Apology to Augsburg, Article IV. Justification, Part 4 - Forgiveness by Faith - March 14, 2018 - Lenten Midweek 5 - Text: Apology to Augsburg Article IV

This year during the season of Lent through to Easter Sunrise and Easter morning we are continuing our celebration of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation as we did at Advent through Christmas. During Lent through Easter we are covering what is considered the most important doctrine of the Church and the Lutheran Church, Article IV of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. Article IV is the article on Justification and how we are made just and right in God’s eyes. Indeed, this article is the article on which the Church stands or falls, because we are saved either by ourselves, our good deeds, our obedience, and so forth or our salvation comes from outside of us, namely it comes from Jesus, who has earned and paid for our sins by His suffering and death and the cross and which He gives freely to us with out any merit or worthiness within us.

Today we take up the most important issue of forgiveness of sins. Indeed, forgiveness of sins is our greatest need because without forgiveness our sins would remain on us and we would be eternally condemned, but as we know with forgiveness is life and salvation. So, what is our situation in which we find ourselves in need of such forgiveness. We need forgiveness because we are conceived and born in sin. Sin is in our DNA, it is in our genes, it has infected our entire being. As David reminds us, we are conceived and born in sin. We are born selfish, rotten to the core sinners. We are born spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God, every intention of our being is evil all the time.

Because we are conceived in sin, because sin permeates our genes, it has also affected our will, our physical, spiritual and mental will. Our will has been so tainted by sins that all we truly can do is reject the gifts God has to give and that is exactly what we do. This total rejection can be seen on any given Sunday when, in our own congregation, in congregations across the country and even across the world more than fifty percent of the population refuses and rejects the gifts of God by absenting themselves from the Divine Service. And yes, that is what absence from Divine Service truly is, refusing and rejecting the gifts of God. Could you imagine anyone refusing bodily food? Yet we do not seem to have a problem rejecting the most important spiritual food.

Our nature is sin. We are conceived and born in sin. Sin permeates our DNA. Sin affects our will so that our will is in contradiction to God. How then are we to come to any type of reconciliation? How can we be brought back into a right relationship with God, a relationship in which we are pleasing in God’s eyes.

God’s demand on us is that we are perfect. “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). As we have seen, we are far from perfect. So how do we restore our perfection? For some the thought and what is taught and believed by some, even by many people, is that forgiveness is something that must be earned. It is thought by many that one must work off one’s sins. A person must do so much good to counter the sins one commits. The two extremes, if you will, are the teaching that one is saved by faith and works and the other is that one is saved by grace and obedience, which is truly another way of saying the same thing, even though it is denied that this is the same thing. After all, what is obedience except a personal work.

It is thought by some that one must pay a price for one’s sins, that is that one must suffer while living in this world for the sins they commit. This misunderstanding of forgiveness always points to self. When we point to ourselves for paying the price for sin the accusation then is for what reason did Jesus die on the cross. Was Jesus’ suffering and death not enough, so that more needs to be done? This teaching obviously contradicts Jesus’ Word that His sacrifice was once and for all.

It is thought by some that forgiveness is a do-it-yourself job. Do a good deed, plant a tree, help a friend, say a prayer, give a token, even purchase an indulgences and the sin is covered. Perhaps we would do well to be reminded that the price for sin was set in the Garden of Eden and the price was death, physical death for sure and apart from Jesus, eternal spiritual death, or hell. Thus, any token offered on our part simply is not enough, only our blood would be enough.

Indeed, none of these options brings any certainty of forgiveness because there is always the question, how much good counteracts how much evil? Personally, if I were to buy into this system of forgiveness I would want a chart so I could match up my sins with my good deeds to see if I had done enough. And quite frankly, one trip through the Ten Commandments would easily remind us that we are always in arrears when it comes to reconciling our account with God. We always owe.

The good news is there is true forgiveness. True forgiveness must and does come from outside of us. Just as a drowning person cannot save themself so we cannot do enough, pay enough, pray enough, and so on to work off the price of death for our sins.

