Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS HAVE BEEN MUCH IN THE NEWS THIS PAST WEEK. Alabama Chief Justice, Roy Moore has been defending his two and a half ton monument to The Ten Commandments that he placed in the Rotunda of the State Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama. The monument has been removed by court order, an order Judge Moore had refused to obey. Now the Chief Justice has been suspended. ------The battle will continue over what some people contend is a constitutional "wall of separation between church and state. Any such separation was a safeguard for the church. The intention was to keep the state from controlling the church. It was NOT intended to keep the church from influencing society and the state. If we decry outbursts of murder, adultery and greed, our society needs the corrective of the Ten Commandments which forbid murder, adultery and coveting what belongs to someone else.

EACH OF US IS A UNIQUE PERSON. Our differences are really an advantage, especially if they help us succeed in one or more areas of life. At the same time, however, each of us has a real desire to be not TOO different from others. We don't want to be too far afield from our contemporaries. The great difference to which Moses challenged Israel concerned obedience to God's law. God was calling them to a life of obedience. ------ Obedience is not a popular word in the world today. It's something for which you take your pet canine school. "Obey" does not fare any better in the "love, honor and obey" of the marriage vows. OBEY was something your great grandmother did because your great grand father was a backwards tyrant who never finished grade school or had any culture. Obedience? Obey? That's to be at the wrong end of the leash. GOD'S intention for obedience, however, is life giving. I like to think of the Ten Commandments as being like the new car owner's manual. God, our Maker, is saying to us: "If you want to get the MOST out of the life I have given to you, here are 10 simple and direct statements to enhance your life. "Have no other gods! Do not use my name in vain. Honor your father and your mother. Do not kill. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, his fields, his servants or anything that is your neighbor's." KEEP THEM AND DO THEM. Do not add to them and do not subtract from them.

OBEDIENCE IDENTIFIES GOD'S PEOPLE. All too often there is no apparent difference between Christians and non-Christians, CHURCH-goers and non-church-goers. What qualitative difference does it make that we are the children of God? The WORLD is ever with us. Too often our standard of morality is determined by what other people say as they use God's name in vain. How often are attitudes toward sex and marriage formed by what the entertainment industry says is X-rated or PG 13 or what others pass off as "what everybody is doing?" OR do we choose to follow God's laws? WHICH will it be for us? Will we embrace the standards of the world or will we follow G's Word? ------ There are promises that attach to obeying God's Word. It will be well with you, and you will long on the earth. God's purpose in giving the law is to enhance our LIVES.

WHAT WILL WE DO WITH GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND WILL FOR US? Recently I passed a church sign, which said, "Salvation is a gift. It's not a paycheck." How true! We do NOT keep God's commandments to earn God's favor. He graciously gives us His favor. We keep God's commandments as evidence that He is ALIVE in us by faith in Christ. Those who want to keep the commandments to get to heaven have missed the point. No one ever gets right with God by living a good life. As Luther would teach us, "Good deeds do not make a person good; but a good person does good deeds." The commandments were never given to show us the way to heaven. On the contrary God uses the commandments to show us our sins, to lead us to repentance and to lead us to forsake all thoughts of saving ourselves. Salvation is God's gift to us. Once we have salvation, however, the commandments direct us to what God wants for us. "Now that You've forgiven my sins and given me Eternal Life, what can I do for YOU?" God responds, "I have Ten Commandments here. KEEP THEM AND DO THEM." God's commandments are not like so many bars engraved with "Thou shalt NOT!" On the contrary, real freedom comes from obedience. It comes from saying "no" to instinctual living. It comes from saying "yes" to God and the ways of His Spirit. After washing the feet of his disciples Jesus told them they were to do what he had done for them. He also said, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." The real happiness of being a Christians comes not from KNOWING the will of G. It comes from DOING it. ---- A man asked Jesus, "Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus asked him, "What do you read in the law?" The man summarized the law, saying, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor yourself!" Jesus then said to the man, "DO this, and you will live." Jesus' response was one of LAW: "Do this, and you will live!" Instantly, the man looked for a way out. He hadn't loved God supremely, nor had he loved his neighbor as himself. He didn't even know WHO his neighbor was. His question was, "who IS my neighbor?" The man wanted to know the identity of his neighbor. Jesus went for the action of what it means to BE a neighbor. He told the man a story. There was a man who traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell among thieves, who beat him and robbed him and left him by the side of the road half dead. There came that way a priest. He looked at the man and passed by on the other side. Then came a Levite. He likewise looked at the man and passed by on the other side. But by chance there came that way a Samaritan. When he saw the man, he had compassion on him. He went to him and bound up his wound, pouring in oil and wine. He put the man on his donkey, took care of him all night, and the next day he gave the innkeeper some money. He told him to take care of the man, and the next time he came that way he would pay the man whatever more he spent. Then Jesus asked, "which of these three do you think was neighbor to the man who fell among thieves?" Since he regarded the Samaritans as being inferior, he wouldn't call the Samaritan by name. He answered, "he that had mercy on him." Jesus responded, "Go and do likewise." Only the Samaritan was free enough to help the man by the side of the road.

THAT WE MIGHT LIVE SUCH FREEDOM, ST. PAUL URGES US TO "TAKE THE ARMOR OF GOD THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND IN THE EVIL DAY AND HAVING DONE ALL TO STAND". Using a Roman soldier as a model St. Paul describes the various aspects of our faith that correspond to a soldier's equipment for battle. Only our armaments are spiritual in nature. In OUR battles with the forces of evil - even within our own hearts - we need to take belt of truth, the breast-plate of Righteousness, the shoes of preparation to share the Gospel of peace and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Then to all this we add the practice of prayer. There are many different pieces to our equipment to wage war against the forces of evil. ------ ONE lady complained during a Bible Class, "Pastor, I think that salvation is great; and I, too, rejoice in the Gospel. There ARE, however, many Christian people who say, "I'm saved," but the HELMET of salvation is the only part of G's armor they are wearing. They stand there naked and helpless against the attacks of the devil, wearing nothing but a helmet." ----- She makes a valid point, doesn't she? God provides more protection than that. He provides a complete set of armor for our battles w/ the devil, the world and our own sinful fl. What is of great interest to me is that God provides a breastplate, shoes, helmet & a sword. What's missing? Missing from the equipment is any protection the back. This is OFFENSIVE equipment. It presupposes forward movement. ----- TAKE it. Be dressed in God's armor by faith in Christ. Be clothed in it from head to foot and dare to be different from the world. Our MORAL commitment requires us to be different from those who despise and reject God's law and holy will. We have the truth of God in Jesus Christ. We have His Righteousness - that right relationship with God that comes to us by faith, because Christ Jesus purchased it for us at the cost of his shed blood and his broken body. We have the Gospel of peace to share w/ others. We have the shield of faith with which to quench the fiery darts of the devil. We have the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the W of God. EACH of these armaments is wrapped in prayer. THESE are the weapons we need to fight against evil within & without our sinful hearts.

GOD HAS FREED US FROM SIN, SATAN'S POWER & SELF THAT WE MIGHT SERVE HIM. Our task is not only to know God's law. Our task is to live in accord with God's law by the power of His Spirit. For us as people who have been set by free by faith in Christ the greatest amount of freedom is w/in the limits of the law --- GOD'S law. Remember to KEEP THEM AND DO THEM. Amen