March 14, 2021
The Ten Commandments are the most famous list of laws in history! They tell us the ground rules; what God wants us to do and not do. They make it easy to understand what’s expected. How many of us, when we start at a new school, or in a new job, want to know: what should we do? What should we not do? Maybe there is a dress code, which you might not like, but at least it’s good to know how to behave and not get punished.
The law in the Old Testament, including the 10 Commandments, spells out what God wants. It is no accident that Moses goes up the mountain to get the 10 Commandments, and it’s like the teacher stepped out of the classroom! Then the kids went crazy! While Moses is gone the Hebrews melt down their gold jewelry to make a golden calf, which they worshipped. At this point, the Ten Commandments were not in writing. The people didn’t know the first commandment: Thou shall have no other gods before me.” They didn’t know the second commandment (or what Catholics and Lutheran would say is the second part of the first commandment): “You shall not make an image and bow down and worship it.” When Moses came down the mountain with the 10 Commandments, he was very angry at the people for worshipping that golden calf. But once the people finally got the 10 commandments, they knew what was expected! So, the law is good. At least the people knew the rules. However, that didn’t mean they always followed them.
Most religions have some kind of earn-your-way to God theology. But there are a great many of us Christians who say salvation is by faith and grace alone. You don’t earn your way to God.
John 3:16 is the most famous verse in the Bible. “God so loved the world, that he sent his only son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.” Does that take the wind out of the sails of the 10 Commandments? John 3:16 says, God loves us, our sins are forgiven, we won’t perish. We’re going to heaven. Does that mean we don’t need to follow the 10 Commandments?
There’s a tension between God’s law, and God’s grace. If God’s law instructs us not to do something, but we do it, can we really expect him to overlook our sin because of grace? If God is going to give us forgiveness that we don’t deserve every time, what’s the point of giving us any laws?
The reading today from Ephesians 2, speaks about grace and salvation: vs. 4-5 say, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.” That’s a wonderful gift, who wouldn’t want God’s great love, God’s rich mercy, that makes us alive with Christ, even though we fall in the trap of sin? V. 5 finishes saying—”it is by grace you have been saved.”
Vs.8 and 9 say, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one may boast.” The church in Ephesus was a church of Jewish Christians, and Greek Christians. Some Jewish Christians followed the Jewish Law plus Jesus. They would keep their distance from the Greek Christians: they wouldn’t want to eat with them. They wouldn’t share food with them. As if the Greek Christians had the cooties. Some of the Jewish Christians felt like you work for your salvation. You follow this dietary law, and that circumcision law, and this ritual cleansing law. You work for that salvation! And you need to be different and set apart from those Greek Christians who don’t worry about the law but just follow Jesus.
The letter to Ephesians was saying: no, you don’t get saved by following law. Salvation is a gift from God, through faith. That was hard for some of the Jewish Christians. Our Christian faith went the direction of salvation by grace through faith, that’s why we Christians today don’t have foods we can’t eat (unless you are dieting or have an allergy).
But what about the law, doesn’t it matter? If you look at the beginning of the 10 commandments, the first commandment starts out, “I am the Lord your God…” to us, there is nothing unusual about that. But it would have been really striking to the people who received those commandments! It says, “I am the Lord YOUR God.” Moses might have said, “What, God, don’t you mean to say, ‘I am the Lord, the God?’” God says, no, I am YOURS.
God was pretty new to Moses and the Hebrews. All they knew was that God had freed them from slavery and he promised them they would settle in a land he would give them. Now, when God said, “I am YOUR God”, it meant that God would have a personal relationship with them. They hadn’t done anything to deserve this relationship. They didn’t have anything of worth to offer. But God basically said, “You’re in. You are my people.”
The people didn’t get the rules first. First, they got a relationship with God: God heard their cries when they were slaves, and God decided he would get them out of slavery. God saved them, before he gave them rules. It’s relationship first, before the rules. The law doesn’t get you in with God, it shows you are already His.
Think about my dog. We didn’t teach him to sit or stay or potty train him, before we took him home. We liked that little 3-pound puppy who came and sat down in front of us. We started a relationship with him. We bought him and brought him home.
Then at home, potty training, learning the rules of where to go, and where not to go, that became very important. But it was relationship first, he was ours, then after that he learned the rules. So, the rules were important. Every dog and cat owner will say those rules are so important: you’ve got to potty train! But if you adopt a puppy or kitten, the relationship comes first.
Then after they’ve had their pet, pet owners put up with all sorts of misbehavior. The rules are not always followed. But once you have that relationship, that dog or cat is yours, even when they misbehave. Your relationship with that dog is most important. Just like the law doesn’t define your relationship with your pet. The law doesn’t get you in with God, it shows you are already His.
I don’t see a neighbor walking their dog and tell the neighbor dog what to do. It’s not my dog. I tell my dog “sit”, or “walk”, because it’s mine. I have a relationship with my dog, that’s why I set rules for him.
God starts with a relationship with his people. It is grace, through faith. Then once there is a relationship, the rules are added.
So, the 10 commandments were given to people who already had a relationship with God. If we follow the 10 Commandments, just understand, they don’t get you in with God. They show you are already his.
Why is sin so tempting? Why do we do it, thought we know we shouldn’t? Because we’re afraid that God wants to keep us from having fun. God is a spoilsport who doesn’t want us to get what we want. That’s what we’re afraid of. Adam and Eve asked themselves, “Is God trying to keep something good from me?” So, it wasn’t about obedience, they ate that fruit because they didn’t trust God. But if they had trusted God, a wonderful garden and all they needed would have been there’s!
Remember, though, that God only gives you commands because he loves you! He has your best interests in mind.
Listen to what Moses told the people in Deuteronomy 4:40,” keep the Lord’s statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” God is giving the people commands, so that their life is better!
We’ve all sinned in the past. And we have regrets. Looking back, we can see, “If I had only trusted God, and done what God wants, I would have kept myself from a lot of heartache.” So, the law of God is actually an expression of the grace of God. When we trust God, and do the right thing, life is better. We can live with ourselves. We know we did what was right.
My challenge for you is to read the beginning of the 10 Commandments. Read Exodus 20:2, which says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Let’s say I am the lord your God, Ready, “I am the Lord Your God.”
There is Law, and there is grace. Salvation starts with grace and forgiveness. It starts with God wanting a relationship with us. When we trust God, then we are asked to follow the law of God. The law doesn’t get you in with God, it shows you are already His. We belong to God, whose law doesn’t hurt us. It teaches us what to do that it may go well with us and with our children. Amen.
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