Not only must our forgiveness come from outside of us, it must also come from someone who does not owe. How can one person pay for the sins of another when they owe for their own sins? Before I can offer to pay for your sins I am liable to pay for my own sins, and I cannot even pay for my own.

The answer is in Jesus. Jesus is true God and He had to be true God in order to be born without sin. Jesus is perfect. Jesus has no sin. Jesus owes nothing for sin because He is perfect and holy. Jesus had to be God in order to be perfect and holy. As God He was and is perfect and holy as well as all powerful and in heaven being given all glory, yet He gave up the glory of heaven as well as much of His power so that while He was on earth He did not use His Divine power to its full extent.

Not only is Jesus truly God He is also truly human. Jesus had to be a human in order to be our substitute. Just as in making comparisons and just as making trades, one must trade like for like, as in apples for apples and oranges for oranges. Jesus had to be a human being in order to trade His perfection for our imperfection. If He were not a human He would not be able to trade His life for ours. The good news is that Jesus was born as a man, as we confess being conceived of a woman, and yet He was still God, again as we confess being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus was truly God and truly human, and it is not that He was half God and half man, rather He was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. Jesus was born in perfection and lived a perfect life never sinning even once. The fullness of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a perfect life for us in our place because we cannot. Jesus perfectly obeyed all God’s Laws and commands perfectly for us because we could not and cannot. Jesus fulfilled all God’s promises, all His prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus then took all our sins as well as the sins of all people of all places of all times upon Himself. He suffered the complete punishment of hell for all sins and He died. He paid the price set in Eden for all sins. Yet He did not stay dead, but He rose from the dead defeating sin, death and the devil.

What does this mean? As we have used this illustration many times so we bring it up again, just as a drowning person cannot save themself, so we can do nothing to gain forgiveness for ourselves. As a matter of fact when we offer our seeming good works before God as an offering for our sins, Isaiah reminds us that our good works before God are seen as filthy rags. Yet, by faith in Jesus, faith that He gives to us through His means of grace, His life, His perfect life becomes our perfect life. His perfect death and resurrection becomes our perfect death and resurrection. His eternal life becomes our eternal life. By faith in Jesus He robes us with His robes of perfect righteousness so that when God looks at us He sees our perfection and He is satisfied.

As always we get it right when we point to Jesus. And we do point to Jesus. Jesus forgives us because He paid the price for our sin and He gives the forgiveness to us without any merit or worthiness within us. Thus we rightly say that Jesus saves us.

Again we are reminded, it all comes from outside so we have this certainty, sins forgiven, eternal life given. We can never be certain of ourselves, that we have done enough, prayed enough, anything enough, but we can be certain that what Jesus did was enough, because He did it.

As we confess quite boldly in the explanation of the second article of the Apostles’ creed, “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,  that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,  just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.” To God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Look at the Cross and Live - March 11, 2018 - Fourth Sunday in Lent - Text: Numbers 21:4-9

Paul got it right when he said, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). At first we might think that Paul had our same Bible readings and was preaching on the texts that we have before us today when he said those words. Our Old Testament text reminds us that sin earns death for us and the Gospel lesson, which is Jesus explanation of the Old Testament Lesson, reminds us that Jesus has earned eternal life for us by giving His life for ours on the cross. The background of our text is that the children of Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt and it would appear that their question now is, “what have you done for me lately, God?” Our text begins at verse four, “4From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way” (v.4). I guess this is the spot where we can relate to the children of Israel. How often do we find ourselves growing impatient with our Lord as we go through life. How often do we find ourselves saying, “yes, God has been with me and blessed me to this point in my life; yes, Jesus did die on the cross for my sins; yes, I know that heaven is mine, but what have you done for me lately, God?”
 

