Lathem Postell: Well, good morning church. So good to be here with you this morning. My goodness, worship this morning. Fantastic. You know, I may just not be used to having my shirt untucked.
It might be a draft but it feels a little different in here when the spirit gets going. My goodness. What a great day to to be in worship. As we continue on in our series, hopefully you know where we're at. We're we're doing this whole series.
We're Bible in a year, fifty two weeks, calling it the whole story where we are looking at the story of god's narrative as revealed to us in scripture starting in Genesis going all the way through Revelation. Just an exciting time. Hopefully, you're joining in with us and doing our Bible in a year reading plan, the Bible recap. If you haven't started, no better time to start than now. You can jump in with us but this morning, we kind of get here to the end of our time with the story of Moses.
We've really spent the whole month of February here in the Exodus story looking at the story of Moses and the Israelites and their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and and and you might have thought if you're here last week, we read chapter 14, talked a little bit about chapter 15, right? It's where god parts the waters, the people walk through, the Egyptians are swallowed up, and they're delivered from their slavery to pharaoh, right? We hear that and it almost appears as if the story is concluded. It feels like the story should come to an end. But if you know Exodus, if you've been doing your Bible readings right, you know that the story of Exodus, the book of Exodus, actually continues on after that chapter 14 for another 26 chapters.
So, my question is, you know, as I was preparing for this and maybe you've had this as you were reading through the Bible, right? Why why does it stop? Why does it not stop there in chapter 14? We we can make argument maybe 15, right? Where they're singing songs of praises.
They're gathered together as god's people on the banks of the sea. They've just seen what god's done and they're celebrating their deliverance. Why doesn't it end there? Now, why why do we see god continue? Well, as the saying goes, the masterpiece isn't completed until the brushes are clean.
God, what we see here is god didn't just want to free the people from Egypt. He wanted to free them, to give them freedom, to live as a holy nation. And so god spends the rest of the book. Actually, might would say, the majority of the book, 26 chapters, he spends that time ordering the life of the Israelites. Their salvation from pharaoh, from Egypt actually brought some chaos in their life.
They didn't know what to do. They lived so long in Egypt. They didn't know what to do. That they looked back, right? And they knew they didn't have a good life but at least they're in Egypt.
They had food. They had water. They had supplies. Now, they have nothing and nowhere and and because they have nothing and nowhere, they feel as if they had just been better staying behind. And so for the rest of the book, through his servant Moses, god is going to order the lives of the people.
He's going to deliver to them a covenant and says, look, if you live by this, you can find freedom outside of Egypt. And the most famous part of this covenant, the part we're going to read together is here in Exodus chapter 20. You know it as the 10 commandments. Even if this is your first Sunday in church which if it is, we're so glad that you're here but even if you've not been in church before, these are probably words that you're familiar with but I want us to to dive into em a little bit today. So, if you have your Bibles with you, go ahead and open with me to Exodus chapter 20.
We're going to read verses one through 17. This is the the the 10 commandments that god gave to Moses and to the people. Hope you'll read along with me. Our words will also be on the screen behind me but let us hear what god says. 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 image 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 their parents 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 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 has given 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 male or female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Will you pray with me? Almighty and and gracious god, we thank you this day for the gift of your word, the gift of your commandments.
Lord, we ask that you use them to guide our steps. Lord, use them this day to to righten our path. Lord, we ask that you free us. Free us this day for joyful obedience through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.
Amen. So, as we talk about these commandments, I want you to remember back to the very beginning of the story. Not the story of Moses, the story of Exodus. Remember back all the way to the very beginning of the story. Genesis chapter one.
What do we find there except that the earth was formless and void. We see god. It tells us hovering over the waters of the deep. It presents to us this image of chaos. And so slowly, methodically, over the seven days of creation, six days of creation, and the Sabbath day over this time, god meticulously brings order to the chaos.
