Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon John 3:1-17 “Born of the Spirit”
New Covenant Church
May 27, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
In 1980 Lee Strobel was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune covering legal issues. When his wife joined a church, Lee decided to use all of his experience and training to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was just a myth. After extensive research, Lee came to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a historical fact that he could not refute. Convinced that the resurrection was real Lee joined his wife as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Lee told this story in his book, The Case for Christ, published in 1998. This book was turned into motion picture last year and is currently available for streaming. I urge you to watch it.
Like Lee Strobel, there was a leading scholar in the first century who was skeptical of Jesus. He had watched Jesus’ ministry carefully and had some questions to ask. His name was Nicodemus. We will get to all of 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)
Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. Passover was a festival where the Hebrews remembered the mighty acts of God freeing them from slavery in Egypt and leading them to the Promised Land. Like Moses, centuries before, Jesus had come to Jerusalem to lead the people of God from slavery to sin to the promised land of grace and forgiveness. Jesus had come to the Jerusalem to proclaim that God was doing something new. And Jesus was performing miracles, which drew large crowds to hear him speak.
While at the temple, Jesus got angry and start overturning the tables of the money changers. This was part of the sacrificial system of the Jewish religion. People would bring the first fruits of their fields or the firstborn of their animals to the temple as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. Jesus knew that this system was to end very soon. With the temple’s destruction in 70 AD by the Roman the Jewish sacrificial system came to an end and has never resumed. So Jesus’ actions of overturning the tables were his way of telling everyone that the sacrificial system was coming to an end.
All of this drew the attention of the temple leadership. They wondered what Jesus was up to. And so they asked him for a sign from God that would indicate that Jesus knew what he was talking about. Jesus’ reply was that temple would be destroyed and then rebuilt in three days. The religious leader considered this absurd. So later that night the teacher of Israel, the chief rabbi went to have a conversation with Jesus.
In the beginning of the sixth century before Christ, the first Jerusalem temple was destroyed temporarily ending the sacrificial system. With the temple destroyed and sacrifices impossible the Jewish religion became a teaching religion. Each community of Jews would have a teacher or rabbi. This rabbi would teach children to memorize the Torah, the first five books of our Old Testament. The best students would become rabbis and would learn the rest of the Hebrew Bible and commentaries by leading rabbis. This system continues today as Jews gather together in synagogues listening to teachers. And it was the leading rabbi of the day who went to see Jesus to find out a little more from this rabbi from Galilee. So Nicodemus secretly went to see to Jesus. And here is what happened.
John 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
So Nicodemus is curious about Jesus. He has seen the signs, miracle that Jesus has performed. But he not really sure what to make of all this. So, secretly, that others wouldn’t know what he was doing, Nicodemus made his way to Jesus to ask some questions. And here is Jesus’ response.
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
So according to Jesus, we can’t understand his miracles until we are born again. And how in the world could we ever be born a second time? Filled with questions like these Nicodemus responded to Jesus.
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
It sounds to me that the top scholar in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day has brought out the central problem with Jesus’ argument. Being born a second time is impossible. But Jesus was talking about a different kind of birth, spiritual birth. Let’s listen.
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
So Jesus was talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. As we heard last week this is the birth of the New Covenant. God uses the Spirit to write the law on our hearts and minds and to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ.
I hope all of you have has this experience. I hope that the Holy Spirit has come upon you with the saving faith in Jesus Christ. You may or may not see it coming. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you will know it. You will have a strong desire to obey God’s law. And you will have a strong desire to worship God every week.
The Holy Spirit used a tragedy in my life to turn me around. I was just 27 when my mother died unexpectedly from a heart attack. I was close to her and I knew when she died that my life was about to change. The Sunday after she died I did something I hadn’t done in years. I put a jacket and tie and went to church. I wasn’t sure where to go so I drove over to the church where I had been in Youth Group. I found there a sense of peace. And I know now that it was the Holy Spirit leading me back to church. All I did was to respond when the Holy Spirit called. Since that day I have been in church every Sunday.
But Nicodemus had not yet experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit into his life. All he had was his great knowledge of scripture and tradition. So his response to what Jesus said was a simple question.
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked
Nicodemus is at a loss for words. He can’t comprehend yet what Jesus is even talking about. Jesus knows this and says the following.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Jesus knows that Nicodemus will never understand what he is talking about until the Holy Spirit comes into the world. This will happen when Jesus dies on the cross, is resurrected and then ascends to heaven. The Holy Spirit will then come into the world. Nicodemus will experience this and then will finally understand what Jesus has been saying.
A couple of years later, during another Passover celebration, Nicodemus will join with another secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea, to remove Jesus’ body from the cross and lay it in a tomb. Through his participation in the exaltation of Christ, I have no doubt that Nicodemus was born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, and finally understood what Jesus was talking about.
So too with us. We, as faithful Christians, are filled with the Holy Spirit who guides us in the reading of scripture. With the Holy Spirit’s help, we understand what Jesus told Nicodemus. And here is what Jesus said to the great teacher of Jerusalem.
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. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Our salvation comes not through the sacrifice of animals. It does not come from study and understanding scripture. Our salvation does not even come from our obedience to the commandments. Our salvation comes solely from God’s love for us as expressed by His Son on the cross which we believe by faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
God’s love is what brought Lee Strobel and Nicodemus to faith. God’s love and Spirit bring us to faith in Jesus Christ. And the benefit of faith in Jesus Christ is eternal life. Let’s pray.
