Passage: Deuteronomy 21:18-21
Of all the Commandments, the fifth is the one people seem to take the most immediate exception to. It seems ironic, given that the fifth commandment deals with subject matter that is, for the most part, fairly mundane. “Honor your father and mother so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Honor your father and mother. Wait a minute, we’re tempted to say. What if your father or mother abused you? What if they rejected you? What if they were just plain unreasonable and out of touch and not that nice to you? I’ve heard sermons that presented all kinds of qualifiers and provisos. Exceptions to the rule. It’s easy to find excuses not to follow the fifth commandment. But, says God, we do so at great cost to ourselves.
In order to follow this commandment, we need to understand it. The first thing to note is its placement. It stands as the bridge between the two sections of the Law – the first, which expands on the command to love God above all else; and the second, which is summarized in the command to love others as you love yourself. Love God; love other people. Right in between is the command to honor your parents. This isn’t a coincidence.
When it comes to loving other people, parents are the ones we have no control over. We don’t choose the parents who give us birth. Accepting the parents we’ve been given is an essential aspect of accepting God’s sovereign choice in our lives. To say, “I refuse to accept my parents’ authority” is to say to God, “I refuse to accept what you’ve chosen for me.” When we refuse to love and honor our parents, we are essentially telling God that we’re only willing to love and honor the people we have chosen; the ones we like. God doesn’t give us this option. Loving and honoring parents is practice for loving and honoring all the people God will bring into our lives by his sovereign choice.
On a more practical basis, God gives us parents to train us in the practice of submission. Whether we appreciate it or not, our parents are people who have gone before us. They provide rules and boundaries based on experience and the wisdom of years. In many respects they know better. And we’re commanded by God to take their word for it. As we become adults we no longer answer directly to our parents. We have our own wisdom and experience on which to draw. But we are still commanded to defer to one whose wisdom and authority far exceeds ours. There never comes a point at which we move out from under God’s authority. And if, early in our lives, we’ve adopted the habit of bucking the authority of our parents, there’s no way we’ll be capable of submitting to the authority of God, or the other human authorities God places over us. This, says God, has deadly consequences. It is for this reason that, as he’s giving the Law to the Israelites, God implements such harsh consequences for children who disrespect their parents. He says, “Kids who disrespect their moms and dads grow up to be kids who disrespect me!”
Hard questions ensue, however. “What about parents who abuse their kids? Who abuse their God-give authority or neglect the children God’s entrusted to them? Aren’t some people excused from the fifth commandment?” The short answer is “no”, and here’s why: Honoring one’s parents doesn’t always mean obeying them. If a parent debases him or herself by perpetrating abuse, sometimes the most honoring thing is to stop the abuse. To get away from the abuser; to set in motion a sequence of events that will, once and for all interrupt the behavior; and to hold the abuser to account. In fact, the most loving thing you can do for a person is aid them in the process of becoming more Christlike. This includes confronting un-Christlike behavior.
Another way of honoring one’s parents is becoming the best bearer of their image that you can be. Even absent or abusive parents have left their kids a genetic heritage. The stuff in each of us that’s good, admirable, and worthy of celebration is stuff we got from our moms and dads. Growing up embittered toward one’s parents, or resentful of what they did or didn’t do turns into blame which, in turn, becomes self-disabling thought and action. It’s all too easy to blame your parents for your problems. Doing so, however, guarantees that you won’t change things you need to change to become a healthier, better person. At the very least, honor your parents by taking responsibility for your own life, and letting the best qualities they gave you shine through. This, in turn, becomes the best way to honor the God that gave the command in the first place. And, true to God’s Word, if you honor your parents – regardless of what kind of parents you had – things will go well for you. It’s God’s promise.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Knowing When to Take a Break
Passage: Exodus 16:11-30
Of all the Ten Commandments, the one that’s probably the hardest for us to apply is the fourth: Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. This is one of the commandments that had a clearer application during the pre-Christ era of God’s people. As a theocracy (that is, an entire society guided by the Word of God), the Israelites followed God’s command to “rest on the seventh day” as a group. They all refrained from commercial and vocational activity, rested, and worshiped in community. There weren’t questions about which day was “officially” the Sabbath. Everyone knew.
