Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon John 15:12-17 “A New Commandment”
New Covenant Church
Maundy Thursday, March 29, 2018
Today is Maundy Thursday. The word “Maundy” comes from the Latin “mandatum” which means “command”. So this is Commandment Thursday when we remember the New Commandment Jesus gave us on the night before his death. Throughout the season of Lent, we have been looking at the Ten Commandments. So far we have looked at the first five commandments which Jesus summarized by saying, “Matthew 22:37 .... ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” After Easter, we will look at commandments six through ten which Jesus summarized with, “Matthew 22:38 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” So we are to love God and love our neighbor. But tonight we turn to a new commandment from Jesus. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
The Ten Commandments were given by God to Moses to proclaim to everyone. They are principles for good living in the world God created. Follow them and you will live a good life. Ignore them and you will suffer the consequences. It is all up to you, but I encourage to do what God says you should do.
The New Commandment from Jesus was not for everyone. Rather it was for a small group of select individuals. Jesus and his closest followers, the 12 disciples, had gathered in an upper room to share one last meal together. Judas was excused because he had decided to no longer follow Jesus. He became the betrayer of Jesus. So the group to whom Jesus gave the new commandment was just the eleven who continued to follow him.
The reason for this new commandment was that these disciples could now no longer follow Jesus. They had followed him as far as they could. Jesus told them, “John 13:33 ...Where I am going, you cannot come.” Jesus was going to the cross where he would die. Then he would be placed in a tomb. Then he would rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. With the cross, the ability of the disciples to continue following Jesus as they had came to an end. And they needed something else, a New Commandment.
Here is the New Commandment Jesus gave to his disciples.
John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
So Jesus’ closest disciples were told that they could no longer follow Jesus. Instead of following Jesus they were commanded to love each other. Of course, it is much easier to follow Jesus than to love each other. It is much easier to come to worship and study the Bible and pray that it is for us to truly love each other. This is especially true when Jesus said that loving each other could require the giving of your life for someone in the church. Few of us would love that much. But Jesus loved us and died for us.
Peter wasn’t about to stop following Jesus and start loving the other ten. He told Jesus that he was going to keep following him. But Jesus was correct. It was impossible for Peter to keep following Jesus, and within hours he denied being a follower of Jesus three times.
Clearly giving one’s life for someone in the church is an extreme example of love for each other. So short of that what would loving each other look like? Jesus showed that loving each other is like washing each other's feet.
Luke tells us a wonderful story of someone who experienced forgiveness and therefore loved Jesus so much that she washed his feet.
Luke 7:37 A sinful woman in the town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house. So she brought an alabaster jar of perfume 38 and stood behind Jesus at his feet, crying. She began to wash his feet with her tears, and she dried them with her hair, kissing them many times and rubbing them with the perfume.
The disciples had assembled for a formal Passover dinner. Low tables were arranged in a U shaped pattern. The disciples reclined on cushions around the outside of the U. They reclined on their right sides and reached with their right hands to pick up a piece a pita or an olive or some cheese or whatever might be on the table. As they reclined on their couches their feet were stretched out behind them as you can see in the picture I took of the olive wood carving on the screen.
Jesus took a bowl of water and a towel to the outer part of the U. There he began washing their feet. It was common hospitality to offer guests a bowl of water and a towel so they could wash their own feet. But no one would ever wash someone else’s feet. And the law said that no servant could ever be compelled to wash someone else’s feet. So the act of washing someone’s feet was not compulsory; it must be an act of love. Jesus loved his disciples so much that he washed their feet, and he commanded them to love each other in the same way.
Do the members and regular attendees of New Covenant Church love each other so much they you would lay down your lives for each other? Do you love one another so much that you would wash each other’s feet? My prayer is that this church would be filled with so much love over the next year that next Maundy Thursday you would all come here eager to wash each other’s feet in worship.
So why did Jesus command us to love each other? The reason is simple. Jesus was going to heaven and was leaving behind a church. If the church left behind continued to love one another the way Jesus had loved them it would thrive. But if the church ignored Jesus’ command and refused to love each other then it would wither away and die.
The command to love each other is our responsibility in the covenant the church has with Christ. The benefit that we receive from Christ is this, “16 I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit-fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” So if we truly love each other then whatever we ask for from God will be provided to the church.
Jesus has chosen us as his closest disciples. We have been following him learning about him in worship, Bible study, and prayer. Jesus wants New Covenant Church to flourish. This can only happen if we love each other as much as Jesus loves us. Are we willing to wash each other’s feet? Are we ready to lay down our lives for one another? Like Peter and the other disciples, those are the questions we face as we gather around this table tonight. Let us pray.
Father in Heaven we pray for your love to fill us to such a level that it will spill out of us to fill this church. Help us to love each other just as Christ loved us. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Sermon Hebrews 9:11-15 “A Much Better Sacrifice”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Hebrews 9:11-15 “A Much Better Sacrifice”
New Covenant Church
Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018
Today is Palm Sunday. As you heard earlier Jesus has come into Jerusalem. He had been staying with friends in Bethany, just across the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem. He asked his follower to find a donkey for him to ride over the Mount of Olives and into Jerusalem. The people coming to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration knew exactly what that meant. The prophet Zechariah had written that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem this way. So the people greeted Jesus as a king by placing cloaks on the ground before him. Jesus descended the Mount of Olives and entered Jerusalem through the East Gate and made his way up to the Temple Courts.
Thus began the final week of Jesus’ life. Later this week he had a final supper with his disciples where he washed their feet and gave them a new commandment. This Thursday night we will look at this new commandment in our Maundy Thursday worship service. On Friday we remember Jesus’ death on the cross. There will be no worship service here. But the sanctuary will be open this Friday from noon to three for personal prayers. Please come and go as you wish. I will be here if you would like for me to pray with you. So remember Thursday night at 7 for Maundy Thursday worship and Friday from noon to 3 for prayer.
Next Sunday we will join with a group of women at Jesus’ tomb at sunrise. At 6:45 am next Sunday morning we will begin Easter with a Sunrise Worship outside the church. This will be followed by breakfast at 9 am an Easter Egg Hunt, and Celebration Worship at 10.
