Tag Archives: Commandments

The Sixth and Seventh Commandments: Marriage & Stuff

Listen here.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

When Jesus is asked what is the great commandment in the law, He answers by giving a summary of all the Commandments (Mt. 22:34-40), “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”Commandments 1-3 are summarized as “Love God,” and Commandments 4-10 are summarized as, “Love your neighbor.” And Scripture boils down the law even further in Ro. 13:10 which says, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” In other words, if you want to keep all the Commandments, love.

We think that the word ‘love’ is such a nice word and much easier to do than to keep all the Commandments. But the word ‘love,’ rightly understood, requires everything. Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”(Jn. 15:13). If you keep a ‘to do’ list and included Christ’s requirements to love God and neighbor, you can never ever check them off as completed.

The devil is always working to tear apart what God has created. Satan is always trying to bring chaos where God has made order. We see this clearly in the 6thand 7thCommandments tonight.

With the 6thCommandment in particular (but with all the commandments really), the devil is trying to drive a wedge between the Ten Commandments and the summary of the law – love. Here is how the devil has worked to bring chaos and disorder to our lives and our society. Today, many people who claim to be Christians will say that we can just ignore the 6thCommandment about adultery. They claim that instead of calling people to repent of their sins (especially when it comes to homosexuality and fornication) we should just love them. That is not love. The devil tries to twist real love into something much less, tolerance or acceptance.

If someone is breaking the 5thCommandment about murder by ruining their life with destructive, harmful drugs, it is not loving to accept them for who they are. They need real love. They need to be called to repentance and the forgiveness that Christ freely gives.

The devil tries to twist our understanding of the word ‘love’ and weaponize it against the Commandments. So, we need to recognize that the Commandments are a full description of what love looks like. The first three Commandments, the first table of the Law, tells us what love for God looks like. It is to have no other gods, to pray in God’s name, and to hear God’s Word. The 4-10thCommandments tell us what love for the neighbor looks like. It is to honor parents, to help our neighbor when he has any need, to lead a chaste and pure life, to assist our neighbor with his property, to defend our neighbor’s name, and to not covet what our neighbor has. So, let’s move to…

The 6th Commandment
Thou shalt not commit adultery.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we lead a chaste and pure life in word and deed, and that husband and wife love and honor each other.

Our Old Testament text (2 Sam. 11:1-17) shows how we never break the Commandments in a singular way. It started when David broke the 10thCommandment and coveted Uriah’s wife. David’s sin then moved to committing adultery, breaking 6thCommandment. Then to breaking the 5thCommandment by murdering Uriah. David certainly was not truthful in his actions, so he broke the 8thCommandment. All of this was also breaking the 7thCommandment by stealing Uriah’s wife. It also broke all the first table of the Law as well. Today, breaking the 6thCommandment about adultery is still often followed by breaking the 5thCommandment about murder. Eighty-five percent of women getting abortions are single.

Our culture is almost completely numb to the accusations of the 6thCommandment, and that includes Christians. So, rather than simply detailing the sins of pornography, fornication, homosexuality, transgenderism, etc., I want you to see how greatly God honors marriage and wants to protect it.

First of all, marriage was a gift of God that came before God instituted either the church or the government. So, after life, marriage is the first thing God protects with a Commandment.

Couples, your marriage is to be a picture of Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-33says, “’Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”

If you are married, let your marriage be a relationship of continual forgiveness, like Christ and the Church. If you are not married, know that the most precious gift that God will give you after your life is a spouse. Lead a chaste and pure life now to protect marriage in the future – even if it is not your marriage.

The 7th Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not rob our neighbor of his money or property, nor bring them into our possession by unfair dealing or fraud, but help him to improve and protect his property and living.

In the 7thCommandment, God protects your stuff. God has given you everything you have, and He wants you to have it. God wants you to have stuff, though, not just so you can accumulate piles of wealth for yourself. Instead, God gives you stuff to serve your marriage, your family, your life, etc.

