? What strategies (or spiritual disciplines) can we practice to cultivate self-control and positively manage our anger? How can we tell when our anger is righteous and when it is unrighteous?
  • What was the law of Moses encouraging with the designation of cities of refuge?
  • What is atonement? Why was it necessary for the village elders to make atonement for unsolved deaths? How might local communities make atonement for serious wrong doing these days?
  • Discuss / reflect on the three purposes of the law covered in the sermon above. That is, to protect life, pursue justice and provide atonement? How do these interact with each other? How might we apply these principles today?
  • Have you ever felt guilty? How did you find release from your guilt? Have you ever felt angry? How did you find release from your anger?

[1] Refer Patrick Miller’s Interpretation Commentary on Deuteronomy, page 87. 

[2] Refer Daniel Block, NIVAC Deuteronomy, page 492. 

Tawa Baptist

Honour

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:16

Video Link: https://youtu.be/Lt475BHSMYs

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • What?
  • Why?
  • How?
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Many of you of will be familiar with the TV show, The Repair Shop. In The Repair Shop people bring in broken family heirlooms for a team of skilled crafts people to restore.

First the family come in and tell the story behind the item they want repaired. Then the item is worked on, before the family return for the great reveal. Tears inevitably follow.

I like The Repair Shop because it is essentially about redemption. Not only is the object itself redeemed but, at a deeper level, honour is restored.

Time and time again we hear how people are having the item restored to honour a parent or grandparent. The object itself becomes symbolic of the relationship. Restore the broken object and in some way you have honoured the person who gave you the object.

This morning we continue our series in the book of Deuteronomy. You may remember we have been working our way through Moses’ reiteration of the ten commandments. Today we pick up the commandment to honour our parents. From Deuteronomy 5, verse 16 we read…

16 “Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Our message today focuses on three questions in relation to this verse: what, why and how? What is honour? Why do we honour our parents? And how do we honour our parents? First let’s consider what honour is.

What?

In English the term honour is associated with words like esteem, reverence, respect, dignity and integrity. Honour can be a noun (a naming word) or a verb (a doing word). As a verb, honour is about treating someone with respect and it’s about fulfilling our obligations, making good on our commitments. An honourable person does the right thing by themselves and others.

Esteem, respect, dignity, integrity and the like, all fit with the Biblical meaning of honour as well. But there is another nuance to the meaning of honour in the context of Deuteronomy. The Hebrew word for honour (kabbed) means the opposite of curse.

Elsewhere in the law of Moses the command to honour your father and mother is stated negatively and with a punishment. In Leviticus 20, for example, we read: If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.

Cursing, in this context, does not mean using foul language with your parents (although we should avoid swearing of course). Cursing is the opposite of honouring. To curse means to treat lightly or with contempt. To regard someone of little account. To treat a parent without dignity or without worth. [1]

If cursing one’s parents is the opposite of honouring them, and cursing equates to treating them lightly or with contempt, then to honour your parents is to treat the relationship as a weighty matter, something of great importance. Your parents’ well-being is not to be taken lightly.  

We might look at Leviticus 20, through our 21st Century western lens and think, ‘Whoa, the death penalty for cursing your parents is a bit harsh isn’t it?’

Well, I don’t think Jesus wants to condemn someone to death for mistreating their parents. Jesus would be looking for a way to redeem that person.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son. When the younger son asked for his share of the inheritance before his father had died, he was basically cursing his father. That was like saying, ‘I wish you were dead’.

To then go away and waste his father’s money on sex, drugs and rock n’ roll was to treat his relationship with his mother and father lightly or with contempt.     

In Jesus’ parable, the father does not kill the prodigal son for cursing him. The father welcomes him with open arms and gives him a place of honour. It is the kindness of God that leads people to repentance.

Having said that, we need to honour the law of Moses by seeking to understand it in its original context.

