Pastor Roland’s Blog

Nine and a half years ago I started seventh grade in South Africa. My family had just moved back to South Africa after spending eleven years in Omaha, NE. I was born in South Africa, and we had visited twice to see family while we lived in Omaha, but I wasn’t prepared for the culture shock I would face upon my return. I left all my friends back in Omaha, and was now in what was at the time more of a foreign country to me. I started seventh grade at the beginning of the South African school year which starts in January at an elementary school called New Germany Primary School. It was the most frightening day of my life. To start it off, as part of my school uniform I had to wear shorts that were only half way down my thigh in front of all these girls at school. I also had to wear a Speedo to co-ed swimming lessons a couple of days a week. And to top it off my mom walked me all the way to the door of my class room on my first day of school, holding my hand, in front of all of those same cute South African girls in my class.
Yet, in the midst of the scariest moment of my life, a kid in my class befriended me. His name was Babuyile Shabalala. He was an amazing friend! He bought me snacks at school, introduced me to all of his friends, and just accepted this new American kid with a funny accent. He always told me that he was the grandson of the lead singer of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, a Grammy Award winning men’s choral group from a couple of hours away from where we were attending school. I left South Africa and Babuyile two years later, but always remembered him, his great friendship, and what he had told me about his family heritage.
The story continues nine and a half years after I first met Babuyile. My grandma and I had seen that Ladysmith Black Mambazo was coming to Nampa, and she asked if I wanted to go as a part of my graduation present. We were able to get close to front row seats. Last Tuesday night was the night of the concert. It was amazing! I had always admired their beautiful voices dancing through different harmonies and rhythms, but to hear it in real life was unforgettable.
At intermission I also bought some CD’s and a DVD of theirs. After the last song of the night had ended I dashed out with grandma to get them signed by the group. Three members of the group were signing everyone’s CD’s so I also got in line. When I got up there I double checked with one of the group members to make sure that the group was all related to each other. The guy I talked to said yes, and then I told him I knew Babuyile, my friend from all those years ago in New Germany, South Africa. He was pretty shocked to hear that I knew him. He told me to wait a couple of seconds and then I could go back stage to meet his dad and grandpa. My grandma and I followed some of the guys back into the change room and we found all of the guys gathered together. Sure enough, there was his dad and grandpa. I told them of the connection I had with them and all of us couldn’t stop smiling. After shaking hands with each of them, and talking to his dad and granddad for a while, we got a group picture together. I was able to get Babuyile’s e-mail address, and I have now regained contact with a friend I have been trying to contact for years.
Now that I have had some time to reflect on that joyous night, I can’t help but think about how great it is going to be to reunite with Jesus and the other members of the family of God once I get to heaven. I was so excited to see the Shabalala family from the group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but when I see Jesus, it will truly be a time of unimaginable joy.
Jesus has promised us that those who believe in his name have been given the right to become children of God, as noted in John 1:12 – “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” As children of God we will one day have an awesome reunion with our Father. I was excited to have the connection I did with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but I am even more excited for the day that I will join the multitude in heaven and have the most amazing reunion possible! I hope and pray that each and every one of you is firstly going to have this heavenly reunion, and secondly looking forward to it! If you aren’t sure that you are, feel free to come chat with me to figure out how you can!
Pastor Roland

July 26, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS:
GUARDING THE HEART OF YOUR HOME
Deuteronomy 5:18

Let’s start by singing our Ten Commandment song again—
One—Don’t worship other gods
Two—No graven images
Three—Don’t take God’s name in vain
Four—The Sabbath is for rest
Five—Obey your mom and dad
Six—Don’t ever, ever kill
Seven—Be faithful to your spouse
And (Eight) Don’t Steal
(Nine) Don’t lie
(Ten) Don’t wish for other men’s things!

(1994 Word Publishing Company; words by Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson)

Once upon a time there lived a man named John. John met Mary and they were soon married. John loved Mary and Mary loved John—and they were so happy together! John and Mary soon had a little boy named Jake, and then a little girl named Kari. John and Mary and Jake and Kari lived together in their little house and they were so happy together. The children grew up—and eventually left home to live lives of their own. But whenever they had a chance, John and Mary and Jake and Kari got back together again—and it was so much fun! John and Mary lived happily ever after, growing old together as they enjoyed their children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. The End.

Now, let’s revise that fairy tale a little bit. Once upon a time there lived a man named John. John met Mary and they were soon married. John loved Mary and Mary loved John—and they were so happy together. John and Mary soon had a little boy named Jake, and then a little girl named Kari. John and Mary and Jake and Kari lived together in their little house and they were so happy together—that is, until John met Sue and decided he wanted to be with her instead of with Mary. The children grew up and eventually left home to live lives of their own. But the family didn’t all get together much anymore, because John was with Sue and Mary was alone. Jake resented the fact that his father was not at home throughout his growing up years. Kari had a hard time trusting men, because her dad hadn’t been trustworthy. John soon discovered that Sue didn’t make him happy either. Unfortunately, the beautiful little family of John and Mary and Jake and Kari did not live happily ever after, because John had made a mess of things. The End.