Don’t start patting yourself on the back if you haven’t shoplifted or broken into someone’s car and taken their purse. When you are at work, are you working and attentive to your tasks? When your boss pays you for an hour of work, have you worked that whole hour, or are you stealing from your employer? When you see that someone has a need, have you been greedy with what God has given you and stolen from the poor? Repent.

Repent and know that Jesus is the divine thief who has stolen from you. Jesus took what was yours – He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But in an amazing twist, Christ’s thievery is actually a keeping of the 7thCommandment. By becoming sin for you, Jesus has given you everything – mercy, forgiveness, resurrection, and eternal life with Him.

As we sang earlier, “The world seeks after wealth and all that mammon offers yet never is content though gold should fill its coffers. I have a higher good, content with it I’ll be; my Jesus is my wealth. What is the world to me!” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Fourth & Fifth Commandments: Order & Life

Listen here.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To recap the first three Commandments: God has told us to have no other gods than Himself, to not misuse His name, and to keep the Sabbath holy. In those Commandments, God has given and protected for us the gift of Himself as our God, the gift of His name to use in prayer, and the gift of His holy Word which gives us rest in His mercy.

Tonight, we move to the second table of the Law which has to do with love for our neighbor. But before we dive into the Fourth Commandment, it is good for us to briefly consider the order God has given in these Commandments because it is no accident. Turn in your hymnal to p. 23 because it might be helpful for you to see these Commands since I won’t quote them verbatim. Notice, the order: #4 – Honor your parents. #5 – Don’t murder. #6 – Don’t commit adultery. #7 – Don’t steal. #8 – Don’t harm your neighbor’s name or reputation. And for tonight, I’m going to skip over #9 and #10 both for the sake of time and for the fact that the 9thand 10thCommandments bring us back to the 1stCommandment according to Colossians 3:5.

Again, these Commandments, this second table of the Law, have to do with love for our neighbor. If it were up to us to order the Commandments, we might think the most important Commandment about loving our neighbor is to not murder because that is the most unlovingthing we can think of, but God puts the honor of parents as the first Command when it comes to loving our neighbor. Here is why: The 4thCommandment is about setting up and protecting order in creation. Without the gift of order, life is filled with only chaos and anarchy, so the 4thCommandment comes first. The 4thCommandment is the link between our love for God and our love for our neighbor (more on that in a minute). Now, on to…

The 4th Commandment

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do not despise our parents and superiors, nor provoke them to anger, but honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.

This Commandment is unique. Of all the Commandments, only two are positive Commands. By ‘positive’ here, I don’t mean that it makes us feel good or something. Instead, this Command is telling us, “Do this,” just like the 3rdCommand told us, “Remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy.” All the others are negative, “Don’t do this.” But the main way this Command is unique is that it is the first Command with a promise (Eph. 6:2), “that your days may be long…” The first three Commands don’t contain a stated promise and blessing, but the 4thdoes.

And notice that God does not command that we love our parents; He commands that we honorthem. To honor someone is a higher command than to love because honor includes love but it also includes service, obedience or submission (more on that word in a minute), and respect. In the 4thCommandment, God puts parents right next to Himself as the most important thing in all creation because parents are a manifestation of God on earth.

Think about it this way: Where does your life come from? It comes from God; He is the Author and Giver of life (Act. 3:15; Ps. 139). But through whom does God give you life? Through your parents – through the role, the office, the vocation of father and mother. In that office and vocation, God has hidden Himself.

When you are (or were) a child God gives you protection, food, clothing, shelter, and education, but He did all of that through your parents. When you grow up (or now that you have grown up), God continues to give you all of those things through your boss and through the authorities over you. No one is ever free from being under authority. Even if both of your parents have died, you are still not free from the requirements of this Commandment because there are still parent figures over you either in your workplace or in the government.Romans 13:1connects the civil authorities to the 4thCommandment when it clearly states that everyone is to be subject to the authorities over us because there is no authority except what God has established.