The impatience of the children of Israel leads to their complaint. We read verse five, “5And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food’” (v.5). Things are not what they want them to be so they reminisce about the “good old days” in Egypt. They ask the question, “Why have you brought us here, to die?” It was not that long ago that they were complaining about how bad it was in Egypt and wondering why God would not deliver them from their slavery in Egypt. How quickly their hearts have changed.
 

Really, they are no different than we are today. Their impatience brought on an exaggeration of the circumstances in much the same way as our impatience brings similar exaggerations of our own circumstances today. They said, we have no food, but then they clarify that and said, we detest this miserable food. They had food. The Lord provided them daily with manna from heaven. They had food, they had enough food and they had food that was good for them. God provides according to His promise to give us all that we need.
 

They cried, we have no water. They had forgotten that the Lord was continually providing them with all that they needed, food to eat and water to drink. It is like a child standing in front of a full refrigerator with the door wide open and saying, “I can’t find anything to eat.” Or like a child with a closet full of games, a computer loaded with games, video games, personal video games, a back yard full of toys and saying, “I’m bored. There’s nothing to do.”
 

Their complaint leads to their punishment and their plea for help. We read verses six and seven, “6Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7And the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people” (v.6-7). Paul is right, the wages of sin is death. The children of Israel complained against Moses, the Lord’s chosen leader and actually then their complaint was not just against Moses, but their complaint was against the Lord Himself. Their sinful complaint earned for them the wages of poisonous snakes which bit the people and killed them. Here we are reminded that although, by faith in Jesus we will never have to suffer the eternal punishment for our sins, there may be times when we will have to suffer some temporal punishment, that is we may have to suffer the earthly consequences for our sins. And what is more, we may even have to suffer the temporal punishment, the consequences, not just for our own sin, but for the sins of society in general. It is like the child who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion. He is suffering, not from His own sin, but for the sin of society.
 

Suffering the consequences for their sin, the children of Israel immediately turn and beg for forgiveness. It is amazing how quickly the consequences of our actions can make us change our tune. They come to Moses and ask that He go to the Lord and pray for them, that He be their mediator. Really, there is nothing like being punished to make you realize that you are doing wrong.
 

So Moses prayed for the people. Can we find a more righteous man than Moses? He was spoken against and yet he still intercedes for the people to ask for their forgiveness. Most of us would want to tell the people, “too bad.” Most of us would rejoice that the people were getting what we believed they had coming to them. Not Moses. Moses was a righteous man, even if the people did not recognize this fact.
 

We said Paul got it right. John got it right too. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8,9). The people confessed and God sent a cure. The cure God sent is what we call a type of Christ. We read verses eight and nine, “8And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.’ 9So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (v. 8-9).
 

The first thing we notice is that the snake killed. This reminds us that we are born in sin and literally, left to ourselves we would kill ourselves. We are born spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God. By ourselves we are left in sin and cannot be saved.
 

Next we notice that God did not remove the snakes from the people. God does not remove sin and temptation from our world. Instead, God sent a Savior. God told Moses to put up an image of the snake which reminds us that Christ came as one of us, yet He came without sin.
 

Next, we see the image on the pole. Moses was to put a bronze image of the snake on the pole so that when anyone was bit, if they looked at the pole and believed, they would not die. Likewise, Jesus Christ died on the cross and when we look to the cross and believe, we will not die an eternal spiritual death.
 

Finally, notice the importance of faith in each situation. Faith is to acknowledge sin and be given forgiveness. Faith is a gift from God. Faith is that thing which God gives to us to use to grasp all the other gifts and blessings that He has to give to us.
 

This scenario that we see in the lives of the children of Israel is the same scenario that we see in our own lives on a daily basis. We daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. Last week we our text was the Ten Commandments. As we worked our way through the Ten Commandments we were reminded, not if we sin, but how often we daily sin. We daily become impatient and speak against others, against those in authority over us, against our pastor, and against God. We sin in thought, word and deed. Sin begins in our eye, in our thought, in our mind, as we envy, covet, lust and think evil of others. Sin finds its way to our lips as we speak evil of others, as we fail to put the best explanation on everything, as we speak hurtful and hateful words and as we fail to encourage and build each other up as brothers and sisters in Christ. And sin is acted out as we hurt and harm others through actually inflicting bodily harm or by not helping in any way we might be able to help.
 