What happened? John committed adultery. I got acquainted with a guy a few years ago whose story is quite a bit like John’s—he was married and had four kids. When the marriage faced some stress, it became his excuse for an affair. He even knew that the woman with whom he was having an affair was not the kind of woman he’d want to marry, but his emotions were at war within him. It wrecked his marriage and his home. It messed everything up …all because he allowed himself to become involved with a woman who wasn’t his wife. Instead of doing everything he could to rebuild the marriage, he made a choice that destroyed his marriage.

This morning we are going to hear the Seventh Commandment. It’s so simple and straightforward. It’s short—but not sweet. Listen to the Word of the Lord from Deuteronomy 5:18—
Do not commit adultery (Deuteronomy 5:18, NLT).
That’s it—just four words!—Do not commit adultery! It is stark and simple, but it carries an immense load of social and spiritual implications. The 7th commandment protects the sanctity of the marriage and family. It expresses the value God places upon faithfulness in relationships, especially in the most intimate relationship of life.

Let me address several questions about adultery this morning. First: What is adultery? Adultery is marital infidelity. It is sexual intercourse that breaks the bonds of a marriage covenant. It is a betrayal of the fundamental respect of one’s partner in marriage. Adultery happens when a married person becomes intimately involved with someone other than his or her spouse. It is a violation of the marriage vow.

Jesus took this one giant step further. He said,
“You have heard that it was said, `Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28, NIV).
Now, understandably, few of us are blind. Some have argued that they’re just appreciating beauty. But Jesus would argue with us this morning that there is a difference between an appreciation of beauty and a long and lustful look. The lustful look is the expression of a heart attitude that says in essence, “I would if I could.” The act would follow if the opportunity was present! Jesus was digging into the intentions of people’s hearts and minds and, in so doing, took the focus off of the physical act and went behind that to the spiritual condition of the human heart and the desires to which it has given itself.

You see, having sex is not the only way to commit adultery. What is forbidden is everything that causes adultery. The man I just spoke of referred to the beginning of his emotional attachment with this other woman and said, “Once I started, I was on a slippery slope.” Most adulterous relationships don’t start with sex; they start with inappropriate intimacy—emotional attachments. And so this commandment, according to Jesus, forbids a married man to flirt with another woman, or a single man to get close to someone else’s wife, or a married woman from seeking primary emotional support from some other man—whether the other person is at work, at church, or in an internet chat room.

To put things more positively, the 7th Commandment instructs husbands and wives to nurture their love for one another—emotionally and spiritually as well as sexually.

Through New Testament eyes, then, we understand that the 7th Commandment rules out any form of sexual immorality, or what the Greek New Testament calls “porneia.” Does that word sound familiar to you? It should, because it’s the word from which we gotten the word “pornography.” This commandment tells us not to fornicate—not to have sexual intercourse outside the covenant of marriage—not premarital sex and not extra-marital sex!

God designed sex to be a wonderful, beautiful, unifying thing—He doesn’t see it as something dirty at all! But His intentions were for it to be devoted solely to the marriage relationship—as a solidifying element in the marriage between a man and a woman. Sex outside of that covenantal relationship is a perversion of God’s plan. And so this commandment deals with prostitution. It deals with homosexual intercourse, because the biblical pattern calls for sex to be shared only between a husband and his wife. Rape, pedophilia, incest or any other form of sexual abuse violates God’s intent for the purity of sexual relationships within the marriage covenant—a covenant of mutual respect and love. In short, through these eyes, the 7th Commandment forbids any sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage.

So what’s the big deal? Why does adultery matter? What is the big problem?—especially if it takes place between two consenting adults?

To begin with, again let me make it clear that sex is not bad! It is designed to be a powerful and positive force in uniting two people’s lives. Someone said that sex is like superglue. When it’s used properly, it seals the bond of matrimony. It’s the glue that helps to hold a marriage secure. But whenever sexual relationships take place outside the marriage covenant, then purpose of sex is perverted and it loses its true purpose and its highest joy. If you’ve worked with superglue, I’m sure you know what it’s like when you accidentally superglue the wrong things together! I know people who have glued their fingers together! It can make an awful mess! Adultery is like super-gluing the wrong things together—and trying to get them unstuck tears away at the soul and destroys lives.

I’m reminded of the recent scandal of South Carolina’s Governor Mark Sanford—a family-values kind of political leader who disappeared for a weekend, and came back to face what became the very public knowledge of an affair he was having with a woman in Argentina. He is quoted as saying,
“I was frightened and I was scared, and I knew the consequences. This was a whole lot more than a simple affair. This was a love story. A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”
It had started with what he admits were occasions when he “crossed the line” of what was appropriate as a married man. It was eventually fueled by an evening of flirting with this woman. There was an exchange of email addresses, and three years of secret occasional emails. Seven years passed before the relationship became physical. Eventually their emails exposed them. He was torn between not wanting to lose his marriage and not wanting to give up this other woman. He said,
I don’t want to blow up my time in politics. I don’t want to blow up my future earning power. I don’t want to blow up the kids’ lives. I don’t want to blow up 20 years that we’ve invested [in our marriage]. But if I’m completely honest, there are still feelings in the way.”
Apparently, the man is emotionally and sexually connected with this other woman now and it’s like being caught in a web from which you just can’t seem to get free!

