The Ten Commandments are not merely a list of rules for measuring righteousness or judging others, but are given within the context of God’s covenant and faithfulness in freeing his people from slavery. The commandments describe how God’s people are called to live together in love of God and neighbor, with the first commandments establishing our relationship with God as the foundation for all the rest. Through confession and Holy Communion, Christians continually receive God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ and are called to extend that same grace and forgiveness as they walk together in faith.
Okay, so I know it has been a minute since most of us have been been in Confirmation classes, but let’s start today with a pop quiz on the 10 commandments:
First question.
How many commandments are there in the Old Testament?
Trick question: there are 20.
10 in Exodus; 10 in Deuteronomy.
Enough tricks. Here is a straightforward question.
How many can you name?
Go ahead. Call them out.
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make or worship idols.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder (kill).
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness (lie) against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, or possessions
Like most everything else these days, the 10 Commandments have been put to political use, some advocating they be posted in public spaces, in schools and state capitals in ways that distract us from what they are about
…what they meant to the Hebrews,
…what they mean to us as we seek to live as best we can,
with humility and grace,
recognizing that we all fail to live up to them despite our best efforts
which is part of what they are about, after all, not rules to measure our own righteousness nor that of others,
…not to divide us one from another,
but a covenant God makes with us
that we make with God and one another.
Two things to bear in mind:
Order and Condition.
Order: The Commandments are given in order, each depending on the other, the first more important, the last also important, but dependent on those that precede it.
The first four focus on our relationship with God, the last six on our relationship with one another, with our neighbors.
What is most important to remember about order is what we know to be true: we are commanded first to love God and know that our relationship with God shapes our relationship with our neighbors.
Though order is essential to the 10 commandments, there is a primary condition upon which all depend, which give meaning lov of God and neighbor.
Before the commandants are listed, we find these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…
Then the first: You shall have no other gods before me.
The condition, giving meaning to all, is covenant…
This condition, this covenant, is not listed among the 10, yet without covenant the 10 have no meaning;
…to leave out covenant is to break the first commandment, because it puts us above God, makes a god of our good intentions;
the commandments are given to us because God has set us free from sin and death by God.
To get to the heart of what covenant means challenges modern sensibilities, because it is based on an ancient practice out of step with our modern world.
Let’s start with a basic definition of the word itself.
Co means working or acting together,
as is cooperate, corporation, co-author.
The second part of the word derives from latin, veni,
meaning to go.
Covenant means to go together.
Covenant differs from a contract in that the terms are not defined, what is defined is going together when the destination is unknown.
When we buy a house, there is a contract, a mortgage, that defines specifically what is required of both parties.
Marriage is a covenant, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, to death do us part.
Baptism is a covenant also.
The ancient basis of covenant is to “cut a covenant,” which we sanitize by saying to make a covenant…
In the ancient world, parties would cut a covenant by cutting a large animal in half, a sheep or goat…
Then they would walk through the gore together, saying if either party breaks the covenant, then let it be with me as with the animal…
Then they would prepare a feast and eat together to seal their bond–though they may have been enemies before hand, covenant means they agree to go together.
No matter what happens later, they are bound to honor the covenant they cut together, no matter what, to go together, come what may.
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…
…and then the 10 commandments….
This is first, this condition, God’s action, God’s faithfulness, God honoring the covenant made with them by delivering them from slavery to freedom…
the commandments with follow are a covenant of how we are go go together with God and with one another.
The commandment themselves are meaningless by themselves alone, but rich with meaning as the ways we honor the freedom we have been given in commands to love God and neighbor.
We practice covenant each Sunday in worship, beginning with confession, our mutual recognition that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves, that we have sinned against God and one another, which is to say that by what we have done and left undone we have broken the commandments.
When we celebrate Holy Communion, we remember that God cut a covenant in Christ, we feast on grace and drink in forgiveness, and end with the promise to go in peace and serve the Lord.
What this means for us is not 10 commandments separated like some abstract list of dos and don’ts.
We are here to keep covenant with God,
to receive grace and forgiveness
and to give grace and forgiveness.
we walk together in faith because God in Christ was first faithful to us, thanks be to God.
