One
day a lawyer came up to him and asked him, which of all the commandments is the
greatest. Many people debated which of all the things God had commanded them to
do was the most important. If you were only able to do one thing, which one was
the one you should absolutely make sure you did. If you were going to rank the
top ten from first to last, which one would be first? Which would be last? It
was as hot of a topic as any we have today. When asked, which one would he pick?
What would that say about him? Would the people like his answer? Whatever his
answer, how can we use it against him.
Jesus
paused for a minute and said the greatest one is “love God,” and the second,
which is not really all that far behind, is “love everyone else.” In some ways,
he did not pick any, in other ways he picked them all. All of the commandments
can be summed up in these two commandments. Jesus says that it is important to
first of all, love God and secondly to love others. If you are going to boil
down what it is we are called to do as the people of God, as followers of the
Christ, this is it.
Last
week we went over the first four commandments, which Jesus summed up, “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.” This week we begin look at latter six commandments, which
are summed up in the, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” part.
Where
the first four commandments deal with our relationship with God, making God
first in our lives, not allowing anything to not only stand between us and God,
but also not allowing anything to stand alongside of God, competing for our
attention or coming to mean as much or more than God does to us. We are not to
misappropriate the name of God, using it for our own gain, saying things are “from
God” when they are in fact not. And not only does God want to be first and only
in our life, but God wants to be in relationship with us and asks for us to
take one day, not only for the rest we all need, but also to focus on that
relationship; spend time with the people of God, in worship, in prayer and doing
things that draw us close to God together. We explored both the individual and
the communal aspects of these commandments.
This
week, we will begin to look at the latter six commandments, the loving others
part, which deals with our relationships with the people around us. We are not
called to follow God alone. We are called to follow God together, because God
does not simply call a person, but calls people and calls for us to be a people, God cares how we interact
with one another. God created us to be relational creatures Not only did God
create the desire we have to be in relationship with one another but we were
created to live in community, to live together, to thrive on the relationships
we build around us. We were meant to
live together; we were created to make connections with one another. We are, at
our core, relational beings.
I
say that today we will begin to look
at the latter six, because I am splitting these six into two sermons. Today I
will cover the bulk of them, leaving one whole sermon for the final
commandment. That’s right on whole week on not coveting, not desiring what is
not yours; not wanting what you do not have. But that is next week, and this is
this week.
God
created us to be social beings; people who seek relationship with God and who are
continually seeking relationship with one another. From the moment we come into
this world we are in relationship with others. And there is one set of
relationships which shapes us, forms us and nurtures us as we grow and become.
These are the people in our family. The family is the primary social unit and
it is in the family that we first begin to understand who we are, who we are becoming.
The primary relationships, our first relationship are those which we form within
our family.
When
I was a child, I was taught that honoring your parents is about obeying them. Doing
what you are told; you know, cleaning your room, making your bed, not talking
back; following the rules your parents lay down for your health and wellbeing.
But honoring is about so much more than simply obeying. Obeying is a part of
the formational part of your relationship but the bulk of our lives is spent in
a relationship with our parents where obeying is not really even a part of the
fabric of the relationship. Honoring your parents is about so much more than
merely obeying, it is about respect; it is about valuing these relationships. It
is about nurturing them, doing the hard work it takes to keep them going; being
the son or daughter you know you should be, working to be the son or daughter
you want to be; being loving in all things, at all times and in all life’s
seasons.
It
is about treating the people in your family with respect, kindness and care at
all stages of life. When we are young, this is primarily carried out through obedience,
but as we get older and following the rules of our parent’s house no longer
becomes an issue, honor takes on new life. It means continuing to value these
relationships, listening to our parents’ point of view, respecting the place
they come from even as our thoughts and opinions may vary from theirs. As life
goes on, it means taking care of our parents, making the hard decisions that
life brings and being the kind of person who respects their best interests as
well as their wishes as they move toward the ends of their; always treating
them with love and respect when it is hard or they become difficult. God calls
for us to honor our parents so that we may live long, so that they may live long and so that when we
do live long, we have modelled how we want to be treated those you will
eventually be taking care of us, our children.
