Ten Words for Today, Intro

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I'm starting a new sermon series on the Ten Commandments (or "Ten Words" in Hebrew). This week is the intro. After that, I’ll take the commandments from Exodus 20 & Deuteronomy 5 one by one. I’ll flesh out their meaning for the church & for us today.

Culture wars are ripping through our country. It’s not hard to feel the partisan anger. Some politicians & presidential hopefuls are feeding off the feelings of many disgruntled people. This is a season of discontent for many who think that the country has “gone to the dogs.”

For some groups, the symbols of unrest & protest are things like the Pledge of Allegiance, prayer in schools, the flag and—think of it—the Ten Commandments. Yes, I said the Ten Commandments. As hard as it may be to fathom, the ability (or lack thereof) to post the Ten Commandments has become a litmus test to many people in our country:

> Do you love what America stands for? If yes, then post the Ten Commandments!
> Do you think our founding fathers loved God? If yes, then post the Ten Commandments!
> Do you want this country to fall into the hands of terrorists, illegals & liberals? If no, then post the Ten Commandments!

It’s fascinating how these 10 words spoken at Sinai thousands of years ago have become a symbol of something powerful and nostalgic in the 21st century.

Yet what are the Ten Commandments? How are they supposed to function? Do we even know what they mean? Do we listen to what they say? Or are they merely a plastic symbol of something we think others ought to respect?

I hate to say it, but if we were to actually listen to the Ten Commandments, we might be shocked to learn something new. We might discover that we tend to take these 10 words at face value while failing to appropriate much of their meaning.

These words come with a context and a story. They didn’t drop out of heaven from an angry God to a hapless people. They arrive as part of a redemption story. It's a story of love. They are part of the Exodus narrative, part of God's efforts to rescue people from slavery. It's part of God’s ongoing attempt to build a relationship with people then and now.

You can't truly understand the Ten Commandments unless you first understand the story that helps it all make sense. You can't just hang them on a wall & expect it to cause people to submit. For without the story, these Ten Words lose their meaning and power. May God give us eyes to see the story behind the rules!

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