THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CANTON
Sunday, October 4, 2020 ~ Pentecost 18
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
Sermon Title: “The Top Ten”
Hebrew Bible Lesson: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
© 2020, Dr. Tamilio
A Sunday School teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five- and six-year-olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor” thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, “Thou shall not kill.”[1]
Ah, yes — there are all kinds of jokes out there about the Ten Commandments. You may have heard the one about the priest who cannot find his bicycle.
This priest believes that his bike was stolen by a member of his parish. He is outraged, to say the least, so he consults a colleague to get his advice. The colleague says, “Preach a sermon on the Ten Commandments this coming Sunday. Recite each commandment slowly — one at a time. When you get to ‘Thou shalt not steal,’” the colleague said, “look each parishioner straight in the eye. Whoever looks down is the culprit.”
The following Monday, the colleague who gave this sage advice asked the priest, “So, did it work? Did you catch the bike thief?”
The priest responded: “Well…‘Thou shalt not steal’ is eighth commandment.”
“Yeah, so…” his colleague said.
“Well, when I reached the seventh commandment, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ I remembered where I left my bicycle!”
I have a whole satchel full of such jokes, but this isn’t a comedy routine — or is it? Maybe preaching about the Ten Commandments is funny, because many people consider them outdated.
What about the adultery one? The generation that is now high school and college-age has an expression. It’s called “hook-up culture.” According to Wikipedia, “Hook-up culture refers to a culture built on the approved practice of engaging in hook-ups, or sexual encounters between two or more individuals where it is understood that commitment, relationships, and emotional feelings are not expected outcomes.” I-Phone applications (like Tinder) enable you to find someone (a stranger) who you can meet for a sex. Maybe you’ll get together again. It’s more likely than not that you won’t.
Some may say that this does not exactly fit the definition of adultery, but it promotes a value that runs counter to the Ten Commandments, as do reality shows that have, as a fundamental theme, disrespecting one’s parents and slandering others. We’ve come a long way from Leave It to Beaver!
The interesting things about the Ten Commandments is that they have a vertical as well as a horizontal dimension. In other words, some of them have to do with our relationship with God (which is a vertical ethic), whereas the others have to do with how we treat one another (that’s the horizontal). The first four have to do with how we revere God: have no other gods but God; make no idols; do not take the Lord’s name in vain; honor the Sabbath. The other six are how we are to treat one another — they have to do with interpersonal conduct: honor your parents; do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not covet.
There’s something else to remember about the Commandments. Contrary to popular opinion, they are not all about the things we shouldn’t do. Technically, eight of the ten are “thou shalt not” commands, whereas two tell us what we should do: namely, honor the Sabbath and parents. But this is somewhat of a misnomer, because all of the Commandments are positive — informing us of what we should do, how we should conduct ourselves, how we should live our lives.
For a long, long time, Americans saw these as the be-all and end-all rules. The ultimate rules. Equal to civil law. It is for this reason that some have sought to put the Ten Commandments on courthouse walls. You probably know that this has led to quite a bit of controversy. Should laws that are part of a religion be mandated as laws that everyone has to follow, especially in a country whose First Amendment promises all citizens freedom of religion? This sermon does not seek to answer that question. Suffice it to say, many people in this country have looked (and many still look) to the Ten Commandments as a moral guide. But not everyone does. In fact, many people have given-in to complete relativism: do whatever feels good and what you think is right.
Here’s what’s really funny. There aren’t Ten Commandments in the Jewish tradition. There are 631 of them — meaning that if you read through the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) and count every “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not” you’ll end up with 631. So why the Ten? Why the ones etched on the stone tablets that Moses brought down from the mountain? They are not only the most important (in comparison to all the Old Testament commandments), but they are also symbolic and emblematic of all 631 laws.
For the Christian, the rules are compounded. We are also bound to the Jewish Law (Paul’s teachings notwithstanding) and we are to follow the teachings of Jesus. Remember, Jesus made it clear that he did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. When he said this to his followers in Matthew, he meant that his teachings were a fulfillment of the Hebrew law for the Gentile world who, through Jesus, were grafted into God’s covenant.
But there is another way that Jesus fulfills the Law and the Prophets. If you read the Gospels and the Letters of Paul carefully you will discern that we do not gain salvation by following the Law, by fulfilling the commandments. Simply put: we are saved by God’s grace which we receive through faith. Nothing we do earns that salvation. However, salvation does not just pertain to the life to come: pie in the sky when you die by and by, as Joe Hill’s 1911 the song parody claims. Salvation is a reorientation of our lives now. It is how we are to live our lives.
Having been saved by Jesus, we should be changed. We should live lives that align with the commandments. These should not be rules that we have to follow begrudgingly, nor should we expect to receive a medal for doing so. The Decalogue (another name for the Ten Commandments) the Decalogue is a portal into the Kingdom of God. They give us a foretaste of how life will be when God’s rule is complete. We will treat one another with kindness and dignity. We will truly love our neighbor and not covet what is his or hers. We will revere God as the giver of life rather than giving our devotion to useless idols.
Speaking of the Commandments as “the law” we are to follow, pastor and author Walter J. Chantry says the following in his book Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic: “The law is neither more nor less than an elucidation of the demands of love.”[2] There it is! The Commandments are a law of love. If our culture is shying away from the Ten Commandments, maybe that says more about us than it does about them. Maybe we are looking for an excuse not to love.
The mandate is clear though. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength — and to love our neighbors as ourselves. At its heart, that is what the Commandments are: laws of love. Amen.
[1] Taken from cybersalt.org
[2] Walter J. Chantry, Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic (Banner of Truth, 1970).
Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor & Professor 