But today, Palm Sunday, we have followed Jesus into the temple and we will find out why he went there. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
So why did Jesus enter the temple courts on a Sunday morning two thousand years ago? According to the Book of Hebrews, he went there to bring us into the presence of God.
The Jerusalem Temple that Jesus entered was built based on the design of a tabernacle or tent that the Hebrews constructed and used during their forty years in the wilderness while preparing to enter the promised land. This tabernacle was built with cloth and animal skins and had a wooden frame. Whenever the Hebrews moved to a new watering hole in the desert the Levites would pack up the tent and carry it to the next place. There they would set it up and begin to do what had to be done.
The outer room was where the Levites did their ordinary work. There were lamps to be filled with oil so that they would light the tabernacle 24 hours a day. Fresh bread had to be baked every day and placed before the Lord. These are the things we know about. But there had to be a lot more than the Levites were responsible for.
No doubt they had Levite trustees to maintain the tent and the surrounding grounds. They had to have a Levite treasurer to manage money and resources. There had to be a Levite committee to educate children to make sure that the youth studied the Torah. There had to be a Levite committee to recruit new priests to replace the ones that retire. There had to be a Levite group that ensured that everything was in place for worship and prayer and sacrifice and service. All these things had to be done. And all these things have to be done today.
But the author of Hebrews was concerned that his church was so busy in the outer room, doing all the stuff churches require, that they never entered the inner room. Let’s take a look at the inner room of the tabernacle.
Once each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the inner room, the Holy of Holies. But before entering the high priest had to bathe and put on special clothing. The priest had to then sacrifice a bull as a sin offering and burn it upon the altar as a burnt offering. Then he took some of the coals generating smoke, an odor pleasing to the Lord, and some blood of the bull, representing the sacrifice and with these, he entered the inner room. And here is what he saw.
Hebrews 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.
There, in this magnificent place, beholding the splendor of God, the high priest would offer to God the prayers of his people and receive God gracious forgiveness.
But in the year 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem temple thus bringing to an end the sacrificial system for both Jews and Christians. Christians still had the outer room. They had their churches where all the ordinary activities of being church took place. But how could they get into the inner room? How could they get into the presence of God to see God’s glory and receive God’s grace? The author of Hebrews reasoned that the church needed a high priest, a new temple, and a sacrifice to get us there.
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
So we have a High Priest who brings us into the presence of God to behold God’s splendor and glory. That High Priest is Jesus Christ. The new temple he serves is not here on earth. Rather the temple is in heaven where Jesus sits at the right hand of Almighty God. And the blood he carries into that Most Holy Place as a sacrifice is his own blood shed on the cross.
This is good news for us because it means that as we worship and pray our great high priest, Jesus Christ, hears our prayers and intercedes on our behalf with his father in heaven. And even more, it means that our confessions are heard, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is accepted, and we are all assured of forgiveness. As the author of Hebrews put it:
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,
And so with Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and his ascension to heaven, we now experience atonement, our sins are forgiven, our guilt and shame are washed away, and we are made new. This is the blessing, the gift we receive with Jesus’ death on the cross. As the Gospel of John so eloquently puts it:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Why would God do such an extraordinary thing.? Why did he give us his Son? Because God loves us.
With Jesus as our high priest, we are allowed to enter the inner room. In worship, we are lifted up by the Spirit into the heavenly temple where we enter into the Most Holy Place and perceive the glory and splendor of God. There, God hears our prayers and pronounces us forgiven.
How do we respond to this glorious gift? Here is what the author of Hebrews told us.
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God!
So in worship, we see the splendor of God and receive forgiveness. Then we leave church to participate in God’s mission in the world. We are to care for the poor and needy, the widows and orphans and the aliens in our land. We are to share our faith with others and make new disciples of Jesus Christ. By doing these things we love and serve our Lord. The is what the author of Hebrews called the New Covenant.
As church which has taken this as its name I challenge you to follow through on your promise. Join Jesus in the Most Holy Place every Sunday in worship. And follow Jesus into the world to care for the people God loves.
The author of Hebrews explained it this way:
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.
Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we have followed you this day into the Most Holy Place and can perceive the splendor and glory of God. Thank you for hearing our prayers and pronouncing forgiveness upon us. As we leave worship today go before us and show how we can honor you by serving in our community. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.
Sermon Hebrews 9:11-15 “A Much Better Sacrifice”
New Covenant Church
Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018
Today is Palm Sunday. As you heard earlier Jesus has come into Jerusalem. He had been staying with friends in Bethany, just across the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem. He asked his follower to find a donkey for him to ride over the Mount of Olives and into Jerusalem. The people coming to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration knew exactly what that meant. The prophet Zechariah had written that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem this way. So the people greeted Jesus as a king by placing cloaks on the ground before him. Jesus descended the Mount of Olives and entered Jerusalem through the East Gate and made his way up to the Temple Courts.
Thus began the final week of Jesus’ life. Later this week he had a final supper with his disciples where he washed their feet and gave them a new commandment. This Thursday night we will look at this new commandment in our Maundy Thursday worship service. On Friday we remember Jesus’ death on the cross. There will be no worship service here. But the sanctuary will be open this Friday from noon to three for personal prayers. Please come and go as you wish. I will be here if you would like for me to pray with you. So remember Thursday night at 7 for Maundy Thursday worship and Friday from noon to 3 for prayer.
Next Sunday we will join with a group of women at Jesus’ tomb at sunrise. At 6:45 am next Sunday morning we will begin Easter with a Sunrise Worship outside the church. This will be followed by breakfast at 9 am an Easter Egg Hunt, and Celebration Worship at 10.
But today, Palm Sunday, we have followed Jesus into the temple and we will find out why he went there. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
So why did Jesus enter the temple courts on a Sunday morning two thousand years ago? According to the Book of Hebrews, he went there to bring us into the presence of God.
The Jerusalem Temple that Jesus entered was built based on the design of a tabernacle or tent that the Hebrews constructed and used during their forty years in the wilderness while preparing to enter the promised land. This tabernacle was built with cloth and animal skins and had a wooden frame. Whenever the Hebrews moved to a new watering hole in the desert the Levites would pack up the tent and carry it to the next place. There they would set it up and begin to do what had to be done.
