1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,966 Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 00:00:05,966 --> 00:00:07,600 Amen. 3 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,800 What are the 10 commandments? 4 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:17,900 I've asked that question many times, received many answers, probably the number one answer 5 00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:23,166 I've received, God's rules for life. 6 00:00:23,166 --> 00:00:28,600 I've received some other answers that I'd like to share with you this morning. 7 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:34,366 One person said to me, the 10 commandments are good things. 8 00:00:34,366 --> 00:00:37,366 I like the 10 commandments. 9 00:00:37,366 --> 00:00:44,000 I try to do the 10 commandments, and I think I do them pretty well. 10 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Well, we all know that God doesn't grade on the curve, and we know that the epistle writer 11 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:57,633 James says that you break one and you break them all. 12 00:00:57,633 --> 00:01:02,200 Another person said, I wish God would come down from heaven and give the 10 commandments 13 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:10,633 again, modernize them for our world today. 14 00:01:10,633 --> 00:01:15,800 Another person said to me, I think of the 10 commandments every time I go to the Y to 15 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:21,266 work out when I go into where the walk and running track is. 16 00:01:21,266 --> 00:01:26,166 There's a sign that gives me a direction which way to go. 17 00:01:26,166 --> 00:01:31,433 He said, that's the 10 commandments, God giving direction which way to go. 18 00:01:31,433 --> 00:01:36,000 But he said it's interesting because sometimes people will begin the day by going the wrong 19 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,933 way, and then someone has to come and tell them that they're going the wrong way, then 20 00:01:40,933 --> 00:01:48,333 everyone has to turn around and go the right way, the 10 commandments. 21 00:01:48,333 --> 00:01:52,933 Another person said, I think of the 10 commandments every time my daughter is involved in a sporting 22 00:01:52,933 --> 00:02:00,433 event because they say this pledge, I pledge to God that I will do my best, that I will 23 00:02:00,433 --> 00:02:09,166 obey the rules, that I will be a good sport, and that I will try to improve in body, mind, 24 00:02:09,166 --> 00:02:12,366 and spirit. 25 00:02:12,366 --> 00:02:15,133 What are the 10 commandments? 26 00:02:15,133 --> 00:02:21,333 Do you know the name Adam Latham? 27 00:02:21,333 --> 00:02:24,033 I don't see any heads nodding. 28 00:02:24,033 --> 00:02:32,033 Adam Latham was a 19th century baseball player slash coach. 29 00:02:32,033 --> 00:02:34,333 Adam had a problem. 30 00:02:34,333 --> 00:02:36,666 He was very disruptive. 31 00:02:36,666 --> 00:02:41,966 He would run up and down the first base line, he would run up and down the third base line, 32 00:02:41,966 --> 00:02:51,633 run around behind home plate, and so baseball created the coaches box. 33 00:02:51,633 --> 00:02:58,233 Some people have said the 10 commandments are like the coaches box. 34 00:02:58,233 --> 00:03:04,600 But I'd like you to consider this morning that when God has a special revelation that 35 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:12,433 he brings to his people, it's more like Adam Latham, it's disruptive. 36 00:03:12,433 --> 00:03:18,866 God disrupts the lives of his people by first telling them who he is and what he has done 37 00:03:18,866 --> 00:03:21,133 for them. 38 00:03:21,133 --> 00:03:27,400 And then he disrupts their lives by saying, now this is your response, your response to 39 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:34,066 me and your response to one another. 40 00:03:34,066 --> 00:03:37,966 We know that the word of God is powerful. 