The home is the foundation of all order in all society. Unfortunately, today we have largely lost sight of this, and cultures around the world are suffering because of that. It is from the home that other institutions get their authority. Parents, God gave your children to you, and your children are your responsibility. It is your responsibility as parents to raise your children in the faith, to educate them, to feed and clothe them, etc. There are times when it is good and right to delegate those responsibilities to someone else. But do not think that because you have delegated those responsibilities that you are free from them either. The further you delegate your responsibilities, the more likely it is that those responsibilities will not be carried out well. I don’t want to get too political here, but this is why socialism will never work. Socialism upends the way God created because it tries to replace the government as the source of order and authority instead of father and mother as the source of order and authority.

So, kids listen up, you are to honor your parents simply because they are your parents. It doesn’t matter if they are good parents or not. Their role or vocation as parents demands honor because God has given you life through them. So, if you want to show love for God, listen to God when He says, “Honor your father and mother.” And parents, listen up. You are to serve in your office as a parent in an honorable way because you are the visible, tangible, manifestation of God for your children to protect and enrich their lives which brings us to…

The 5th Commandment

Thou shalt not kill.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we do our neighbor no bodily harm nor cause him any suffering, but help and befriend him in every need.

God has given you a body and life, and in this Command God protects that body and life because after the order that God established in the 4thCommandment, your body and life are the most important gift God has given you.

I’m going to be brief on this one because I spent so much time on the 4thCommandment (and I could have gone on for hours on the 4thCommandment). The devil has done a very good job of diminishing God’s gift of life in our society. From abortion to euthanasia and assisted suicide in between, the sanctity of life has been lowered.

Because God created human life by joining body and soul to make a living being, all life from womb to tomb is sacred – period. Jesus tells us how serious God is in this Commandment by saying that anger toward another is the same as murder (Mt. 5:21-22).

With regard to both of these Commandments, we see how we have not lived up to God’s requirements of us. We have not honored our parents and the other authorities over us as we should. We have not helped our neighbor when we have had the opportunity to do so. Repent.

Repent and remember that is why the Son of God became flesh. Jesus had parents and was submissive to them (Lk. 2:51). Jesus loved you perfectly by taking on a body just like yours. In that body, Jesus perfectly loved you by taking all your sin into Himself as He suffered the wrath of God against your sin on the cross. Christ has given you His obedience and taken all your sin. Because of His righteousness and His self-sacrifice, you are made right with God. And know that when He returns, He raise up you and all the dead. And He will grant everlasting life – body and soul joined perfectly together – to you and to all who believe in Him. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Second & Third Commandments: God’s Name and Word

Listen here.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last week, we began our journey through the Ten Commandments with the 1stCommandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” It is important for us to remember there that God is giving us the gift of Himself as our God. He wants us to fear, love, and trust Him above all things. He wants us to let Him, and Him alone, be our God because He has promised and given us His steadfast love and mercy.

Tonight, we consider the 2nd and 3rd Commandments which completes what is usually called the “first table” of the Law.

Before I get into the 2nd and 3rd Commandments, I want to mention something about how the Ten Commandments are numbered. Scripture gives us the Commandments twice (Ex. 20:1-17and Dt. 5:6-21). If you simply took all the things that God said in those texts, you would probably come up with at least eleven commandments (if not twelve commandments). But in Exodus 34:18and a couple other verses (Dt. 4:13& 10:4), you see that God calls them the Ten Commandments (lit. ‘Ten Words’). When God gives the Commandments in Deuteronomy, the commandments about coveting – house; wife, workers, cattle, etc. – are reversed, so we know that the way we number them doesn’t matter too much.

The most important thing is to have ten of them and make sure all God’s words are included. The way we Lutherans have them ordered works nice because the first three deal with our love for God and the last seven deal with our love for our neighbor.

One more thing before we get into the 2ndCommandment: When we think of sin, we think some sins are greater than others. Our conscience (which is good, but we have to remember that our conscience is fallen and doesn’t always work the way it should), our conscience will tell us lying isn’t as bad as stealing which isn’t as bad as murdering. A lot of times, our conscience doesn’t even register sins against the first three Commandments – even though it should. Hopefully, this sermon will convict us and help us to be more mindful of our sins against God so that we cry out to Him for His mercy and forgiveness won for us by Jesus on the cross. And I pray that this sermon will show us what great gifts we are given in the 2ndand 3rdCommandments.