The outer room was where the Levites did their ordinary work. There were lamps to be filled with oil so that they would light the tabernacle 24 hours a day. Fresh bread had to be baked every day and placed before the Lord. These are the things we know about. But there had to be a lot more than the Levites were responsible for.
No doubt they had Levite trustees to maintain the tent and the surrounding grounds. They had to have a Levite treasurer to manage money and resources. There had to be a Levite committee to educate children to make sure that the youth studied the Torah. There had to be a Levite committee to recruit new priests to replace the ones that retire. There had to be a Levite group that ensured that everything was in place for worship and prayer and sacrifice and service. All these things had to be done. And all these things have to be done today.
But the author of Hebrews was concerned that his church was so busy in the outer room, doing all the stuff churches require, that they never entered the inner room. Let’s take a look at the inner room of the tabernacle.
Once each year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the inner room, the Holy of Holies. But before entering the high priest had to bathe and put on special clothing. The priest had to then sacrifice a bull as a sin offering and burn it upon the altar as a burnt offering. Then he took some of the coals generating smoke, an odor pleasing to the Lord, and some blood of the bull, representing the sacrifice and with these, he entered the inner room. And here is what he saw.
Hebrews 9:3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover.
There, in this magnificent place, beholding the splendor of God, the high priest would offer to God the prayers of his people and receive God gracious forgiveness.
But in the year 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem temple thus bringing to an end the sacrificial system for both Jews and Christians. Christians still had the outer room. They had their churches where all the ordinary activities of being church took place. But how could they get into the inner room? How could they get into the presence of God to see God’s glory and receive God’s grace? The author of Hebrews reasoned that the church needed a high priest, a new temple, and a sacrifice to get us there.
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
So we have a High Priest who brings us into the presence of God to behold God’s splendor and glory. That High Priest is Jesus Christ. The new temple he serves is not here on earth. Rather the temple is in heaven where Jesus sits at the right hand of Almighty God. And the blood he carries into that Most Holy Place as a sacrifice is his own blood shed on the cross.
This is good news for us because it means that as we worship and pray our great high priest, Jesus Christ, hears our prayers and intercedes on our behalf with his father in heaven. And even more, it means that our confessions are heard, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is accepted, and we are all assured of forgiveness. As the author of Hebrews put it:
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,
And so with Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and his ascension to heaven, we now experience atonement, our sins are forgiven, our guilt and shame are washed away, and we are made new. This is the blessing, the gift we receive with Jesus’ death on the cross. As the Gospel of John so eloquently puts it:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Why would God do such an extraordinary thing.? Why did he give us his Son? Because God loves us.
With Jesus as our high priest, we are allowed to enter the inner room. In worship, we are lifted up by the Spirit into the heavenly temple where we enter into the Most Holy Place and perceive the glory and splendor of God. There, God hears our prayers and pronounces us forgiven.
How do we respond to this glorious gift? Here is what the author of Hebrews told us.
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God!
So in worship, we see the splendor of God and receive forgiveness. Then we leave church to participate in God’s mission in the world. We are to care for the poor and needy, the widows and orphans and the aliens in our land. We are to share our faith with others and make new disciples of Jesus Christ. By doing these things we love and serve our Lord. The is what the author of Hebrews called the New Covenant.
As church which has taken this as its name I challenge you to follow through on your promise. Join Jesus in the Most Holy Place every Sunday in worship. And follow Jesus into the world to care for the people God loves.
The author of Hebrews explained it this way:
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.
Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we have followed you this day into the Most Holy Place and can perceive the splendor and glory of God. Thank you for hearing our prayers and pronouncing forgiveness upon us. As we leave worship today go before us and show how we can honor you by serving in our community. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.
Friday, March 23, 2018
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honoring Parents”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honoring Parents”
New Covenant Church
March 18, 2018
This is my fifth sermon on the Ten Commandments. So, naturally, we will be looking at the fifth commandment about honoring our parents. The Ten Commandment came to us on two stone tablets. Why two? Could Moses and God used the front and back to save stone? Well, yes they could have. But God wanted two tablets for a very specific reason. On the first tablet, God wrote instructions about God’s relationship with us. We are not to worship any other God because that would lead us to slavery, not freedom. We are never to worship things we have made out of wood or metal or stone because these things will never satisfy us. We are to be careful how we use God’s name always using it reverently. And we are to have one day of rest each week set aside for worship, prayer, and Bible study. All of this is on the first tablet and teaches us how to relate to God.
On the second tablet, God wrote about how we should love our neighbor. We are never to kill, or steal, have sex outside of marriage, lie, or desire what others have. After Easter, we will be looking carefully at each of these commandments on the second tablet.
But what about the fifth commandment, the one about honoring mother and father? Was this command on the first or second tablet? Many have argued that honoring parents belongs on the second tablet because it deals not with our love of God but of our love of parents. And so they place the fifth commandment on the second tablet.
But I disagree. Our parents are the ones who bring us to God in the first place. They pray for us when we were in the womb. They had us baptized promising to raise us in the faith. They dressed us for Sunday School and drove us to Youth Group. And when we were old enough they celebrated with us when we confirmed our baptism and joined the church. Without faithful parents, we may not be faithful Christians today. So honoring our parents is honoring their work in bringing us to God. And so I think the fifth command belongs on the first tablet.
Today we will look at what it means to honor our parents. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees, and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
The fifth commandment requires us to honor our parents. If our parent brought us to church. If they taught us to pray and read the Bible. If by their words and actions we became faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, then we are required to honor them by continuing to do what they taught us and by raising our children in the faith. Here is how Solomon put it in the Book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
There are two obligations we have when honoring our parents. The first is to continue in the faith they have given us. The second is to care for their physical needs as they grow old. Some of us, including me, have aging parents. I know that I have an obligation to care for my Dad. When he moved into a retirement facility, I took his old furniture. His old bedroom furniture is in my guest room. And he knows he is welcome in my home anytime. But my Dad is independent. At age 90 he still drives and has two 90-year-old girlfriends he takes out on dates. Living with me would crimp his bachelor lifestyle. He likes to have fun. But I know that one day he will need more care. I have to be ready to give him whatever he needs.
Some of you are dealing with aging parents. The question of assisted living for them is facing many of you. And each of you will have to decide, with God’s help, the best way to honor your aging parents.
