A lot to learn

 

Deuteronomy 5:1-21

I took one preaching class in seminary. In that class, I learned how to preach a five minute sermon, even though I rarely preach a five minute sermon. And our professor encouraged us to preach a series on the Ten Commandments. It took me a decade to finally get around to doing that. His recommendation was to not preach a sermon on the commandments, but a sermon on each commandment. So, earlier this year, I did just that. And I appreciated the chance to look at each commandment on its own. It gave me a chance to highlight something Moses said to the people. My series focused mainly on the Exodus recording of the commandments. But, in Deuteronomy, Moses tells Israel to "learn them and be careful do them" (5:1b). Two things came to mind in that reflection. First, to learn them doesn't only mean being able to recite them. For example, one of the commandments instructs the people to put no other gods before God. I can recite that easily. But can I identify the gods in my life or discern when I've put them before God? I can when I learn what the commandment means. Secondly, recall that Moses is speaking to an entire community. A few of the divine words seems to focus on individual behavior. Coveting your neighbor's wife seems pretty personal. Otherwise, most of the other commandments could relate to entire communities. Think of the graven image commandment. Don't we have a familiar story in scripture about all the people worshiping a golden calf? Likewise, whole communities can misuse God's name or dishonor the Sabbath. Learn the other commandments and you can see how they might apply to Christian communities as well. Take the other gods example. When nationalism finds itself front and center in worship, something's backwards.  While the wisdom of the Ten Commandments has a lot for you to reflect on and learn, there's a lot for us to chew on as well. We've got a lot of learning to do together. Stay blessed...john