We thank you, God, for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit, we receive faith in Jesus Christ and understanding of the scriptures. Thank you, Lord, for this gift and wonderful benefit of eternal life. Help us to share this saving grace with others by telling them about our relationship with Jesus Christ. In whose name we pray. Amen.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
Sermon Matthew 22:34-40 “The Greatest Commandment”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Matthew 22:34-40 “The Greatest Commandment”
New Covenant Church
May 20, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
This is my final sermon in my series on the ten commandments. For nearly four months we have focused our attention on the instructions for life given to us by our creator. We have looked at the ten commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Horeb just after freeing the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. We have heard the new commandment Jesus gave disciples at his last dinner with them to love one another. Today Jesus will be asked by some religious leaders which of these commandments is the greatest. And his answer will lead us to a New Covenant. 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)
In the first century, the ten commandments were recited twice each day at the Jerusalem temple. But there was a controversy about this. Some of the Jewish leaders objected to this practice because it seemed to indicate that these ten were somehow more important than all the other commandments. Other leaders thought that these ten were special and needed to be recited twice a day.
Some Pharisees, seeing Jesus teaching in the temple, decided to ask him to enter the debate on one side or the other. Would Jesus say that one commandment is the greatest or that they are all equal? Answering, either way, Jesus would make enemies. So let’s hear how Jesus handled this sticky situation.
Matthew 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus’ answer was brilliant. He said the greatest commandment was not one of ten at all. Rather he quoted The Shema. The Shema is a prayer that all Jews are supposed to say twice each day. Let’s listen to it.
Deuteronomy 6:4 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.
According to Jesus, this is the greatest commandment. It signifies the covenant God established with humanity through the prophet Moses. And all Jews knew that this prayer had to be learned by each new generation for the covenant to continue. Here is how Moses put it.
Deuteronomy 6:6 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
The covenant that God established with his people was to be passed from generation to generation forever. Parents were given the responsibility of impressing the covenant in the minds of their children. And this process would continue in perpetuity forever.
But we live in a sinful world, and parents do not always do what they are supposed to do. Sometimes parents do not impress the commandments on the minds of their children. What then? What if this neglect went on for generations? What would happen to the commandments? What would happen to the covenant between God and his people?
This very thing happened to the people of Israel. Listen to what happened during the time of King Manasseh of Judah.
2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem, I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
For 55 years The Schema was not prayed and the ten commandments were not recited in the temple or in the homes of the faithful. King Manasseh led the people astray. After generations of neglect, the ten commandments were forgotten. Even the ancient scrolls that contained the word of God were lost. And God decided to put the kingdom of Judah which he had established to an end.
2:KIngs 21:10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: 11 “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
Led by their king, parents stopped impressing the ten commandments on the minds of their children. And within a few generations, their covenant with God came to an end, forgotten, with the Bible in a dustheap. The people of God were unfaithful to their promises.
But God is faithful. After King Manasseh died God helped his people find the lost Bible.
2 Kings 22:3 In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the Lord…
8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
So the long lost Book of the Law was found during Temple repairs. And it was read to King Josiah who realized what had happened. The Old Covenant between God and his People had come to an end.
But God was ready to establish a New Covenant with his people. This New Covenant would not have the defects of the Old. It would not depend on parents teaching the commandments to their children. God would do this important teaching work himself. And so he told this to the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31:31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
And so in the New Covenant, the responsibility of impressing the law of God on the hearts and minds of children is no longer be the sole responsibility of parents, who proved to be unfaithful. Rather God himself will place the law on the hearts and minds of believers. And since God is faithful there will always be faithful believers obeying the law. The New Covenant will last forever.
But when will it start? In Jeremiah’s day, Jerusalem and its temple were in ruins. The people were scattered. But God had a plan. And a savior came into the world. Let’s listen to what Jesus had to say?
Matthew 5:1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them...
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
With the coming of Jesus, the New Covenant began. He fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah. The Law of Moses would be written directly on the hearts and minds of believers. But how would Jesus accomplish this? Let’s go to the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
The Old Covenant came through Moses. The New Covenant comes through the Holy Spirit. And this is what we celebrate today, Pentecost Sunday, the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world initiating the New Covenant.
And we are the beneficiaries of all this. The Holy Spirit comes upon us to impress upon our hearts and minds the commandments of God. The purpose of these sermons has not been to teach you the ten commandments. Rather my purpose is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as she binds these commandments in your minds and hearts. As believers, the Holy Spirit has been working in you preparing you to live a life in harmony with the ten commandments.
God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Our Lord Jesus said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Let’s pray. Holy Spirit we thank you for being here with us. We thank you for the strength and comfort you give us. We thank you for impressing the commandments on our hearts and minds. And we know that these are instructions from our creator God so that we may live long and prosperous lives. Help us to always live according to these holy words. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sermon Matthew 22:34-40 “The Greatest Commandment”
New Covenant Church
May 20, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
This is my final sermon in my series on the ten commandments. For nearly four months we have focused our attention on the instructions for life given to us by our creator. We have looked at the ten commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Horeb just after freeing the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. We have heard the new commandment Jesus gave disciples at his last dinner with them to love one another. Today Jesus will be asked by some religious leaders which of these commandments is the greatest. And his answer will lead us to a New Covenant. 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)
In the first century, the ten commandments were recited twice each day at the Jerusalem temple. But there was a controversy about this. Some of the Jewish leaders objected to this practice because it seemed to indicate that these ten were somehow more important than all the other commandments. Other leaders thought that these ten were special and needed to be recited twice a day.
Some Pharisees, seeing Jesus teaching in the temple, decided to ask him to enter the debate on one side or the other. Would Jesus say that one commandment is the greatest or that they are all equal? Answering, either way, Jesus would make enemies. So let’s hear how Jesus handled this sticky situation.
Matthew 22:34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus’ answer was brilliant. He said the greatest commandment was not one of ten at all. Rather he quoted The Shema. The Shema is a prayer that all Jews are supposed to say twice each day. Let’s listen to it.
Deuteronomy 6:4 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.
According to Jesus, this is the greatest commandment. It signifies the covenant God established with humanity through the prophet Moses. And all Jews knew that this prayer had to be learned by each new generation for the covenant to continue. Here is how Moses put it.
Deuteronomy 6:6 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. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
The covenant that God established with his people was to be passed from generation to generation forever. Parents were given the responsibility of impressing the covenant in the minds of their children. And this process would continue in perpetuity forever.