The fifth commandment tells us to honor our parents and we will have the blessing of a long life. This is because as we care for our parents our children are learning how to care for us. Grace and I are always trying to find ways of getting together with her sons. But recently we realized that we could not expect her sons to visit if Grace didn’t visit her own parents. They live in Los Angeles and it is difficult and expensive to go see them. But Grace has made a commitment to see them regularly. And we pray that her sons will visit us too.
Our relationship with our parents is the same relationship we have with God. This must be because our parents were created in God’s image. The Bible requires us to revere and respect both God and our mother and father. We read this in scripture:
Leviticus 19:3 Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God… 32 Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.
The same Hebrew word is used for revere and respect. So our obligation to respect our parents is the same obligation we have to revere God.
When parents died the ancient Hebrews would honor them by burying them. We read this bill of sale for a grave for Sarah in the Book of Genesis:
Genesis 23:17 So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded 18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
What’s missing in the Old Testament is any mention of pilgrimages to or worship at burial sites. Deaths were lamented, but there is no evidence that the dead had any religious significance at all. There was no worshiping of ancestors as there was in other cultures. And any attempt to contact the dead through the occult was strictly forbidden.
So how specifically are we to honor our parents? The first thing we should do is to honor their authority. We read this in Proverbs.
Proverbs 15:5 A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
Proverbs 23:22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Proverbs 30:17 “The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
So we are to honor and the authority of our parents and respect their discipline. Of course, parents have the obligation to be biblically wise and godly in their instruction. In addition to honoring our parents, we must also support them. Joseph has made it big in Egypt, but his father Jacob was suffering during a famine. So Joseph supported his aging father this way:
Genesis 45:9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
So Joseph supported his father by bringing him to Egypt to live. Sometimes this is what we need to do, bring the aging parent to live with us. Thankfully with Social Security, pensions and retirement saving many seniors can enjoy independent living. But remember they still need our respect, visits, and love.
We honor our parents by respecting their instructions and discipline. And we give them love and support as they grow old. And the third thing we are to do is to uphold the traditions they give us. If our parents have taught us to go to church to worship God and read our Bible daily, as my grandmother insisted, we should respect this tradition and pass it on to our kids. When Moses preached on the Ten Commandment he told his people this.
Deuteronomy 6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
And so it is the Ten Commandments that we are to learn, obey and pass on to our children. And we are to honor and respect the mothers and fathers who taught the commandments to us. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the people who have guided us in our spiritual journeys. Bless all who guided and taught us as we grew into maturity in the faith. Bless our parents as they grow older with good health. Bless our children with faith in you. We ask all of this in the name of the one who honored you, your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:16 “Honoring Parents”
New Covenant Church
March 18, 2018
This is my fifth sermon on the Ten Commandments. So, naturally, we will be looking at the fifth commandment about honoring our parents. The Ten Commandment came to us on two stone tablets. Why two? Could Moses and God used the front and back to save stone? Well, yes they could have. But God wanted two tablets for a very specific reason. On the first tablet, God wrote instructions about God’s relationship with us. We are not to worship any other God because that would lead us to slavery, not freedom. We are never to worship things we have made out of wood or metal or stone because these things will never satisfy us. We are to be careful how we use God’s name always using it reverently. And we are to have one day of rest each week set aside for worship, prayer, and Bible study. All of this is on the first tablet and teaches us how to relate to God.
On the second tablet, God wrote about how we should love our neighbor. We are never to kill, or steal, have sex outside of marriage, lie, or desire what others have. After Easter, we will be looking carefully at each of these commandments on the second tablet.
But what about the fifth commandment, the one about honoring mother and father? Was this command on the first or second tablet? Many have argued that honoring parents belongs on the second tablet because it deals not with our love of God but of our love of parents. And so they place the fifth commandment on the second tablet.
But I disagree. Our parents are the ones who bring us to God in the first place. They pray for us when we were in the womb. They had us baptized promising to raise us in the faith. They dressed us for Sunday School and drove us to Youth Group. And when we were old enough they celebrated with us when we confirmed our baptism and joined the church. Without faithful parents, we may not be faithful Christians today. So honoring our parents is honoring their work in bringing us to God. And so I think the fifth command belongs on the first tablet.
Today we will look at what it means to honor our parents. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees, and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
5:16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
The fifth commandment requires us to honor our parents. If our parent brought us to church. If they taught us to pray and read the Bible. If by their words and actions we became faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, then we are required to honor them by continuing to do what they taught us and by raising our children in the faith. Here is how Solomon put it in the Book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 9 They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.
There are two obligations we have when honoring our parents. The first is to continue in the faith they have given us. The second is to care for their physical needs as they grow old. Some of us, including me, have aging parents. I know that I have an obligation to care for my Dad. When he moved into a retirement facility, I took his old furniture. His old bedroom furniture is in my guest room. And he knows he is welcome in my home anytime. But my Dad is independent. At age 90 he still drives and has two 90-year-old girlfriends he takes out on dates. Living with me would crimp his bachelor lifestyle. He likes to have fun. But I know that one day he will need more care. I have to be ready to give him whatever he needs.
Some of you are dealing with aging parents. The question of assisted living for them is facing many of you. And each of you will have to decide, with God’s help, the best way to honor your aging parents.
The fifth commandment tells us to honor our parents and we will have the blessing of a long life. This is because as we care for our parents our children are learning how to care for us. Grace and I are always trying to find ways of getting together with her sons. But recently we realized that we could not expect her sons to visit if Grace didn’t visit her own parents. They live in Los Angeles and it is difficult and expensive to go see them. But Grace has made a commitment to see them regularly. And we pray that her sons will visit us too.
Our relationship with our parents is the same relationship we have with God. This must be because our parents were created in God’s image. The Bible requires us to revere and respect both God and our mother and father. We read this in scripture:
Leviticus 19:3 Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God… 32 Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.
The same Hebrew word is used for revere and respect. So our obligation to respect our parents is the same obligation we have to revere God.
When parents died the ancient Hebrews would honor them by burying them. We read this bill of sale for a grave for Sarah in the Book of Genesis:
Genesis 23:17 So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded 18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.