We have difficulty exercising Sabbath rest because we’re embedded in a culture that never rests. Many of us have vocations that require us to work, in some capacity, 7 days a week. Some of us work shifts, and don’t have the same consistent day off. Commercial activity plows forward every day, so none of us is forced to refrain from buying food, fuel, or other necessities on any given day. The boundaries around “work” and “rest” are fuzzy at best, so the question of how to refrain from work is a difficult one to answer.
If we intend to apply the fourth commandment, we have to start by exploring the “principle behind the precept.” Why did God institute a weekly day of rest and worship? And how did God teach his people about Sabbath rest?
The story of God feeding the Israelites in the wilderness provides some insight. God has delivered his people from the Egyptian army. But they have fled into the barren territory that lies between Egypt and Palestine. And they quickly realize that there’s little by way of food – not nearly enough to feed them all. In no time the Israelites are accusing God of delivering them from the frying pan only to deposit them in the fire. God’s response is to send two food sources: flocks of quail; and “manna” (which means, literally, “what is it?”). The latter is a starchy substance that appears on the ground and can be made into a kind of bread. And God gives specific instructions about how to gather the manna. He says, “Gather as much as you need for one day. What you’ll find is that no matter how much you’ve gathered, you’ll have enough for your family.” Some people attempt to gather twice as much as they think they’ll need, and save some for the next day. Surprisingly, the next morning it has gone bad. Apparently manna’s only good for a day. However, God goes on to say this: “On the sixth day, gather enough manna for two days. Save some for the seventh, because the seventh day is the Sabbath.” Sure enough, the next day there is no manna. The passage notes that those who tried earlier to hoard manna and had it go bad decide not to save manna on the sixth day. They end up being without on the Sabbath.
At first glance there seems something arbitrary or capricious about God’s action. Why wouldn’t the Israelites gather and save as much of the food source as they could? They were in the desert, after all. Who knew when their next meal would come from? And, having had the experience of having the stored manna go bad, why would they attempt to preserve it again? If manna spoils overnight one day, why wouldn’t it spoil overnight the next? These people are just using their common sense.
The lesson is this: when God gives you a command, you follow it. God teaches his people again and again to trust him. God promises to provide for his people. When they follow his commands, God provides without fail. It’s when they doubt God and go it alone that they miss out. In respect to the Sabbath, people invariably default to common sense. “It can’t really hurt to skip my day off this week.”; “I can’t afford not to work today.”; “All my competitors do business seven days a week; I have to keep up.” We can’t know all of God’s reasons for incorporating a weekly day off for rest and worship. There may be plenty of instances in which applying this rule doesn’t make sense to us. But the ultimate principle at work is trust. Do you trust God to provide for your needs no matter what? Do you trust that God loves you and has good reasons for every one of his commands? Do you trust that God will maintain control of your world even if you step away from the wheel for a day? And do you trust that God will come through, even when your common sense tells you there's no way? Honoring the Sabbath, as illustrated in the story of the manna, is about trusting God to provide on his own terms.
Of all the Ten Commandments, the one that’s probably the hardest for us to apply is the fourth: Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. This is one of the commandments that had a clearer application during the pre-Christ era of God’s people. As a theocracy (that is, an entire society guided by the Word of God), the Israelites followed God’s command to “rest on the seventh day” as a group. They all refrained from commercial and vocational activity, rested, and worshiped in community. There weren’t questions about which day was “officially” the Sabbath. Everyone knew.
We have difficulty exercising Sabbath rest because we’re embedded in a culture that never rests. Many of us have vocations that require us to work, in some capacity, 7 days a week. Some of us work shifts, and don’t have the same consistent day off. Commercial activity plows forward every day, so none of us is forced to refrain from buying food, fuel, or other necessities on any given day. The boundaries around “work” and “rest” are fuzzy at best, so the question of how to refrain from work is a difficult one to answer.