41 00:03:37,966 --> 00:03:44,133 The pastor to the Hebrews says the word of God is active and living, sharper than any 42 00:03:44,133 --> 00:03:55,366 two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joint and marrow, discerning 43 00:03:55,366 --> 00:04:00,266 the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. 44 00:04:00,266 --> 00:04:08,466 I think that's disruptive, disrupting the body, disrupting the soul, and disrupting 45 00:04:08,466 --> 00:04:11,100 the heart. 46 00:04:11,100 --> 00:04:17,433 But we know how this turns out for the children of God at the time of Moses. 47 00:04:17,433 --> 00:04:18,433 They were disobedient. 48 00:04:18,433 --> 00:04:20,466 They did not obey the law. 49 00:04:20,466 --> 00:04:22,166 In fact, they feared God. 50 00:04:22,166 --> 00:04:24,600 They didn't want to hear him speak to them. 51 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,366 And then they built the golden calf. 52 00:04:27,366 --> 00:04:33,933 As it was in the days of Moses, so it is for you and for me. 53 00:04:33,933 --> 00:04:38,666 You see, when we get ready to come to communion, we ask that question. 54 00:04:38,666 --> 00:04:39,666 Are you a sinner? 55 00:04:39,666 --> 00:04:43,500 Response, yes, I am a sinner. 56 00:04:43,500 --> 00:04:46,533 How do you know you are a sinner? 57 00:04:46,533 --> 00:04:51,333 Because the 10 commandments I have not kept. 58 00:04:51,333 --> 00:04:54,766 So God disrupts life again. 59 00:04:54,766 --> 00:05:03,333 He sends his only Son, born of a woman, born under the flesh, to be the perfect Son, to 60 00:05:03,333 --> 00:05:13,966 be the word made flesh, to be perfect in his obedience, perfect in his sonship, perfect 61 00:05:13,966 --> 00:05:16,266 in every way. 62 00:05:16,266 --> 00:05:22,200 Jesus says in scripture, I did not come to abolish the law, but I came to fulfill the 63 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:32,066 law, to fulfill the law for all humankind, to fulfill the law and to speak with authority. 64 00:05:32,066 --> 00:05:35,733 You say you shall not murder. 65 00:05:35,733 --> 00:05:41,833 I say to you, if you hate your brother and sister, you are a murderer. 66 00:05:41,833 --> 00:05:44,966 You say you shall not commit adultery. 67 00:05:44,966 --> 00:05:52,266 I say to you, if you look at anyone in a sexual way, you have committed adultery. 68 00:05:52,266 --> 00:05:55,000 Jesus speaks with authority. 69 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,966 And it is this authority that he speaks to each and every one of us that He comes to 70 00:05:58,966 --> 00:06:04,833 give us that fulfillment of the law, that God through Christ Jesus, by the power of 71 00:06:04,833 --> 00:06:12,866 God's forgiveness, makes us children of God, gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can be 72 00:06:12,866 --> 00:06:21,566 the people of God that he wants us to be, so that we can disrupt the lives of others, 73 00:06:21,566 --> 00:06:27,866 so that what we hear becomes what we do and what people see. 74 00:06:27,866 --> 00:06:32,033 My neighbor Patrick came to me one day and said, where do you and Brenda go every Sunday 75 00:06:32,033 --> 00:06:36,933 morning from 9 o'clock till a little afternoon? 76 00:06:36,933 --> 00:06:41,733 We go to Bible class and Sunday school at Salem Lutheran Church in Affton. 77 00:06:41,733 --> 00:06:45,666 Before I could say another word, he said, I grew up going to church. 78 00:06:45,666 --> 00:06:49,066 I have a daughter that's in a Lutheran school. 79 00:06:49,066 --> 00:06:55,966 Maybe I should be taking my children and my wife to Sunday school and church. 80 00:06:55,966 --> 00:06:59,533 He said, I know it would please my mother. 81 00:06:59,533 --> 00:07:04,933 Think of all the commandments involved in that conversation. 82 00:07:04,933 --> 00:07:11,033 Pastor shared with me that one of his parishioners came in and said, Pastor, I know how you stand 83 00:07:11,033 --> 00:07:12,966 in your political stance. 