Fresh out of college my daughter took up with an inappropriate man. When he started

Transcription

1 ST MATTHEW S 15 March 2009 Ex Ps In the name.amen. Fresh out of college my daughter took up with an inappropriate man. When he started showering her with expensive jewelry that she did not like she began to see that this was not such a good idea. In trying to separate from him he became agitated and we became concerned for her safety. Since we were 1500 miles away she spent one night in the safety of the home of dear friends. We were able to fly in the next weekend and extracted her from his reach. On the drive back to the airport as we were leaving she said: I guess I have to play by the rules. We are not a culture that likes rules. Some try to make up their own rules. But as our daughter learned, the wisdom of the ages is not sagacious for no reason. Sages are sages because they have something for us. Our OT readings for today offer us the wisdom of the ages. Listen to Ps 19: The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the

2 LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb. What is this law, of the lord? Paul said that Christ abolished the law. How are we to hold together Paul s dictum that Christ is the end of the law and the wisdom of the psalmist that the Law of the lord is more to be desired than fine gold, not to speak of the Decalogue itself? Indeed, the commandments of the Lord are to be desired more than the fine gold of our salaries, bonuses, 501Ks and other investments. Now this is not meant to belittle our attachment to these instruments of wealth and security when pursued moderately. Not preparing for a rainy day, retirement and our children is foolish. But it is to say that they must remain in our peripheral vision because biblical people have something else to focus on: wisdom. Today the honied wisdom that the psalmist dangles before us is the Decalogue. Whatever Paul may have meant by the end of the law, the ten commandments have remained exempt from his generalization. Thomas Aquinas highly valued what he called the OL. Perhaps more than anything else the Protestant Reformation was about educating the church. Luther taught that every Christian child should memorize the Decalogue and the Lord s prayer and Calvin expounded each of the 10 commandments at great length. It is the Decalogue that the CofE and the 18 TH c colonists plastered on the wall behind the pulpit along with the Lord s prayer. and that some Christians in S Carolina now want to post in courtrooms in light of a morally footloose culture. Of the 613 commandments that the rabbinic sages counted in the OT, Christians held onto but ten. It is a minimalist design. Enjoyment of the law is not to be frowned upon. The longest chapter in the Bible is Ps 119. Its 175 verses are a great hymn of praise of the law of the Lord. Yet even these residual 10 commandments that Christians honor struggle for respect. I think it is not the content of Decalogue that is unsettling so much as the idea of obeying commandments 2

3 that originate from beyond us. It is not that American culture approves of dishonoring parents, theft, murder and adultery (well, maybe I am pushing it with adultery), but the very notions of submission, obedience and discipline are out of favor, even if the direction that the commandments take us is more to be desired than much fine gold. Just as uncomfortable for us is the phrase fear of the Lord. Our Psalmist tells us that the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. We prefer to speak of the unconditional love of God and we expect pastoral care to be unremitting encouragement. As a culture we no longer take criticism well. The translation fear of the Lord is unfortunate, however. The Hebrew reads revere the Lord. It is loving respect not cringing terror. That is the attitude to be cultivated by the Decalogue. Let us turn now to our text. The Decalogue appears in both Exodus and Deuteronomy with very little change, suggesting its importance. Today we read the Exodus version delivered to Israel as she begins her wilderness journey seeking to free herself from a slave mentality and become a civil society under divine guidance. The Decalogue begins not with a commandment at all but with a reminder, written in the indicative not the imperative. It identifies God as the one whom Israel already knows: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. God has already redeemed Israel and the commandments that follow explain the way of life that is to be grounded thereupon. That is, Israel s redemption does not mean that she is at liberty to craft her own way in the world. Not by a long shot. Indeed, liberation from Egypt is the gracious act of God that persuades Israel to give herself over to him for formation in what another psalmist calls the beauty of holiness. The commandments are training in and for the beauty of holiness and that goal is why the precepts, ordinances and commandments are sweeter than honey and earnestly to be desired. It is not clear exactly how many commandments they contain, but verses 3-7 explain that Israel s God alone is to be worshipped. Exclusive worship of God requires staying far away from the 3

4 idolatry of the surrounding nations. There are limits to how deeply Israel is to be integrated into the general culture for there comes a point at which embracing it will threaten Israel s devotion to the one who brought her out of Egypt. Not worshipping the neighbors gods is already a problem in Genesis. when Jacob left laban and took Rachel and her sister Leah back to his father Isaac s household Rachel she stole the household gods from her father Laban [Gen 31]. What no worshipping them means is specified in detail: do not venerate or make idols and do not defame the name of the Lord, for that dishonors God and makes room for idolatry. God does not show unconditional but steadfast love to those who love him. God disciplines those who introduce idolatry into Israel and they will be punished. Keep in mind that does not imply punishment without forgiveness and restitution, as Psalm 78 makes clear. But it does suggest that reverence for the Lord is not a sometime thing. God does not offer cheap grace. Being a worshipper of God carries constraints with it and it qualifies how one lives. For even if in some sense everything is permitted to us not all things are salutary for us. Perhaps worshipping only God requires discerningly examining the forms of entertainment we select and deselect and Christians should all boycott violent films and see what an effect it has on the market. Perhaps worshipping God only means that women are to attend to the styles of clothing we and our daughters wear, the music we listen to, the way we carry and treat our bodies and other people s bodies, and the products we purchase and decline to purchase. Perhaps we are to revere the Lord by sanctifying our tastes and our wallets and diligently teach this reverence to our children. Now that it clear that Israel is to worship God alone and to live discerningly, the Decalogue moves on to other attitudes and behavior that are the foundation of the humane society that Israel is to model before the world. Most of these are stated negatively, but they can easily be restated positively as is the first one on this list: respect the Sabbath and keep it holy by hallowing yourself with time set apart for rest and refreshment; respect your parents that there may be peace in the family and your days be fruitful and long; respect human life (control your anger); respect 4

5 marriage (control lust); respect other people s property (control greed, not one that Bernard Madoff learned apparently); respect the integrity and reputation of others (control spitefulness; do not slander or libel people); and finally control your jealousy. Now it may at first seem that the first part of the Decalogue is irrelevant to us because it is about idolatry while the second part is about social life and that the topic has changed. But that is not true. The Decalogue is thoroughly about reverence through self-control. Revering the dignity of God, the Sabbath, parents, human life, marriage, property or whatever, the Decalogue is inviting us into a beautiful life with God. Reverence is cultivated by the sanctifying constraints in which we should delight more than dripping honey and gleaming gold. Such reverent living does protect others and thereby builds up the common good. But underneath that, these commandments instruct us in self-respect, I would say, self-reverence or godly self-love. Controlling our wallets, our anger, greed, spite, and jealousy is the deepest way we honor ourselves and promote our own well-being. There are then no clear distinctions among revering the Lord, revering other people, revering the community and revering ourselves. They are of a piece. Submitting oneself in obedience to the commandments is the way to a beautiful life. May they truly rejoice your heart and enlighten your eyes for they are sweeter than dripping honey. May the blessing they confer be upon us and upon our children from generation to generation. 5