Sermon manuscript:
You’ve probably heard it said that there are two tables or
tablets of the Law. The Ten Commandments can be divided into two groups. There
are commandments that have to do with God—that’s the first table of the Law.
Then there are commandments that have to do with other people—that’s the second
table of the Law. The first three commandments, “You shall have no other
Gods,” “You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God,” and “Remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” have to do with God. The last seven
commandments have to do with your neighbor. “Honor your father and your
mother.” “You shall not murder.” “You shall not commit adultery.”
“You shall not steal.” “You shall not give false testimony against
your neighbor.” And, “You shall not covet.”
When it comes to how well people understand the
commandments, there is a big difference between the first table of the Law and
the second table of the Law. People well understand that a person should not
murder or steal. Our government has strict laws on the books about these
things. Anybody who is found guilty of murdering or stealing is severely
punished. This earthly punishment does quite a bit in instructing us about what
is right or wrong.
Most people also know that committing adultery is wrong, but
this isn’t nearly so clear as the wrongness of murdering or stealing. Our
government’s laws against adultery, divorce, and other sexual perversions have
been so relaxed that people might think that there’s nothing wrong with any of
these things. However, the damage that these sins can do to the victim whom we
can see and know will still make most people understand that there is something
wrong with it.
That seems to be a key part to whether we understand how
something is wrong or not. If we can see the damage that it causes it is easier
for us to understand. Coveting, for example, doesn’t seem to be too big of a
deal to most people. It doesn’t seem to harm others that I am envious of
them—so long as I don’t act on that envy. When someone is murdered, on the other
hand, the hands are red, there is a mess to clean up, and people mourn the
destruction of life.
So perhaps you can see why people are much less sensitive to
the seriousness of the first three commandments versus those commandments that
have to do with our neighbor. Our government is practically built on the
principle that no laws should be made about faith in God, worship, or religious
instruction. This gives a very strong impression to people that a person’s
relationship with God is totally optional and a mere matter of personal
preference. This may not have been our forefather’s intent, but it has
certainly been the result. The government gets involved in the important
matters of life. Since the government does not get involved in our relationship
with God, it is inevitable that people will think that religion is unimportant.
Whether a person believes, prays, or hears God’s Word is seen as though it is hardly
more than a hobby. Some people like to pray. Other people like to play tennis.
Who cares?
It is also the case that people have a hard time seeing the
harm their breaking of the commandments against God might have. Where’s the
blood? Where’s the destruction of property? Where are the tears of the victim?
There aren’t any. It’s a victimless crime, seemingly. It doesn’t appear to make
any difference whether a person believes in God or not, whether God is prayed
to or not, whether a person gladly hears and learns his Word or not.
So if we, like Jesus in our Gospel reading, were asked, “Which
is the greatest commandment of the Law?” we would almost certainly respond,
“Murder. Definitely murder.” After all, that is what we have been taught. Who
receives the longest prison sentences? The harm that murder causes to our
society is such that punishment should be severe. Since there are no
punishments for the commandments about God, they must be unimportant.
Of course, as you know, Jesus answers the question of which
is the greatest commandment quite differently than we might: “The first and
greatest commandment is that we love God with all our heart, with all our soul,
and with all our mind.” Maybe Jesus is a champion of lost causes. Maybe he
likes to cheer for the underdog when it comes to the ranking of commandments.
But, of course, I’m joking. Jesus choosing this commandment is not a mere whim
or personal preference. He is completely serious and has good reasons for
saying what he did.
To believe in God is to raise our eyes beyond the horizon of
this present life. This is something that makes us different from other
animals. We were created in God’s image. We have been given an ability to
understand God’s Word. In the garden Adam and Eve understood when he said, “In
the day that you sin, you will surely die.” We can know that we will die.
We can at least have some kind of intuition that we might be responsible to a
Creator for the way that we have lived our lives. Animals, on the other hand,
have their sights fixed on this present life and cannot look beyond it. Cow,
pigs, cats, and dogs are concerned with food and shelter. So long as they have
these, so long as they are comfortable for the moment, they are more or less
content.
Human beings can live that way too. Their sights can be set
only on the things of this world. In fact, that is what we’ve been talking about
today. People cannot see the importance of the commandments that have to do
with God if all that they are concerned about is having a comfortable life.
Work, school, extra-curricular activities, vacation—if any of these things come
into conflict with worship or religious instruction they will always pick the
one over the other. It is as Jesus says, “No servant can serve two masters.”
One or the other is always going to be picked, always going to be preferred.
And if life is simply a matter of this world, then God and his commandments are
always going to take the back seat.