Certainly our sex-saturated culture fosters the breaking of this Seventh Commandment. So much advertisement builds upon raw lust. Have you noticed how even the advertisements for M & M’s have gotten sexy lately?! People are looking for love, but settling for sex. We’re surrounded by sexual immorality! Think about the casual sex on college campuses, the aggressive promotion of homosexuality as a lifestyle, and all the sexually provocative material on television and in novels. I’m told that by a ratio of more than ten to one, the couplings on television involve sex outside of marriage. One TV producer explained, “married or celibate characters aren’t as much fun.” And consider the rapidly growing pornography business.

The huge problem with all of this is that they seldom show the consequences of where all this takes people! They don’t deal with the wife who’s been betrayed and devastated by an unfaithful husband. They don’t show the impact it has upon sons and daughters—for years to come and often for generations to come! They don’t reveal the emptiness and loneliness one feels when all the sexual excitement is over and there are no meaningful relationships left in life!

Adultery matters because it’s treason against the family—and God hates adultery because God loves the family! A person who will betray his wife or her husband will betray anyone and anything. The sin of adultery is singled out more than any other illicit sexual behavior because it has to do with unfaithfulness. God is a faithful God and He calls us to be faithful—to Him and to those to whom we commit ourselves in sacred covenant. Adultery violates the trust between a husband and a wife. It breaks the marriage covenant, a promise made before God.

The Old Testament book of Proverbs is amazingly candid about the perils and stupidity of adultery! Listen to these words from the 5th and 6th chapters of Proverbs:
3 The lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. 4 But the result is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. 6 For she does not care about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t even realize where it leads.
7 So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say: 8 Run from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! 9 If you do, you will lose your honor and hand over to merciless people everything you have achieved in life… 15 Drink water from your own well—share your love only with your wife…18 Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
6:27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned? 28 Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? 29 So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished…32 But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool, for he destroys his own soul. 33 Wounds and constant disgrace are his lot. His shame will never be erased. (from Proverbs 5 & 6)

Adultery seriously wounds trust and intimacy—and often destroys them altogether. A woman who is having a secret affair has to become deliberately deceitful. She can’t just come home and spill out the events of her day. She’s got to think, “What can I safely talk about, and what have I got to keep to myself?” So even before infidelity is discovered, it changes who you are and how you relate to your spouse. A person goes from being candid and open to being secretive and guarded.

Adultery leaves the offended partner emotionally wounded and scarred. The one relationship which should have offered trust and security has been breached. The one person he/she should have been able to trust has violated that trust.

And for the believer who has chosen to enter an adulterous relationship and is later repentant, the biggest hurdle is to forgive himself or herself. Experiencing God’s forgiveness is one thing—but forgiving oneself is a whole other story. And the forgiveness of spouse and children and friends and the wider circle of those impacted by the adultery is often elusive. You see, when someone is tempted to commit adultery, the Enemy of our souls deceives us by saying, “No one will ever know…” But the truth is that if I were to commit adultery today against my wife, it would suddenly change everything between us—because adultery would change our relationship. And what is thought to be done in secret more often than not has a way of finding its way into the light—but even if it never does, I would know and God would know…and that changes everything!

So what if you’re not married? Is this message relevant to you? For many of you, it is the framing of your mind and heart for the day when you may be married. This issue is too important to start forming your attitudes and values at that point…we all need a solid foundation of belief in the wisdom and the beauty of God’s ways in each of our lives relating to the matter of marital fidelity and sexual purity!

Some of you aren’t married now and may never be (or may never be again), but you have a responsibility in the context of extended family, friends, the church and the community to honor marriage vows. You must honor other people’s marriages. You must honor the institution of marriage and do everything in your influence to shape and protect the integrity of marriages around you. And in as much as these warnings deal with the larger issue of fornication—sex outside of the marriage bond—you are accountable to be men and women of purity and integrity in keeping sexual relationships for the marriage covenant alone.

For those of you who are married or perhaps are soon to be married, how can you safeguard yourself and your marriage from adultery? If your answer is simply that you’re a Christian, let me tell you that marriages in the church are not immune from the temptation of adultery! There are certainly people hearing my voice right now who have committed adultery in the past 6 months. There are certainly people here who are in an emotional affair with someone other than their spouse right now. There are undoubtedly people in this room who are on the slippery slope and about to wreck your marriage. On any given Sunday morning, there are people sitting in church who only the night before entered the world of pornography or had sex outside of marriage.