The commandment to honour your parents was given primarily to adults. Yes, young children are to honour their parents too but we shouldn’t think that every time a small child or a teenager got a bit grumpy with Mum or Dad, they were dragged out to be stoned. No.

The law of Moses was all about protecting the weak and the vulnerable. And, in the context of Deuteronomy 5 the weak and vulnerable are aging parents. Honouring your father and mother is about adult children taking care of their parents, not neglecting them or abusing them.  

Getting old is not easy. It’s tough. It comes with more pain and more challenges. Everything is harder and takes longer. The powers you possessed as a younger person seem to drain away.

The law of the jungle says, ‘Survival of the fittest individual’ and ‘Look out for number one’. But the law of Moses says, ‘No, no. We are all in this together. It’s survival of the kindest community’. The people of God take care of the elderly and infirm.

Okay, so when Moses talks about honouring your parents, what he means is, treat your relationship with your parents as a weighty matter, something of great importance. Don’t take your parents’ well-being lightly. 

Why?

But why should we honour our parents?  Well, the rest of verse 16 gives us two reasons why…

Firstly, because the Lord your God has commanded you.

This means, parents have a God given authority in relationship to their children. God has authorised parents to protect, provide for and teach their young children. Parenting is a sacred responsibility. 

Now let me be very clear. When I say that parents have a God given authority in relationship to their children, I do not mean that parents can do whatever they want where their children are concerned. No.

Parents are not authorised to abuse or neglect their children. They simply have a right to protect, provide for and teach the children God has entrusted to their care. So it is in this context that children have an obligation before God to accept the security and wisdom their parents have to offer.

Maybe, when you were young, your parents did not have the means to provide you with everything you wanted. Maybe you got the cheap jeans instead of the Levis. Maybe you missed out on the overseas trip or the new bike. Honouring your Mum & Dad means appreciating what they were able to provide and not despising them or resenting them for what they could not afford.   

Raising a family is hard work. Most parents are doing the best they can under the circumstances. Unfortunately, we often don’t figure that out until we become parents ourselves.

As our parents get older the relationship changes and the roles reverse so that adult children become responsible for protecting and providing for their elderly parents. This is the right and honourable thing to do.

Jesus was pretty strong on this idea of honouring your parents. In Matthew 15 the religious leaders ask Jesus why his disciples don’t wash their hands and Jesus responds by saying to the Pharisees…

3“And why do you disobey God’s command and follow your own teaching? 4 For God said, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.’ 5 But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This belongs to God,’ 6 they do not need to honour their father.In this way you disregard God’s command, in order to follow your own teaching.

Charity begins at home, as my grandfather used to say.

We are talking about why we should honour our parents. Firstly, because God commands it and secondly (from Deuteronomy 5, verse 16)…

…so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Now, this promise is best interpreted in community terms, not in individual terms. The promise here is not so much long life for each individual child who obeys their parents. It’s more the benefit of social stability for any society in which children generally honour their parents. [2] 

In other words, when we honour our parents it is good for everyone. The family is the basic building block of society. Good family relationships are the glue that hold a society together and enable it to function well.

When large numbers of families break down, so does the fabric of society. But when families function well, looking after each other, society flourishes and the nation as a whole lasts a long time in the land.

If you think about it, taking care of the elderly is your insurance. If you have treated your parents well, your kids will see that and be more inclined to treat you well. What goes around comes around.

So, we honour our parents because God commands it, because natural justice requires it and because it benefits society, which in turn benefits us personally.

How?

We’ve talked about the what and the why, of honouring our parents. Now let’s consider the how.

Perhaps the best way of honouring your parents is by the way you live your life. Being a blessing to your parents. Not causing your parents grief or worry or anguish by the choices you make. Relating well with your siblings so that family get togethers are a source of joy and not conflict.

If your parents and grandparents have made sacrifices to give you a good start in this world, then give them a good return for their investment.

I never met my great-grandfather but I was given his Bible. In the front of the Bible are written these words: “Special prize, presented to Albert Anderson for essay on the life of Joshua… 28 October 1908”     

I am told that Albert was a devout Christian who took his faith seriously and apparently had some aptitude for Biblical study.

