Sermon Notes for March 19th

March 19, 2006
“Exodus 20:1-17
“No Other Gods”

1. Perhaps the biggest and greatest Hollywood movie in my childhood (next to Gone with the Wind - which was much earlier) – was the Biblical Epic - The Ten Commandments.

I suspect that everyone here this morning that is over a certain age has seen it at least once.

It was, for its time, very spectacular and had all kinds of famous movie actors in it – such as Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as the Pharaoh. Although, by today’s standards, some of the special effects (like the parting of the Red Sea) are a little corny.

However, it was a powerful movie for the 1950’s because we were all in that great struggle with Communism – known as the Cold War. It wasn’t a mystery story either – because everybody who had ever been to Sunday school knew the plot by heart. It was the good guys (the Israelites) against the bad guys (the Egyptian) and, of course, God was on the side of the good guys. We could all relate to that because in terms of the Communists, we were definitely the “good guys.”

2. Cecile B. DeMille, who produced the Ten Commandments, had a Dutch father who was an Episcopalian lay minister and a Jewish mother. He started making movies way back in the 1920’s. DeMille was a born showman and had an innate sense of what the public would clamor for. He has been called many things: "the founder of Hollywood," "the world's greatest director" and "the showman of showmen."

He was also a great promoter and he also knew how to make a buck. Few people remember that the recent flap over whether we can put up the 10 Commandments on government property actually goes back to, well, "The 10 Commandments," Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 Paramount epic movie.

And the 6-foot-tall Texas stone monolith that was a centerpiece of a recent Supreme Court case, along with more than 100 other granite Decalogue’s still standing around the country, owes its existence to a promotional campaign for the movie.

It all started when Minnesota Judge E.J. Ruegemer, who was already crusading to distribute copies of the ten commandments to schools and courts, heard that DeMille was prepping a remake of his 1923 silent hit "The 10 Commandments" and so he called DeMille for support. DeMille struck up an alliance with Ruegemer and he sponsored the construction of several thousand Ten Commandments monuments throughout the country to hype his product. The Pharaoh himself - that would be Yul Brynner – actually participated in the gala unveiling of one of the stoneslabs in Milwaukee. Charlton Heston did the same thing right up here in North Dakota. Strangely enough, it was another of these DeMille-inspired granite monuments, located on the grounds of the Texas Capitol in Austin, that became the focus of the Ten Commandments case that was heard by the United States Supreme Court last year.

3. What people also don’t realize is that the text on the monolith is a compromise drawn up by Jewish and Christian clergy to respect everyone's beliefs. So - rather than bearing Ten Commandments that are the Word of God, the monolith actually bears 11 or 12 commandments that are the work of a Committee.
This may all sound like hairsplitting and mockery, but it's not. Last year Newsweek magazine pointed out that regardless of whether or not you believe in the literal truth of the Bible the Ten Commandments are a vital underpinning of Judeo-Christian culture. But while it's one thing to be in favor of ethics and morality in public life, it's a whole different thing to think—as I suspect most Americans do—that there is one single Decalogue.



4. Now, most public displays of the Ten Commandments, including the ones in Texas and Kentucky that the Supreme Court dealt with, are based on Exodus 20, verses 2-14, where God speaks directly to the Israelites. But there is also a second, equally valid version in Deuteronomy 5:6-18. And the two versions differ. In Exodus, God says to remember the Sabbath because he created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. In Deuteronomy, Moses recounts that God told the Israelites to observe the Sabbath because the Lord liberated them from Egyptian bondage. Here again you have an example of the two different authors which I have been talking about in the Hebrew Bible -- which resulted from the fact that for a time in Israel there was a Northern and Southern Kingdom each with there own tradition.
And, then there's the numbering problem. During the Monica Lewinsky uproar, Bill Clinton said he hadn't violated the Sixth Commandment. But which Sixth Commandment? To Roman Catholics and Lutherans, it's the no-adultery commandment. But to Jews and members of Orthodox and Reformed churches, Clinton was saying he hadn't murdered or killed, respectively.

Well, of course, the rules of the game require all religions to end up with exactly 10 commandments (or "utterances," to use the literal Hebrew translation) because that's the Bible's number. However, Jews count "I am the Lord thy God" as the First Commandment, while Christians consider it part of "You shall have no other gods before me," which Jews count as No. 2. Also, some Christians split "don't covet" into two commandments; others split up the prohibitions on having other gods and making graven images. Then there is the problem of the many different English translations: whether God is speaking against murder and swearing false oaths (the Jewish version) or killing and taking the Lord's name in vain (the Christian one).

5. So what about putting up the Ten Commandments on government property in America? How common is that and is it really necessary or proper?