What’s missing in the Old Testament is any mention of pilgrimages to or worship at burial sites. Deaths were lamented, but there is no evidence that the dead had any religious significance at all. There was no worshiping of ancestors as there was in other cultures. And any attempt to contact the dead through the occult was strictly forbidden.
So how specifically are we to honor our parents? The first thing we should do is to honor their authority. We read this in Proverbs.
Proverbs 15:5 A fool spurns a parent’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
Proverbs 23:22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Proverbs 30:17 “The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.
So we are to honor and the authority of our parents and respect their discipline. Of course, parents have the obligation to be biblically wise and godly in their instruction. In addition to honoring our parents, we must also support them. Joseph has made it big in Egypt, but his father Jacob was suffering during a famine. So Joseph supported his aging father this way:
Genesis 45:9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’
So Joseph supported his father by bringing him to Egypt to live. Sometimes this is what we need to do, bring the aging parent to live with us. Thankfully with Social Security, pensions and retirement saving many seniors can enjoy independent living. But remember they still need our respect, visits, and love.
We honor our parents by respecting their instructions and discipline. And we give them love and support as they grow old. And the third thing we are to do is to uphold the traditions they give us. If our parents have taught us to go to church to worship God and read our Bible daily, as my grandmother insisted, we should respect this tradition and pass it on to our kids. When Moses preached on the Ten Commandment he told his people this.
Deuteronomy 6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
And so it is the Ten Commandments that we are to learn, obey and pass on to our children. And we are to honor and respect the mothers and fathers who taught the commandments to us. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the people who have guided us in our spiritual journeys. Bless all who guided and taught us as we grew into maturity in the faith. Bless our parents as they grow older with good health. Bless our children with faith in you. We ask all of this in the name of the one who honored you, your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Friday, March 16, 2018
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “Rest”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “Rest”
New Covenant Church
March 11, 2018
We are continuing today with our look at the Ten Commandments. So far we have learned to never worship other gods, things like drugs and alcohol that enslave us, and never worship idols, things we have made, which will never satisfy us. We are to worship God. We are also to keep God’s name holy by never using profanity, doing what we vow to do, and give honest testimony court. Today we turn to the fourth commandment. This one should be the easiest to obey. But in reality, it is the hardest. In the fourth commandment, we are told to rest. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
We all agree that there are 10 commandments. But different Christian traditions number them differently. The oldest enumeration we have comes from the first and second centuries in the writings of Philo, Josephus, and Origin. All of these writers agreed with the numbering we use today in reformed churches.
Modern Jews number them differently. They combine the first commandment, “no other gods”, and the second commandment, “no idols” into one commandment. But they break out the prologue, “I am the LORD your God”, as a separate commandment. Jews see commandments 3 through 10 the same way we do.
Roman Catholics and Lutherans also combine the first two commandments into one, just like modern Jews. But they include the prologue with this commandment. To maintain the quantity of 10 commandments they divide the last commandment, “do not covet” into two commandments, “do not covet your neighbor’s house” and “do not covet your neighbor’s wife.
So let's turn to what we call the fourth commandment and our brother and sister Roman Catholics and Lutherans call the third commandment. This is the commandment to rest.
Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
The Bible gives us two reasons why we need a day of rest every week. The reason, giving in the Book in the Book of Deuteronomy, is that when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt they had no rest. But when God freed them from slavery he blessed them with a Sabbath rest. We read this in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 5:15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
So, we are blessed by God with a rest of one day every week. There is another reason why we should keep a sabbath rest and that comes from the book of Exodus. In the book of Exodus, the Hebrews were told to keep one day of rest each week because God made the world that way. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. So everything in creation needs a day of rest. People and animals need a sabbath day every week. Land needs a year-long sabbath every seven years. Follow these instructions and you will be blessed with an abundant life.
In the ancient world, no one had a day of rest except the Jews. There is no record anywhere of any pagan god blessing people with a weekly day of rest. And this confused merchants coming to Jerusalem. When merchants came to the city gates to trade there was pressure on God’s people to give up their day of rest. Hear what God told the prophet, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 17:19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
So the people were not to work on the Sabbath. The merchants could wait outside the gates until sundown on Saturday to engage in trade. The Jews were to stay home and rest. But this rule was often ignored as we read in the book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”
Nehemiah’s response was to close the city gates to prevent trade on the Sabbath. You would think that people would enjoy having one day off every week, but we engage in work seven days a week anyway. Greed forces us to work 24/7 and ignore the day off God wants to give us.
I was recently in Israel where the Sabbath is taken seriously. Most businesses are closed from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Late Friday evening I boarded an elevator in my hotel and pushed the button for my floor. Nothing happened. A young man was standing in the elevator and he explained to me that this was a Sabbath elevator. On the Sabbath Jews do not push elevator buttons because that would be work. So elevators are set to open its doors automatically and wait a while for people to enter. Then the doors close and the elevator rises to the next floor where the doors open and the elevator waits. This is repeated floor by floor so the observant Jews can ride the elevator on the Sabbath without pushing a button. Of course, I was too impatient to ride in an elevator that would stop on every floor. So I got off the Sabbath elevator and waited for one with buttons I could push.
Then, late Saturday, just before sunset, a group of us arrived at the elevators to return to our rooms after a long tiring day. The Sabbath elevator was open and empty. I suggested to the group that we try it. So we all got in and waited for the doors to close. While waiting on the second floor we began talking with each other. And our conversation continued as it rose floor by floor. When I exited on the fifth floor I said that the Sabbath elevator was really nice because it gave us a time of rest when we could just talk with each. I suggested that we need sabbath elevators in America to slow us down a little and give us time to talk with each other.
The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday. The earliest Christians continued this practice. Then on Sunday mornings, they would gather, usually in someone’s home, to remember the stories of Jesus and his resurrection on the first day of the week. They would also gather again on Sunday evenings to share bread and wine in memory of Jesus. These practices grew into the Christian Sabbath on Sundays. We are blessed with a day rest every Sunday.
The Sabbath day is holy. We are to use it for God’s purposes. We are to rest from work and other activities. We are to focus our attention on God. We come to worship. We pray. We study our Bibles. We engage in conversations with each other. We are to enjoy this wonderful blessing from God.
Jesus expanded our ideas about how this day of rest could be used for God’s purposes.