But we live in a sinful world, and parents do not always do what they are supposed to do. Sometimes parents do not impress the commandments on the minds of their children. What then? What if this neglect went on for generations? What would happen to the commandments? What would happen to the covenant between God and his people?
This very thing happened to the people of Israel. Listen to what happened during the time of King Manasseh of Judah.
2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem, I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
For 55 years The Schema was not prayed and the ten commandments were not recited in the temple or in the homes of the faithful. King Manasseh led the people astray. After generations of neglect, the ten commandments were forgotten. Even the ancient scrolls that contained the word of God were lost. And God decided to put the kingdom of Judah which he had established to an end.
2:KIngs 21:10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: 11 “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
Led by their king, parents stopped impressing the ten commandments on the minds of their children. And within a few generations, their covenant with God came to an end, forgotten, with the Bible in a dustheap. The people of God were unfaithful to their promises.
But God is faithful. After King Manasseh died God helped his people find the lost Bible.
2 Kings 22:3 In the eighteenth year of his reign, King Josiah sent the secretary, Shaphan son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, to the temple of the Lord. He said: 4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him get ready the money that has been brought into the temple of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have collected from the people. 5 Have them entrust it to the men appointed to supervise the work on the temple. And have these men pay the workers who repair the temple of the Lord…
8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.” He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. 9 Then Shaphan the secretary went to the king and reported to him: “Your officials have paid out the money that was in the temple of the Lord and have entrusted it to the workers and supervisors at the temple.” 10 Then Shaphan the secretary informed the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it in the presence of the king.
11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes. 12 He gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Akbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king’s attendant: 13 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because those who have gone before us have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us.”
So the long lost Book of the Law was found during Temple repairs. And it was read to King Josiah who realized what had happened. The Old Covenant between God and his People had come to an end.
But God was ready to establish a New Covenant with his people. This New Covenant would not have the defects of the Old. It would not depend on parents teaching the commandments to their children. God would do this important teaching work himself. And so he told this to the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31:31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
And so in the New Covenant, the responsibility of impressing the law of God on the hearts and minds of children is no longer be the sole responsibility of parents, who proved to be unfaithful. Rather God himself will place the law on the hearts and minds of believers. And since God is faithful there will always be faithful believers obeying the law. The New Covenant will last forever.
But when will it start? In Jeremiah’s day, Jerusalem and its temple were in ruins. The people were scattered. But God had a plan. And a savior came into the world. Let’s listen to what Jesus had to say?
Matthew 5:1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them...
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
With the coming of Jesus, the New Covenant began. He fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah. The Law of Moses would be written directly on the hearts and minds of believers. But how would Jesus accomplish this? Let’s go to the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.
The Old Covenant came through Moses. The New Covenant comes through the Holy Spirit. And this is what we celebrate today, Pentecost Sunday, the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world initiating the New Covenant.
And we are the beneficiaries of all this. The Holy Spirit comes upon us to impress upon our hearts and minds the commandments of God. The purpose of these sermons has not been to teach you the ten commandments. Rather my purpose is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as she binds these commandments in your minds and hearts. As believers, the Holy Spirit has been working in you preparing you to live a life in harmony with the ten commandments.
God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord your God.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Our Lord Jesus said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Let’s pray. Holy Spirit we thank you for being here with us. We thank you for the strength and comfort you give us. We thank you for impressing the commandments on our hearts and minds. And we know that these are instructions from our creator God so that we may live long and prosperous lives. Help us to always live according to these holy words. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Sermon - Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 21, 32 “Don't Desire Your Neighbors Stuff”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon - Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 21, 32 “Don't Desire Your Neighbors Stuff”
New Covenant Church
May 13, 2018
Listen to this Sermon
During the Protestant Reformation, all statues, painting, and windows portraying God were removed so as to not violate the second commandment concerning idolatry. In many cases, objectionable art was replaced by renderings of the ten commandments. In England, the King wanted to show the close relationship between royal law and divine law and so he had renderings of the ten commandments place in every church and public building. This tradition continued as the church spread over the frontier of America. And a rendering of the ten commandments was placed in the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Fraternal Order of Eagles placed renderings of the commandments in schools and on public property all over America. This concerned the American Civil Liberties Union. They worried that these renderings were in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of an official religion.
Courts ruled that the 10 commandments could be displayed on public property only if other religions were able to display their laws too. So many jurisdictions have taken down displays of the ten commandments. That makes it even more important for churches to teach about the ten commandments and enter into a covenant with God to obey them. That is what we are doing here at New Covenant Church. 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.
21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The tenth commandment prohibits desiring your neighbor’s wife and your neighbor’s stuff. Desire is not in itself a sin. Desire is ethically neutral. You can desire something good. Or you can desire something bad. Ethics is concerned by what you desire rather than the desire itself. And you are prohibited from desiring something or someone owned by another person.
The first nine commandments all deal with actions, something you do. You steal, or bear false witness, or murder, or commit adultery - all actions. But in the tenth commandment there is no action, only thoughts. Your desire to have something that someone else owns is in your mind. You can desire the wrong things without ever doing anything about it. This means that thoughts, independent of action, can be wrong and a sin against God. For example, we know that adultery with another man’s wife is wrong. But with the tenth commandment, we learn that lusting after another’s wife in our minds is also a sin.
This is unique in the ancient law codes. In these laws, only actions are prohibited. What you think is up to you. But in the Bible what you think can be a sin. You can have wrong thoughts which are an offense against God’s law.
There is no biblical punishment for coveting your neighbor’s wife or stuff. A witness can only testify to what you do. No witness can know what you think. No judge can know what you think. No trial can determine what you think. What you think is between you and God. Only God knows if you covet your neighbor’s stuff.
In the story you heard earlier, the Hebrews had crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. The army under Joshua was ordered by God to defeat kingdoms and take the land. The land was the object. But in the ancient world armies usually fought for loot. They wanted treasure and slaves. But God did not permit looting for the Hebrews.