Six years after receiving this Bible, Albert put his tools down (he was a carpenter) and enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary forces to fight in the First World War. He came home to New Zealand five years later.

On his return Albert kept his faith and attended church regularly, but I don’t think he was ever quite the same. People called him ‘silent Albie’ because he didn’t talk much.

After the war his wife died and the great depression of the 1930’s followed. Life was not easy for him. He did not have the same opportunities or choices that most of us enjoy. Albert died of cancer before reaching old age.

I sometimes wonder how his life might have turned out if he didn’t go to war or if his wife didn’t die so young or if university had been an option for him. Would he have pursued his love of the Bible and become a preacher? Would he have chosen a different path? Who knows?

What I do know is that I honour his life, his suffering and his hardship by the way I live my life and by making the most of the opportunities I have been given. How do you honour your parents and grandparents?

In Ephesians 6, the apostle Paul has this to say about how children are to honour their parents: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  2 “Honour your father and mother”

Hmm? Do we really have to obey our parents? Well, the context suggests the children Paul is addressing here are young. Because, in verse 4, Paul gives some advice to parents saying…

4 Fathers,do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The children in this context, therefore, are still at home and dependent on their parents. More importantly though the children are being told to obey their parents in the instruction of the Lord. So obedience is required when parents are teaching their children to follow Jesus.

Paul is encouraging Christian parents to think of themselves as making disciples of their children. Parents are like missionaries to their children. You don’t have to go overseas to make disciples. Discipleship starts in the home. Don’t leave the internet to raise your kids.

In Luke chapter 2 we come across a story from Jesus’ childhood. The story ends with Luke saying that Jesus was obedient to his parents.

Jesus’ parents were Godly people, even if they didn’t quite understand their son. By submitting to Mary & Joseph, Jesus was essentially submitting to God, his heavenly Father, who entrusted Jesus to Mary & Joseph’s care.

Obviously, if parents tell a child to do something that is clearly wrong or immoral, the child does not need to obey. Our first allegiance is always to God. 

Ideally, we are aiming for a mutually respectful relationship with our parents. One in which they consider for us and we consider for them. If, as adults, our parents ask something of us that we can’t do, then we have a conversation with them and try to arrive at a solution that works for everyone.    

Sometimes, in mid-life, we may feel like the meat in the sandwich. On the one hand we have teenage or young adult children who still need our support and, at the same time, we have aging parents who may also need some help.

To make things more difficult we often don’t live in the same city. It’s a lot harder to help family from a distance. Sometimes life’s circumstances force you to make a difficult choice. At the end of the day you can only do what is in your power to do.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross, about to die, his options were limited. His earthly father Joseph was dead. He was the eldest son. How would he honour his mother in that most difficult of all situations? One of the last things Jesus did was entrust his mother’s care to his best friend. In John 19 we read…   

26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

It wasn’t in Jesus’ power to look after Mary himself, so he delegated her care to someone he trusted implicitly.

Honouring our parents is about doing the best we can for them under the circumstances. Sometimes that might mean inviting them to live with us, in our home. Other times it will mean supporting them to live in their own home. Or, if they need a high level of support, it could mean visiting them regularly in an aged care facility. What is the best you can do by your parents?  

Thinking of difficult choices, how do you honour both parents when they are separated or divorced? How do share yourself around at Christmas? How do you navigate special occasions? How do provide care and support when your mum & dad won’t even talk to each other let alone live under the same roof?

How do you honour both parents if you are in a conversation with one parent who is saying not very nice things about the other?

Don’t buy into their narrative. Ask God to help you write a better narrative. Don’t submit to false guilt. You are not responsible for the choices your parents have made. At the end of the day you can only do what is in your power to do. You can’t be in two places at once. You can’t keep everyone happy all the time.

Do the best you can to honour both parents but make sure you leave room to honour yourself as well. Make sure you give yourself space to breathe.   

Some wounds are slow to heal. What do you do if your parents have hurt you? Perhaps your mum or dad were incompetent as parents. Maybe they were absent or neglectful or even abusive. Do you still need to honour them? The short answer is yes, but what that looks like might be different depending on the situation.

As Christians we are guided by the Spirit of Jesus, a Spirit of grace & truth. The truth is, no parent and no child is perfect so we need to have some measure of grace and not sweat the small stuff.

God is able to use the imperfection of your family for good. In fact, having a perfect upbringing isn’t that helpful in this life because it doesn’t prepare you for the world. The world we live in is not perfect. The world is not always easy or kind. Learning to relate with challenging people is a useful skill.

That being said, even grace has its limits. In extreme situations, where a parent has done serious harm and can no longer be trusted, it may be necessary to cut the relationship off for your own survival. This should not be done cynically or lightly. This is a weighty matter that requires deep wrestling in prayer.

In a situation like that, honour may take the form of asking God to forgive your parents so that you can both move on without doing further harm. Honour may also mean breaking the cycle of violence and getting help for yourself in order to learn a better way of relating to your own kids.    

Conclusion:

Remember, honour is about doing the right thing, the good thing, by your mum and dad. In the normal course of events, honour means being committed to make the relationship work well. And that involves staying in touch regularly.

It is significant that the last verse in the Old Testament speaks of God sending his prophet to restore the relationship between parents and children. Let it be the last word of this sermon too. From Malachi chapter 4 we read…

5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents;

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What does honour mean to you? What does honour (kabbed) mean in the context of Deuteronomy 5? Can you think of any examples of children honouring their parents in the Bible?
  • Why should we honour our parents?
  • How do you honour your parents and grandparents? What is the best you can do for your parents?
  • When must we obey our parents? When is it okay to not do what our parents ask?
  • How might someone honour a parent who has hurt them? 
  • What were/are your parents like? Can you think of something they did for you, when you were young, that was really helpful? If they are still alive could you ring them and thank them? If you can’t ring them, thank God for the good they did. 

[1] Refer Patrick Miller’s commentary on Deuteronomy, page 84. 

[2] Refer John Stott’s commentary on Ephesians, page 241.

Tawa Baptist

One

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:6-10

Video Link: https://youtu.be/0ZRwCAwoBDg

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s grace
  • God’s uniqueness
  • God’s character
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Seeds are powerful things. Small, compact, seeds contain the DNA of the plant. From one tiny seed much fruit is produced. 

Today we continue our series in Deuteronomy by focusing on the first of the ten commandments. If the law of Moses is like a tree, then the ten commandments are the seed from which the tree of the law grows.

The ten commandments are at the core of God’s covenant with Israel. They contain the DNA of how Israel were to relate with God. From Deuteronomy 5, verses 6-10, God Almighty says to Israel… 

6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7 “You shall have no other gods beforeme. 8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 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 parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Sometimes the ten commandments are described as the Decalogue or the ‘ten words’. This tells us the commandments are not just a list of rules. They reveal something of the soul or the Spirit of God.

Today’s verses, for example, tell us about God’s grace, God’s uniqueness and God’s character. Let’s start then at the beginning, with God’s grace.

God’s grace:

When you cook a meal, the order in which you do things is very important. For example, if you are crumbing a piece of meat (maybe a fillet of fish or some chicken tender loins or a nice cut of schnitzel), you always start by coating your protein in flour first, then dipping it in an egg wash, before rolling it in bread crumbs and frying in the pan.

If you cook the meat first and then try to coat it in bread crumbs after, it doesn’t taste so good. You do the frying last to give the meal texture and flavour.

Enjoying a good relationship with God is a bit like cooking. You have to get things in the proper order or it just doesn’t taste right.

When it comes to friendship with God, grace must always come first, then obedience can follow. Trying to obey God without grace is like cooking your meat first and then putting it through an egg wash later.  