Matthew 12:2 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
We can be instruments of God’s love on the day of rest. We can feed the hungry. We can visit and pray for the sick. We can tell others about God. All these things are permissible on the sabbath day.
Grace’s oldest son recently graduated from Temple as a pharmacist. But as he looked for jobs he found that most pharmacies are open on Sundays and expect new pharmacists to work Sunday mornings. He refused to give up the blessing of a day of rest. But thankfully he found a job at a mail order pharmacy and works Monday through Friday. Sunday is set aside for God.
So I urge you to remember your day of rest. One day out of seven is not too much. You can work as hard as you want for six days. Your children can engage in school and other activities for six days. You can go 100%, 24/6 if you want. But Sunday must be a day a rest. As Christians, you and your family must be in worship every Sunday morning. When you travel find a church to attend. Tell coaches that your children must go to church on Sunday. Use Sundays for worship, education, prayer, and service to others. Enjoy your Christian day of rest. Let’s pray.
Father in Heaven, we thank you for the rest you give us on the Lord’s day. Thank you for this opportunity worship you and learn more about your son. Help us to keep this day holy. This we pray filled with your spirit and in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:12-15 “Rest”
New Covenant Church
March 11, 2018
We are continuing today with our look at the Ten Commandments. So far we have learned to never worship other gods, things like drugs and alcohol that enslave us, and never worship idols, things we have made, which will never satisfy us. We are to worship God. We are also to keep God’s name holy by never using profanity, doing what we vow to do, and give honest testimony court. Today we turn to the fourth commandment. This one should be the easiest to obey. But in reality, it is the hardest. In the fourth commandment, we are told to rest. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
We all agree that there are 10 commandments. But different Christian traditions number them differently. The oldest enumeration we have comes from the first and second centuries in the writings of Philo, Josephus, and Origin. All of these writers agreed with the numbering we use today in reformed churches.
Modern Jews number them differently. They combine the first commandment, “no other gods”, and the second commandment, “no idols” into one commandment. But they break out the prologue, “I am the LORD your God”, as a separate commandment. Jews see commandments 3 through 10 the same way we do.
Roman Catholics and Lutherans also combine the first two commandments into one, just like modern Jews. But they include the prologue with this commandment. To maintain the quantity of 10 commandments they divide the last commandment, “do not covet” into two commandments, “do not covet your neighbor’s house” and “do not covet your neighbor’s wife.
So let's turn to what we call the fourth commandment and our brother and sister Roman Catholics and Lutherans call the third commandment. This is the commandment to rest.
Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.
The Bible gives us two reasons why we need a day of rest every week. The reason, giving in the Book in the Book of Deuteronomy, is that when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt they had no rest. But when God freed them from slavery he blessed them with a Sabbath rest. We read this in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 5:15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
So, we are blessed by God with a rest of one day every week. There is another reason why we should keep a sabbath rest and that comes from the book of Exodus. In the book of Exodus, the Hebrews were told to keep one day of rest each week because God made the world that way. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. So everything in creation needs a day of rest. People and animals need a sabbath day every week. Land needs a year-long sabbath every seven years. Follow these instructions and you will be blessed with an abundant life.
In the ancient world, no one had a day of rest except the Jews. There is no record anywhere of any pagan god blessing people with a weekly day of rest. And this confused merchants coming to Jerusalem. When merchants came to the city gates to trade there was pressure on God’s people to give up their day of rest. Hear what God told the prophet, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 17:19 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People, through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem. 20 Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem who come through these gates. 21 This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. 22 Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
So the people were not to work on the Sabbath. The merchants could wait outside the gates until sundown on Saturday to engage in trade. The Jews were to stay home and rest. But this rule was often ignored as we read in the book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”
Nehemiah’s response was to close the city gates to prevent trade on the Sabbath. You would think that people would enjoy having one day off every week, but we engage in work seven days a week anyway. Greed forces us to work 24/7 and ignore the day off God wants to give us.
I was recently in Israel where the Sabbath is taken seriously. Most businesses are closed from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Late Friday evening I boarded an elevator in my hotel and pushed the button for my floor. Nothing happened. A young man was standing in the elevator and he explained to me that this was a Sabbath elevator. On the Sabbath Jews do not push elevator buttons because that would be work. So elevators are set to open its doors automatically and wait a while for people to enter. Then the doors close and the elevator rises to the next floor where the doors open and the elevator waits. This is repeated floor by floor so the observant Jews can ride the elevator on the Sabbath without pushing a button. Of course, I was too impatient to ride in an elevator that would stop on every floor. So I got off the Sabbath elevator and waited for one with buttons I could push.
Then, late Saturday, just before sunset, a group of us arrived at the elevators to return to our rooms after a long tiring day. The Sabbath elevator was open and empty. I suggested to the group that we try it. So we all got in and waited for the doors to close. While waiting on the second floor we began talking with each other. And our conversation continued as it rose floor by floor. When I exited on the fifth floor I said that the Sabbath elevator was really nice because it gave us a time of rest when we could just talk with each. I suggested that we need sabbath elevators in America to slow us down a little and give us time to talk with each other.
The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday. The earliest Christians continued this practice. Then on Sunday mornings, they would gather, usually in someone’s home, to remember the stories of Jesus and his resurrection on the first day of the week. They would also gather again on Sunday evenings to share bread and wine in memory of Jesus. These practices grew into the Christian Sabbath on Sundays. We are blessed with a day rest every Sunday.
The Sabbath day is holy. We are to use it for God’s purposes. We are to rest from work and other activities. We are to focus our attention on God. We come to worship. We pray. We study our Bibles. We engage in conversations with each other. We are to enjoy this wonderful blessing from God.
Jesus expanded our ideas about how this day of rest could be used for God’s purposes.
Matthew 12:2 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
We can be instruments of God’s love on the day of rest. We can feed the hungry. We can visit and pray for the sick. We can tell others about God. All these things are permissible on the sabbath day.
Grace’s oldest son recently graduated from Temple as a pharmacist. But as he looked for jobs he found that most pharmacies are open on Sundays and expect new pharmacists to work Sunday mornings. He refused to give up the blessing of a day of rest. But thankfully he found a job at a mail order pharmacy and works Monday through Friday. Sunday is set aside for God.