He puts the cosmos into motion as he speaks creation bursts forth and he looks out on on what he's doing as he's taking this chaos and making order and he looks at it and says, this order is is good. Until the the last day where he looks out on creation and he fills it with the pinnacle of that creation. He places within it his own image. You and I and at that point, he looks out this order that he's created and he says, this is very good. What you'll continue to find, what I've preached so far and what I'll continue to preach is that from the very beginning of scripture there in Genesis chapter one, here in Exodus and until the very end of scripture, god wants to take the chaos in life and bring about order.
Not just any order though. God didn't create the world haphazardly. He had a plan for it, right? He doesn't just want to give you any order. He wants to give you a divine order.
His order that was established all the way back at the very beginning. In order that we, Adam and Eve to start but us as humans and at an order that we do very good at subverting by choosing to worship creation rather than creator. If I've told you this before, I'll tell you it again a million times. The witness of god's character and the story of scripture shows us that this god of order is the one who never turns his back on us even when we turn our back on him and so what we find here in the 10 commandments like other places but particular here is a yet another example of god choosing us to put us first, not above him but instead to give us order in the midst of crazy lives. I mentioned this earlier but I want to put a finer point on it, right?
By the time we get here to chapter 20, the Israelites have been led out of Egypt. They're now in the winter wilderness wandering around. They've been saved from their circumstances of slavery but that's really about all that's gone well for them. Chapter 14, they're delivered. Even chapter 15, they're singing the songs of praises.
I told you that a minute ago but the scripture says, it doesn't take long just like it didn't take Adam and Eve long to disobey god. It doesn't take long for the people to forget what god had done. Three days, it tells us. Can you believe that? Three days, they had gone from seeing.
God literally part the waters of the sea. They've walked through on dry ground and three days later, they start to grumble. They're thirsty. God, can you give us some water? Three days, it takes them to grumble.
Of course, god provides but it continues. Exodus chapter 16 verse two and three. I love the way they put it here. They go to Moses. It tells us in the desert, the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them, if only we had died by the lord's hand in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted but you brought us out into the desert to starve this assembly to death. The world's worst case of being hangry, we would call it, right? They're they're hungry and so they go to Moses and Aaron and and and really by doing that, they're going to god, right? So, they're going to god and they're saying, look, you should have just killed us in Egypt if you were going to bring us out here to kill us.
I love the song that we sang kind of right before the sermon called Egypt. A great worship song. What a what a powerful worship song. Great message for us to hear. I love you.
You can probably tell by this sermon series. I'm a I'm a narrative theologian. I really enjoy the narrative of scripture and and it provides to us a a great picture of the narrative of of the Exodus and I I love that song except for like three words of it and and so, I want you to to remember, it was right at the beginning. Maybe you forgot how it starts. The song starts with these words.
It says, I won't forget the wonder of how you brought deliverance. The Exodus of my heart. The polite way to say that is hogwash, right? The the this idea that I won't forget. No, the truth is and know this, the Israelite story is clear to us about our nature over and over again.
Scripture is clear to us about this that we forget. It's why I would argue worship is so important. We need to get together and be reminded to remember what it is that god has done. We need to be told over and over again that old old story, right? Scripture tells us that we forget and and what it means is that our deliverance isn't complete just when our circumstances are changed.
What the Israelite story tells us is that this isn't a circumstances problem. This is a heart problem. Getting us out of our circumstances is not enough because given a chance, we choose to go back to Egypt every time. That's why god doesn't end the story in Exodus chapter 14 or 15, right? If god had ended the story there, we probably would have taken three days before they had gone back to Egypt, knocked on pharaoh's door, and said, please sir, can you let us back in?
We're hungry. No, instead of letting that happen, god continues to save the people. For the people of Israel, he creates for them an order in the middle of their chaos. He gives them a covenant, a pathway, a plan, a divine order, and says, look, if you truly want to be saved, if you truly want to leave that life behind, if you want to live into the freedom that I can offer you, well then, you gotta learn to live a new way. Everything about what you know is flawed.
You grew up in Egypt. You grew up around the ways of the world. If you think doing it that way will get you where you want to go, look at where it already got your people. Now, he looks to them. He looks Moses.