God does not start his ten words with a command. He begins, in verse 6, with a reminder of his grace, saying…

6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

You see, God gave his law after he had redeemed Israel from slavery. God saved the people and set them free first, then he made a covenant with them. Israel’s redemption from Egypt was not conditional on them obeying God’s commands. God didn’t say, “I’ll set you free if you obey me”. Grace came first. 

Obedience grows out of the soil of God’s grace. This means the commandments (and indeed the whole law) are part and parcel of God’s grace.

The commandments are an invitation to an ongoing friendship with God. They show us how to related with God in a right way.

We might think of God’s grace as a bridge across an otherwise unpassable ravine. God’s grace provides a way for us to cross over to the other side, to God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is where God is obeyed freely and willingly out of gratitude and love. 

Time and time again we read in the gospels how Jesus put grace first and in so doing left the door of obedience open for people to walk through. In Mark 2, four men lower their paralyzed friend through the roof of a house in faith that Jesus would heal him.

The very first thing Jesus says to the man is, ‘Your sins are forgiven’. Grace comes first. Then Jesus heals the man, telling him to pick up his mat and walk. Grace upon grace.

What does the man do with that grace? He obeys Jesus in faith. He picks up his mat and he walks off. Beyond that we are not told. What we do know is the grace of forgiveness and the grace of healing has built a bridge to God for the man. That same grace has also opened a way for others to follow in faith too.

This idea of grace coming before obedience is a beautiful thought, but it is difficult for us to accept. It goes against the grain of this world. We are raised to do the mahi (the work) then reap the reward. We want to pay our own way and not be in anyone’s debt. While that approach is necessary and applauded in the work place, it does not transfer well to our relationship with God.

We can’t earn God’s favour, we can only receive it humbly. We can’t obey God in our own strength. Obedience to God’s commands grows out of the soil of God’s grace. Or to put it another way, grace empowers obedience. God’s grace gives us the moral currency to invest in a faithful relationship with God.

God’s uniqueness:

Sometimes when you go to the movies they have quiz questions on the screen before the movie plays. Here’s a movie trivia question for you.

Which 1986 film, starring Sean Connery, is famous for the line: ‘There can be only one’?  Is it A.) Jerry Maguire B.) The Empire Strikes Back, C.) The Breakfast Club or D.) Highlander?

If you answered D.) Highlander, then well done. Highlander is a cult classic.

Now, to be clear, the movie Highlander has nothing to do with Deuteronomy. But, when it comes to God, there can be only one. This is what the first commandment is getting at. In verses 7-9 the Lord says…

You shall have no other gods before me. 8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them;

Now some of you may be thinking, ‘Wait a second. Don’t verses 7-9 cover the first two commandments?’ Well, yes and no.

Traditionally, there are two main ways of numbering the commandments. The more ancient way, which goes back thousands of years and is used by the Jews, Catholics and Lutherans, is to categorize verses 7-9 as the first commandment and to treat verse 21 (about not coveting) as two separate commandments.

The more recent tradition, which dates back only 500 years to the reformation, thinks of verse 7 as the first commandment and verses 8-9 as the second commandment. While verse 21 is treated as a single commandment. 

The Jewish and Catholic tradition (the more ancient tradition) is better, in my view. It makes more sense. But it’s not a deal breaker. If you want to follow the reformed numbering, then we will still serve you communion next week.

The more important thought to grasp here is that the first commandment (as written in verses 7-9) points to the uniqueness of God. The Lord God Almighty is one of a kind. There is no other. There can be only one.

The command, ‘You shall have no other gods before me’,is stated positively in Deuteronomy 6 which reads…

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

As we heard three weeks ago, loyalty and voluntary obedience is at the heart of loving God. The Lord God wants an exclusive relationship with his people, like a warm faithful marriage. God Almighty will not share us with any other god.

