Rules of the Covenant
Rev. Alex Taylor
Preached Sunday March 15, 2009
Today’s reading from the Old Testament appears to be
God attempting to provide some pretty straightforward rules to assist us
in maintaining a covenant relationship with God. This passage, of course,
contains the Ten Commandments. The thoughts expressed in these particular
rules are not new to the people of their day.... But this was the first time
that they had been brought together in a sort of codified set, and then provided
to the people as a sort of summary of what was required on our side of the
covenant. God calls us into a covenant relationship and the Ten Commandments
might be seen as the “Rules of the Covenant.”
We need to remember, today, that these are commandments.
They are not guides, or suggestions..... And they are certainly not
multiple choice.....
The other interesting thing about this story is that
there appears to be no debate and no questioning. Under differ-ent
circumstances we might imagine a conversation between Moses and God that
goes something like this. God has just read out the commandments and
Moses responds: “I agree, Lord, these are perfectly reasonable. But,
you know, you can’t expect everything at once. You have to take these
things in stages. No stealing! that’s pretty easy to put across.
But, no adultery! I mean, after all, this has been going on forever.
Boys will be boys. How about, just a little? And certainly we
don’t want people going into court to bear false witness and tell lies.
But surely a few rumours isn’t going to hurt that much – and it spices up
life. And this bit about the Sabbath. Sure, we shouldn’t make
servants or foreigners work on the Sabbath; unless they work at a gas station,
or the local Safeway or Walmart. After all we have to have something
to do on Sunday.
But, you see, when God establishes a Covenant there is
no room for debate, or discussion. The rules are not negotiable for
the people of Israel. God wants them to be a very special people.
They were to be the religious influence in the world. Different people
seem to have had different roles in world history. The Romans are remembered
for the legal system which is still the basis for ours; The Greeks for their
philosophy; The Jews for their religious awareness. In the preceding chapter
to today’s God tells the people: “Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant,
you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be
my chosen people, a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as
priests.”
We Christians believe that, with the coming of Jesus,
this special relationship passed from a racial group to a faith community.
We see ourselves as the inheritors of the Covenant and the new priesthood
on whom the world depends for its religious guidance and influence.
The important thing for us to remember is that God did
not set down rules in a capricious or careless manner. Nor were they established
simply to please some frustrated sense of justice in Godself. God’s
concern was for us and our welfare. As creator God knows how we may
be fulfilled. It must be hurtful to the Almighty to see us continually
destroying ourselves and failing to find fulfilment. The rules were
established that the Children of Israel, and we, might find that better, fulfilling
and happier life. They need to be seen as positive helps and not negative
traps. We who are parents know that we sometimes establish rules that our
children do not appreciate and even feel is an imposition. But we do not
do so for our own sake. We set curfew times so that they will be healthy
and at their best; we set rules when they are young about crossing the street.
We want to keep them safe, happy and healthy. The rules God has established
are also for our good that we might find real joy and fulfilment. Over and
over, as Moses reminds the people of Israel to keep God’s commandments he
tells them that it is “so that it may go well with you.”….
If life is to have meaning and purpose; if it is to give
us a sense of “going somewhere”; if it is to have a sense of, not only direction,
but also excitement, then maybe we need to pay more attention to the “Rules
Of The Covenant.”
This particular set of rules can be broken into two sec-tions
or parts.
The first, which includes the first 4 commandments, speaks
to us about our relationship with God.
The first was probably provided as a result of the situa-tion
in which Israel found itself. They were surrounded by people who worshipped
other gods. Some nations had a multitude of gods on whom they called,
depending on need – a fire god, a rain god, a god of war, or whatever.
God was simply warning Israel not to get trapped into this kind of thinking.
This is a lesson we all need to relearn from time to time. We worship
some strange gods in our culture; power, wealth, popularity, sports, even
health.
