The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments Part 2
September 29, 2019 • Rev. Sam Hayes
9-29-19 Sermon Notes “The Ten Commandments: Part 2 I read recently that in 1631, King Charles I ordered 1,000 Bibles from an English printer named Robert Barker. Well – printing was not an exact science in those days, and sometimes mistakes were made. Usually, mistakes were just overlooked. But…not in this case. You see, Barker inadvertently left out a single word in the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20: 14. It was just a little three-lettered word…no big deal, right? It was the word, “not.” Readers were shocked (and maybe delighted?) to find that God had commanded Moses, “Thou shalt commit adultery” as opposed to “Thou shalt NOT commit adultery.” King Charles was not amused by this mistake, and ordered all the Bible destroyed. He fined Barker 300 pounds sterling (a lifetime’s wages in those days), and revoked his printing license so that Barker was totally out of business. Not all the Bibles were destroyed – there are eleven known still to exist. Because of the infamous mistake, this printing of the official King James Version is referred to as “The Wicked Bible.” (from the book, Stupid History, by Leland Gregory) As much as we might like to, we just can’t rewrite the Ten Commandments. They can’t be improved upon! We can’t change them to “The Ten Recommendations.” The first four commandments answer the question, “How do we relate to God?” What about the last six commandments? Let’s look at them: 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20: 12-17 NRSV) The last six commandments deal with the question, “How do we relate to each other?” These are just some simple, basic ways that we can live together in harmony. And these are the foundation of what it means to live a life of integrity. How does that play itself out? I’ll give you an example from the world of golf. Back in 1994, golfer Davis Love III called a one-stroke penalty on himself during the second round of the Western Open. He had moved his marker on a green to get it out of another player's putting line. One or two holes later, he couldn't remember if he had moved his ball back to its original spot. Since he was unsure, Love gave himself an extra stroke. He saw it as a matter of keeping the command not to bear false witness. As it turned out, that one stroke caused him to miss the cut and get knocked out of the tournament. If he had made the cut and then finished dead last, he would have earned $2000 for the week. When the year was over, Love was $590 short of automatically qualifying for the following year's Masters. He began 1995 needing to win a tournament to get into the event. When someone asked how much it would bother him if he missed the Masters for calling a penalty on himself, Love's answer was simple: "How would I feel if I won the Masters and wondered for the rest of my life if I cheated to get in?" Now, the story has a happy ending. The week before the 1995 Masters, Love qualified by winning a tournament in New Orleans. Then in the Masters he finished second, earning $237,600. Join us Sunday as we look more deeply into commandments six through ten! Pastor Sam
The Ten Commandments Part 1
Rev. Sam Hayes
9-22-19 Sermon Notes “The 10 Commandments: Part 1” A rabbi and a very arrogant woman were attending a luncheon. In the course of the conversation, the woman boasted, “One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence.” “Is that so?” asked the rabbi. “Well one of my ancestors wrote the Ten Commandments.” Ba dum ching! OK – so technically Moses didn’t write the Ten Commandments…he received them from God on Mount Sinai. For thousands of years, we have turned to these commandments as a way to answer the two BIG questions: (1) How do we relate to God? (2) How do we relate to each other? The first 4 commandments give us guidance on the first BIG question. The last 6 commandments give us guidance on the second. So…for the next 2 Sundays we will be talking about the 10 commandments. Here’s the Scripture for this Sunday: Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 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. 5 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, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 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. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 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. 11 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. I read a story recently of a man who went to his pastor and told his pastor that he was planning a trip to visit Mount Sinai, where the 10 commandments were given by God to Moses. He told his pastor, “I’m going to climb up that mountain and read the Ten Commandments out loud!” thinking that this would greatly please his pastor. He was surprised when his pastor replied, “You know, I can think of something even better than that.” The man responded, “You can, Pastor? And what might that be?” He replied, “Just this – instead of traveling thousands of miles to read the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, why not just stay right here at home and keep them?” See you Sunday! Pastor Sam