And I’ll tell you that it’s been terribly sad to see the incidents of church leaders succumbing to affairs across the years. I’ve got to tell you that it has been heart-breaking for me. I got a call from a dear friend one day telling me that her husband had been caught in an affair, and I have to tell you that, in some ways, it would have been easier to have gotten a call that day that he had died.

What we in the church must be aware of is that sexual sin is never just about sex—it is always connected to the rest of life! It begins in realms that seem innocuous and benign, but one thing leads to another—and by then we’re blind to the reality of our sin! Satan’s a great liar, friends! Most people who attend church who get caught up in affairs would tell you that they never intended to do so—and never saw it as a possibility in their own lives! But one thing led to another…and they found themselves on the slippery slope!

That’s what happened to King David. David got caught when he became captivated by Bathsheba’s beauty and became preoccupied with his desire for her. Being careful of what we see has never been more important than it is today when there are sexual images everywhere we turn! Pornography is so accessible, and the greatest danger of all is the internet, which is the most powerful purveyor of porn in the history of the world. What makes the internet so dangerous is that it is anonymous, accessible and affordable. Anyone with a computer can download pornography in complete privacy. And the stream of sexual material is endless—and on the internet there is always something new, something more provocative. Christians who would never even consider going into an adult book store or renting an X-rated movie are now failing in this area because of the anonymity and easy access to pornography on the internet. And if you’re caught in this trap, you’ve got to get help! Call or email one of the pastoral staff members today! Reach out to a trusted Christian friend and determine to together get help! If you’re caught in the grip of pornography, you are already on the slippery slope toward adultery.

Be honest with yourselves, friends! Acknowledge the subtle beginnings of an emotional affair if such subtleties can be found in your life at all! Listen to your spouse if they become uneasy about your relationship to someone else—don’t become defensive about it! Give Christian friends permission to raise questions and concerns about what they see in your relationships with others that could prove threatening to your marriage! Be mindful of how you dress and how you act when you’re around other people. Honestly, I’ve seen women who practically throw themselves at other men—and grown men who start acting like teenagers in their presence! Do you remember what we just read in Proverbs?—“Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned?” 6:27).

To avoid the pit of failing to live up to the 7th Commandment, we must respect the sanctity of the marriage relationship—in our own marriage and in the marriages of others. We must make a commitment to personal purity and integrity as it relates to the expression of our sexuality. We must give ourselves wholeheartedly to nurturing the relationship with our spouse and commit every day to being faithful to the person to whom we made a vow.

So—what if you’ve already failed? Is it over? Is there no hope? King David blew it, and one thing he did right was admit it. He acknowledged the sin and sought God’s forgiveness. Psalm 51 is his prayer of confession and repentance and his heart-cry for cleansing! He still had to deal with the ramifications of his sin—which were severe—but, in the end, David got it right!

If you’ve broken the 7th Commandment, seek God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of those you’ve wronged. If you’re the offended party, be willing to work toward complete forgiveness so that your marriage can be healed. If you’re on either side of the issue, be willing to get counseling to work your way through this and restore your marriage. Recognize the dangers and pitfalls of what’s happened. If you were diagnosed with a cancerous tumor this week, you’d get yourself to the best oncologist you could find as quickly as you could find him or her. Why would we do less when it comes to something as sacred and significant as our marriages?

When God confronts us with the guilt of adultery or of letting ourselves step onto the slippery slope leading to it, we have a choice. If we keep ignoring our sin and hiding it, we can be sure that it will destroy us in the end. But if we confess it and commit to turn from it, God will have mercy on us! Adultery is not an unforgivable sin. If we confess our sin and commit to turn from it, we can experience the grace and total forgiveness of the Lord. But we need to then hear the words of Jesus, who told the one who had been forgiven, “Go, and sin no more.”

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians—
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life (I Thessalonians 4:3-7, NIV).

Thankfully, God gives grace to sinners who repent of lust and adultery and come to Jesus. But God offers more than just forgiveness. By His Holy Spirit He gives grace in times of temptation—and by the power of His Holy Spirit at work within us, God empowers us to live holy lives that please Him and honor Him—holy lives that bless others, lives of meaning and purpose, lives that foster significant and healthy relationships in every corner of our lives. In short, when we commit to God’s ways, He takes us down the path of abundant living, and that is what I desire for each of you! Praise the Lord!

July 19, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

LIVE AND LET LIVE!
Deuteronomy 5:17

Apparently, some people in America today consider the Ten Commandments dangerous. Put them up at work, or in a classroom, or at the courthouse, and someone will insist that they be taken down. There was a recent cartoon that depicted two public school administrators watching a line of students pass through a metal detector as they entered the school building. “It’s the latest in school safety devices,” one of them explained. “That light and horn go off if a student tries to smuggle in a gun, a knife, a bomb or a copy of the Ten Commandments.”

Which commandments stir the controversy? I suppose most all of them. People have problem with the first commandment that says we aren’t to have any other gods. They don’t share the same opinion as the Fourth Commandment, which commands one day every seven to be a day of rest and worship—so they discredit it. Sexual sin is so tempting and so common that they can’t buy into the seventh commandment regarding adultery.