Returning to Deuteronomy 5, verses 8-9 explain what the Lord means when he says, ‘You shall have no other gods before me’.  Basically, you should not make or bow down to any graven image.

In the ancient world, pagans made little statues out of wood or stone as a tangible representation of the gods they worshipped. Psychologically, these idols held a kind of superstitious influence over people. In reality though, idols have no actual power. They are dead.

God does not want to be associated with pagan religious practices. He is unique, one of kind. God is unlike anything in all of creation. God is holy, set apart.

There is a mystery to God. We cannot know all there is to know about the Lord. We can only know what he chooses to reveal about himself. Any image we human beings come up with (no matter how well intentioned) is always going to fall short of a true representation of God. God is not defined by us.

Another reason God forbids the making of images for worship is that the Lord himself has made human beings in his own image. Unlike statutes of wood or stone, we human beings are living breathing creatures, capable of feeling joy and pain. Able to think and act and make decisions.

God’s intention, his ideal, is for creation to see the image of the divine in the way human beings care for each other and the environment.

It would be fair to say humanity has fallen a long way short of accurately representing the image of God throughout history. But there is one man who shows us very clearly what God is like and that is Jesus.

As the apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1…

15 The Son [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.   

God does not want us to make an image of him because Jesus is the perfect image of God and we can’t improve on that.

If you look around the inside of our church auditorium you will notice, we don’t have a lot of images. Just the crosses and the fish symbol. You would not expect to find statues of Mary or Jesus or the saints in a Baptist church, although you might in a Catholic Church.

Interpretation of the command to not make a graven image or bow down to it has been a point of division among Christians throughout the centuries. At various times in church history people have taken offense at the images displayed in churches and destroyed them in a mood of holy indignation.

The Eastern Church got around this issue by not making 3D statutes but simply painting two dimensional icons instead.

To be fair to our Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sister, the images in their church buildings (whether they be two dimensional or three dimensional) were not intended to be objects of worship. They are simply a visual way of telling the gospel story.

Most people, at that time, could not read but they could still get the gist of the gospel by looking at the images. We might think of these images as a form of evangelism.

Rather than criticizing the way other people worship God, we would be better to take the plank out of own eye first. God expects our exclusive worship. That means he wants us to put him first in everything.

God wants us to put him first, not because he needs our praise, but because he loves us and wants the best for us. You see, to worship anything other than the one true God is to diminish ourselves. When we worship the Lord Almighty, we uphold our God given dignity and value as human beings.   

In the gospels, Jesus called people to put God first in ways which seem quite shocking to us. He once said to a rich young ruler: ‘Sell all you have, give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me’.

The rich man went away sad. He did not bow down to idols as such, but Jesus’ challenge put a spot light on the fact that he worshipped his wealth alongside God.

It’s not that money is bad. But if we love money more than God, then we have a problem.

Perhaps the biggest idol of our time is what some call the ‘sovereign self’. We might also describe this idol as personal freedom or hyper-individualism. It is the idea that we must discover our deepest desires and longings and then do all we can to realize them, whatever the cost. [1]

There is nothing wrong with having desires or longings or a dream to pursue in life. These things are natural and may give us a certain joy or energy for a time. The problem comes when we enthrone what we want, and put it first, ahead of what God wants.

Most of us, if we are honest with ourselves, don’t always know what we want. We might think we want to be a movie star or a rock god or the owner of a winning Lotto ticket. We might think we want this girl or that boy to love us or to get that promotion at work or to score a century at Lord’s, but then (with the passing of time) we find we actually want something else. We never seem to find what we are looking for. 

The sovereign self is a false god. It is an illusion, a mirage. The sovereign-self fosters false hope. It misleads us. 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus dethroned the idol of sovereign self on our behalf, when he said: ‘Not my will Father, but your will be done’. Jesus did not want to go the cross and suffer separation from God, but he put aside what he wanted in a spirit of loving obedience to God the Father. And God gave Jesus his life back, only better than before.