Achan was a soldier in Joshua’s army. He coveted the treasure of the kingdoms he fought against. And he took the loot for himself. When the stolen treasure was discovered Achan was convicted of disobeying God and was stoned to death. We see from this that bad thoughts often lead us to do bad things.
The problem with bad thoughts is that they can lead to violations of the other commandment. Your desire of your neighbor’s wife can lead to adultery. You desire of your neighbor’s grill can lead to stealing it. Coveting can grow into anger leading to murder. So prohibiting desire of stuff someone else owns can prevent other violations of the law.
In America today we completely ignore the tenth commandment. The motto of our consumer culture is “Keeping Up With the Jones.” If our neighbor has a better grill than our’s we go straight down to Home Depot and buy an even better one. We want our lawns to be better than our neighbors. We want our kids to do better in school than our neighbor’s kids. We want our kids to excel in sports over the other kids. If our neighbors have better homes than us and go on better vacations that we do then we sacrifice to keep up with them. Coveting our neighbor’s stuff is a virtue in America today. And all of this is a clear violation of the tenth commandment.
But, Jesus wants us to know why coveting is a sin. And so Jesus had a conversation with an ordinary person, just like us. Let’s hear what he said.
Matthew 19:16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
When Jesus was talking with the man he listed five of the ten commandments, 5 through 9. All of these are about actions. Like us, this man honored his parents, didn’t murder anyone, didn’t commit adultery, didn’t steal anything, and didn’t lie about others. His actions were perfect. But what about his thoughts. Notice that nothing was said about the tenth commandment. Maybe this man is coveting something his neighbor owns.
Then Jesus tells the man to sell what he has and give it to his poor neighbors. This is a radically new way of thinking. Rather than desiring your neighbor’s stuff, you give your neighbor what the neighbor needs. Jesus’ understanding of the tenth commandment is that we are not to covet what our neighbor has, rather we must help our neighbor get what is needed. In other words, Jesus expanded the tenth commandment to include loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Maybe this is something we should try. Rather than “Keeping Up with the Joneses” we should get the know the Joneses better and out of love help them with what they need.
This is Mother’s day and I want you to think back about your mother. Your mother loved you and took care of you. She made sure you had food, a safe place to sleep, and clothing to keep you warm. She loved you and wanted the best for you. What if this is the way Christians treated all their neighbors? What if we cared about our neighbors the way a mother thinks about her baby? We if we loved our neighbors the way our mothers loved us? What if, in the words of an old song, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”?
So bad thoughts can be evil in themselves, and thoughts can lead to bad actions. Coveting your neighbor’s stuff is bad thinking which can lead to bad actions. Loving your neighbor is good thinking and leads to good actions.
Let’s hear again from Moses.
Deuteronomy 5:22 These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
The ten commandments are not onerous laws that we must live by or be punished. Rather they are principles for living a good life. Do what your creator tells you to do and you will benefit from it. Ignore what God says and suffer the consequences. Your God loves you so much that he blessed you with these instructions. So follow them so that you may prosper and have a long life. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for blessing us with the ten commandments. These bless us more than silver and gold ever could. Sometimes we covet our neighbor’s stuff. Sometimes we forget that our neighbor is going through the same things that are happening to us. So just as we hope that others will help us when we need help, help us to love our neighbor. All this we pray in your son’s glorious name. Amen.
Sermon - Deuteronomy 5:1-3, 21, 32 “Don't Desire Your Neighbors Stuff”
New Covenant Church
May 13, 2018
Listen to this Sermon
During the Protestant Reformation, all statues, painting, and windows portraying God were removed so as to not violate the second commandment concerning idolatry. In many cases, objectionable art was replaced by renderings of the ten commandments. In England, the King wanted to show the close relationship between royal law and divine law and so he had renderings of the ten commandments place in every church and public building. This tradition continued as the church spread over the frontier of America. And a rendering of the ten commandments was placed in the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the 1950s and 60s, the Fraternal Order of Eagles placed renderings of the commandments in schools and on public property all over America. This concerned the American Civil Liberties Union. They worried that these renderings were in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the establishment of an official religion.
Courts ruled that the 10 commandments could be displayed on public property only if other religions were able to display their laws too. So many jurisdictions have taken down displays of the ten commandments. That makes it even more important for churches to teach about the ten commandments and enter into a covenant with God to obey them. That is what we are doing here at New Covenant Church. 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.
21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The tenth commandment prohibits desiring your neighbor’s wife and your neighbor’s stuff. Desire is not in itself a sin. Desire is ethically neutral. You can desire something good. Or you can desire something bad. Ethics is concerned by what you desire rather than the desire itself. And you are prohibited from desiring something or someone owned by another person.
The first nine commandments all deal with actions, something you do. You steal, or bear false witness, or murder, or commit adultery - all actions. But in the tenth commandment there is no action, only thoughts. Your desire to have something that someone else owns is in your mind. You can desire the wrong things without ever doing anything about it. This means that thoughts, independent of action, can be wrong and a sin against God. For example, we know that adultery with another man’s wife is wrong. But with the tenth commandment, we learn that lusting after another’s wife in our minds is also a sin.
This is unique in the ancient law codes. In these laws, only actions are prohibited. What you think is up to you. But in the Bible what you think can be a sin. You can have wrong thoughts which are an offense against God’s law.
There is no biblical punishment for coveting your neighbor’s wife or stuff. A witness can only testify to what you do. No witness can know what you think. No judge can know what you think. No trial can determine what you think. What you think is between you and God. Only God knows if you covet your neighbor’s stuff.
In the story you heard earlier, the Hebrews had crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. The army under Joshua was ordered by God to defeat kingdoms and take the land. The land was the object. But in the ancient world armies usually fought for loot. They wanted treasure and slaves. But God did not permit looting for the Hebrews.
Achan was a soldier in Joshua’s army. He coveted the treasure of the kingdoms he fought against. And he took the loot for himself. When the stolen treasure was discovered Achan was convicted of disobeying God and was stoned to death. We see from this that bad thoughts often lead us to do bad things.
