More Than A Suggestion

You and I

Exodus 20:1-17

Goal: That we might by the power of God’s Spirit be enthused to proclaim by our lives the great love of the Lord of the church.

“That man a godly life might live, God did these Ten Commandments give.” In these words Luther presents a poem of his heart. Anyone who is familiar with the struggle against sin takes to heart the “words,” as the Ten Commandments are sometimes referred to. These words are clearly meant for our good. God does not need them, nor is He bound by them. Why not? Because He is what the words convey, LOVE.

I like to think of the Ten Commandments in the form of a cross. The vertical element is depicting relationship between God and man. It covers the first table of the Law commandments, one, two and three. The horizontal element is depicting relationship between man and his neighbor. It covers the second table of the Law, commandments four through ten. Can you see how the cross fits perfectly?

The sum of the first table of the Law is stated this way by Jesus, “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.” That’s the vertical element of the cross. A relationship with God is first and foremost because there is nothing good that can be done apart from Him. Jesus says it this way in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Friends, take these words literally. For, apart from God there is no real fruit of life. No wonder Luther uses such firm language when in the Large Catechism he sums his teaching on the first commandment: “Let this suffice with respect to the First Commandment, which we have had to explain at length, since it is of chief importance, because, as before said, where the heart is rightly disposed toward God and this commandment is observed, all the others follow.”

You see, if relationship exists between God and man, with man, there is safety and salvation. That is love, which is displayed for all to see most clearly in the vertical element of the cross of Jesus Christ. It is because relationship between God and man is severed by sin that we need to somehow in some way get it restored. Our natural human inability to keep this command is thus the first spike in the hand of the Savior on the cross. That is not love. Yet, God brings the greatest good to us, out of our greatest evil. Through the cross of Jesus He restores and builds up our relationship with Him. That is LOVE!

Who, in such a gracious relationship, would even so much as imagine cursing, or using the name in vain, that brings that good relationship into being? Only a person with a most vile and crass heart could do so. Nevertheless, this is exactly what even the best of us do. We learn at an early age to use that name as an expletive with vows for almost any reason. Thus, the second nail is driven into the cross He must bear. Even so, He says, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” That is LOVE!

Covered with such divine love, would anyone want to throw it off for something less comforting, or less real? Not in a million years would we want to do that, we say. Never! Yet that is precisely what we do when we fail or otherwise refuse to hear His Word, believe it, and keep that day Holy when He provides and dispenses his grace in Word and Sacrament, for us. We use as our excuse the world, which we say we must follow, if we want the benefits the world offers. We use the devil as our excuse saying, “the devil made me do it.” We prefer to think of this failure as only an accident. And how can I be responsible for an accident? The third nail is driven through his flesh into the cross. And still he says, “you will be with me in paradise.” That is LOVE!

These words of the Ten Commandments are surely more, much more, than a suggestion. They are our life and our health, not because we keep them, but because they help us see our sin for what it really is, the nails in Jesus’ cross. And we haven’t even gotten to the horizontal element of the cross that points us to our neighbors. My friends and fellow redeemed by the shed blood of Jesus, unimaginable is the love God bestows on us through these commands. And yet we are so prone to dismiss them as mere suggestions. We so easily tear down what God puts together and builds up. We so easily take our relationship with God for granted as though the only thing that matters is what we think and believe, and we gloss over these commands with our insufficient sacrifice of what we call holy living.

Who taught us to believe that true worship comes from our own efforts or beliefs? Can you not see how all our efforts work against us? Why? It is because of sin. Everything that we do is tainted by it. But, God in His great wisdom uses even that to work “for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose.” You see, it has nothing to do with us. It is all from Him and to Him and for Him. And that is LOVE! His love for us!

If we would only keep our focus on Him and what He is doing, we would not sin against these commands. But that would mean we would not need a Savior wouldn’t it? Luther was right, “That man a godly life might live, God did these Ten Commandments give.” That’s not a suggestion, that’s our hope. Let us sing the remaining verses of this wonderful hymn. Amen.