So I urge you to remember your day of rest. One day out of seven is not too much. You can work as hard as you want for six days. Your children can engage in school and other activities for six days. You can go 100%, 24/6 if you want. But Sunday must be a day a rest. As Christians, you and your family must be in worship every Sunday morning. When you travel find a church to attend. Tell coaches that your children must go to church on Sunday. Use Sundays for worship, education, prayer, and service to others. Enjoy your Christian day of rest. Let’s pray.
Father in Heaven, we thank you for the rest you give us on the Lord’s day. Thank you for this opportunity worship you and learn more about your son. Help us to keep this day holy. This we pray filled with your spirit and in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Friday, March 9, 2018
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:11 “Don’t Misuse God’s Name"
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:11 “Don’t Misuse God’s Name"
New Covenant Church
March 4, 2018
This is my third sermon in a series on the Ten Commandments. We have heard the first commandment in Deuteronomy 5:7 “You shall have no other gods before me”. We learned that the God we are to worship is the same God who delivered his people from slavery in Egypt. And the principles given to us in the Ten Commandments teach us how to remain free. If we worship anything other than the Creator God we will be enslaved to that which we worship. But if we worship God and obey his commands we maintain our freedom.
Then in the second commandment, we heard, “8 You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” We learned that we have been given the wonderful gift of being able to create things. But we should never worship things we make out of metal and stone and wood. The only object of our worship, the most important person in our lives is God Almighty.
Today we turn to the third commandment, “11 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
The Ten Commandments can be found in two places in the Old Testament. In Exodus 20 God spoke directly to his people from Mount Sinai just after they had been freed from slavery in Egypt. Forty years later, Moses repeated the commandments for the people just about to enter the promised land. And it is from these words of Moses that we hear:
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. … And he said: … 11 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
In the third commandment, God wants us to approach him with reverence and awe and to always use his name properly. What could this mean?
We all have names, usually given to us by our parents. And we realized, early in our lives, that by using our names people had control over us. All my mother had to do was say, “Jeff, stop jumping on the furniture”, and I knew that she had control over me. When I went to school my teacher knew to learn the names of the kids quickly so that she would have control over the class. She would say things like “Jeff, pay attention”, and I knew that I better stop talking to my friend. Knowing someone’s name means, is some sense, that you have control over that person.
Now we have no control over God. God will do whatever God will do. That’s what it means to be God. So went we invoke God’s name in prayer we must not try to control God. Rather, in prayer, we approach God with reverence and humility and ask God for what we need. We are not trying to control God. We are not trying to get God to do what we want. Rather we are attempting to communicate with God and ultimately find out what God wants from us.
So one way to properly use God’s name is to use it with respect and humbly ask for what we need in prayer. Another way is to be truthful when taking an oath in a court of law.
We have all seen courtroom dramas where someone places his hand on the Bible and pledges “to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help me God!” When we promise to tell the truth in the name of God we must tell the truth. To lie in that circumstance is a clear violation of the third commandment. Consider the predicament Aaron, Moses’ brother, got in when he lied. While Moses was on Mount Sinai getting the ten commandments from God, the people became impatient and demand a golden calf to worship. Aaron made a calf for them. But Moses was angry when he saw the calf and demanded an explanation from his brother. And here is what Aaron said:
Exodus 32:22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
“Out came this calf?” What kind of explanation it that? Someone else did it? I don’t know what happened. But Aaron knew exactly what he had done. And three thousand people lost their lives because of Aaron’s lie. He misused that name of the Lord by not telling the truth in a court of law. So we learn from this that if we put our hand on the Bible and promise to tell the truth we better be truthful to be in compliance with the third commandment.
So we have seen that we are to approach God in prayer with humility and reverence and we must always tell the truth if we have taken an oath to tell the truth in the name of God. Another thing we must do to not misuse God’s name is to do what we promise to do.
The Bible is filled with vows, promises to do something. Consider this vow made by Jacob.
Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
God was faithful to Jacob and did all that was promised. So Jacob was required by his vow to be faithful, worship in God’s house and tithe, 10% of his income. If Jacob refused to do these things he would have misused the name of God. But Jacob was faithful and he did what he promised. So too with us. God blesses us richly in so many ways. And we are faithful, worship each Sunday, and give to the glory of God in fulfillment to our vow. If we didn’t we would be in violation of the third commandment and would be misusing God’s name.
So when we pray we approach God with reverence and awe, we tell the truth when we make an oath, and we follow through on any vow we make in God’s name. Another aspect of using God’s name correctly is that we must never use God’s name profanely.
The is an old story about a Christmas pageant. A young girl was participating for the first time. And after a rehearsal, she went up to a teacher and asked, “Why did the angel name God’s son with a curse word?” Blasphemy! Using GD or JC as profanity! All of this would be a violation of the third commandment. Consider this story about the son of Shelomith:
Leviticus 24:10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) 12 They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.
13 Then the Lord said to Moses: 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. 15 Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; 16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.
So using God’s name as a curse word is a clear violation of the third commandment.
Let’s sum up what we have learned so far. When we invoke God’s name in prayer we must do so humbly and with reverence. When we make an oath or a vow God’s name we must tell the truth and do what we promise. And we must never use God’s name profanely.
Because of Moses’ command that those who misuse God’s name be stoned to death people became afraid to say God’s name. They substituted the word “LORD” whenever they read the name of God in the Hebrew scriptures. This tradition is continued in the English translations we use here in church. Whenever you read “LORD” in capital letters in the Old Testament remember that God’s actual name is recorded in the original Hebrew text. The name of God is never used in the New Testament. But there is a name for God’s Son in the New Testament. And we are told to always pray in this name. Of course, the name of God I am talking about is Jesus, in whose name we pray. We can do this without violating the third commandment because Jesus taught us how to pray. This is what Jesus said:
Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
So we are to use the holy name of God properly when we pray. We speak to God with respect calling him “Our Father”. And we are to keep God’s name holy. We are to use God’s name not for our own purposes, but for God purposes. God’s name is not magic. We don’t use it as a spell to get something we want. Rather prayer is a way to communicate with God expressing what we need and finding out what God wants from us.