The problem with bad thoughts is that they can lead to violations of the other commandment. Your desire of your neighbor’s wife can lead to adultery. You desire of your neighbor’s grill can lead to stealing it. Coveting can grow into anger leading to murder. So prohibiting desire of stuff someone else owns can prevent other violations of the law.
In America today we completely ignore the tenth commandment. The motto of our consumer culture is “Keeping Up With the Jones.” If our neighbor has a better grill than our’s we go straight down to Home Depot and buy an even better one. We want our lawns to be better than our neighbors. We want our kids to do better in school than our neighbor’s kids. We want our kids to excel in sports over the other kids. If our neighbors have better homes than us and go on better vacations that we do then we sacrifice to keep up with them. Coveting our neighbor’s stuff is a virtue in America today. And all of this is a clear violation of the tenth commandment.
But, Jesus wants us to know why coveting is a sin. And so Jesus had a conversation with an ordinary person, just like us. Let’s hear what he said.
Matthew 19:16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
When Jesus was talking with the man he listed five of the ten commandments, 5 through 9. All of these are about actions. Like us, this man honored his parents, didn’t murder anyone, didn’t commit adultery, didn’t steal anything, and didn’t lie about others. His actions were perfect. But what about his thoughts. Notice that nothing was said about the tenth commandment. Maybe this man is coveting something his neighbor owns.
Then Jesus tells the man to sell what he has and give it to his poor neighbors. This is a radically new way of thinking. Rather than desiring your neighbor’s stuff, you give your neighbor what the neighbor needs. Jesus’ understanding of the tenth commandment is that we are not to covet what our neighbor has, rather we must help our neighbor get what is needed. In other words, Jesus expanded the tenth commandment to include loving your neighbor as you love yourself. Maybe this is something we should try. Rather than “Keeping Up with the Joneses” we should get the know the Joneses better and out of love help them with what they need.
This is Mother’s day and I want you to think back about your mother. Your mother loved you and took care of you. She made sure you had food, a safe place to sleep, and clothing to keep you warm. She loved you and wanted the best for you. What if this is the way Christians treated all their neighbors? What if we cared about our neighbors the way a mother thinks about her baby? We if we loved our neighbors the way our mothers loved us? What if, in the words of an old song, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”?
So bad thoughts can be evil in themselves, and thoughts can lead to bad actions. Coveting your neighbor’s stuff is bad thinking which can lead to bad actions. Loving your neighbor is good thinking and leads to good actions.
Let’s hear again from Moses.
Deuteronomy 5:22 These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
The ten commandments are not onerous laws that we must live by or be punished. Rather they are principles for living a good life. Do what your creator tells you to do and you will benefit from it. Ignore what God says and suffer the consequences. Your God loves you so much that he blessed you with these instructions. So follow them so that you may prosper and have a long life. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for blessing us with the ten commandments. These bless us more than silver and gold ever could. Sometimes we covet our neighbor’s stuff. Sometimes we forget that our neighbor is going through the same things that are happening to us. So just as we hope that others will help us when we need help, help us to love our neighbor. All this we pray in your son’s glorious name. Amen.
Friday, May 11, 2018
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:20 “You Shall Not Bear False Witness”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:20 “You Shall Not Bear False Witness”
New Covenant Church
May 6, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
The Ten Commandments appear twice in scripture. The first time we encounter them is in the Book of Exodus. Two months after the Hebrews left Egypt after God had parted the Red Sea for them, God appeared to Moses in a dense cloud of smoke and fire, and thunder and lightning. A loud trumpet was heard which got louder and louder and the whole mountain began to tremble. Then God spoke, identifying himself as their liberator from Egypt. Then God gave them Ten Commandments for living their lives together as his people. And this was followed by the giving of a collection of laws known as the Book of the Covenant, from Exodus chapter 20 to 23. The people of God affirmed their responsibilities of obeying the law with this.
Exodus 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
Forty years later Moses spoke to a new generation of Hebrews. They were about to enter into the Promised Land. Moses reminded them that they had been freed from slavery in Egypt by God. And God had given them instructions for living their lives as his people. These instructions were in the form of a covenant. And Moses asked the people to renew their promise to follow them.
And now several millennia later, New Covenant Church has spent a couple of months reviewing the ten commands. My hope is that we too will renew the covenant and promise to obey them. Today, we will look at the ninth commandment, 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.
20 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
The ninth commandment prohibits lying, specifically in a court of law. The sixth commandment, “do not kill”, and the seventh commandment, “do not commit adultery” both have a biblical punishment of death. The eighth commandment, “do not steal”, has a lesser punishment based on the value of what was stolen. Because these punishments were so severe there must be a trial to determine the truth of an offense before the punishment is carried out. And in a trial, the Bible requires two witnesses.
Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Since the violation of a biblical law comes with such a high penalty there must be a biblical requirement that these witnesses tell the truth. And this is the primary reason for the ninth commandment.
The biblical punishment for lying in court is that you will receive that same punishment as the person you lied for. So if a person is on trial for murder and you lie about it then you too may be put to death.
Deuteronomy 19:16 If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, 17 the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
With such severe punishment for lying in court, you might be tempted to just say nothing as a witness in a trial. Keeping quiet is better than tell a lie. But the Bible says that if you know the truth you must speak up.
Leviticus 5:1 “‘If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.
So if you know something you must speak up and tell the truth.
The ninth commandment is actually is broader than just requiring truthful testimony. It also requires telling the truth in all circumstances. The psalmist tells us this.
Psalm 15 1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others.
So gossip and slander are out. You must always be truthful when you talk about someone. You may not talk about someone behind his back. You must always give someone a chance to defend himself. And you must not slander, by telling lies about someone damaging his or her character and reputation.
And this brings us to the story you heard earlier about Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 21 we read the story of Abraham and Abimelech, the King of Gerar. According to the story, Abraham and Sarah moved into the kingdom of Gerar. Abraham, for some reason, lied about Sarah. Instead of truthfully saying that Sarah was his wife, Abraham lied and said that she was his sister. And this lie prompted the King of Gerar to take Sarah as his own wife. And then all the women and animal of Gerar became barren.