But
not only are we to value the relationships we have with our parents, but we are
also to value the relationship we have with our spouse. We do not do anything
that would put the relationship with our spouse in jeopardy. We do not form
relationships with people or do anything, for matter, that would pull us away
from our spouse, nor do we ever seek to put ourselves in a position where our
relationship with another person jeopardizes the relationship they have with
their spouse. As the relational unit, which begins a new family and from which
all other relationships in that family are rooted, we are to do what needs to
be done to nurture, to build, to maintain and keep strong, the relationship we
have with our spouse.
God
speaks to us about our relationship with our parents and our relationship with
our spouse; it might seem odd that the commandments do not cover the
relationships between parents and their children or between children who are
siblings. I think this is because God knows that children are not something
that comes into every family. Some parents choose to not have children and others
long for them but are unable to have them. And siblings are also not a given as
a part of the family either. Not including these relationships in the
commandments is an acknowledgement that these relationships may exist but are
not necessarily a part of familial life. We are all children, we all have
parents we need to honor. And although not everyone has a spouse of their own, not
getting in the middle of someone else’s marital relationship is something we
all need to avoid, whether we have a spouse or not. What makes it into the
commandments are the relationships that apply to everyone.
The
relationships parents have with their children and children have with one
another even though they are not specifically mentioned, but it are implied, in that the reason we work
hard to honor our parents and to adhere to our marital relationships because
all the relationships within the family are valuable and should be protected,
and nurtured. There is an assumption that all these relationships take
precedence in our lives. God includes commandments about our marriage and about
honoring our parents because God
values families and the relationships we have within our families. Honoring the
relationships we have with our parents leads into valuing all family
relationships. We seek to live in good, nurturing, healthy relationships with everyone within our family.
Families
are important to God.
So,
for instance God would not side with a system, a law or a practice divides up
families, separates loving parents from their children.
These
next three commandments are pretty intuitive. Once you have these primary
relationships, the relationships within the family, in order, the commandments
move on to more general rules on how to deal with all people whether they are
part of your family or not. Do not murder. Do steal. Do not bear false
testimony. To put it simply we work to bring peace within our community, as
well as within our family. We do not bring harm to one another. We do not take
from each other and we do not malign those around us with our words.
Every
person, no matter who they are, what they have done, or where they are from is
valued by God, and we are to treat them as a person of value and this begins by
not killing them. We all have the right to lives the life God
is calling us to live and when we prematurely end another’s life, we are
stopping God’s ability to work in their life, to use them for kingdom work. God
is always seeking to work in a person’s life and if we end their life we are
inhibiting the very work of God.
It
is pretty intuitive that we do not murder but we also do not take what is not
ours, we do not steal. Again this is pretty basic stuff. If it is not yours do
not take is. It does not belong to you, it is not yours, do not take it. To take
from one another sows distrust and distrust breaks down the bonds of
relationships. It is important for us to live in good and healthy relationship with
those around us, do not do things that break down those relationships, work to strengthen
them, build trust with one another, do not take each other’s things.
Jesus
would add that we should share. If you have more than enough, give the extra to
those who are lacking. Don’t take what is not yours, is paired with do not keep
what you do not need.
The
final commandment is about not bearing false testimony. We do not lie about
other people; about what they have done; about what they have said; about their
motives. But is more than just lying. We do not seek with our words to degrade other
human beings. Language matters, what we say about other people matters. They
are also human, God created us all. God breathed God’s own breath into each of
us giving us all life. We are all loved and valued by God. Not only are we to
treat everyone as such, but our words, our language about others should always
show that we not only realize they are valued by God, but shows that we value
them as well.
We
do not, with our words, turn others into less than. We do not use language that
allows us or others to begin to see another human being as an object, as
someone who does not at all times deserve to be loved, respected, and cared
for. God loves each and every person created and we are to treat everyone we
meet with the love God show and has for them.
We
are to treat everyone, no matter who they are, no matter what they have done,
or are doing, no matter where they come from, with the love and respect God has
shown to us. We are to value all other humans because God values them. God
created us to be relational beings. God expects us to live in relationship with
the other people on this planet, with the people all around us. We are to value
those relationships, beginning with the relationship we have at home but with
each relationship we have beyond the home, every relationship should be valued,
and every human we encounter is loved by God and should be treated as such.
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