Perhaps the only commandment everyone still seems to accept is Number Six. No one approves of murder. It’s so contrary to the laws of nature that most every culture has some kind of law against it. But when we look closely at the Sixth Commandment and try to understand its many facets and dimensions, we’d have to agree that it’s not as easy as we first thought it was.

So let’s look at this Sixth Commandment this morning. It’s one of the shortest biblical texts you’ll ever hear from me—but there is a lot to unpack from the four words of Deuteronomy 5:17. Read it with me—
You must not murder. (Deuteronomy 5:17, NLT)
The New International Version of the Bible, as well as several other translations, say, “You shall not murder.” The paraphrase of scripture called The Message simply says, “No murder.” There are actually only two words to this commandment in the original Hebrew language (“lo ratzach”) that we might translate simply, “Don’t kill.”

The foundation for this commandment is in the Creation story, in which God made man in His own image. What makes life so precious is that every human being is made in God’s image. God has put His stamp on every one of us the way a great artist signs his name to a work of art. Therefore, to willfully destroy a life is to deface one of God’s masterpieces. We are to love our neighbor. Our neighbor bears the image of God—so to harm that person in any way is to do violence to the person of God imaged in that person’s soul.

The Sixth Commandment—“You must not murder”—preserves the sanctity of human life. It honors and preserves God’s sovereignty over life and death. Christ is the Lord of life. He is its Author and Inventor, its Ruler and Sustainer. Since He is the Giver of Life, it is also His prerogative to take it, and to do so at His own time and in His own way. The sovereignty of God is always at stake in matters of life and death. Since the day when Cain, in hatred and envy, struck and killed his own brother Abel, murder has splashed its blood into every corner of society. It is considered throughout Scripture and in most all societies as a serious sin. It is listed in the Ten Commandments with the resounding “Thou shalt not!” Only God can give life. And only God has the right to take it away!

It is obvious, though, in the Old Testament, that this was not a prohibition against all killing—only unauthorized killing. So what kind of killing does the Bible have in mind when we’re boldly commanded, “You must not murder”? The Hebrew language has at least eight different words for “killing,” and the one used in this commandment has obviously been chosen carefully. The Hebrew word chosen is never used in the legal system or in the military. There are other Hebrew words for the execution of a death sentence or for the kind of killing a soldier does in combat. Nor is the Hebrew word used in the Sixth Commandment ever used for hunting and killing animals. Murder is clearly what the Sixth Commandment is forbidding.

Murder is the premeditated taking of an innocent life, the deliberate killing of a personal enemy. While the Hebrew word used in the Sixth Commandment can also be used for any form of wrongful death, including involuntary manslaughter or an unintentional, accidental death, Deuteronomy 4:42 instructed the establishment of “Cities of Refuge” to which persons could flee if they find themselves the unintentional cause of someone else’s death. In other words, there was forgiveness and redemption for someone who unintentionally causes the death of another. What the Sixth Commandment forbids is the willful and unjust taking of an innocent human life. “You must not murder.”

God’s people have generally recognized that there are some situations where taking a life is not only permitted, but warranted. One such situation is self-defense—the protection of one’s self and one’s family from violent attack. To extent the principle, we may also kill in the defense of our nation. Those of you who have fought in wars know that war is a horrible thing and we’d all agree that war should be fought rarely—but we must grapple with the reality that war must sometimes be fought to avoid greater horrors.

Some would not agree. After the horrific attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, some people said, “If we kill as a response to this tragedy, we’re no better than the terrorists who attacked us.” They conclude, “Killing is killing, and killing is wrong.” But however one might come to that conclusion, we can’t easily it’s a biblical conclusion. The Bible teaches that it is not unlawful to kill enemies in wartime, provided that the war is just.

Of course, the justice of a war needs to be considered carefully. It seems that there is a clear line between an aggressor nation and one which is fighting to preserve itself or is defending its neighbor. Just as we ought to defend our own family from aggravated attack, so we ought to defend our country. But if we are a nation that goes to war seeking to gain political and social power over others, then we are wrong. If we are seeking to protect ourselves or others, then there seems to be justification for war.

Some people have tried to use this commandment in an attempt to do away with capital punishment. But God Himself set the death penalty for those who violate this very commandment. In Genesis 9:6, we read the words of the Lord, saying,
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” (Genesis 9:6)
Beyond that, Israelite law specifically required taking the life of an enemy during warfare (1 Samuel 15:3). Of course it’s always wrong for us to take the law into our own hands. If justice is to be done, the plaintiff may not serve as the jury, the judge, and the executioner! According to Scripture, capital punishment—when it is justly administered by the governing authorities—is lawful. There may be support for getting rid of capital punishment, but we can’t base it on this commandment.