(Actually, if you want to know, a few years ago I happened to be down in Walker for the Ethnic Fest and ended up standing on the steps of the courthouse while I was eating a bratwurst and there it was: a small metal plaque on the wall next to the entryway and sure enough -- it was the Ten Commandments! It mst have been there a long time because it looked rather weather-beaten.

Well, the Supreme Court decision on the whole subject last year was a close vote and the results were kind of mixed bag. It’s too complicated to go into today but here is a sample of the ruling from Justice Breyer (who was the swing vote in the 5 to 4 decision).

The touchstone for our analysis is the principle that the First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion. When the government acts with the ostensible and predominant purpose of advancing religion, it violates that central Establishment Clause value of official religious neutrality, there being no neutrality when the government's ostensible object is to take sides. Manifesting a purpose to favor one faith over another, or adherence to religion generally, clashes with the "understanding, reached ... after decades of religious war, that liberty and social stability demand a religious tolerance that respects the religious views of all citizens ..." By showing a purpose to favor religion, the government "sends the ... message to ... nonadherents 'that they are outsiders, not full members of the political community, and an accompanying message to adherents that they are insiders, favored members....'"

6. Like most of these issues there is a lot of misinformation and because some people of faith see this as a kind of crusade things become highly emotionally charged such as in the case of the Alabama Judge – Roy Moore who refused to comply with a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument he placed in the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore’s version was a little bigger than the one in Walker – it weighed 5,280 pounds! For his refusal, the Alabama Court of the Judiciary issued the harshest penalty possible - expelling Roy Moore from his position as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

In a statement during the case, Judge Moore wrote: "This is not about polls; it's not about politics; it's not about religion. It is about the acknowledgment of God as the foundation of our moral law, under both the United States Constitution and the Constitution of Alabama, and the truth stated in the Preamble of our Alabama Constitution that, in order to establish justice, we must invoke the favor and guidance of Almighty God. A federal court has no jurisdiction to tell us that we can not acknowledge God."

In spite of his troubles, Moore is pretty popular down there. Recent polls in Alabama showed that:
77% of the public either approved or strongly approved of the monument and
65% said that they would vote for him if he sought re-election as chief justice.

On the other side, however, Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that the poll results were more a measure of the subjects' religious views than "any well-thought-out stand on constitutional matters... I really think, Conn said, if some of these people walked into a public courthouse and saw a monument to a religion that wasn't theirs, they would feel like they were not going to get a fair hearing in that courthouse. It's a matter of putting yourself in another person's shoes."

7. Again, part of the problem is that there is a gap between what the Ten Commandments actually state, and what the public perceives that they say. Most people, for instance, incorrectly believe that all of the Commandments govern moral behavior in society: to not lie, steal, commit adultery, etc. In reality, the first four commandments are religious in nature, uniquely related to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. And they could be seen as offensive to the followers of many other religions. Only the last six relate to moral behavior in society.


And another widely believed misunderstanding is that the entire Decalogue forms the foundation for the North American legal system.

In fact, proponents of the Ten Commandments say that their efforts are not in an attempt to impose religion on other people, but rather to recognize their role in the very foundation of our legal system...Our very laws, the argue, “are built on the bedrock moral precepts of the Ten Commandments."

Well, this is only partly true. For, as we have seen, the first half of the Ten Commandments, are definitely a series of commands about the recognition of God. And it is only the second half that deal with actual behavior towards other humans. And the latter are quite common to almost all religious systems and are seen in many religious and secular law codes -- some of which preceded the Ten Commandments. As for our Law codes in the U.S. and the rest of the western world -- many are derived from a variety of sources, including the Ten Commandments and also Pagan Roman laws.

8. So, for a moment, let us consider the first four commandments, for a moment:

ONE - I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

TWO - You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

THREE - You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

FOUR - Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

9. Quite clearly these commandments are extremely religious in nature. And so they should be. For they are the founding statements of the Jewish people and they are a call to remember that it was Yahweh ( or Elohim) who brought them out of Egypt where they were slaves.

In fact, the whole account of Moses and the plagues of Egypt and the Passover, the escape through the Red Sea and all the rest … are all part of a tremendous salvation story.

For Moses, like Abraham, and Noah (who we learned about previously) is a monumental character. He is the savior of the Jewish people. He is both bigger than life … a true hero and yet, at the same time, he is fallible and human. For, as we remember, when God first calls to him from the burning bush, he tries to beg off. So, let us hear again that marvelous story of God speaking to Moses:

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Then the LORD said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’

Some kind of story that is!!!

And what are we to make of it?