If we intend to apply the fourth commandment, we have to start by exploring the “principle behind the precept.” Why did God institute a weekly day of rest and worship? And how did God teach his people about Sabbath rest?
The story of God feeding the Israelites in the wilderness provides some insight. God has delivered his people from the Egyptian army. But they have fled into the barren territory that lies between Egypt and Palestine. And they quickly realize that there’s little by way of food – not nearly enough to feed them all. In no time the Israelites are accusing God of delivering them from the frying pan only to deposit them in the fire. God’s response is to send two food sources: flocks of quail; and “manna” (which means, literally, “what is it?”). The latter is a starchy substance that appears on the ground and can be made into a kind of bread. And God gives specific instructions about how to gather the manna. He says, “Gather as much as you need for one day. What you’ll find is that no matter how much you’ve gathered, you’ll have enough for your family.” Some people attempt to gather twice as much as they think they’ll need, and save some for the next day. Surprisingly, the next morning it has gone bad. Apparently manna’s only good for a day. However, God goes on to say this: “On the sixth day, gather enough manna for two days. Save some for the seventh, because the seventh day is the Sabbath.” Sure enough, the next day there is no manna. The passage notes that those who tried earlier to hoard manna and had it go bad decide not to save manna on the sixth day. They end up being without on the Sabbath.
At first glance there seems something arbitrary or capricious about God’s action. Why wouldn’t the Israelites gather and save as much of the food source as they could? They were in the desert, after all. Who knew when their next meal would come from? And, having had the experience of having the stored manna go bad, why would they attempt to preserve it again? If manna spoils overnight one day, why wouldn’t it spoil overnight the next? These people are just using their common sense.
The lesson is this: when God gives you a command, you follow it. God teaches his people again and again to trust him. God promises to provide for his people. When they follow his commands, God provides without fail. It’s when they doubt God and go it alone that they miss out. In respect to the Sabbath, people invariably default to common sense. “It can’t really hurt to skip my day off this week.”; “I can’t afford not to work today.”; “All my competitors do business seven days a week; I have to keep up.” We can’t know all of God’s reasons for incorporating a weekly day off for rest and worship. There may be plenty of instances in which applying this rule doesn’t make sense to us. But the ultimate principle at work is trust. Do you trust God to provide for your needs no matter what? Do you trust that God loves you and has good reasons for every one of his commands? Do you trust that God will maintain control of your world even if you step away from the wheel for a day? And do you trust that God will come through, even when your common sense tells you there's no way? Honoring the Sabbath, as illustrated in the story of the manna, is about trusting God to provide on his own terms.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
I Swear
Passage: Matthew 5:33-37
Lord’s Day 37 speaks to an issue we don’t think about often: the swearing of oaths. In our culture there are both formal (i.e., courtrooms) and informal (e.g., barroom tales and fish stories) settings in which we swear by something greater than ourselves. We do so to underscore the truth of our words. The Catechism points out that there are occasions in which it is acceptable to do so. However, for Christians the default should be to avoid swearing by anything.
According to the Catechism, it’s okay to swear by God’s name or by God’s Word “when the government demands it or necessity requires it.” In other words, if you are called to testify in court, you can put your hand on the Bible and swear to the truth of your testimony with a clear conscience. You haven’t violated God’s Law. There may be other circumstances under which you might say, “With God as my witness, what I’m saying is true.” Biblical precedent can be found in such places as Joshua 9:15 and Romans 1:9. Deuteronomy 6:13 says, “Take your oaths in the name of the LORD”. The underlying message is this: “If you have to take an oath, only do it in God’s name.”
However, Jesus himself prohibits taking any oath at all. In Matthew 5 he says, “Simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’” There are two important reasons for this. The first is is that if you are one of his followers, you should always speak the truth. Your integrity and your track record should be all the evidence you need to convince anyone that you're telling the truth. No Christian should need to swear by anything because by nature we should all be truth-tellers. If the people you deal with are inclined to doubt you, you should ask yourself why.