Some try to use this commandment to say that we should never kill animals. But this commandment in its original language is not forbidding the killing of animals for food and for other practical reasons. In Bible times, animals were killed for sacrifice daily in the Temple. Animals have served as a food source for people throughout the ages. Animals were put here for man’s use and control. We are naturally indignant when we hear reports of senseless cruelty to animals, but those who want to say that animals should not be killed for food will have to find support someplace other than in this commandment. The Hebrew word used in this commandment does not refer to killing animals!

This commandment is clearly to protect the sanctity of human life. The follower of Jesus Christ is not to willfully take the life of another person. Only God gives life, and only He is to take life. Taking another person’s life is a violation of God’s law—His divine plan—for humanity.

But why would this Sixth Commandment need to be emphasized to a civilized nation and particularly to a congregation of people who have gathered in church this morning?

I was surprised in realizing that every church I have served has been hit tragically by a blatant violation of this Sixth Commandment. In San Jose, California, a dear friend of ours in the church, who had a baby born about the same time as our twin daughters were born, was murdered in her own home. In the small town of Galion, Ohio, the guy who ran our sound board for most of our years there—the son of prominent members in our church—was arrested and later convicted on attempted murder charges. When I arrived to pastor the Bedford, Ohio Church, the congregation was still reeling from the reality of one of their dear old saints being murdered by a former prisoner whom she was endeavoring to help. I hadn’t been in Kansas City but six months when a teenager who had sat in our pews weeks before was raped and murdered. Before we left Kansas City, I found myself standing beside one of our dear ladies as she faced a press conference after her mentally-disturbed brother went on a shooting spree, killing three people at a local mall before the police shot and killed him. We’re not untouched by violations of the Sixth Commandment!

The truth is that we are living in what Pope John Paul II rightfully called “a culture of death.” We like to think of America as a civilized country, but we are living in angry, violent times, and murder in all of its forms are all too common. There is such callous disregard for human life. Death is everywhere. The United States ranks first among all civilized countries in the number of murders committed every year. The news covers reports of murders every day. And it’s not just in the obviously dark corners of the cities where it’s happening or in faraway countries in complete turmoil—it’s happening in the nice parts of town, it’s happening in our schools and even in our churches.

Can I tell you something? As I studied and researched for this message this morning, I began to feel like I was dealing with something deeply evil and sinister. And what disturbed me most was the reality that in our culture today we are being drawn into violation of the Sixth Commandment in the most subtle, deceptive ways.

Where does all this violence come from? It comes from evil hearts that have turned away from God. And the rapid spread of this brutality has been accelerated by violence in the media, where seemingly an entire industry promotes the breaking of the Sixth Commandment. According to the American Psychological Association, by the time the average child finishes elementary school, he or she will have watched 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 acts of on-screen violence! Television, movies and video games treat violence as a form of entertainment—and we’re fooling ourselves if we think it’s not impacting the way we live.

Of course, not all forms of murder seem violent. Sometimes death caries a clipboard and wears a lab coat. In a recent book called “Culture of Death,” Wesley Smith argues that “a small but influential group of philosophers and health-care policy makers” actively seek to persuade our culture that “killing is beneficent, suicide is rational, natural death is undignified, and caring properly and compassionately for people who are elderly, prematurely born, disabled, despairing, or dying is a burden that wastes emotional and financial resources.” And I need you to understand that such a position is a direct assault on the biblical view of personhood. It’s this thinking that has convinced many that some lives are less worth living than others, that in fact some lives are not worth living at all. And the result is that abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are increasingly common. In some cases, they are protected by law—but they are still violations of the Sixth Commandment.

Christians have always believed than an unborn child is a person made in the very likeness of God—because it’s what the Bible teaches. The Psalmist wrote these powerful words of praise to God—
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)
Mary’s old cousin Elizabeth spoke of the baby in her womb leaping for joy at the sound of Mary’s voice, knowing that Mary was carrying in her womb the Christ-child. I have never been around an expecting mother who did not acknowledge that the baby she was carrying was already a real person. To kill such an innocent life is a violation of the law of God.

What is true of the unborn is also true of all God’s children. The young and the helpless, the elderly, diseased and disabled—we are all made in the image and likeness of God. Every life is precious in His sight. And it is not our place to discard the life of another.

Let’s talk about euthanasia—the intentional ending of a patient’s life by a physician, usually by lethal injection. God alone is the Lord of life, and He alone has the right to determine when it is time for someone to die. The difficulty is that we now have the medical capacity to keep a body functioning long after that time has come. This raises more ethical questions than we can address this morning. I’m convinced that we do not always have a duty to provide extraordinary measures to keep someone alive. Philip Graham Ryken, in the book Written in Stone, wrote—
There is a legitimate moral distinction between killing and allowing someone who is terminally ill to die. In other words, there is a difference between terminating life—which is never permissible—and terminating treatment—which can be a way of turning life (and thus also death) back over to God. (Philip Graham Ryken)
Then he goes on to say—
But this calls for constant vigilance, because many people (including many health professionals) don’t know the difference, and thus they often cross the line that should never be crossed.

