The Divine Crash

Today’s sermon is one of the longest sermons I have ever done.  It was 31 minutes! You can listen to it on iTunes or after the fold there is a link to listen to it here.

We began looking at the ten commandments, or rather 10 words because in Hebrew the word commandment isn’t there.

All of this is like gardening.  God saved us and put us in a flower pot.  If we hold on to these rules too tightly then we make the flower pot to small and we become root-bound.  A root-bound plant has the roots spiral around the flower-pot and cut off the nutrients and the plant dies from the top down.  No one wants the gospel of a root-bound person it is slavery unto itself.  On the other side if we hold these too loosely then we are in pots too big and we look like hypocrites because we can’t follow even what we say and no one wants the gospel of someone who can’t walk their talk.

First we looked at the first phrase “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery”

See, God loves us before God gives us rules before God tells us how to live, God tells us we are loved regardless.

Then God tells us we are brought out of the land of slavery, see Egypt is the land of slavery.  Egypt is not where God is, Egypt is where slavery is.  God is not the god of slavery.  God is the god of Freedom!

After that we began to look at the actual commandments.

1. No other gods before God.

- God recognizes that it is possible to have other gods and to put them above God.  Money, kids, jobs, stuff… God doesn’t say they are wrong.  God says they can’t be in front of God.  In other words put them in their proper place, a distant second to God.

2. Do not make idols.

- Specifically out of wood or stone.  Anything that represents God.  When we make something that looks like God we limit God.  When we decide what God must look like we have limited God and put God in a box.  To limit God is to get God wrong.  To get God wrong is to get everything that matters wrong.

3. Do not misuse God’s name.

- To ruin the name of God.  To give an attribute to God that is not God and to take an attribute that is God’s and claim it for myself or someone else.

4. To rest.

- When we don’t rest we become slaves to work.  Our God is not in the business of slavery.  Our God is in the business of freedom.  We rest because we are free to not work.  God freed us from work and slavery so we are able to take a day, shut off our phones and take a nap or play catch or go on a picnic with our spouse.

5. Honor our parents.

- This is to give glory to them, to give thanks for them.  Not because they deserve it or they are special but because they created us, like God created us.

So then, God gives us all of this to teach us what it means to be human, we were slaves.  The Israelites were slaves in Egypt, we have been slaves to our jobs, families, money, and our stuff for to long.  God saw our pain and knew there was a better way and so God brought us out of that and said here are 10 words that will give you a better way to live.

But God loves us even when we hold onto these rules too tightly and scare away others, God loves us even when we are hypocrites, and God loves us even when we have no idea about the rules.  God loves us enough to become human, as Jesus, and die for us on the cross.  So maybe you have been in one of those groups and you need to change, it isn’t a fancy prayer but only a matter of saying to God “save me and put me where you want me.”  Then God will.

Sermon Audio

 

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