And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:1-17)
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I suspect that most of you would have recognized the reading even if I hadn’t identified it. We call these “The Ten Commandments.” They’re the heart of the Law of Moses, and most people would agree that they’re the basis of our Western understanding of right and wrong; the basis of much of our secular law. They’re important. And, assuming that you’re a Christian, it’s hard to disagree with any of them - although we do struggle with the concept of Sabbath! But for us as Christians there’s an underlying tension, even a paradox in play when we hear these words. We believe in Christ. We believe Christ was the grace of God. We are people who live by grace and not by Law. And that identity and understanding makes it difficult in some ways for us to relate to the Ten Commandments - or the rest of Exodus from this point on, or most of Leviticus. The question (the dilemma) is a simple one: as people who are not under the law, of what relevance is the Law to us? The question isn’t only a simple one - it’s a very valid one; a worthwhile one to pursue and explore. While we may proclaim grace, there are far too many Christians who continue to use the Law as an absolute, who want to live by the Law (or, even more commonly, who want to insist that others live by the Law.) Except that it’s never an absolute. Christians take that stand generally when it suits them to do so - insisting on adherence to parts of the Law they agree with (such as Leviticus 18:22 which forbids homosexuality) but ignoring the parts of the Law they either don’t agree with or don’t care about (such as Leviticus 11:12, which forbids eating shellfish, or Leviticus 19:28, which forbids getting a tattoo.) Selective obedience to the Law (which means agreeing with what we like and ignoring what we don’t) isn’t a faithful way of approaching the Law, or any part of the Scriptures for that matter. And that’s a problem for a lot of Christians. Many of us don’t struggle with the question of how those who are not under the Law should understand the Law or use the Law. It’s still relevant to us; it’s in our Scriptures. But we’re under grace. The three options most people choose from among are generally: ignore the whole thing; insist on the whole thing; or pick and choose from among the whole thing. We like those options because they’re the simplest ones. They don’t require much work or much thought from us. But the issue is more complex, and really gets to the heart of what we’re about as a people who love God, who follow Christ, who are saved by grace, and who want to build a society that reflects God’s concerns and God’s desires. I want to turn for a moment to Paul and to Jesus, because they struggled with how to apply these things to a context that didn’t have 2000 years of debate and argument clouding the issue.
Paul writes in Galatians 3:25 that “Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” But he also writes in Romans 2:12 that “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law.” So Paul is certainly not giving licence to Christians to simply live however we choose and to simply do whatever we want whenever we want to. But if we are not under the law and yet we can still sin apart from the law, then what are the standards? What does God expect of us? What does God require of us? All the learned, scholarly debate and all the cultural baggage aside, Jesus interpreted the Law and its purpose very simply. In fact He summed it up in a mere two basic principles: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And ... love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” That’s what Jesus said.
With the help of both Paul and Jesus I think we’re starting to get to the heart of the matter. Even for Jesus, Who was speaking to someone who was under the Law in that context and Who was living in a society that took the Law very, very (VERY) seriously, it wasn’t the letter of the law that was most important. It wasn’t simply doing all the things (little and big) that the Law demanded. No, it wasn’t the letter of the Law - it was the spirit of the Law. For Jesus, what mattered was the response the Law called forth from us - a response not of mere obedience but of faithfulness, and even more than faithfulness, a response of love. For Jesus, the value of the Law was not its ability to get people to obey every jot and tittle, it was the ability of the Law (if properly understood and properly interpreted) to bring forth a response of agape love. The Law, for Jesus, asks us not to obey - but to give and to sacrifice for the sake of others: God and neighbour alike. Love your God and love your neighbour was the message of Jesus - so let go of things like hatred and judgment. We weren’t made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for us was the message of Jesus, so don’t use the requirements of the Law to find an excuse for not loving. Don’t even get angry and don’t even lust was the message of Jesus - so don’t be self-satisfied because you haven’t killed or committed adultery. The Law, for Jesus, was so much more than just what was written on the page. The Law leads us to relationship with those around us; to right relationship; to the relationship God desires that we have with all we meet.
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(Task for the congregation (take 30 seconds): Look around at all the people in the church and ask yourself deeply, understanding that these are our neighbours for the moment at least and with that understanding of agape love that Jesus spoke of - “Do I love these people? Would I sacrifice for these people?” This is the point of the Law - moving people to love and to right relationship with each other So look around. See the people. Ask yourself - Is there agape love in this place? Is there agape love in my heart? Take the next 30 seconds and do that.)
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Friends, Paul says in Romans 2:15 that “the requirements of the law are written on [our] hearts, [our] consciences also bearing witness …” The point is that what God asks for isn’t strict obedience to a written code under threat of punishment - it’s loving God; it’s doing what’s right (which we should know by our conscience); it’s living in right relationship with others; it’s doing justice for the oppressed and marginalized. It’s showing agape to all our neighbours. It’s doing the things that Jesus did. I believe that if our motives are right, and if we are sincerely seeking to apply the teachings of Jesus to whatever we do and (in particular) if we are sincerely and passionately trying to live with his insistence on agape love as our prime motivation, then our consciences are clear.
Even in the days before Jesus, the written law of Moses (the Commandments) was really about right relationship rather than strict obedience. Paul didn’t coin the idea of the law written on our hearts. That came from the prophet Jeremiah, who explained God’s ultimate desire for Israel in this way: “‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’” The people of God were always expected to be guided by their consciences, and not just practice obedience to a written code.
A few weeks ago in Ottawa, the United Church General Council struggled with a matter of conscience. I’m talking about an issue that’s been in the papers, that’s been widely discussed, that has made us the targets of some people, that I hear through the grapevine has been discussed here at Central among some of you in my absence. I’m talking about the resolution on Israel & Palestine that encourages us to boycott goods produced in the Israeli settlements. I want to say right off the top that (although I wasn’t a commissioner to General Council) I was against this resolution. I think it was a mistake. I think it was the wrong way to go. I don’t think it’s going to accomplish anything productive, and I think it’s damaged a lot of our relationships (with Jews and with some other Christians) here in Canada. But I also want to give the General Council credit. You see, I don’t have to agree with everything that the General Council does. I have the right to dissent respectfully. And on this issue I dissent - respectfully! But if I disagree with the decision, and even if I have no intention of being encouraged in the direction that the General Council is encouraging me - I nevertheless honour the General Council for its faithful effort at discernment and for its willingness to stand with marginalized and oppressed people. I think they made the wrong decision. Others think they made the wrong decision. I’ve heard from various colleagues that some have quit the United Church because of the decision. And that’s too bad. Because - agree or not - I think the General Council treated this sincerely and seriously as a matter of conscience (that law written on our hearts) and made the decision that their collective conscience led them to. I believe they acted out of agape love for a people they felt were oppressed. And as a denomination we have paid a price for it (being criticized in the media and by other peoples of faith) - but such is the result of agape love. It always comes with a cost. Otherwise it isn’t agape love. And because of that, I believe God’s grace is more than enough to cover whatever mistakes were made, because what I’ve heard from those who were there and who participated in the decision (some supporting it; others opposing it) is that they were motivated by their struggle with the agape love that’s at the heart of both the Law and the gospel and that we’re called to try to put into practice.
The point is that we’re called to live in love. This is the basis of the Commandments we read and of the entire Law of Moses. Their foundation is in love - love for God and love for others. 1 John 4:16 says “we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” May the grace of God cover us if we get it wrong, but may the love of God dwell richly in us as we seek to live in love with all of creation, to create a society of justice and peace, and to offer dignity to all of God’s children, whatever their lot in life.
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