He looks to Aaron. He looks to Israelites and he says, if you want to be people called by my name, you're going to have to live differently. Not because I want to create this this random or arbitrary set of rules that that I'll use as a guidepost to say, look, if you don't measure up to this, well, then, you're not worthy of being in my presence. No. He gives them this to give them order because he knows the best way for us to live a flourishing life.
If you want freedom Follow these rules. Seems counterintuitive to our western nature but god says, if you'll follow this, you're going to have freedom. And so he gives them here in in chapter 20, the the first seventeen verses. He gives to them 10 commands. Because I am Yahweh, I am the lord your god.
I am who I am. I will be who I will be. I'm the one that saved you out of Egypt because of that, I will continue to save you following these commands. 10 of em. Not too many to follow.
You shall have no other gods before me. I'm gonna be first in your life. You shall not make idols. You shall not use the lord's name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Honor your mother and your father. 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.
10 basic foundational guidelines, some easier to follow than others but 10 rules if we want to use that word that god says, look, in the middle of chaos, if you want some order, well then try living this way. And look, there there's probably a million different directions that we could go with this. Maybe we'll do it in the future. This is locked and loaded 10 part sermon series, right? Where we could go command by command and and and there's probably something worth doing that.
Maybe we'll get to do that after this year. But there's so much we could talk about. I want you to see this morning those three things that I think god wants you to know when you hear these commands this morning. The first thing I want you to notice is that eight of the 10 commands are negative. We call those the you shall nots.
Right? They're negative and what I mean by negative is not that they're bad but that they're restrictive in the best sense of the word. They give us the boundary outside of which we should not go. The you shall not put up the guardrails, the fence posts. It's god's way of saying, look, don't cross this line.
I've used the analogy before so I won't do the whole thing, right? But it's the same idea of of basketball, right? Like lines on a basketball court. God saying to the people, if you want to live the game of life well, well then, you need to stay within these boundaries. God is providing order.
Beyond which he knows human flourishing is not possible. And so it's simple, right? Look, look, if you want chaos, do these things. Murder, steal, covet, make idols, use my name in vain. All of these things, right?
If if you want chaos, there's a great, here's a list. Start doing it. But if you want order, if you want the freedom that can come from god's order, well then stay in these lines. Simple as that. Rules aren't always a bad thing.
I think to the life as a parent, right? With your children Placing rules on on your life and when you see it from the from the parents perspective, right? It's not because we're just trying to control the lives of our children but we know something that they don't know. We know that if they go outside of these lines, well then, pain and sorrow and potentially, you know, being injured may follow. God sets the parameters for us, gives us the guidelines, sets the boundaries inside of which we can flourish.
The second thing that we can learn from these commandments is that god promises to be with us as we do them. Now, this is going to take a minute to set up. So, I hope I hope you'll stay with me for this but but it's powerful when you can get it. So, the 10 commandments, if you take them and compare them to other documents written around the same time, we we call that the ancient Near East. So, if if you take documents written near the ancient Near East, what we have here in the 10 commandments is almost identical.
It is not perfectly identical. There's a few missing pieces but it's almost identical to a common type of document which was called a suzerain vassal treaty. So, again, stay with me. I'll try to go slow. I'm not going to go too deep into this but you gotta understand this point to to see what I'm saying.
So, so there was an empire called the Hittites that were very they made these deals a lot. The suzerain vassal treaties which were treaties between the suzerain which was the greater kingdom and the vassal which was the the lesser kingdom. It's a political arrangement, right? And so, they they would agree to certain conditions and the suzerain would always set the conditions. So, the vassal would be required to, you know, pay certain taxes or promise loyalty in the event of war and if those conditions were followed, well then, the suzerain would promise various things like protection from invasion, other infrastructure things, right?
Again, it it it's old political arrangement. So, they have these suzerain vassal treaties and and if you go and you study these and it's a great place if you have some time to study, what we find the commandments here, the the the covenant in the end of the end of Exodus almost exactly aligns with things that were happening in the world. How cool is it that god uses these things that that we already understand to relate to us and talk to us but I don't want to focus on that too much. What I want you to understand, the reason I'm telling you this is for this sole reason. In the context of the ancient Near East, when a suzerain vassal treaty was made, there were two copies that were made.
