Tag: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:22-26

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“Then the Lord told Moses, ‘This is what you are to say to the Israelites: You have seen that I have spoken to you from have. Do not make gods of silver to rival me; do not make gods of gold for yourselves. Make an earthen altar for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your flocks and herds. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I cause my name to be remembered. If you make a stone altar for me, do not build it out of cut stones. If you use your chisel on it, you will defile it. Do not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

While listening to a podcast segment in the car about the ongoing border crisis with our youngest the other day, we wound up in a conversation about national boundaries and how you knew which side of the line you were on. It was a good conversation from an astutely inquisitive mind. Rivers make easy natural boundaries, but when you have long stretches with no rivers, things are a bit trickier. With the Ten Commandments, God gave the people the big picture boundaries of a relationship with Him. He knew, though, that we live our lives in the small picture. As a result, once those were in place, He started giving them a whole bunch of signposts that were intended to help them know which side of the boundary they were on. Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at a whole bunch of these signposts. Some are fairly easy to understand, but some are a lot stranger to us. Let’s talk today about why this mattered and what these particular boundaries were for.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:17

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“Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In the world of preachers, there is a phrase that occasionally gets thrown around when someone says something that is particularly profound or is worded in an especially memorable way. “That’s preach.” The idea is that you could take that line and build a whole sermon around it. Of course, a sermon built around an idea that isn’t directly informed by Scripture isn’t a sermon at all, but we won’t get into homiletical nitpicking right now. I say all of that to say this, one of the most preachable ideas I’ve ever heard (and which came out of a serious engagement with the Scriptures) was this big idea from Andy Stanley: “There’s no win in comparison.” He was talking about the dangers of comparing ourselves to others, but this danger is rooted in a sin whose prohibition in the Law of Moses is the caboose of the Ten Commandments. Let’s talk for a few minutes about coveting.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:15

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“Do not steal.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you observe babies as they grow and develop, you will notice there are two beliefs about how the world should work that appear at about the same time. The first is the idea that if you have something that belongs to you, no one should be able to take it from you. Related to that is the idea that whatever you happen to have played with…or touched…or had a stray thought cross your mind about in the last year or so…belongs to you. The second idea is that if you see something that belongs to someone else, you should be able to take it because you want it more than they do. These two beliefs about how the world should work don’t go away as we get older, we simply learn that they aren’t perhaps quite so true…or at least quite so convenient to live by…as we would like them to be. As God was laying a foundation for Israel to live in a relationship with HIm, He gave them some help managing this. Let’s talk about what’s going on in commandment number eight.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 20:14

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“Do not commit adultery.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Humans have a complicated relationship with sex. God created it and made it really good and powerful. It is unquestionably a gift from Him. And when we enjoy this gift, it feels really good. If it doesn’t, you’re probably not doing it right. But God also made it to be enjoyed in a single set of circumstances. It is a gift for marriage. But marriage is hard. And in any given moment, sex feels good whether it happens in a marriage or not. It feels good no matter who your partner is even if you happened to be married. Because of all this, and because of a sinful nature in each of us that is profoundly selfish at its core, adultery is a thing that we do. But it’s not a good thing. At all. So, God made clear that it isn’t a thing we should do. Let’s talk about why this was a significant enough thing for us not to do that God included it in the foundational list.

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Digging in Deeper: Luke 9:49-50

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“John responded, ‘Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow us.’ ‘Don’t stop him,’ Jesus told him, ‘because whoever is not against you is for you.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a culture that is increasingly turning against the Christian faith. The level of tolerance the church receives as an institution is dropping like a stone in some places. There are still pockets where things haven’t changed very much from where they were 50 years ago (I happen to live in one and love it), but there are others where the people in power seem dead set on railroading the church out of existence. In Finland, there is an ongoing case whose outcome will determine whether or not reading certain verses from the Scriptures is considered hate speech. In the face of such a cultural tide, the internal unity of the church becomes all the more important. Big, public fights within the church stemming from differences of opinion on whether or not something is a first-tier issue on which we must plant our flag or a second- or third-tier matter where a bit more diversity of views can be tolerated do not help us. In the wake of the recent Super Bowl 58, we have seen exactly that kind of a debate unfold. Let’s talk today for a few minutes about the He Gets Us campaign debate.

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