Then God to spoke to Abimelek and told him the truth in a dream. Abimelech realized that he was about to commit adultery with Sarah because of Abraham’s lie. God also revealed to Abimelek that this had been a test. God wanted to test Abimelek to see how he would react to Abraham's lie. Would Abimelek return Sarah after finding out she was another man’s wife? Or would Abimelek keep her for himself?
Abimelech then confronted Abraham and asked him to explain his lie. Abraham told him that Sarah was, in fact, his half-sister. So what he said was technically true. Abraham had not lied about Sarah being his sister. But he did conceal the fact that she was also his wife.
Abimelech passed the test. Once he knew that Sarah was married he sent her back with gifts. He permitted Abraham and Sarah to live in his land. And Abraham blessed him with a prayer that Abimelek’s wife and cattle would once again be fertile.
There are two important lessons in this story. First, God can use our lies for his good purposes. We are not to lie, but if we do sometimes God will use our lies to advance his kingdom. The second lesson is that concealing an important fact can be as damaging as telling a lie. So the ninth commanded requires both a prohibition on lying and a requirement to reveal relevant facts.
Violations of the ninth commandment are common in America today. President Nixon resigned from office and President Clinton was impeached for lying. The reason our leaders lie may be that we don’t want to hear the truth. Consider this from Isaiah.
Isaiah 30:9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. 10 They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
So some people lie and others don’t want to hear the truth. But there is one person in scripture who wanted to hear the truth. His name was Pilate, Jesus’ Roman judge.
John 18:33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” 35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” 38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
So if you want to know the truth listen to Jesus. Jesus is the only witness you can be sure will not violate the ninth commandment. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, help us to keep from lying. Help us to always tell the truth. Help us to speak up when justice requires it. Help us to never be deceived. And always bless us with your presence so that we will always know the truth. This we pray in your name. Amen.
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:20 “You Shall Not Bear False Witness”
New Covenant Church
May 6, 2018
Listen to this sermon.
The Ten Commandments appear twice in scripture. The first time we encounter them is in the Book of Exodus. Two months after the Hebrews left Egypt after God had parted the Red Sea for them, God appeared to Moses in a dense cloud of smoke and fire, and thunder and lightning. A loud trumpet was heard which got louder and louder and the whole mountain began to tremble. Then God spoke, identifying himself as their liberator from Egypt. Then God gave them Ten Commandments for living their lives together as his people. And this was followed by the giving of a collection of laws known as the Book of the Covenant, from Exodus chapter 20 to 23. The people of God affirmed their responsibilities of obeying the law with this.
Exodus 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
Forty years later Moses spoke to a new generation of Hebrews. They were about to enter into the Promised Land. Moses reminded them that they had been freed from slavery in Egypt by God. And God had given them instructions for living their lives as his people. These instructions were in the form of a covenant. And Moses asked the people to renew their promise to follow them.
And now several millennia later, New Covenant Church has spent a couple of months reviewing the ten commands. My hope is that we too will renew the covenant and promise to obey them. Today, we will look at the ninth commandment, 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.
20 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
The ninth commandment prohibits lying, specifically in a court of law. The sixth commandment, “do not kill”, and the seventh commandment, “do not commit adultery” both have a biblical punishment of death. The eighth commandment, “do not steal”, has a lesser punishment based on the value of what was stolen. Because these punishments were so severe there must be a trial to determine the truth of an offense before the punishment is carried out. And in a trial, the Bible requires two witnesses.
Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Since the violation of a biblical law comes with such a high penalty there must be a biblical requirement that these witnesses tell the truth. And this is the primary reason for the ninth commandment.
The biblical punishment for lying in court is that you will receive that same punishment as the person you lied for. So if a person is on trial for murder and you lie about it then you too may be put to death.
Deuteronomy 19:16 If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, 17 the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. 18 The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, 19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. 20 The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. 21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
With such severe punishment for lying in court, you might be tempted to just say nothing as a witness in a trial. Keeping quiet is better than tell a lie. But the Bible says that if you know the truth you must speak up.
Leviticus 5:1 “‘If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.
So if you know something you must speak up and tell the truth.
The ninth commandment is actually is broader than just requiring truthful testimony. It also requires telling the truth in all circumstances. The psalmist tells us this.
Psalm 15 1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others.
So gossip and slander are out. You must always be truthful when you talk about someone. You may not talk about someone behind his back. You must always give someone a chance to defend himself. And you must not slander, by telling lies about someone damaging his or her character and reputation.
And this brings us to the story you heard earlier about Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 21 we read the story of Abraham and Abimelech, the King of Gerar. According to the story, Abraham and Sarah moved into the kingdom of Gerar. Abraham, for some reason, lied about Sarah. Instead of truthfully saying that Sarah was his wife, Abraham lied and said that she was his sister. And this lie prompted the King of Gerar to take Sarah as his own wife. And then all the women and animal of Gerar became barren.
Then God to spoke to Abimelek and told him the truth in a dream. Abimelech realized that he was about to commit adultery with Sarah because of Abraham’s lie. God also revealed to Abimelek that this had been a test. God wanted to test Abimelek to see how he would react to Abraham's lie. Would Abimelek return Sarah after finding out she was another man’s wife? Or would Abimelek keep her for himself?
Abimelech then confronted Abraham and asked him to explain his lie. Abraham told him that Sarah was, in fact, his half-sister. So what he said was technically true. Abraham had not lied about Sarah being his sister. But he did conceal the fact that she was also his wife.
Abimelech passed the test. Once he knew that Sarah was married he sent her back with gifts. He permitted Abraham and Sarah to live in his land. And Abraham blessed him with a prayer that Abimelek’s wife and cattle would once again be fertile.
There are two important lessons in this story. First, God can use our lies for his good purposes. We are not to lie, but if we do sometimes God will use our lies to advance his kingdom. The second lesson is that concealing an important fact can be as damaging as telling a lie. So the ninth commanded requires both a prohibition on lying and a requirement to reveal relevant facts.