Two identical copies. One for the suzerain and one for the vassal. It was a condition of the treaty. It's common practice for the suzerain to take the the treaty back to their temple to have it read regularly and the vassal would do the same thing. It was a reminder of I I've gotta do these things and if I do, I'll maintain the relationship either between the suzerain or between the vassal depending on who you were, right?
Both parties committed to having this read so that they could remember their role. What's really cool is if you go and read in Deuteronomy chapter 10, I don't think we're going to get to do that on a sermon. So, I hope you'll read that in your Bible reading. There in Deuteronomy chapter 10, god tells us that he made two tablets. Two copies.
Again, just as would have been common practice in these suzerain vassal treaties but if you go and read it, what you'll notice, the interesting thing is where god puts his copy. God tells the people, take my copy and place it with yours in the ark of the covenant. That may seem like it does not matter but what I'm telling you today is that is of infinite importance. God wanted them to see. They would have known it.
They knew the context. God wanted them to see what he wants you to see is that this commands, the the this covenant that that god is going to be there with the people as they live into it. He doesn't need his copy because he's going to be so close to the people that when they read theirs, he'll hear it too. Through the tabernacle, through the temple, god is promising. Look, if you live within my covenant, if you'll be my vassal, I'll be your suzerain and you'll never be without me.
I'm going to be so close that I don't need it. I'll be there to listen. God is saying, look, I'm not just delivering this edict on high, passing it to you, and just hoping that you can figure it out. God isn't just leaving you to your own devices. God is telling you, I will help you fulfill them.
You're not alone in this. When you try to do this on your own and you figure out you can't, because that's really what we found up until this point in scripture, right? That they continue to realize that they just can't do this on your own. When you realize that Israelites, when you realize that people, know that I'm here. I'm with you.
I'm ready to help. What a powerful reminder that god placed his tablet with ours. He's with us. The third and last thing I hope that you'll see is again so powerful Notice that god gives the commands to the people after saving them from Egypt. You thought about that?
He doesn't give them the 10 commandments. He doesn't give them this before getting them out of Egypt. He gives it to him after. He hears the cry of his people. He sees them there in Egypt and what he doesn't do is he goes, okay, look, Israelites, I've heard you crying out.
You want to be my people? Well, here's here's a list of things to do. And and if you can properly fulfill these 10 commandments, if you can properly fulfill this covenant, well then, as a result of that, I will save you from pharaoh. It does the reverse. He saves the people from their slavery in Egypt and then tells them how to live.
You see what god's saying to you this morning? I believe with all my heart that god wants to save you from the guilt of sin. He wants to save you from your slavery not to pharaoh but to sin and to death and I believe that he can and he will and what he's showing you is that if you want that, there is no amount of following his commands that can get you there. The 10 commandments didn't part the sea. God did.
God is the one who saves. Yet, still it's this fascinating dichotomy, right? That that god gives the commands to the people after saving them and it's fascinating to He didn't end there in 14. I love that idea. God's doing so much here.
It's so deep and it's rich. God's saying, look, I don't just want to save you from something. I don't want to just save you from Egypt. If he did, the book would have stopped. No, he's saying, I want to also save you for something.
I want to save you for myself. He wants to save you from the guilt of your sin along with the power of it. God desires for you to flourish. And and that's not some prosperity gospel fluff, right? No, god wants you to flourish He he wants you to leave behind chaos and allow his order to direct your life.
He wants you to no longer dwell in the power of pharaoh and instead to dwell in the power and presence of the god who saves. He is telling you begging you, calling you. He's saying, don't go back to Egypt that's my call to you this morning. Don't go back to Egypt God has delivered you from your slavery to sin and death. Do not be burdened by it anymore.
I get that often times it just it's easier to go back to Egypt. Here on the other side of the sea, it it's it's hard to live this way. It's that's why we can't do it. It's it's hard to live this way. I I don't want to paint this rosy picture and tell you it's not.