We also need to talk about suicide. I’m told that it’s the 11th leading cause of death in the United States in recent years. I heard this week that Idaho is among the Top Ten states in our country for suicide rates—not exactly something we can be proud of.

Several years ago, in my pastorate in Bedford, Ohio, we had a family connected with our church for whom I did three funerals within 15 months—two young-adult sons and their mother, all the result of suicide. Six years later the father died of what I believe was an intentionally suicidal overdose of alcohol. It was all so tragic. These were intelligent, gifted people. Not only is suicide a violation of God’s law for the protection of life, including our own, but what I’ve observed across the years is that suicide is the cruelest thing a person can do to those who love him or her.

God has not given us the right to kill ourselves. To commit suicide is to claim lordship over our own lives—and while “lordship over our own lives” may sound politically correct and culturally sound, it is not biblical, nor is it the path to God’s best for us. Physician-assisted suicide, in which a doctor becomes an accessory to his patient’s suicide, is especially dangerous, because voluntary euthanasia too easily goes the way of the slippery slide to that which is involuntary. This has happened in the Netherlands, where most of the requests for the so-called “mercy killings” do not come from the patients themselves but from their families, who no longer want to take care of them.

I’ve been reading a novel by Randy Alcorn called Deadline, and came across an interesting statement made by a heavenly being who was helping a newcomer to heaven understand some of the ways of earth. He said,
You come from a world where truth is obscured, shrouded, reinterpreted. The father of lies dominates, and the world order has become built around lies, which are mistaken for truths because the majority believe them, as if the universe were a democracy and truth subject to a vote. Men choose to believe certain things because they find them flattering, comfortable, and popular. But truth is seldom any of these. They choose to disbelieve other things because they are unflattering, uncomfortable, and unpopular. But none of these have any relevance to the question of truth. (Randy Alcorn)
And I thought about the Sixth Commandment, and the subtle yet devastating ways in which it is violated in our world today, and the ways in which the violation of it is sugar-coated and promoted in the media.

Well, I can’t end this message without going to the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount, where He not only validated the Sixth Commandment, but brought new meaning to it. We like to think of the Sixth Commandment as one that few of us have violated, but in Matthew 5, we read the words of Jesus—
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. (Matthew 5:21-22)

Jesus is saying that the commandment covers attitudes as well as actions. We must understand that words can kill. They kill the spirit of others. I’m guessing if we were to go around this room today, and share openly and honestly with one another, we would hear from lots of people how someone’s cruel words killed something deep within them. Jesus is saying that when we put people down, when we call people cruel names, when we whisper about their reputations, or when we make unkind prejudicial statements, we are destroying the lives of those for whom Christ gave His life. Jesus is saying that we must never hurt or destroy others even by our words or our attitudes toward them. Hatred destroys—it destroys us from within; but it also destroys those whom we hate.

As I studied all of this throughout this week, I was reminded that Christ has called His followers to a life of holiness. We’re not to simply not take the life of someone else…we’re called to protect life! We’re called to care for others—even our enemies! It’s a high road—and one that none of us will be able to live out without the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. But Jesus not only died for our sins, He also sent to us the Holy Spirit to abide with us all the days of our lives—our Counselor, our Guide. Oh, how we need His guidance and His strength to discern between right and wrong and to live out the kind of life to which we as followers of Christ have been called!

I’m reminded of the story of the Good Samaritan. You might go back and read it this afternoon—from Luke 10. An expert in the Jewish law had come to Jesus asking what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked the man what the law said, and the man gave him a quick summary of the Ten Commandments—
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
Jesus affirmed the answer, and then the man asked, “And who is my neighbor.” That’s when Jesus broke into the story we know as The Good Samaritan. A man had been robbed and beaten and left to die along the road. A priest and then a religious leader came upon the man, and chose to keep going rather than respond to the man’s needs. But a Samaritan—a man from a group of people that most Jews treated prejudicially—came upon the man, and addressed his physical needs, taking him to where he could be nursed back to health, even taking care of the tab for the man’s recovery. Jesus then made it clear that this man was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers. Then Jesus told the man who had asked him the question to go and do likewise.

In other words, this is what love is—it’s living out the exact opposite of that which would be a violation of the Sixth Commandment! Though we live in a culture of death, we are to be pro-active in protecting life! We are called upon to be the hero of Jesus’ Good Samaritan story—to help those who are not able to help themselves! Love is the oil that smoothes troubled waters. Love is the first Fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives.

I’ll confess that this is the first of the Ten Commandment sermons that I have struggled to cover adequately in one timely message. There’s so much for us to work our way through! There’s so much for us to sort through and to endeavor to see through the eyes of the Lord—rather than merely through the lenses of the culture in which we live. The Lord wants us to rise above our culture. His way has always been a higher road—and it certainly is so when it comes to the Sixth Commandment—You must not murder.

And what if you’re sadly aware this morning that you have violated this commandment in some way? May I remind you of the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord? May I remind you that God not only wants to forgive you—and help you forgive yourself—but the experience of millions throughout the ages is that He has a wonderful way of redeeming our lives and the messes we make of our lives.