The 2nd Commandment
Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, conjure, lie, or deceive by His Name, but call upon Him in every time of need and worship Him with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

In the 2ndCommandment, God gives us the gift of His name to use in prayer.

God does not want us to misuse His name this is very true. The Jews were so careful about God’s name that they wouldn’t even speak His name. And too often we think that if we don’t go around saying, “Oh my God,” all the time that we have kept this Commandment. We are wrong.

God does not want us to misuse His name, but He does, in fact, want us to use His name properly.

When I was in Bible school, I somehow got the responsibility of keeping the pop machine in the men’s dorm stocked. The year was coming to a close, and I was asked to teach another student how to do it so he could take over the following year after I graduated. The pop was stored in a closet that was locked and had a sliding door. As I was showing him the process, we went to get more pop, but the door had gotten jammed in the tracks. I hefted and jerked and pulled, but I couldn’t get the door to open. I was getting really frustrated.

This little guy (he was from a foreign country) stepped in between me and the door and said, “In the name of Jesus,” right before he yanked on the handle. I remember thinking to myself, “This poor guy. God doesn’t care about a door that is guarding pop.” But do you know what? The door opened. And I was convicted. Here was a need, minor as it was, and his little prayer was answered.

Here’s the point. God wants you to use His name. God wants you to call on Him whenever you face trouble, and He wants you to use His name to praise Him whenever you have joy.

I would encourage you to make it a habit that when you have a need – no matter how big or small it is – to at least pray, “Lord, have mercy.” God hears that prayer and answers it. And whenever something good happens, pray, “Thanks be to God.” Both of these help you use God’s name correctly.

The 3rd Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not despise His Word and the preaching of the same, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.

In the 3rdCommandment, God gives us the gift of His Word which makes us holy.

Sabbath means ‘rest.’ That is why that day is called the Sabbath because God rested from His work in creation. And holy means ‘set apart.’

The main word, the main focus, in this Commandment is ‘holy.’ If simply resting was the main thing in this Command, then taking a nap makes you holy or sleeping in on Sundays and missing church would be a good work. Some Christians will take this Commandment to mean that you shouldn’t put gas in your car on Sunday so businesses will stay closed, or some will say that you should not mow your lawn on Sunday because you are doing work. But resting and not working is not the point of this Commandment. If it is, pastors are constantly breaking this Commandment because, of course, they only work on Sundays.

The main point of this Commandment is rather to set apart a day for holy things. As Christians, we keep this Commandment on Sundays instead of Saturdays (when it originally was) because we weekly celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.

The most holy thing we have is God’s Word. 1 Timothy 4:4-5says that everything is made holy by the Word of God and prayer. So in this Commandment, God wants you to set apart, to make holy, a day where He makes you holy through His Word.

Jesus did many miracles on the Sabbath day because He came to restore what sin has broken in this world. He made people holy and whole by a simple Word from His mouth. Jesus still does this today. He invites you to come here and hear His Word which makes you holy.

As His people, may we repent of our lack of prayer and our indifference toward His Word. And may we honor His name by receiving what He freely gives us – His mercy and forgiveness won on the cross. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The First Commandment: Your God

Listen here.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” What does this mean? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

Everyone has a god. The pagans surrounding and living in Israel worshipped Baal, Moloch, and others. The Greeks had many gods – Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, etc. Today, Hindus worship Vishnu, and Muslims worship Allah. These pagan religions all give names to the false gods they worship, but even people who are atheists, people who believe there is only stuff, have a god. Their god just happens to be stuff; Ro. 1:[24-25] says they worship the created rather than the Creator. Atheists give god-like attributes to matter – they say it has always existed and controls everything. And Paul concludes in Php. 3:[19], “Their god is their belly.” When the true God is not worshipped or recognized, something – an idol, or another false god – always fills that void.