Now you should not misunderstand me here. I’m not trying to
introduce God to you as some kind of victim so that you no longer regard sinning
against the first three commandments as a victimless crime. I’m not trying to
make you feel sorry for God so that out of the goodness of your heart you’ll
pray or come to church. That would make you an equal with God, or even his
superior—as though he is eagerly awaiting to receive scraps of your attention.
God’s not like that. He doesn’t mope or weep over people despising him. Those
who despise him are simply not worthy of him.
I’ve always been struck by the severity of Jesus’s words to
this effect, even when I was a child. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 10: “Whoever
loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son
or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up his
cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Good fathers and mothers and good sons and daughters are
probably the best things that this life has to offer us. If you have been
blessed with such things, then you know that you can’t help but love them ever
so deeply. But if these are the highest and best things in your life, then you
already have your god. The truth is that there is another, higher, better God
than these. He is the source of all good things. He richly and daily provides
you all that you need to support this body and life. Furthermore, he has
redeemed you with the holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death of
his beloved Son. He has given you the spiritual gifts through which your sins are
forgiven and you may live happily with God in all his holiness, righteousness,
and glory.
If you love the good things of this life, then you should
love, thank, and praise God even more, for those good things did not appear by
random chance. They are given by God. Plus you should raise your eyes above the
horizon of this present world. This world and this life are not everything. In
fact this life is a veil of tears, despite all that is good about it. There is
altogether too much sadness, boredom, meanness, pain, and death. Life wasn’t
supposed to be this way. Our love and our forefather’s love of darkness and
disobedience to God is what brought it about.
God certainly could have consigned us all to the ash-heap.
He’s done that before with his fearsome wrath—such as with the flood or Sodom
and Gomorrah. But instead he planned for your salvation from before the
foundation of the world. He decided to send his eternally begotten Son to
redeem you by dying in your place the eternal death that you deserve. Thus,
beyond this life, there is a purified and holy life, an inheritance from God,
that is laid up for you.
Must we not, then, agree with our catechism when it says,
“For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey God”? Must we
not agree with Jesus when he says that the first and greatest commandment is
that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with
all our mind? There is no greater ambition that we could set for ourselves than
that. People have all kinds of ambitions for life. They want to go to the moon,
do this, that, and the other thing. They want to be the greatest. All these
ambitions pale in comparison to the ambition of loving God.
God does not give his commandments because he is such a drag
and a stick in the mud. He isn’t trying to make us miserable with his
commandments. His commandments promote and protect life for all who keep them.
Thus the first table of the Law is given for our good. Those who keep these
commandments about our relationship with God will find that they will not be
disappointed.
And Jesus says there is another commandment besides this
first and greatest commandment. He says the second is like it: “You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.” You who are children of your heavenly
Father are to become like chips off the old block. John says in his epistle: “Dear
friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who
loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love has not
known God, because God is love.”
God is unbelievably generous with his love. He causes his
rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. He opens his hand and satisfies the
desires of every living thing, regardless of whether they thank and praise,
serve and obey him. You have been baptized. You have become a child of God. Thus
you should strive to become like our Father who is in heaven.
Here we have another wonderful ambition to go alongside of
the one that I already mentioned. There is no higher ambition than that we
should love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with
all our mind. So also there is no higher ambition than that we should do good
to our neighbor. We should forgive those who trespass against us. We should be
kind and friendly to all those whom God puts in our path.
This is especially the case with those people we easily
overlook—the people within our own household. We get tired of the people we
live with. They annoy us. They don’t notice the nice things we do. They don’t
do anything nice for us. (So we stupidly think.) These are the kinds of
poisonous thoughts we might have. Banish them back to hell from whence they
came. Regardless of how the people in your household treat you, make it your
ambition to be helpful, kind, patient, forgiving, and so on towards them. Try
to be a chip off the old block. Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
There is no more practical advice that a person could ask
for than what Jesus points us towards in his answers about the Law. People have
all kinds of advice for how to live life. They should do this, that, and the
other thing. They should have this job, this sport, this diet. All that stuff is
supposed to make you happy. The deepest happiness comes with the gift of the
Holy Spirit who gives us a good conscience for Jesus’s sake, and begins to make
us love God and love one another. Instead of our evil, selfish heart, God gives
us a new heart that loves.
Let me sum up today with the words from the close of the
commandments in our catechism: God threatens to punish all who break these Ten
Commandments. Therefore we should fear his wrath and not do anything against
them. But he promises grace and every blessing to all who keep these
commandments. Therefore we should also love and trust in him and gladly do what
he commands.
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