84 00:07:12,966 --> 00:07:16,266 How come I never see you post anything on social media? 85 00:07:16,266 --> 00:07:23,733 And the pastor said, I respect and honor those that God has put into authority. 86 00:07:23,733 --> 00:07:26,466 I wouldn't want to harm their reputation. 87 00:07:26,466 --> 00:07:32,066 He said, I call them individually and tell them how I feel. 88 00:07:32,066 --> 00:07:38,766 I let them know that I vote, but I wouldn't want to harm their reputation. 89 00:07:38,766 --> 00:07:43,200 Again, think of the commandments. 90 00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:47,433 My friend Sam told me that he went to get gas at quick trip and before he got ready 91 00:07:47,433 --> 00:07:52,366 to pump the gas, he noticed a billfold up on the pump. 92 00:07:52,366 --> 00:07:55,066 So he took the billfold into the attendant. 93 00:07:55,066 --> 00:08:00,133 It wasn't long when he was pumping gas, someone come running out and said, are you the one 94 00:08:00,133 --> 00:08:02,800 that found my billfold? 95 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:11,133 He said, I had $250 in that billfold, gift cards, my identification, my credit cards. 96 00:08:11,133 --> 00:08:14,533 I never thought I would see that billfold again. 97 00:08:14,533 --> 00:08:16,933 Sam said, I never even looked at the billfold. 98 00:08:16,933 --> 00:08:18,733 I just took it into the attendant. 99 00:08:18,733 --> 00:08:21,133 He said, can I give you a reward? 100 00:08:21,133 --> 00:08:24,500 He said, no, that's your billfold. 101 00:08:24,500 --> 00:08:29,400 As they were talking, they found out they were both followers of Jesus and the guy who 102 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:35,833 had the billfold, he left the billfold, said, I'm not sure I could have done that. 103 00:08:35,833 --> 00:08:43,933 You've made me rethink my life and how I should react to others around me. 104 00:08:43,933 --> 00:08:48,800 High school senior shared with me that her friends were all going to go to a movie one 105 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,366 evening. 106 00:08:51,366 --> 00:08:54,833 When she looked at the movie they were going to go to, she said, I probably shouldn't go 107 00:08:54,833 --> 00:08:55,833 to that movie. 108 00:08:55,833 --> 00:08:59,366 She talked with her mom and dad and they said, now the language and some of the sexual scenes 109 00:08:59,366 --> 00:09:02,533 are probably not what you want to fill your mind with. 110 00:09:02,533 --> 00:09:04,366 So she told her friends. 111 00:09:04,366 --> 00:09:08,566 You can imagine what they said to her. 112 00:09:08,566 --> 00:09:15,266 But on the night of the movie, four of her friends showed up at her house and said, you're 113 00:09:15,266 --> 00:09:16,566 right. 114 00:09:16,566 --> 00:09:21,200 We shouldn't fill our minds with those things. 115 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,866 You see how we disrupt the lives of others? 116 00:09:24,866 --> 00:09:31,533 And when we disrupt the lives of others, they ask us, why are you doing what you're doing 117 00:09:31,533 --> 00:09:38,600 to tell people who God is and what God has done for us? 118 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:44,566 That we have a fulfiller of the law and that God has freed us to be the people that he's 119 00:09:44,566 --> 00:09:46,266 called us to be. 120 00:09:46,266 --> 00:09:58,933 Dr. Luther says, these 10 commandments are the fountain that every good work flows from. 121 00:09:58,933 --> 00:10:09,200 He says, anything that we do in life is not pleasing or good to God apart from these commandments. 122 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:18,533 God does not put us into a box, but He disrupts our lives so that we can disrupt the lives 123 00:10:18,533 --> 00:10:20,566 of others. 124 00:10:20,566 --> 00:10:22,866 Amen. 125 00:10:22,866 --> 00:10:29,466 The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus 126 00:10:29,466 --> 00:10:30,466 to life everlasting. 127 00:10:30,466 --> 00:10:52,233 Amen.