We humans need a unifying force in our lives, something
that brings everything together. This is why it is essential that we
have only one God. It was this kind of unity that compelled Luther to
stand before the magistrates, knowing that his life was in danger, and proclaim:
“I can do no other.” It was this same unity of purpose that controlled
Peter and the early apostles. They were brought before the magistrates
for disturbing the peace.... The priests were a little nervous and wanted
to let them go so they told them simply to go their way and not mention the
name of Jesus. But Peter answers for all of them: “We must obey God, not
men.” Even knowing the probable consequences they had a unity of purpose
that sprung from their devotion to the one true God. A few years ago
we hear the same words being used again. This time by a black man in
S. Africa – a man who had done all he could to avoid bloodshed and
violence – bishop Tutu of the Anglican church. The S. African
government had banned all black opposition. Tutu as a church leader,
in co-operation with others, dared to speak out against the injustice.
He did so knowing that he could be arrested and jailed. And he was arrested.
But he answered the charges with the words of Peter: “I must obey God, not
men.” What these men are saying is that when the chips are down there may
well come a time when even life must be placed at risk. But this is
only possible if God is the unifying force and power in your life.
Another man, Emmet Fox, claims that we really don’t have
any choice in this. We may choose which god we will serve, but having
made that primary choice we will serve that god faithfully. If the god
we have chosen is the god of self-interest, then all our other decisions will
compliment that choice. We will make these decisions which help us
to avoid confrontation, or pain, or danger. We will look for ways of
gaining power, or wealth, or popularity. There will be a unity sometimes
in spite of ourselves. It may be no accident in a day where sports has
become so central to our lives that we are constructing more and more sport’s
Halls of Fame. They may indeed be the chapels of the 21st. Century.
That’s why I found it so interesting a couple of years when the news media
tried to make an issue out of the C.E.O. of the Saskatoon Health Region receiving
a salary of $250,000, yet expressed anger that the C.B.C. wouldn’t pay a
sportscaster $500,000..... We sometimes hear complaints about the income
of physicians – and I think some are pretty exorbitant – yet few seem to
complain about a baseball player receiving $50 million.
The next 3 of this first group of commandments are there
to assist us in maintaining this first commandment. The 2nd. against
graven images is to emphasize the spirituality of God. Now the trouble
with images is that they are always incomplete.... They are also breakable.
The God we worship is a God whose power can enter life directly; but a God
also so great that no image could really reflect the reality of God.....
Taking God’s name in vain is, of course, a means of trivializing
the importance, the greatness, and the power of God. It is a dangerous
practice. It weakens God’s influence in our lives and makes God just
another object under our control.
The establishment of a Holy Day in the 4th. Command-ment
was not for God’s benefit. Partly it was a social need.... But it was
also a religious need so that we humans would be constantly aware that all
days belong to God.... All of this was to stress our need for a close, lasting
and developing relationship with God which would then provide the unifying
force we need in life.
Part 2 of the Commandments, the last 6, are concerned
about our relationship with each other. Some folk are a little surprised
at this: 6 out of 10 tell us how to live with each other rather than speaking
of God.
You shall not kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet.
You shall honour your parents. But this should not
surprise those of us who are Christian. It seems to me that the whole
of the New Testament, both in the teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul
and others, witness to the need for action and not words alone. They speak
to how we are to deal with one another, treat the less fortunate, handle the
enemy, and even pay our taxes. The teachings witness to the need for
action and not words alone. It’s great to have some understanding of
theology, and even to know the words of faith and religion. But it’s
not enough! We are called to live as Christians in the world. To live
lives that reflect the caring and supporting love of God. Remember how
simply James put it: “Faith without works is dead.”
The way in which we relate to one another as part of
the faith community; and the way we work together to help others is a reflection
of our faith in God, or the kind of God we claim to worship.
It is, of course, in Jesus that we see this unity of
purpose and life carried out in a perfect way. With people in positions
of power Jesus could be blunt and almost viscous. But with hurting
people he was always gentle, kind and helpful. So he reaches out to us, inviting
us to be participants in the covenant, and promising his presence and support.
To God’s name be the praise and the glory; now and forever. AMEN.
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