Idolatry is what sinners do. And even as Christians, we need to be aware that our hearts quickly turn to idols. We heard how quickly God’s people turned to idols in our Old Testament lesson (Ex. 32:1-35). Just like them, we grow impatient with God and doubt His promises. Rather than trusting God to provide for us, we trust our money. Rather than trusting God’s mercy and faithfulness, we trust our good works. An idol isn’t only a statue that you bow down to, an idol is anything you fear, love, or trust more than God which is why the explanation to the 1stCommandment is an extremely helpful tool to diagnose ourselves. Anything you fear, love, or trust more than God is your idol.

So, let’s consider each of these.

First, fear. We are to fear God above all things. Too often, we think that fearing God is an outdated notion. But Jesus says in Mt. 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both the soul and body in hell.” The punishment for ignoring and breaking God’s commands is eternity in hell. But fearing God does not mean that we forget the rest of the Bible – especially the Gospel. We remember that Christ suffered the wrath and punishment of God that we deserve when He died on the cross.

Here is a helpful analogy about fearing God: Imagine that you are driving along in your car, and you worried about your finances, worried about your marriage, and worried about the huge drifts on the roof of your house. All these thoughts are swirling around in your head while you are stopped at a light. Suddenly, someone jumps into the passenger seat holding a gun and says, “Drive now! I’ll tell you where to go.” You frantically follow their directions fearing for your life. You are shaking, crying, and terrified, but you follow those directions to the letter. All the things you were worried about are suddenly gone, and you aren’t worried about anything except this lunatic in your passenger seat. After a few frantic minutes, you muster up the courage to ask, “What do you want with me? I’ll give you anything.” And the passenger says, “I don’t want anything from you. There’s an assassin after you, and I’m here to protect you.” Now, you aren’t afraid of anything, you are simply relieved. When you fear nothing but God, who alone is to be feared, the Gospel tells you that He is the God who has come to save you.

We are to fear God, and we are to love God above all things. Love of God does not come naturally to us. Instead, we love ourselves. We seek our own good, desire our own honor, and pursue our own interests. If you want to identify your idols, just think about the things that have kept you from being at a worship service, reading the Scriptures, or praying – those are your idols. Repent.

Repent and remember that God Himself is love, and He demonstrates His love in that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you (Ro. 5:8). It is this love of God for us that motivates our love for Him and for our neighbor. If you want to be more loving, bask yourself in God’s love for you.

Finally, trust. We are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. When you are sick, do you trust your doctor to give you good treatment? When you are cold, do you trust your furnace to keep your house warm? When you are hungry, do you trust that you have enough money, and do you trust the grocery store to have food? That’s good. You should.

But you should also look behind your doctor, your furnace, your money, and the store to the God who has provided all of those things. Always remember that God is your heavenly Father who has promised to care for all of your needs – body and soul. He feeds the birds and clothes the grass, and He has fed and clothed you spiritually as well because of what Christ has done. From God alone, you receive all good things, and He has delivered you from all evil. So, trust Him remembering that He has given you a reason to trust Him.

Before God gave the first of these Ten Commandments, He said something important that we too often forget. All the Commandments are prefaced with this statement by God, “I am the Lordyour God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Now, you haven’t been enslaved in Egypt – at least, I don’t think any of you have been. But you have been delivered by God in a more important way.

The Lordyour God is the God who delivered you out of this sinful world. He has brought you out of your slavery to sin. He has already proven Himself to be a faithful, loving, gracious, merciful God by sending His only begotten Son to die for your sins. When He tells you, “Have no other gods before Me,” He is saying, “Let Me be your God, and Me alone. Don’t fear anything else; fear Me. Don’t love anything above Me because I’m behind all good things. Trust Me because I will never fail you and never forsake you.” He is inviting you to let Him alone be your God. He is, in fact, giving you Himself.

So, fear Him alone who has delivered you. Love Him alone who loves you more deeply than you can possibly imagine. Trust Him alone who is trustworthy. And you will never be disappointed (Ro. 10:11). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Law Fulfilled – Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Trinity on Exodus 20:1-17 & Matthew 5:17-26

Listen here.