To become a Christian is to topple the idol of self and let Jesus sit on the throne of our heart. To let Jesus be in charge. To let Jesus define who we are. To let Jesus bestow dignity and honour on us. And to find meaning in serving Jesus’ purpose.

What things in your own life compete with the worship of God? What needs to change for God to take first place?  If you are not sure, ask God to show you.  Sometimes our idols are hidden in our shadow side (our blind spot) where we can’t see them. We may not be aware.    

The ten words of Yahweh reveal something of God’s soul or Spirit. Verse 6 of Deuteronomy 5, reminds us of God’s grace. Verses 7-9a point to the uniqueness of God and verses 9b-10 shine a light on God’s character. 

God’s character:

Many centuries ago, after the time of Moses but before the time of Jesus, during the reign of the Persian Empire, there lived a philosopher named Heraclitus. Heraclitus influenced Plato who in turn influenced the Western way of thinking.

Not much of Heraclitus’ work has survived but one of his quotes, which made it to the internet age, reads: Character is destiny.

Character has to do with the way someone thinks, feels and behaves. Character describes the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. To say that ‘character is destiny’ implies a belief that the choices a person makes have an influence over the course their life takes.

Reality, as we know, is never that simple. Life is complex. There is much which is outside of our control. But we usually have some say over how we respond to our circumstances and that’s where character comes in.  

In verses 9-10 Yahweh tells us why we must worship him and him alone.

He says: for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

The Lord describes himself here as a jealous God. You may remember from recent sermons that jealousy is different from envy. Envy is when we want something that does not belong to us. Jealousy, on the other hand, is that urge or that intense feeling to protect what rightfully does belong to us.

So envy is a bad thing and jealousy is a good thing.

Because God is wholly unique, because he is one of a kind, the only true God, he will not share the worship that rightfully belongs to him with anyone or anything else. There can be only one.

Following this train of thought, God will not share his image with anything else either. We human beings are made in God’s image. So God will not share us with an idol or a graven image.

On the face of it, those words about ‘punishing the children for the sins of the fathers’ sound grossly unfair. These verses need to be understood in the wider context of Scripture. The prophet Ezekiel clarifies any misunderstanding when he says…

20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

Heraclitus may well have been reading this verse from Ezekiel when he said ‘character is destiny’. Heraclitus and Ezekiel are in agreement here.

Ezekiel’s point is that God’s character is just and fair. And it is primarily God’s character that influences our destiny more than anything else. But the moral choices we make still matter. God takes our character into account.

Returning to Deuteronomy 5; verses 9 and 10 (when read together) seem to be saying: children and grandchildren may suffer in the short term because of the choices of their parents, but ultimately God’s character is heavily weighted toward love and mercy. For God shows steadfast love (hesed) to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. In other words, God’s love far outweighs his anger.  

As we read in Psalm 30: For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

Conclusion:

Let us pray…

Father God, we thank you for your grace which enables us to obey you in faith and love. We thank you too for your uniqueness. There is no one like you. You alone are God. Forgive us for the times we enthrone ourselves. Keep us open to the work of your Spirit in developing our character, that we would better reflect your image. Through Jesus we pray. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is the relationship between God’s grace and obedience to God’s commandments? Why does grace need to come first? Can you think of times in the Bible (and/or in your own life) when God’s grace came first? What happened and what followed?
  • In what ways does the first commandment point to the uniqueness of God?
  • Why is it important to give our worship exclusively to the one true God? What things in your own life compete with the worship of God? What needs to change for God to take first place?      
  • Discuss / reflect on the statement, ‘Character is destiny’. What do you think this means? Does this statement resonate with Scripture &/or your own experience? 
  • Keeping in mind the wider context of Scripture, how are we to understand/interpret Deuteronomy 5:9-10? What do these verses reveal about the character of God?
  • What aspects of your character has God’s Spirit been working on lately? What are the next steps of character development for you?

[1] Refer Timothy Keller’s book ‘Preaching’, page 133ff.