Daily we sin much and are in need of forgiveness and just as daily we seek forgiveness. We hear God’s Word of Law which reminds us that the wages of sin is death, physical death and eternal spiritual death. We hear God’s Word which reminds us that we are guilty and are in need of forgiveness. In our Epistle lesson for this morning Paul reminds us that we are dead in the trespasses and sin in which we once walked. He reminds us that we are children of disobedience.
 

Thanks be to God that we also hear God’s Word of Gospel which reminds us that our Lord is ready and waiting to forgive us ours sins and even more, He is continually working through the power of the Holy Spirit to move in us to repent and be given forgiveness. Again, Paul reminds us, “4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-7). In our Gospel lesson Jesus reminds us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
 

Daily we look to the cross. Our cross is one of the main focal points in our church. The cross is where we point people. Look at it. It is here to remind us that Jesus took our place on the cross. It is here to remind us that Jesus gave His life for ours on the cross. It is here to remind us that Jesus shed His blood for ours on the cross. The cross reminds us that the price for sin is death, is blood and that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness and no salvation. Today our cross reminds us of the cross with the bronze serpent in the desert and how as the children of Israel looked to the cross and believed, they did not die. So, too, with us, as we look to the cross and believe, we too will never die. Because Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place as one of us. Because Jesus took our sins upon Himself. Because Jesus shed His blood. Because Jesus paid the price for our sins, we have forgiveness and with forgiveness we have life and salvation.
 

I would like to leave you with Jesus words from the Gospel lesson as He talks about our text. Jesus says, “14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God” (John 3:14-18). To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Apology to Augsburg, Article IV. Justification, Part 3 - Justifying Faith - March 7, 2018 - Lenten Midweek 4 - Text: Apology to Augsburg Article IV

This year during the season of Lent through to Easter Sunrise and Easter morning we are continuing our celebration of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation as we did at Advent through Christmas. During Lent through Easter we are covering what is considered the most important doctrine of the Church and the Lutheran Church, Article IV of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. Article IV is the article on Justification and how we are made just and right in God’s eyes. Indeed, this article is the article on which the Church stands or falls, because we are saved either by ourselves, our good deeds, our obedience, and so forth or our salvation comes from outside of us, namely it comes from Jesus, who has earned and paid for our sins by His suffering and death and the cross and which He gives freely to us with out any merit or worthiness within us.
 

We believe, teach and confess that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. So, what is this faith through which we are saved? Faith may be understood in different ways. Faith may be understood as head knowledge, that is simply knowing something. I believe, I have faith, I know the sky is blue. One example of such faith is that of the Pharisees, Scribes, Teachers of the Law, Sadducees, and so forth. These people had faith in the Bible, they knew their Bible, at least the laws of the Bible, but they did not have saving faith. The faith they possessed was that they knew the content of their Bible. They knew the Laws and the commands of God. They may not have believed or trusted in the Word of God but they knew it.
 

Another example of such head knowledge faith is that of the Devil. Of all creatures the Devil knows the Bible probably better than you and me. You might recall that at the temptation of Jesus the Devil was quoting bits and pieces of the Bible in an attempt to tempt Jesus. Of course we know that he was not so much quoting the Bible as he was taking passages out of context and misquoting the Bible. Thanks be to God that Jesus knows His Bible better than Satan, after all, He is the author.
 

Certainly we might understand that we have such head knowledge type faith as well and that is not a bad thing. It is good, mete, right and salutary that we know the history and facts of the Bible. It is good that we know the history of the Bible, not as stories, but has history. Certainly Biblical knowledge is important but we must understand that simple Biblical knowledge, simple head knowledge of the Bible is not saving faith.
 