Exodus 20:1-17

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

God Gives the Ten Commandments2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

administration american flag country daylight

Wednesday, the United States of America, turned 242 years old, and she doesn’t look a day over 220. In the midst of the heat, barbeques, mosquitoes, and fireworks, I hope you took time to thank God your Father for His good gift of the nation that you live in. God has blessed us with a country that allows her citizens the freedom to use their God-given talents and abilities to better their own lives and the lives of others. Our nation, in many ways, is the envy of people throughout the history of the world.

Yet, our nation is not without major flaws. A former US Senate Chaplain, Peter Marshall, said, “May we think of freedom, not as the right to do what we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.” Sadly, too many people and politicians in our country believe freedom means we can do whatever we want, and then, use those freedoms as a cover for evil.

In this country, we have the freedom of speech. But a current US senator has advocated and promoted violence against those who disagree with her politics. In our country, parents have the freedom to educate their children in the way they think is best. But slowly and steadily, parents are losing freedom to even know how their children are being educated in school. Marriage has been eroding in our nation for decades, and it is now being proactively attacked. Our Declaration of Independence says that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But some states allow ‘physician-assisted suicide.’ In other words, it is now legal to be an accomplice to murder if you are a doctor, and when that happens, euthanasia is never far behind. And our country has made it legal to murder over 60 million babies through abortion.

The first verse of our national anthem closes with a question, “O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” Yes, the flag still flies over this land, and for that, we can thank God. But can we still be considered the land of the free when the lives of the most vulnerable are not protected?

Abraham Lincoln supposedly said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Lincoln might be wrong. We may still be destroyed by another nation. But at the rate the culture in our nation is disintegrating, Lincoln’s words appear to be accurate.

If a nation wants to destroy itself, all it has to do is ignore, undermine, or explain away the Ten Commandments. And that is precisely what is happening in our country, and it has been happening for a long time.

America needs to repent. Nations that have gone down the path our country is marching on don’t last long. God destroys them. America needs to repent.

But nations don’t repent. Individuals do. Americans need repentance, and it needs to start with you.

You are not what you should be. Do you hear these Ten Commandments and think, “Well, I’m way better than the society, culture, and people around me”? Then, you are the problem. The Law does not and cannot save you.

That is what Jesus was getting at in our Gospel lesson (Mt. 5:17-26). The Pharisees took the 5thCommandment, “You shall not murder,” and figured they must be pretty good. They were busy patting themselves on the back thinking they had impressed God. The Commandment was enough by itself. Jesus isn’t adding to the Commandment when He says that your anger makes you a murderer; instead, He is reminding you and I that we haven’t begun to be the people God created and wants us to be.

You need a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the best person you know or have heard of or you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. It is a righteousness you cannot attain or achieve by your works and efforts. Repent.

Small Catechism - Ten Commandments Cross IconRepent and know that there is righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus came and kept the Law. Jesus did everything the Commandments demanded and did not do anything the Law forbade. Jesus does not get angry with someone without cause. Jesus does not look upon a woman with lust. Jesus does not chase after or desire things that are not given to Him. Instead, Jesus gladly accepts what the Father gives and then waits with perfect trust that the Father is good and will provide.

Jesus kept that faith even when He was forsaken by His Father as He hung on the cross shedding His holy, perfect, sinless blood for you. He endured an eternity of Hell for all of humanity. And as He breathed His last, He cried, “It is finished.”

There, the Law was fulfilled, and all the holy Commandments were perfectly kept. The last penny was paid, and there is nothing left for you to do to make God happy with you.

Because now, Jesus gives His righteousness away for free to all who believe in Him. He joins you to Himself through His word of promise, through your Baptism, and through His holy Supper. God looks at you and sees Jesus, and He delights in you.

Christian, you have died to sin. Live in it no longer. Rejoice in God’s will for you revealed in the Commandments.

Because Jesus will come back. When He does, sin and death and hell will die as well. And you will rise, free from your bondage to sin and free to bask in the grace of your Savior who loves you now and forever. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.