Sermon Tone Analysis

Exodus 20:1-17

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Introduction

I was talking to Terrance Edwards the other day and we were talking about some of the calls which have been made on those who hit quarterbacks.

He was saying that when Cleo Lemon was hit and chipped a tooth it was a fair hit because he was out of the pocket and the rules indicate that when a quarterback starts running he is considered a running back and can be tackled accordingly.

On the other hand, when Buck Pierce was hit the player who hit him was ejected from the game because he was in the pocket and received a helmet to helmet hit.

The rules of the game balance fair play and enjoyable play.

There are special rules for quarterbacks because they are vulnerable and so need to be protected.

The rules are there to make for a better game.

Last year there was an item in the news about people who had received a fine while speeding through a construction zone.

The problem was that there were no workers present and there was no danger to anyone if a person drove the normal speed limit.

In this case the rules seemed to be unfair and many people did not have to pay their fines because the law agreed with their point of view.

Every once in a while you hear a comment that red light cameras are just a cash grab.

My response to that comment is: if you speed or run a red light you deserve a ticket.

I know because I have gotten two and although I didn’t like it, I also know that I deserved them.

Rules and laws are something we live with, but how do we respond to those laws?

Do we resent them?

Do we obey them?

Do we understand how they are intended to make life better?

What about the laws God has given us?

In Exodus 20:1-17, God has given us the Ten Commandments.

This is not the only place where God speaks about His laws.

Earlier in the service we read Psalm 19 which talks about the value of the law.

In Matthew 5:17-20 we learn that Jesus came to fulfill the law, not to abolish it and Romans 6 encourages us to count ourselves dead to sin and to disobedience.

Because of these perspectives, we learn from Scripture that God’s law has value and because some of these scriptures come from the New Testament, we learn that His law has value even to us today.

So this morning, let’s read Exodus 20:1-17 and examine the Ten Commandments.

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I.                   The Pretext for Lawgiving

Before we look at some of the specific laws which God has given, I think it would be important for us to think about why they were given, who gave them and what they are all about.

!! A.                 Who God Is

There is a sign on Kroeker Street, which is the street on the north side of Rosenort.

It says, “construction vechils only.”

Because it is misspelled and obviously put there not by the government or the municipal council, but by some contractor who does not want people in the way of his equipment, it is a little hard to take seriously.

The wish should be respected, but it does not come across as a law because it lacks authority.

The source of a law is important.

The Ten Commandments come from God and this concept is powerfully present in the opening verse and a half where we read, “And God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God.”

There are two words for God used in these verses.

The word “God” usually translates the name of God, “Elohim.”

This name speaks about God who is the creator, the God of power and majesty.

The word “Lord” usually translates the name of God, “Yahweh” which is the name God used to introduce Himself to Moses in the beginning of Exodus.

It communicates that God is the one who makes a covenant with His people.

Because God uses both of these names it adds great power to who is the source of these laws.

God, who is the sovereign of all the earth and who has an interest in the creatures He has made is the one who has given these laws.

There is no greater source of authority than the God who has given these laws and therefore we need to listen to them with a heart of obedience.

!! B.                 What God Has Done

But authority in itself is not the only reason to obey laws.

Moammar Gadhafi is the dictator in Libya.

He has authority and seems to be able to hold on to power by his authority, but many in his country do not accept it because he does not seem to care about the people in his nation.

His authority arises out of power and wealth and many are tired of his dictatorial ways and the rest of the world has agreed with that and has decided to support the rebels.

God has authority to give these laws, but there is something else we see in these verses which helps us understand why it is good to obey these laws.

The rest of verse 2 says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

That phrase tells us that the God who has authority to give laws is also filled with grace and compassion.

The exodus from Egypt in which God delivered the people of Israel was an amazing thing.

It was done in response to the suffering of the people.

It was done because God had promised that He would do so.

So we learn that God cares about His people and that He keeps the promises he has made to them.

When God delivered them out of Egypt, He also did so in order to establish a relationship with them.

All of these things speak of the grace and compassion of God.

God took the initiative to care for Israel and because He did so Israel knew that He had their best interest in mind.

Out of this background of grace the motivation to obey the commands is a response not only to authority, but also a response to goodness.

We serve this same God and that is why we must obey these laws.

!! C.                 The Nature of the Laws

There are several other things about the Ten Commandments which are worthy of note.

As God was establishing a relationship with Israel, the giving of the Ten Commandments was the beginning of that relationship.

If you have read Exodus, Leviticus or Numbers you know that there are all kind of laws given to Israel in these books.

The laws that were given fall into two basic categories.

One is the laws which are conditional.

They would go something like this, “If such and such happens, then you should do this.”

One example is Exodus 21:2 where we read, "“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years.

But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything."

The other kinds of laws are absolute laws.

The Ten Commandments are of the second kind.

What that tells us is that they are just plain right.

In fact with the Ten Commandments, they are perceived as so right that most cultures have at least some of these laws.

Every culture in the world recognizes the evil of murder, lying and stealing and has laws about these things, recognizing that they are not good.

As absolute laws that come from God, they are to be obeyed.

The Ten Commandments can be naturally divided into two parts.

As we read them we notice that the first four have to do with our relationship with God.

The last six have to do with our relationship to other people.

It is interesting that Jesus divided the law into the same two parts.

Jesus was asked in Matthew 22:36, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So we could look at the Ten Commandments as a practical expression of what Jesus calls us to obey as the greatest commandment.

Once again we have reason why we ought to obey them.

Eight of the commandments are negative and only two – those related to Sabbath keeping and those related to honoring parents – are positive.

If we could read them in Hebrew, that structure would come out even more clearly because each of the negative commands begins with the word which is translated “not.”

So, for example, “You shall not murder” would be directly translated “not you shall murder.”

The negatives are so stated because it is easier to state a direct prohibition, but as we obey the negative, we are also to keep in mind that there is a positive way of obeying these commands behind each prohibition.

Kaiser says, “When an evil is forbidden in one of the commandments, its opposite good must be understood as being encouraged.”

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II.

The Ten Commandments

When I told someone this week that I was going to be preaching on the Ten Commandments, their comment was, “all ten?”

It is true that there is a lot of material here and it would be difficult to cover all the commandments in one message.

So naturally we will not be covering them comprehensively.

The message I hope I am able to to communicate today is the importance of these commandments and why we need to listen to and obey God in these matters.

But let us at least look at these laws and take note of some thoughts regarding the actual commandments.

!! A.                 Relating to God

In Canada, who is the top person?

Is it the Prime Minister?

What about the Governor General or the queen?