So we boldly pray in Jesus’s name. We approach God filled with awe and respect. We testify truthfully when we have made an oath on the Bible. We fulfill the vows we have made to God. We never use God’s name profanely. And we invoke God’s name not for our own purposes but for God’s holy desires. Let’s do it. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we approach your throne of Grace filled with humility and respect. We promise to be truthful and faithful in fulfilling our oaths and vows. Help us to do what you would have us do here in Middletown. All this we pray in the glorious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:11 “Don’t Misuse God’s Name"
New Covenant Church
March 4, 2018
This is my third sermon in a series on the Ten Commandments. We have heard the first commandment in Deuteronomy 5:7 “You shall have no other gods before me”. We learned that the God we are to worship is the same God who delivered his people from slavery in Egypt. And the principles given to us in the Ten Commandments teach us how to remain free. If we worship anything other than the Creator God we will be enslaved to that which we worship. But if we worship God and obey his commands we maintain our freedom.
Then in the second commandment, we heard, “8 You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” We learned that we have been given the wonderful gift of being able to create things. But we should never worship things we make out of metal and stone and wood. The only object of our worship, the most important person in our lives is God Almighty.
Today we turn to the third commandment, “11 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)
The Ten Commandments can be found in two places in the Old Testament. In Exodus 20 God spoke directly to his people from Mount Sinai just after they had been freed from slavery in Egypt. Forty years later, Moses repeated the commandments for the people just about to enter the promised land. And it is from these words of Moses that we hear:
Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. … And he said: … 11 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
In the third commandment, God wants us to approach him with reverence and awe and to always use his name properly. What could this mean?
We all have names, usually given to us by our parents. And we realized, early in our lives, that by using our names people had control over us. All my mother had to do was say, “Jeff, stop jumping on the furniture”, and I knew that she had control over me. When I went to school my teacher knew to learn the names of the kids quickly so that she would have control over the class. She would say things like “Jeff, pay attention”, and I knew that I better stop talking to my friend. Knowing someone’s name means, is some sense, that you have control over that person.
Now we have no control over God. God will do whatever God will do. That’s what it means to be God. So went we invoke God’s name in prayer we must not try to control God. Rather, in prayer, we approach God with reverence and humility and ask God for what we need. We are not trying to control God. We are not trying to get God to do what we want. Rather we are attempting to communicate with God and ultimately find out what God wants from us.
So one way to properly use God’s name is to use it with respect and humbly ask for what we need in prayer. Another way is to be truthful when taking an oath in a court of law.
We have all seen courtroom dramas where someone places his hand on the Bible and pledges “to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help me God!” When we promise to tell the truth in the name of God we must tell the truth. To lie in that circumstance is a clear violation of the third commandment. Consider the predicament Aaron, Moses’ brother, got in when he lied. While Moses was on Mount Sinai getting the ten commandments from God, the people became impatient and demand a golden calf to worship. Aaron made a calf for them. But Moses was angry when he saw the calf and demanded an explanation from his brother. And here is what Aaron said:
Exodus 32:22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. 23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
“Out came this calf?” What kind of explanation it that? Someone else did it? I don’t know what happened. But Aaron knew exactly what he had done. And three thousand people lost their lives because of Aaron’s lie. He misused that name of the Lord by not telling the truth in a court of law. So we learn from this that if we put our hand on the Bible and promise to tell the truth we better be truthful to be in compliance with the third commandment.
So we have seen that we are to approach God in prayer with humility and reverence and we must always tell the truth if we have taken an oath to tell the truth in the name of God. Another thing we must do to not misuse God’s name is to do what we promise to do.
The Bible is filled with vows, promises to do something. Consider this vow made by Jacob.
Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God 22 and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
God was faithful to Jacob and did all that was promised. So Jacob was required by his vow to be faithful, worship in God’s house and tithe, 10% of his income. If Jacob refused to do these things he would have misused the name of God. But Jacob was faithful and he did what he promised. So too with us. God blesses us richly in so many ways. And we are faithful, worship each Sunday, and give to the glory of God in fulfillment to our vow. If we didn’t we would be in violation of the third commandment and would be misusing God’s name.
So when we pray we approach God with reverence and awe, we tell the truth when we make an oath, and we follow through on any vow we make in God’s name. Another aspect of using God’s name correctly is that we must never use God’s name profanely.
The is an old story about a Christmas pageant. A young girl was participating for the first time. And after a rehearsal, she went up to a teacher and asked, “Why did the angel name God’s son with a curse word?” Blasphemy! Using GD or JC as profanity! All of this would be a violation of the third commandment. Consider this story about the son of Shelomith:
Leviticus 24:10 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) 12 They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.
13 Then the Lord said to Moses: 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. 15 Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; 16 anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.
So using God’s name as a curse word is a clear violation of the third commandment.
Let’s sum up what we have learned so far. When we invoke God’s name in prayer we must do so humbly and with reverence. When we make an oath or a vow God’s name we must tell the truth and do what we promise. And we must never use God’s name profanely.
Because of Moses’ command that those who misuse God’s name be stoned to death people became afraid to say God’s name. They substituted the word “LORD” whenever they read the name of God in the Hebrew scriptures. This tradition is continued in the English translations we use here in church. Whenever you read “LORD” in capital letters in the Old Testament remember that God’s actual name is recorded in the original Hebrew text. The name of God is never used in the New Testament. But there is a name for God’s Son in the New Testament. And we are told to always pray in this name. Of course, the name of God I am talking about is Jesus, in whose name we pray. We can do this without violating the third commandment because Jesus taught us how to pray. This is what Jesus said:
Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
So we are to use the holy name of God properly when we pray. We speak to God with respect calling him “Our Father”. And we are to keep God’s name holy. We are to use God’s name not for our own purposes, but for God purposes. God’s name is not magic. We don’t use it as a spell to get something we want. Rather prayer is a way to communicate with God expressing what we need and finding out what God wants from us.
So we boldly pray in Jesus’s name. We approach God filled with awe and respect. We testify truthfully when we have made an oath on the Bible. We fulfill the vows we have made to God. We never use God’s name profanely. And we invoke God’s name not for our own purposes but for God’s holy desires. Let’s do it. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we approach your throne of Grace filled with humility and respect. We promise to be truthful and faithful in fulfilling our oaths and vows. Help us to do what you would have us do here in Middletown. All this we pray in the glorious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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