May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
A
few weeks ago in our series on the Ten Commandments, I did something that some
Pastor’s would have loved to have done.
It wasn’t stripping in front of the congregation. It wasn’t breaking something in the sanctuary
with the whole congregation watching, but it was a once in a lifetime
opportunity to
‘stick
my tongue out’ during a sermon. My
personal intent was to illustrate how we sometimes ‘murder’ our neighbor or
their good name using our tongue.
Whether it is in what we say, do or act upon, we do ‘murder’ our
neighbor, whether their character, their image or even how others view what
they do or have done. So today as a
polar opposite to ‘murder’ we encounter the Eighth Commandment which speaks
directly to what we ‘should’ do for our neighbor.
Let’s
pull out our bulletin insert and read together in unison the “What does this
mean?” section as a congregation. “The
Eighth Commandment, You shall not give false testimony against your
neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not
tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation,
but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” As we begin applying what this means, let’s go
to God in prayer and seek God’s blessing upon us as we explore how to ‘explain
everything in the kindest way.’
Let
us pray! Wonderful counselor, Your Word
is clear that we are to ‘explain our neighbor’s actions in the kindest way’, but
this is hard when we have a problem with our neighbor, our friends and even our
Pastor. We feel it easier to say what
will harm and hurt even if it is only to our friends and ruin their reputation,
rather than walk a mile in their shoes and explain their actions in the kindest
way. Enable us to not only think before
we speak, but more importantly understand that Jesus came to save us and
explain our sins to His Father by defending us through His death on Calvary for
all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this
morning. AMEN.
We
continue this morning dealing with a Commandment that is horizontal or about
the relationship between mankind and not between God and man on the
vertical. We tend to forget that 70% of
the Commandments deal with the horizontal or the relationship between mankind,
and tend not to understand how vital our relationship with our fellow Brothers
and Sisters in Christ is to our faith life even here in the church and our
expression of it in community as God’s ambassadors to our community and world.
If
I were to take the sledge hammer sitting before us and walk over to the organ,
the stain glass windows, the altar or even the pews and begin to break them
apart, either everyone in the church would jump to their feet and stop me before
I did to much damage, or some of you would sit back and in astonishment say, I
had lost my mind. Clearly if I would
begin to destroy items that we collectively hold onto so dearly and tightly,
everyone would not wait for my resignation, but begin to throw every book I
own, every keep sake I hold dear in my office out into the trash dumpster
without a second thought, because I have destroyed something held very dearly by
our congregation and which has been paid for by many members of this
congregation and our forefathers.
How
is someone’s reputation any different than an organ, a stain glass window or a
pew? It isn’t. When we talk about people, whether in their
presence or behind their back with only our closest friends, we clearly break
the Eighth Commandment. And this occurs
in our world, our society, our family and even here in the church. It has even occurred most recently in the
last two weeks here in the church. What
we may be saying may be truth from our perspective, and it may be factual and
our firm conviction or how we live our own lives, or even what our expectations
are of others and even our personal pet peeves, but God in the Eighth
Commandment calls us to ‘put the best construction on all things’.
The
Eighth Commandment is the hardest Commandment for anyone to fulfill, because
the strongest muscle in the human body, which is the tongue, can more quickly
tear down a friend and betray a confidence rather than ‘explaining our neighbor’s
actions in the kindest way.’ But this is
exactly what Jesus did and does daily and we lay claim to daily in the
forgiveness of sins. Jesus Christ knows
the depth of our sin, but even in the depth of our sin He steps in front of and
took the entirety of the wrath of God the Father for the sins of the World, for
our own sins, even to death in order to set us free. This is pure and simple grace offered by
Jesus Christ for all of us gathered here this morning. Jesus Christ chose to suffer in order to
model what the Eighth Commandment is all about by putting the best construction
on our actions and suffering what each of us deserves. Was it easy?
By no means, but this is exactly what Jesus Christ did in His perfect
obedience of His Father in heaven and in fulfillment of the Eighth Commandment.
But
how can we do that today? Recently, a
member of our own congregation asked me about Evolution. They said, the schools are teaching it,
society believes in it, how can we as a church and a people of faith fight
against it and clearly speak against Evolution?
Using the Eighth Commandment I began by saying, I personally do not believe
in Evolution, however, I have learned about it, can talk about it and explain
it clearly to anyone. Notice, I was following
the Eighth Commandment model, I continued, by saying as a man of faith and a
Pastor, I believe it is important to understand and be able to articulate the
Evolution teaching.
Personally
if asked, I do not agree with Evolution, nor is my faith wavered by what is
espoused, but in following the Eighth Commandment, I can explain why some
people are so adamant about this theory and not speak evil of them nor the
theory of Evolution. We to as Christians
when we encounter others who may not have the same faith or depth of faith that
we do see a person do something, however it makes us feel or even if it goes
against our beliefs or values have Jesus Christ as our model to not use a
sledge hammer and break the persons character, reputation or good name. We are called as Christians and heirs of the
Blood of the Lamb of God found in Jesus Christ to defend our neighbor, speak well
of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. For in fulfilling and following God’s perfect
model in His Son Jesus Christ, we are freed from our own sins and set free to
be the people of God made in His image that includes all of us saints gathered
here at Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
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