The second reason Jesus prohibits taking an oath that invoking God’s name is such a serious act that the violation thereof becomes a violation not against the person you’re talking to but against God himself. An oath in God’s name is utterly binding, and can get you into a great deal of trouble. This is illustrated in two Old Testament examples: Joshua’s covenant with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9:1-21; and Jephthah’s oath in Judges 11. In both instances, people swear oaths before God that end up binding them to courses of action they later regret deeply (read both if you want to find out what happens). The preponderance of Scriptural evidence, including Jesus’ own words, lead to this conclusion: avoid swearing any kind of oath. If you are compelled to make an oath, do it only in God’s name. And if you do, be sure not to break it.
Lord’s Day 37 speaks to an issue we don’t think about often: the swearing of oaths. In our culture there are both formal (i.e., courtrooms) and informal (e.g., barroom tales and fish stories) settings in which we swear by something greater than ourselves. We do so to underscore the truth of our words. The Catechism points out that there are occasions in which it is acceptable to do so. However, for Christians the default should be to avoid swearing by anything.
According to the Catechism, it’s okay to swear by God’s name or by God’s Word “when the government demands it or necessity requires it.” In other words, if you are called to testify in court, you can put your hand on the Bible and swear to the truth of your testimony with a clear conscience. You haven’t violated God’s Law. There may be other circumstances under which you might say, “With God as my witness, what I’m saying is true.” Biblical precedent can be found in such places as Joshua 9:15 and Romans 1:9. Deuteronomy 6:13 says, “Take your oaths in the name of the LORD”. The underlying message is this: “If you have to take an oath, only do it in God’s name.”
However, Jesus himself prohibits taking any oath at all. In Matthew 5 he says, “Simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’” There are two important reasons for this. The first is is that if you are one of his followers, you should always speak the truth. Your integrity and your track record should be all the evidence you need to convince anyone that you're telling the truth. No Christian should need to swear by anything because by nature we should all be truth-tellers. If the people you deal with are inclined to doubt you, you should ask yourself why.
The second reason Jesus prohibits taking an oath that invoking God’s name is such a serious act that the violation thereof becomes a violation not against the person you’re talking to but against God himself. An oath in God’s name is utterly binding, and can get you into a great deal of trouble. This is illustrated in two Old Testament examples: Joshua’s covenant with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9:1-21; and Jephthah’s oath in Judges 11. In both instances, people swear oaths before God that end up binding them to courses of action they later regret deeply (read both if you want to find out what happens). The preponderance of Scriptural evidence, including Jesus’ own words, lead to this conclusion: avoid swearing any kind of oath. If you are compelled to make an oath, do it only in God’s name. And if you do, be sure not to break it.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Honoring the Name
Passage: Leviticus 24:10-23
When my wife and I got married we committed to loving, honoring, and cherishing one another. One of the concrete expressions of this commitment we adopted was the practice of speaking about each other in a way that reflected our care and respect for each other. Honoring each other with our words. Over the course of our marriage this has taken multiple forms: speaking positively about each other to other people; refusing to air grievances we may have with each other with anyone else before we’ve first addressed them as a couple; refraining from sharing belittling stories or facts about each other publicly for the sake of making other people laugh. We have seen the ways these practices have strengthened our loyalty to each other and deepened our sense of connection. In refusing to misuse each others' names, we have experienced a degree of unity that would have been eroded had we been less careful to do so.
In the third commandment God demands that his people not misuse his name. God does so because he has done his people the tremendous honor of giving them a proper name by which to address him. “YHWH”, best pronounced “Yahweh” (not “Jehovah”, which is a misinterpretation of the Hebrew that should never be used), is the closest anyone in the ancient world gets to a first name for God. God’s gift of this personal term is tantamount to God offering his people a personal relationship. God does not belong to the anonymous, distant ranks of the false deities of Israel’s neighbors. He is real; he is present; he invites intimate communion.