Violations of the ninth commandment are common in America today. President Nixon resigned from office and President Clinton was impeached for lying. The reason our leaders lie may be that we don’t want to hear the truth. Consider this from Isaiah.
Isaiah 30:9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. 10 They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
So some people lie and others don’t want to hear the truth. But there is one person in scripture who wanted to hear the truth. His name was Pilate, Jesus’ Roman judge.
John 18:33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” 35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” 36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” 38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
So if you want to know the truth listen to Jesus. Jesus is the only witness you can be sure will not violate the ninth commandment. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, help us to keep from lying. Help us to always tell the truth. Help us to speak up when justice requires it. Help us to never be deceived. And always bless us with your presence so that we will always know the truth. This we pray in your name. Amen.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:19 “You Shall Not Steal”
Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:19 “You Shall Not Steal”
New Covenant Church
April 29, 2018
Listen to this Sermon
In the 1981 movie, “History of the World Part 1” Mel Brooks portrayed Moses ascending the mountain of God to receive the ten commandments. According to Brooks, God wrote fifteen commandments on three stone tablets and gave them to Moses. But as Moses came down the mountain he stumbled and fell. One of the tablets shattered into a million pieces. Then, according to Mel Brooks, Moses continued down the mountain where he told the people that there were only ten commandments on two tablets.
With this somewhat doubtful history in mind, let us continue our look at the ten commandments. And today we look at the eighth commandment about respecting private property. 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.
19 “You shall not steal.”
The eighth commandment prohibits the taking of property owned by someone else. You are not permitted to steal what belongs to another. The Hebrew word here is very broad. It refers to the stealing of anything, including a person, something we would call kidnapping.
The biblical punishment for stealing is that you must compensate the victim and pay punitive damages. We read this in the Book of Exodus.
Exodus 22:1 “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.
So you must compensate the victim for the lost animal and then add either four cattle or three sheep for every animal stolen. Obviously many people who stole were poor and could not pay these fines. If so they were required to work for the person they ripped off. This was called slavery. You could enslave yourself to your victim for up to seven years to pay a debt.
What is most surprising about the eighth commandment is that it applies to everyone. In most ancient civilizations the king owned everything. And if the king already owned everything he could not be accused of stealing. But God gave the property to families. This land stayed in families generation to generation forever. The land was not owned by a king. So the economic system of the Bible is one based on private property. Individuals owned the means of producing an income for themselves and family. And the government could not take this away.
Eventually, the people of God decided that they wanted a king for protection from their enemies. So they went to the Prophet Samuel to ask God for a king. When the people told Samuel that they wanted a king here is the warning they got from God.
1 Samuel 8:10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
So God’s warning to the people was that a King will ignore the biblical principle of private property and will effectively steal the property God had given them. A King would steal their sons and daughters. A King would steal the best of the harvest. A King would steal their land. And so they were warned. If they were to have a King that King must respect the biblical principle of private property.
One King who went too far and ignored the biblical principle of private property was King Ahab of Israel. In the story you heard earlier, King Ahab wanted to own a field in Jezreel to feed his army. But Naboth, the property owner refused to sell his land. Queen Jezebel, with no respect for biblical principles, advised her husband to steal it by having its owner, Naboth, murdered. For stealing the property and murdering the owner both Ahab and Jezebel died horrible deaths as predicted by the great prophet Elijah.
The biblical principle of private property stood and remains standing today.
This principle of private property is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America. In the Fifth Amendment we read:
“No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
According to the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, the biblical principle of private property is the law of the land. Your land and personal possessions belong to you. If the government takes anything from you it would be in clear violation of the both the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and the Eighth Commandment in our Bibles. The government would be stealing from you unless they need your property for a legitimate public use and compensate you fairly. For example, if Delaware is building a new road and needs a portion of your corn field they may take it for the road provided that you are fairly compensated.
As we saw with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel governments are always pushing to take more and more. Communist countries reject the biblical principle of private property completely. They replaced it with communal property where all property is jointly owned. Of course, this means that the government owns everything. Karl Marx rejected the biblical principle of private property by saying that religion is the opiate of the masses.
Although the United States enshrines the biblical principle of private property as an inalienable human right, there has been some pressure to violate it. Throughout the 1950s and 60s the Supreme Court repeatedly expanded what the government could take for public use and still be in compliance with the fifth amendment. The biggest threat to private property came in 2005 in a Supreme Court decision in Kelo vs. New London.
In this decision the Supreme Court allowed the city of New London, Ct. to take property from homeowners. The city did not want to use the property for a school or a road. Rather they wanted to take the property from its owners and give it to another owner because the new owner would use the property to benefit the public. In a 5 to 4 decision the Supreme Court allowed New London to take the property from homeowners and give it to a developer.
The private developer wanted the property to build a commercial riverwalk in conjunction with a facility used by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. The homeowners wanted to stay in their homes. The city wanted to take the homes from the homeowners and give it to a developer. And the Supreme Court said they could do it.
So what happened? The homeowners didn’t want to move. The city had to pay millions to relocate them. The developer lost his financing and abandoned the project. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals merged with another company and left New London. And the former neighborhood is now a vacant lot. Since the Supreme Court decision, 44 states have passed laws upholding the biblical principle of private property and prohibiting local governments from taking people’s property without a clear public need.
There is a movie, currently in theaters, about what happened in New London, Ct. It is called “Little Pink House” Let’s look at a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUptZEZdT-M
Thankfully, God has given us the biblical principle of private property. We own our stuff. To take our property away from us is stealing in violation of the eighth commandment. Governments may not take our property without a compelling public purpose and with just compensation. We live in a country where private property is an inalienable right protected by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. But we must be ever watchful that we don’t lose the right of private property that God has given us.