10. Well, every now and then we hear people (often TV evangelists) say that God has spoken to them. And, naturally, we are a bit skeptical. Why?
Is it because we don’t believe that God can speak to someone?

Or - is it because we know that such an encounter is likely to be a very disturbing experience (like what happened to Moses)? For, at least in the Bible, God does not just speak -- but also commands. And the command may be to do something we don’t want to do … not something that is self-serving. Having an encounter with the God of the Bible is not to be taken lightly.

At least that is most often happened… Because while the Kings of Isreal in later days were often surrounded by various prophets and advisors – they were always careful to tell the King what they wanted to hear. After all, that’s how you get to keep your job!

And, yet, when it came to the true prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel – they all came speaking words of judgment and admonitions to righteousness. And they were not very popular with the King or the people. And all these men had real hair raising experiences of God speaking and appearing to them as the Bible records.
And what these stories mean is that God’s spirit has broken through our human consciousness and this is how God saved His people. For, as I have been saying now for the third week, these are not ordinary stories, these are salvation stories.
And the whole story of Moses and the Ten Commandments is a great salvation story …
The story of the Exodus and the first principles of the Commandments are to show that without God – the Jews would have perished. For it is God – and God alone – who saved his people. That is what a salvation story is all about. And that is what the first four commandments are about: GOD. As in “Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.”

11. Now, as far as the other commandments go, it is both in the Bible and a principle of common sense that because of our human nature we need to have rules. Ideally the job of all parents, teachers, and adults is to not only obey the rules and live by them – but also to impart them to children and young people.

Ideally, of course, we know that the rules should not have to be enforced. They should not even be broken. Nor should people need to be punished for breaking them.
But this is not the way it is. For, while many of us strive to obey the rules … sometimes even we fail … and then there are those who cannot control themselves … and who repeatedly break the law … and are sometimes referred to as “lawless.”

Laws are naturally a concern for all of us. For crime is not limited to just the lower classes. It is quite sad that every day in America powerful and wealthy men conspire to defraud their employees and investors of millions and even billions of dollars by tax evasion, false accounting, and other dishonest behaviors. To say nothing about lobbyists in Washington who try to influence congressmen. Imagine that! Maybe we should put up the 10 Commandments in Corporate headquarters and even in Congress. Especially - "Thou shalt not steal..." And, of course, we taxpayers have to spend our money to track these people down and put them in jail.

12. What is going on in America today? Many people today are concerned. Has our society become to permissive? Sometimes that seems to be true. People say that today children don’t obey their parents and teachers. It seems as though things are out of control. Many people don’t even go to church anymore and young people are not taught the Bible anymore. Are things really getting worse? Is this the end of the world or something? “What is the answer?” we ask. And is putting prayer and the Ten Commandments into schools and government buildings the solution.

Well, these are real concerns – of course. And they always have been. All people seem to need guidance. All people need to have ideals and goals. It can’t all be just a “do your own thing” attitude or a hedonistic “live for today” kind of philosophy or our society will fall apart. This is nothing new, either.

After all, if we remember, Moses had hardly gone up on the mountain to get the Ten Commandments and the people grew tired and made a Golden Calf – worship. I wonder, today, what are our Golden Calves in America?

13. But, on the other hand, maybe we should not panic just yet for this fear that things are out of control is not new … In fact it was The Greek philosopher Plato who reportedly complained: "What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"

And another Greek in the 8th century BC named Hesiod also said:

"I see no hope for the future of our people - if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly disrespectful and impatient of restraint"

14. So, while some people may feel that the Commandments are a burden, a constraint, and unnecessary encumbrances on our personal freedom. On the other hand there are those who call for a tightening of morality to enforce right and wrong with the added power of God Almighty – of course.

But, both of these viewpoints take the position that the law
-- the Ten Commandment are negative in nature and even punitive as in “Thou shalt not ….”

But, another way to look at it is to see that the laws are not merely there to constrain us … or to punish us but are there to free us from fear and uncertainty by providing a framework for right living … in relationship to God and to one another.

Another reading of the Commandments comes from Dr. Thomas Long at the Candler United Methodist Seminary at Emory University in Atlanta. He writes:

Because of the Commandments we are free to enjoy life in the zone of God’s protection and to know that:

Because the Lord is our God – we do not need anything other gods.

And we are free to rest on the seventh day.

And we are free from murder, stealing, and covetousness.

And this is the “good news” … for through God’s help we are liberated from fear … and from slavery …

And we are also free to worship God and live together in harmony by keeping the commandments.

So - rather than getting all wrapped up in fighting about the Ten Commandments, perhaps we should turn to Micah 6:8. The Lord, says the prophet, requires us "only to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." To which all of us can say, amen.