Another type of faith is a faith of emotion, a good feeling that I am saved. One of the tactics of the revivalist movement was to stir one’s emotions so that one might have a spiritual awakening brought on by sorrow for sin, confession and a decision for Jesus. We might call this an experiential faith, that is a faith of experience, but to be sure this is not necessarily saving faith.
 

A similar experience might be had when one attends a rather moving emotional or spiritual weekend conference. We might have what has been called a mountain top experience, an experience in which one might feel exceptionally close to God for the weekend. The trouble with this emotional type faith is that one day I might feel saved and the next day I might not, so does that mean I am saved today and not the next. Jesus addressed this type of faith in His parable of the sower and the seeds. Jesus expressed this emotional faith as the seed that sprang up immediately, but the cares and concerns of the world choked it out. Certainly one attending an emotional weekend gathering understands the descent from the mountain after the weekend and the temptation to loose what was gain. The same is true for the emotional revival, or experiential faith.
 

Faith that is saving faith is faith that is complete faith. Faith that is saving faith is faith that is complete trust, head and heart trust. Indeed, we know in our head and we trust in our heart that Jesus lived for us, took our sins, suffered and died for us and rose again from the dead. As we learn in the great love chapter of First Corinthians Thirteen, these three remain, faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love. With that statement in First Corinthians we understand that faith is what is based on the past, on actual events, as in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Hope is based on the future, our certainty of heaven. Indeed, our hope as Christians is not a wishy-washy hope, but a certainty. And love is based on the present, understanding that love flows out of faith.
 

Faith may also be described as an instrument and a gift. Faith is that thing that God gives and that thing that takes hold of and makes the rest of the gifts of God ours. When God gives He gives the whole lot of His gifts and a whole lot more. God does not do fractions. He does not say, “I will give you some of my gifts now and some later.” No, He gives us all of His gifts and then showers us with even more. You have heard me describe faith in this way, it is like your friend giving you ice cream. He does not say stick out your hand and then plop it down in your hand. No, he gives you the ice cream in a bowl and a spoon to use to move the ice cream from the bowl to your mouth. And so it is with God. He gives us all the gifts and blessings He has to give and the faith to take hold of those blessing to make them yours. The faith is the spoon that is the instrument to take hold of those blessings.
 

What does this mean? Faith is not something one gets or claims, you know how your friends talk about the time they got saved. One does not get saved or get faith as the saying might go. Faith is not something one gets rather faith is a gift that is given with no work or merit from the one being given the faith. For one being given faith to claim any part in gaining the gift would mean it is no longer a gift but a merit. Kind of like a drowning persons suggesting they helped in saving themself. The only way a drowning person can save themself is if they were not drowning in the first place. Or to claim faith would be like you giving someone a thoughtful gift or present and then that person holding it up and announcing, “Look what I got for myself.” Faith is gift given through the means that God has of giving it, His means of grace.
 

For faith to be a gift it must come from outside oneself. One does not give oneself a gift. Certainly we have heard of people giving themselves a gift, but that is truly not a gift for one has purchased, earned or merited that which they have given themself. Faith is gift that comes from God, or better said, from the Holy Spirit through the means of grace, either Holy Baptism or the Word of God. And that faith is also strengthened through the means of grace as well, through our Baptism remembrance, through confession and absolution, through the word of God and through the Lord’s Supper. Indeed, just as an apple seed cannot plant itself in the ground so one cannot plant faith in their own heart it must be planted by an outside source, by God Himself.
 

And as we said, faith is gift which is also instrument. Faith is that instrument, that spoon which takes the gifts of God that He gives and makes them ours. Yet all the while we continue to point to God as the one doing the doing and doing the giving. God is the prime mover. God does and gives and we are done to and given to.
 