God tells his people that if they misuse his name – by speaking casually about him as though behind his back; by invoking his name as a way of co-opting his power and authority; or by saying things about him that aren’t true – they will suffer deadly consequences. God underscores this by commanding the execution of a young man who curses God’s name.
Over time people have become casual about the language they use to address God. We no longer use the proper name God gave the Israelites. We simply say, “God”. This in turn has become a term that is used in a variety of settings that have very little to do with the God who reveals himself in the Bible. We’re so accustomed to the over- and misuse of this term that we barely react. After all, we’ve never seen lightning strike after someone says, “Oh my god!” Maybe it isn’t a big deal.
The reality is that misusing God’s name (whatever name you use to address the God of the Bible) is as deadly as it ever was. It’s just deadly in more gradual, less sensational way than we read about in the Old Testament. What we’re reminded of again and again is that salvation is given to us in the form of an intimate relationship with God. That this is a relationship that demands our commitment. And that our love and respect for God is something that must be protected and nurtured. To appeal to God with a word in one sentence and to turn and curse using the same word in the next says a great deal about how seriously you take God. To speak of God in a way that diminishes his majesty, glory and grace is to disregard how important God is not only to you, but to the world you live in. Over time, misusing God’s name will do to your relationship with him what telling jokes about your wife or husband will do to your marriage: chip away at it until there’s nothing left. The difference is that life without God is death.
When my wife and I got married we committed to loving, honoring, and cherishing one another. One of the concrete expressions of this commitment we adopted was the practice of speaking about each other in a way that reflected our care and respect for each other. Honoring each other with our words. Over the course of our marriage this has taken multiple forms: speaking positively about each other to other people; refusing to air grievances we may have with each other with anyone else before we’ve first addressed them as a couple; refraining from sharing belittling stories or facts about each other publicly for the sake of making other people laugh. We have seen the ways these practices have strengthened our loyalty to each other and deepened our sense of connection. In refusing to misuse each others' names, we have experienced a degree of unity that would have been eroded had we been less careful to do so.
In the third commandment God demands that his people not misuse his name. God does so because he has done his people the tremendous honor of giving them a proper name by which to address him. “YHWH”, best pronounced “Yahweh” (not “Jehovah”, which is a misinterpretation of the Hebrew that should never be used), is the closest anyone in the ancient world gets to a first name for God. God’s gift of this personal term is tantamount to God offering his people a personal relationship. God does not belong to the anonymous, distant ranks of the false deities of Israel’s neighbors. He is real; he is present; he invites intimate communion.
God tells his people that if they misuse his name – by speaking casually about him as though behind his back; by invoking his name as a way of co-opting his power and authority; or by saying things about him that aren’t true – they will suffer deadly consequences. God underscores this by commanding the execution of a young man who curses God’s name.
Over time people have become casual about the language they use to address God. We no longer use the proper name God gave the Israelites. We simply say, “God”. This in turn has become a term that is used in a variety of settings that have very little to do with the God who reveals himself in the Bible. We’re so accustomed to the over- and misuse of this term that we barely react. After all, we’ve never seen lightning strike after someone says, “Oh my god!” Maybe it isn’t a big deal.
The reality is that misusing God’s name (whatever name you use to address the God of the Bible) is as deadly as it ever was. It’s just deadly in more gradual, less sensational way than we read about in the Old Testament. What we’re reminded of again and again is that salvation is given to us in the form of an intimate relationship with God. That this is a relationship that demands our commitment. And that our love and respect for God is something that must be protected and nurtured. To appeal to God with a word in one sentence and to turn and curse using the same word in the next says a great deal about how seriously you take God. To speak of God in a way that diminishes his majesty, glory and grace is to disregard how important God is not only to you, but to the world you live in. Over time, misusing God’s name will do to your relationship with him what telling jokes about your wife or husband will do to your marriage: chip away at it until there’s nothing left. The difference is that life without God is death.
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