Exodus 20:1-17
And God spoke all these words, saying,
“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.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, March 3, comes from Exodus chapter 20, verses one through 17. And God spoke all these words, saying, 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, you shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God, Emma jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. But showing steadfast love to 1000s of those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep 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, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days, the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant or his female servant, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Here ends the reading. This passage from Exodus chapter 20, is the 10 commandments. God's people have just come out of slavery. Moses brought them through the Red Sea, they walked through the wilderness, they're at the base of Mount Sinai, and God is giving them the Covenant, the 10 commandments. So we begin with an important passage for understanding it in the context of ancient Israel. It starts with these words, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. Notice where the 10 commandments come in the story. First, God goes to his people, rescues them from slavery, brings them out, and gives them a promise gathers together and saves them. And then he gives them the 10 commandments. This is much like the Christian life where Christ comes to save us and then calls us to follow him in holiness. Not if you are holy, I will save you. And the 10 commandments are no different. First, God follows his promise to Abraham, and then he gives them the rules. The 10 commandments, then are not ways to earn God's favor or tips for a better life or anything like that. In their original context, they were simply now that you are my people, I've gathered you together, I've made you mine. What are you to do with this new life that I've given you? And it closely mirrors the way that we we talk about Christ working in our lives? He comes to us in baptism forgives our sins gives us life. And then new people as in our baptismal identity, we say, how should I live and we follow Christ. And these 10 commandments offer a good way of understanding God's morality and God's will for our lives. Now, as you look at the 10 commandments, you can see that they're divided kind of into two sections. There's the first section which is all about our relationship with God. And the second section, which is all about our relationship with each other. The first section begins with you shall have no other gods before me, and then continues to explain it talking about a carved image or an idol. This is directly for the ancient Israelites. This is a a look at the idols of the land so they would be moving into worshiping In the false gods that were actually statues that they would worship and take care of, don't do that. He says, The next commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Don't misuse God's name. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. For Israel, this was about not working for six for the seventh day. For Christians, we approach it a little differently, because Christ is our Sabbath rest. And when Christ is our Sabbath rest there we find rest. So we set aside Sundays, not the Sabbath, Sabbath was Saturday. And we set aside Sundays to come and experience rest by being with Christ and hearing His Word. After that, we get to the section on our relationship with one another. Honor your father and your mother, you shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, and you shall not covet. All of these are about how God says we should be in relationship with one another. And you can summarize it with the biblical command. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Know all of these 10 commandments point us to, well, an understanding of righteousness that is a little too much for us. It is far beyond our ability to keep even just You shall have no other gods before me, doesn't just mean don't worship idols or don't follow false God's its don't put anything before God. Like nothing, none of God's creation should be ahead of him on our priority list. And as we consider these 10 commandments, we have to say to ourselves, none of us has lived up to them. If you break one, you break them all. If you fall short on one, you fall short of heaven and end up in hell. Which is why our Savior Jesus Christ came and fulfilled these commandments did them all perfectly, so that by His forgiveness, we can have life so that it's not do these commandments and you will live but it is I the LORD your God brought you out of the Land of Death of slavery to sin and Satan. Follow me. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai