Lenten Midweek 5 (2025)

The Heart of Sin

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ we come to the final four commandments. It is a lot to condense into one sermon, but thankfully we’ve got no where else to be, and we can get this done in at least 45 minutes. Of course I wonder why folks started vanishing from the pews, if we did that. There is much that could be spoken about in each of the commandments, but what I will endeavor to do is to boil them down to two main points that God has given us in these commandments. For the 7th, 9th, and 10th are all related, and so I will address those after we look at the 8th and which will help us get into the heart of the commandments found that is found in 9 and 10.

So, in the 8th commandment, you shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor, God reminds us the importance that is attached to have a good name, a good reputation, and how precious it is and that we ought to guard not only our own, but also our neighbors.

A good name is a most valuable treasure and like so many other things we don’t understand its value until its gone. Because once you have lost your good reputation regaining it is difficult even when you're innocent. For when someone lies about you and tears down their painful, and it makes people who like you hesitate in case its true, and the ones who dislike you are more apt to believe it and spread it because it reinforces the dislike already felt towards that person. What do we say and how do we justify that those juicy rumors?

Well it doesn’t surprise me that someone like that would be guilty of this, it just sounds like something they would do. Rarely do we take a moment to pause and ask the question is it really true? Where is the evidence? Has anyone talked to the person to verify it? Of course that takes all the fun away and then what would we be left to talk about? Politics, Religion? Weather, we will talk about the weather, the weather is safe, be gone foul winter! Let the horse flies and ticks come!

There are more important things to talk about than gossip, but gossip is easy, and makes us feel better than the other person we are tearing down. When we are young we don’t often appreciate the harm, pain, and damage gossip can cause until it turns against us and why God threatens people with hell who practice it. It will, if you surround yourself by Gossips, and who don’t treat their neighbors as someone worthwhile, why do you think they aren’t talking badly about you, when you leave?

But understand the responsibility and love that you are to have for your neighbor for God has entrusted you with the care of your neighbors well being not just in the flesh, but also in their reputation. For how great and valuable is a friend who stands up for us, or even when our opponents don’t encourage gossip but treat each other with nobly. This is tough, for we live in an age where the truth is not valued.

The news today is more about feeding us what we want to hear than what is true, and there is little respect for those on the other side of the aisle. It shouldn’t surprise that the world is like that, but when we as Christians see how they lied about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and how they lied and maligned the early church, how can we want to engage in that or set aside the truth just so we can take another swipe at someone we don’t like?

We are to show love to our neighbors, and not just the ones we are friends with but all people. It is tough and challenging, but by refusing to engage in gossip you will be known as someone who cares about people. Always go to the source, I encourage it,

Now, the 7th, 9th, and 10th commandment. These commandments are connected and they help drive us to the heart of sin. The first one has to do with our property. Now God is the creator of all things and therefore owns all things, but he entrusts to us various things for the benefit not of ourselves but for our neighbors. To some he gives much, and to others he gives little. We are to be thankful for what we have been given and make use of it for the good of our family, our friends, and all around us. We are to be good stewards and learn to be content with what God has given and be diligent in our work.

This is where it leads into the 9th and 10th commandment, and indeed all the commandments are tied up in these two that have to deal with coveting. Which is to say we look at what God has given us, and we determine that it is not enough and that we deserve more, and that what our neighbor has is wrong and we become dissatisfied with what God has given us. Which is to say we become ungrateful and have a heart filled with ingratitude.

Instead of learning to be content and giving thanks to God for the many blessings He gives to us, we treat our blessings as worthless because they aren’t like our neighbors. Look at their car, their house, their family, their good job, their income, their vacations, their money, why should they have it, its unfair, don’t I work hard? Covetousness isn’t about having everything, it’s about looking at what you have and being unhappy with it because you should have more.

If we compare ourselves with the few that sit at the top and have everything in abundance and lust after everything they have, then is it any surprise that we find ourselves miserable in a country that enjoys incredible blessings and living in an age that 100 or 200 years ago that what we are capable of would be considered science fiction. Yet we find ourselves dissatisfied because life isn’t easier than it has been for how many people?

Could things be better? Of course we are living in a sinful broken world, there is always some way in which it could be better, the book of proverbs talks about this, the Leech has two daughters, give and give. Don’t let the world persuade you, remember that God, your father in heaven, knows your needs and has provided for you. That chasing after worldly wealth as though that is the ultimate goal in life is folly for we cannot take any of it with us. So don’t let covetousness rob you of the true treasure which is heaven.

If your neighbor has more than you so be it, if they get to go on vacations that you dream of so be it. If they are blessed with many sons, daughters, grandchildren, and the like, be thankful for them. But don’t let covetousness rob you of the joy there is in the gifts that God has given to you. For even if you find yourself with no earthly treasures whatsoever, God has given to you His Son, Jesus Christ who atoned for your sins, who has washed you clean, and secured for you the treasure of eternal life. We may go without in this life, but when we look ahead to the world that is to come we will be blessed.

These last two show us that sin isn’t just in what we do, it sits in our hearts and our minds, and that’s why when we confess our sins, it isn’t just my sinful actions its my entire being has fallen. Thankfully Christ has come to forgive not just our actions, but all of our sins. So let us flee from them whenever they show up.

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let us guard our lips, and guard our hearts from all sin, and whenever it starts to take root, remember what Christ has done for you. He didn’t speak ill of you on account of your sins and your failings but asked that the Father in Heaven might forgive you and spoke blessings upon you. Let us do the same for our neighbor and defend them when others speak ill of them. When it comes to our possession, let us see the earthly treasures that God has given us precious, but also know that they are temporary. God has given them to us for selfish means, but rather to benefit our neighbors and to help them. In chasing after these things, we will find not only joy and peace, but also our purpose as we show love to our neighbors. In Jesus name. Amen.