Indeed, our confidence is in God’s giving and doing. Certainly we might like to think of ourselves as big people, doing it ourselves. We may even like to think that we are good people, that we are good enough, that we have been obedient, that we have made a decision for Jesus, that we have made Him the Lord of our life, but can we truly be sure of ourselves. Can we be sure that we were obedient enough, that we made a sincere decision, that we have enough faith or the right faith. I do not know about you, but I cannot depend on my self, on my own reason or strength. I can only be certain and I am most certain when God is the one in control, doing the doing. When I profess that God gives and we are given to in this I have the most confidence.
 

When it comes to faith, saving faith, the explanation to the third article of the Apostles’ creed sums it up best, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason our strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.” To God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Lord’s Law and Gospel - March 4, 2017 - Third Sunday in Lent - Text: Exodus 20:1-17

Our text for today is what we grew up calling the Ten Commandments. As we learned these Ten Commandments we often thought of them as a list of “dos” and “don’ts”. Even today, there are many “opinions” about the Ten Commandments. The opinions range from “Are you kidding?” to “I do not take them seriously.” to “I think rules were made to be broken” to “I’m glad we do not have to keep them anymore.” to “I think God loves us an awful lot to give them to us.” In answer to some of these opinions I guess I would suggest that we should be careful in our assessment of the Ten Commandments. I say that because, if we throw them out then we throw all of the Bible out, even the part about being saved by Jesus’ death on the cross. More often than not we see the Ten Commandments as harsh rules, and we do that because we are constantly breaking those rules. I would suggest that rather than being harsh rules, the Ten Commandments are God’s way of giving us the ability to respond to His great love for us. Notice how our Lord begins as He gives us the Ten Commandments. Our Lord begins by telling us what He has done. We begin at verse one, “1And God spoke all these words, saying, 2‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’” (v. 1-2). Today the slavery out of which our Lord brings us is our slavery to sin. So, it is because of what the Lord has done for us that He gives us the Ten Commandments and only because He works in and through us that we occasionally live according to these commandments.
 

The Ten Commandments can be divide into two tables. The first table deals with our relationship with God. We read at verse three, “3You shall have no other gods before me. 4You 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. 5You 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, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7You 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. 8Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10but 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. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy,” (v. 3-11).
 

We are not going to go through these commandments in depth this morning, or we might be here all day, but I do want to say a word or two about each one as we go. The first commandment reminds us that we are to worship God alone. And why do we worship God alone? Because He alone created the world and all things. We are to worship Him and not His creation. We are to worship Him alone because He is a jealous God. He is jealous, not in the sense that you and I think of being jealous, not that He is envious. He is jealous in that He demands our complete attention. Notice too, how He shows us that He is a God of love more than a God of harsh rules. He says that He punishes ‘the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him, but how He shows love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.’ God’s Law and justice lasts a short time, three or four generations, compared to His Gospel, His grace and love, which lasts for a thousand generations. God’s grace always for outreaches His law.
 

Continuing on, we are to honor and not misuse God’s name. This is one of those commandments that makes us hang our heads. It is not if we misuse God’s name, but how often in a day we misuse God’s name, and how often in a day that we thoughtlessly misuse God’s name. There was an article in the paper a while back in the Religion section, discussing whether or not it was a misuse of God’s name to text the letters “OMG” which stand for “Oh, My God.” That shows how thoughtless we are in our use of God’s name. Instead of misusing God’s name, we are to call on the Lord and use His name in prayer, in praise, in giving thanks and in times of trouble.
 

We are to honor and worship the Lord on His Day. God knows how hard it is for us to keep His commandments, that is why He gives us this commandment. Because it is so hard to keep the commandments we need all the help we can get. Our Lord gives us His help through the means of His Holy Word. The Holy Spirit works through the Bible to help us to keep the commandments, even if it is only that we are able to keep them somewhat. Thus, as it is God’s will, as often as it is offered, we attend Divine Service and Bible Class, we have personal and family devotion and prayer time, and we read and study God’s Word as often as possible, to not do so is to refuse and reject the gifts God has to give.
 