With the right to private property, we must respect the eighth command. We must not steal what someone else owns. We must be content with what we have. But we must also be generous and care for the poor and the needy and the widow and the orphan. No one should have to steal to survive. God wants everyone loved and cared for. So don’t be stingy. Tithe to the church. And support ministries like Our Daily Bread and Neighborhood House. Use the private property God has given you as a blessing to be a blessing for others. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for the property you have given us. We thank you for our homes and cars and clothes and children and grandchildren and great children. Protect us from those who would steal from us. Help us to respect the private property of others and always obey the eighth commandment. Amen.
Sermon Deuteronomy 5:19 “You Shall Not Steal”
New Covenant Church
April 29, 2018
Listen to this Sermon
In the 1981 movie, “History of the World Part 1” Mel Brooks portrayed Moses ascending the mountain of God to receive the ten commandments. According to Brooks, God wrote fifteen commandments on three stone tablets and gave them to Moses. But as Moses came down the mountain he stumbled and fell. One of the tablets shattered into a million pieces. Then, according to Mel Brooks, Moses continued down the mountain where he told the people that there were only ten commandments on two tablets.
With this somewhat doubtful history in mind, let us continue our look at the ten commandments. And today we look at the eighth commandment about respecting private property. 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.
19 “You shall not steal.”
The eighth commandment prohibits the taking of property owned by someone else. You are not permitted to steal what belongs to another. The Hebrew word here is very broad. It refers to the stealing of anything, including a person, something we would call kidnapping.
The biblical punishment for stealing is that you must compensate the victim and pay punitive damages. We read this in the Book of Exodus.
Exodus 22:1 “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.
So you must compensate the victim for the lost animal and then add either four cattle or three sheep for every animal stolen. Obviously many people who stole were poor and could not pay these fines. If so they were required to work for the person they ripped off. This was called slavery. You could enslave yourself to your victim for up to seven years to pay a debt.
What is most surprising about the eighth commandment is that it applies to everyone. In most ancient civilizations the king owned everything. And if the king already owned everything he could not be accused of stealing. But God gave the property to families. This land stayed in families generation to generation forever. The land was not owned by a king. So the economic system of the Bible is one based on private property. Individuals owned the means of producing an income for themselves and family. And the government could not take this away.
Eventually, the people of God decided that they wanted a king for protection from their enemies. So they went to the Prophet Samuel to ask God for a king. When the people told Samuel that they wanted a king here is the warning they got from God.
1 Samuel 8:10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[c] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
So God’s warning to the people was that a King will ignore the biblical principle of private property and will effectively steal the property God had given them. A King would steal their sons and daughters. A King would steal the best of the harvest. A King would steal their land. And so they were warned. If they were to have a King that King must respect the biblical principle of private property.
One King who went too far and ignored the biblical principle of private property was King Ahab of Israel. In the story you heard earlier, King Ahab wanted to own a field in Jezreel to feed his army. But Naboth, the property owner refused to sell his land. Queen Jezebel, with no respect for biblical principles, advised her husband to steal it by having its owner, Naboth, murdered. For stealing the property and murdering the owner both Ahab and Jezebel died horrible deaths as predicted by the great prophet Elijah.
The biblical principle of private property stood and remains standing today.
This principle of private property is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America. In the Fifth Amendment we read:
“No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
According to the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, the biblical principle of private property is the law of the land. Your land and personal possessions belong to you. If the government takes anything from you it would be in clear violation of the both the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and the Eighth Commandment in our Bibles. The government would be stealing from you unless they need your property for a legitimate public use and compensate you fairly. For example, if Delaware is building a new road and needs a portion of your corn field they may take it for the road provided that you are fairly compensated.
As we saw with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel governments are always pushing to take more and more. Communist countries reject the biblical principle of private property completely. They replaced it with communal property where all property is jointly owned. Of course, this means that the government owns everything. Karl Marx rejected the biblical principle of private property by saying that religion is the opiate of the masses.
Although the United States enshrines the biblical principle of private property as an inalienable human right, there has been some pressure to violate it. Throughout the 1950s and 60s the Supreme Court repeatedly expanded what the government could take for public use and still be in compliance with the fifth amendment. The biggest threat to private property came in 2005 in a Supreme Court decision in Kelo vs. New London.
In this decision the Supreme Court allowed the city of New London, Ct. to take property from homeowners. The city did not want to use the property for a school or a road. Rather they wanted to take the property from its owners and give it to another owner because the new owner would use the property to benefit the public. In a 5 to 4 decision the Supreme Court allowed New London to take the property from homeowners and give it to a developer.
The private developer wanted the property to build a commercial riverwalk in conjunction with a facility used by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. The homeowners wanted to stay in their homes. The city wanted to take the homes from the homeowners and give it to a developer. And the Supreme Court said they could do it.
So what happened? The homeowners didn’t want to move. The city had to pay millions to relocate them. The developer lost his financing and abandoned the project. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals merged with another company and left New London. And the former neighborhood is now a vacant lot. Since the Supreme Court decision, 44 states have passed laws upholding the biblical principle of private property and prohibiting local governments from taking people’s property without a clear public need.
There is a movie, currently in theaters, about what happened in New London, Ct. It is called “Little Pink House” Let’s look at a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUptZEZdT-M
Thankfully, God has given us the biblical principle of private property. We own our stuff. To take our property away from us is stealing in violation of the eighth commandment. Governments may not take our property without a compelling public purpose and with just compensation. We live in a country where private property is an inalienable right protected by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. But we must be ever watchful that we don’t lose the right of private property that God has given us.
With the right to private property, we must respect the eighth command. We must not steal what someone else owns. We must be content with what we have. But we must also be generous and care for the poor and the needy and the widow and the orphan. No one should have to steal to survive. God wants everyone loved and cared for. So don’t be stingy. Tithe to the church. And support ministries like Our Daily Bread and Neighborhood House. Use the private property God has given you as a blessing to be a blessing for others. Let’s pray.
Father in heaven, we thank you for the property you have given us. We thank you for our homes and cars and clothes and children and grandchildren and great children. Protect us from those who would steal from us. Help us to respect the private property of others and always obey the eighth commandment. Amen.
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