Sermon for May 4, 2008

“And God spoke all these words!”

       Two women were riding on a city bus and one of them realized that she had not paid for her bus ride, so she told her friend, “I’M GOING TO GO UP AND PAY MY BUS FARE RIGHT NOW!”  Her friend said, “Why bother?  You got on here for free and got away with it, so why pay?”
       The first woman said, “I’ve found that honesty always pays,” and she got up and went to pay the bus driver her fare.” When the woman returned to her seat, she had a big smile on her face and in her best, “I TOLD YOU SO” tone of voice said, “SEE, I TOLD YOU HONESTY ALWAYS PAYS!”  I HANDED THE BUS DRIVER A QUARTER AND HE GAVE ME 50 CENTS CHANGE!
       Did she really show honesty?  Why do we do these types of things?  We feel like it is okay to do something wrong as long as we don’t get caught or get into trouble.  Why is it that we know what is the right thing to do, but somehow we don’t do it when we know that we should?
       The answer is as simple as the 10 Commandments recorded in  Exodus 20 which we have broken over and over again.  Many people don’t like the answer to that question because it is a 3 letter word that isn’t very popular today- SIN.  As difficult as it is to admit- WE ARE SINNERS AND BREAK GOD’S COMMANDMENTS AND GOD’S WORD each day!  As Romans 3: 23 tells us, “ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALLEN SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD!”
       We would like to think that we are better people than we actually are!  A wet paint sign seems to be an open invitation to touch the wall to see if the sign is true!  When we are driving a car- a yellow light seems to cause us speed up instead of causing us to prepare to stop.  We all have a tendency to think that rules are meant for everyone else BUT NOT FOR US!
       Our Text for this Confirmation Sunday as we study the 6 Chief Parts of Christian doctrine which help us to understand what it means to be a Christian and living out our Christian faith- is from Exodus 20 which are the familiar words of the 10 Commandments!  We heard them read and have probably memorized them  in our life- maybe with some “THOU SHALT AND THOU SHALT NOTS” instead of the “YOU SHALL AND YOU SHALL NOT!”  But the important fact for us as we continue “LEARNING AND LIVING OUT OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH” is what verse 1 tells us, “AND GOD SPOKE THESE WORDS!”  These are God’s WORD AND GOD’S GIFT to us to help us “LEARN AND LIVE OUT OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH” as people of God!
       If you notice- THESE ARE CALLED GOD’S 10 COMMANDMENTS- not God’s 10 SUGGESTIONS or God’s 10 RECOMMENDATIONS given by God to Moses as the way to live a God-pleasing life!  They tell us the difference between right and wrong.  The first 3 Commandments deal with our relationship with God.  “You shall have no other Gods before me… You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain… Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.
       How well have you done in keeping these 3 commandments?  In fact, if you could keep the FIRST COMMANDMENT PERFECTLY, then you would be able to keep all the commandments perfectly.  But we all know that we have not always “PUT GOD FIRST IN OUR LIFE” or ‘NEVER HAVE SAID A BAD WORD OR CURSED” in a moment of frustration in our life or have “WORSHIPED GOD” as often as we should- to remember God’s Day and Keep it holy!
       Many people like to pick and choose which commandments to obey and which commandments are really important.  It is much like the man who walked out of church one Sunday and shook hands with the pastor and said, “Pastor, you inspired me with your sermon on the 10 Commandments.  Starting today, I’m going to
keep 1 Commandment a week until I get through all 10 and then I’LL BE DONE WITH THEM.   The man had missed the point of the sermon. 
       It is one thing to “LEARN” the Commandments and about our Christian faith, it is another thing to “LIVE” the commandments and our Christian faith each day. We can’t pick and choose which commandments to obey depending on our mood or situation in life or decide how long we are going to obey the commandments- they are a part of our entire life in living out our Christian faith each and every day of our life!
       A television interviewer once asked a number of people the question, “WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS?”  One person said, “Well, I don’t take them literally.” Another person said with a laugh, “WELL, YOU KNOW THE OLD ADAGE- THAT RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN.”  One person said, “When my local newspaper decided to put the 10 commandments in the newspaper with no editorial comment, 3 days later we received a letter that said, “Please cancel my subscription to the newspaper.”  When you listed the 10 Commandments in the newspaper- you are taking all the fun out of life and getting too personal!”
       What is it about our world today and our human nature that “MAKES IT EASIER TO BREAK A COMMANDMENT THAN TO BREAK A BAD HABIT?”  What we see in our world today that in breaking the 10 Commandments is that WE ARE BROKEN BY THEM.  When we break the 10 Commandments which God has given to us as a “CURB OR FENCE, A MIRROR AND RULES FOR OUR LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN” we find that it only leads to broken spirits, broken hearts, broken relationships and broken lives.  We end up living in brokenness instead of wholeness, we have worry and anxiety instead of peace and joy which God wants us to experience as we live out our Christian faith!
       So what do we do?  Where do we turn for our peace and strength for living out our Christian faith?  The only solution is to Jesus Christ and to the Cross.  The cross is where God meets us as His children and deals with us with love and forgiveness.  In the cross we have our brightest hope for the future.  In our Christian faith, we receive the greatest assurance of God’s love, mercy, grace and forgiveness in our life.
       My prayer today and always for us and especially for the Confirmation Class: Brandon, Cory, Conner, Micah, Sonny and Cody is that you will CONTINUE to “LEARN AND LIVE OUT YOUR CHRISTIAN FAITH” and that you will respond to God’s love in a God-pleasing way  in your words and actions.  For the best way to do this is to have our “HEAD KNOWLEDGE” of God’s Word and our Christian Faith combine with the “HEART KNOWLEDGE” of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior which we received in our Baptism and is strengthened in the Sacrament of Holy Communion become “HAND KNOWLEDGE”  as we Serve the Lord using the Gifts that God has so generously given to us as we continue “LEARNING AND LIVING OUT OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH!”