The second table of the commandments deals with our relationship with each other. We read picking up at verse twelve, “12Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13You shall not murder. 14You shall not commit adultery. 15You shall not steal. 16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17You 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” (v.12-17). As we look at this second table of commandments we see them first and foremost as gifts from God. In looking at them as gifts from God we will realize our guilt in not seeing them as gifts of God and in our refusing them as gifts from God.
 

The first commandment in this second table sets the stage for all the rest. The first commandments is God’s gift of the family. The family is the basis for our living together as human beings in this world. Certainly there are those in our world who would like you to believe that they have in mind what is best for your family, but do not believe them. The only one who knows what is best for families is God, the giver of families. And interestingly enough, this commandment is the basis for all authority in our world, because God gives authority to our world through our families which includes our extended families, our work, and our government. God is the one who gives His authority through these people to keep good order in His world. It is only with good order that we feel safe and can have peace. Thus we are to honor all those in authority over us.
 

God gives the gift of life, all life, which we know, scientifically speaking, and theologically speaking begins with conception. Here we are reminded that the taking of life is not something we do only by actually killing another person. No, killing another person, in God’s eyes, begins with the thought and can be carried out with hurting, hating, or harming another in any way. Instead we are to help others in any way we can.
 

God gives us the gift of marriage and fidelity, which means faithfulness. The consequences of a world run amok with sexual promiscuity is seen in the many diseases with which we must now contend. Marriage is a beautiful gift which God has given to us and unfortunately many in our society have thrown this gift back into His face and said, we do not want it. Instead we are to honor God’s gifts of sexuality and marriage.
 

God gives the gift of possessions, not that God wants us to accumulate a bunch of things, but He does not want us to take the things which He has given to others. Here again, as with killing, we do not steal merely by taking something. We steal by the mere thought of stealing. Instead we are to rejoice with what others have.
 

God gives the gift of reputation. Here we are reminded that even if something is true, that does not mean we can go around sharing it with others. Instead we are to build up others and look for the best explanation in all situations.
 

God gives the gift of contentment. To be content is a difficult thing in our capitalistic society, yet it is a virtue that makes life so much more bearable.
 

I want to go back for a minute to verse five and to the part about God’s jealousy. Remember, God’s wrath is but for three or four generations. As we daily sin much and break these commandments, God is still only angry with us for a short time. And that does not mean that we have a right to keep on sinning and breaking His commandments, for to do so shows that we are not sorry that we have broken His commandments.
 

Yet, God’s mercy is for a thousand generations. God is a loving God who wants to love us. God does not want to punish us. God wants only what is best for us, His love for us. He is always right there waiting, even moving in us to repent and to be ready for His forgiveness.
 

I like to think of these Ten Commandments as God’s gift of boundaries. As a parent you know how important are boundaries. We set boundaries for our children telling them they are not to play with stray animals because we know if they do play with a stray animal they might get bitten. Boundaries set limits, not because we want to be restricting of the freedom of others, but because we love others. Boundaries are set in order to make us feel safe. Certainly we test those boundaries, but we do so to make sure they are there. In a classroom, children will test the rules because they know that if they get away with breaking a rule, then the rule means nothing and they do not feel safe. The Ten Commandments are boundaries concerning how we relate to God and how we relate to each other. They are given to us so that we might feel safe in a world that would make us feel something other than safe.
 

The summary of the commandments is “love.” Love the Lord you God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. The summary of the commandments is love, because if we could love God, exclusively, then we would not break any of the other commandments. And if we could love our neighbor as ourselves we would not break any of the last commandments. The problem is that we cannot love perfectly, thus we cannot keep the commandments perfectly.
 

Thanks be to God that there is another way. For you see, God knew that we would not be able to keep the commandments perfectly, that is why He sent His one and only Son, Jesus. Jesus is true God and true man. He lived perfectly. He obeyed the commandments, all the commandment perfectly for us, because we cannot. Then He gave Himself. He suffered and died on the cross for us. He shed His blood for us. He gave His life for ours, so that we might have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. And once again we see how God’s Gospel love so much out weighs His Law. And to that we say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.