It it it's hard. The meat pots of Egypt smell really good The shelter's really warm We can satisfy those things that we want right now. It's just easier Don't go back. Don't go back. I don't think god wants you to go back.
And if you find yourself in chaos this morning, if that's you, right? Maybe god has delivered you through the Red Sea. He's delivered you from your slavery. Praise god if he has. If he hasn't, he wants to do that for you.
But but maybe you find yourself in in in chaos either on one side of the sea or the other and if you do, what I would offer to you is perhaps start here. Because we don't usually know what to do. We don't know where to go. We're like the Israelites kinda wandering around trying to figure it out. What I would tell you is that god at least gives you a place to start.
Try it. 10 things, 10 commands and he says, if you'll stay within these, you can begin to flourish. It's his design for your life. Some of em as I've said easier said than done, right? Most of us, I assume, haven't murdered.
Jesus though will expand upon that to jump ahead in the story, right? He's gonna say, look, that doesn't just apply to killing somebody. It applies to any of those times that you've been angry with them. So, maybe it's a little harder than we think but but even if we take it at face value, just take these commands. It it's it's easy to not murder.
It's a little harder but still easy to not steal When was the last time you actually held a Sabbath? What's the old saying? I'll be honest. Anytime I point one finger at you, I'm pointing three at me but but I hope that convicts you. When was the last time that you took twenty four hours?
And I I'll even give you twelve hours eight hours, four hours, maybe even I'll give you thirty minutes When was the last time? I'm not saying you took a nap or rested. That's not what the Sabbath is. When was the last time you held Sabbath and kept it holy? I'm so glad you're in worship this morning.
That's not what I mean either. What I mean is when was the last time in your life that you laid down everything and rested in knowing that god was in control and you're not. When was the last time you did that? Start there. When was the last time you used the lord's name in vain?
We think of OMG when we think of that, right? It's really more than that. When was the last time that that you said something in the name of god that maybe you just didn't quite know what you were saying or when was the the the last time that you used it flippantly, right? This applies to all the times in our life when we have, you know, a bumper sticker on the back of our car that says, Jesus loves you and then we, you know, for lack of better word, give somebody a finger on the road, right? That that's using god's name in vain.
We're we're we're using the name of god in a way that is not beneficial or helpful to others. When was the last time you did that? Maybe start there. We could keep going. When was the last time you worshiped another god?
Maybe you didn't go to a different religious traditions worship ceremony. That's today really not our problem here in our context. When was the last time you put something above god? Maybe it was sports, our job, even our families. We can make gods in our life.
Look, this is simple, practical advice I challenge you to to live them. Write them on your hearts. I invite you to do them. Not because we believe that by doing them, we'll be saved. That that's not what we're saying.
Don't hear me. I'm saying that. Do them not because by them you will be saved but because by doing them, you're near to the one who saves you. If you've been trying to live in chaos Try order. Not just any order but god's order and in so doing, maybe you'll find freedom to actually live.
Let's pray. Loving and gracious god, we give you thanks this day for the gift of your word, for the gift of of your covenant, for the gift of of these 10 commandments. Lord, we often balk just by our nature. Anytime someone tells us what to do or what not to do, how to live, or or how to think. But lord, like a parent who loves their child, you have set before us parameters, guidelines, guideposts, fencing.
Lord, not to not to constrict us but actually to free us. Lord, to show us that the places that we can actually flourish, to show us how we can begin to to live truly as your people. And so god, I I pray for for each of us this morning. Lord, I pray for us that that you can begin to write these on our heart. Write them in our mind.
Lord, show us that your way is above our way. Call us to a new way of living. Continue in us what you began in our baptism, creating us as new creation, restoring us back to that order that you established in Genesis chapter one. Lord, forgive us for all the times that we've not lived into these. Empower us even though we failed, lord, to start now again.
Trusting that we don't do it on our own power, but instead we do it through yours. Call us to be people called by your name, realizing that if we're gonna be called by your name, we have to live different than Egypt. And help us, oh lord, when we fall short, we'll always call back to you. For it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.
Amen.