Let me close with this. My friend Kathy Cagg is the woman whose mentally-ill brother went on the shooting spree at Ward Parkway Mall in Kansas City just a few years ago—killing three before the police shot and killed him, which was apparently what he was wanting and expecting to have happen. His sister was devastated. Three months later, I got a call from one of the victim’s mother. Her name was Caroline. Caroline explained that her young adult daughter was killed by David Logsdon at the mall, and she had noted from the press release that Kathy was a member of our church. Caroline wanted to meet Kathy, and wondered if I’d be willing to help facilitate it. Kathy was thrilled to do so, but understandably nervous. They met first with me in my office. Interestingly enough, they both brought gifts to one another—Caroline bringing a necklace that had belonged to her daughter. What happened that afternoon and in the months that followed was the establishment of an endearing friendship. Caroline began coming to our church with Kathy. Caroline helped Kathy work through her own anger and fear issues relating to her brother. They found help and encouragement and support in one another—in one of the most redemptive relationships I have ever witnessed.

God’s Word is clear regarding how we are to treat life—our own as well as the lives of others. The stories of the violation of the Sixth Commandment are some of the most tragic, heart-breaking life-stories I have witnessed first-hand in my life. We need to take His Word seriously, because He clearly has our best interest at heart. But when we fail, we also need to know that as long as we have breath, we can seek and find the forgiveness of the God who loves us more than we can begin to imagine.

Dr. Kratzer’s Blog

How many people do you know who are always pessimistic about life? That is called, “stinking thinking.” There is no question that life is tough and we don’t always have answers for what happens in life, but we do have the promises of God.

The Apostle Paul provides a powerful word for people who tend to always look on the pessimistic side of life. His words are found in 2 Corinthians 5:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” What great counsel for those who tend to always look on the dark side of life. We need to focus on the promises-not the problems of life.

Michel De Saint-Pierre once wrote, “An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?” Pessimism can dwarf or limit the effectiveness of a potentially radiant Christian. Did you hear about the young man who once found a two-dollar bill in the road? From that time on he never lifted his eyes from the ground where he was walking. In the course of 40 years, he accumulated 29,516 buttons, 54,172, pins.7 cents in pennies, a bent back and a miserly disposition. He lost the glories of the sunlight, the smiles of friends, the beauties of the flowers and trees, blue skies and all there is in life so worthwhile.

The question for today is: Are we focused on the problems or on the promises? With the Apostle Paul let us fix our eyes on Jesus. He is the Promise of all Promises.

July 12, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS:
GETTING IT RIGHT WITH MOM AND DAD
Deuteronomy 5:16

As we begin, I want to invite you all to stand. You know what’s coming, don’t you? We’re going to all digress for just a moment and sing our little kids’ song about the Ten Commandments—because I want us to have some handle for remembering these most significant and foundational laws which God has laid out for us in order that we can experience the very best in life. So, let’s sing it again…
One—Don’t worship other gods
Two—No graven images
Three—Don’t take God’s name in vain
Four—The Sabbath is for rest
Five—Obey your mom and dad
Six—Don’t ever, ever kill
Seven—Be faithful to your spouse
And (Eight) Don’t Steal
(Nine) Don’t lie
(Ten) Don’t wish for other men’s things!

(1994 Word Publishing Company; words by Gloria Gaither and Shirley Dobson)

We’ve gone through one, two, three and four. Today we’re ready to begin with number five! Join me in reading this commandment as presented in Deuteronomy 5:16 in the New Living Translation of the Bible:
Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God will give you. (Deuteronomy 5:16, NLT)

Now, on the surface of things, most people would say: “Yes, there’s a great commandment for my kids! Give it to ‘em preacher! I sure hope they can live by that one!” It sounds so simple! In fact, our little song translates it “Obey your mom and dad”—and from a child’s perspective, that’s probably about how it gets fleshed out. But I want you to know that this commandment is not just “G-rated.” It’s also for “mature audiences”!

If you haven’t already figured it out, the first four Commandments deal with our relationship with God; the other six deal with our relationships to each other. And it is extremely significant to note that the set of six that deals with our relationships with one another begins by centering in on relationships within the family! That puts the family where it belongs among all our other relationships—at the center! And unless people learn to live together in the family, they aren’t likely to learn to get along with anybody anywhere! And if that statement agitates you, stay with me for a while here—I know it’s not quite that simple! We understand that love for God comes first; but, as Christ summarized for us, we are also to love our neighbor…and it seems pretty logical to conclude that loving our neighbor starts at home.

And so we are instructed to “Honor your father and mother…” The relationship between parent and child is the beginning of all social relationships. The first relationship most every person encounters is the relationship with his or her parents. Our parents are the channel of God’s gift of life to us. No other human relationship is so fundamental in our lives!

And we are to “honor” our mother and our father. The word “honor” is a heavy word—literally! The word is “kaved,” Hebrew for “heavy” or “weighty.” Many kids would gladly declare their parents are “heavy” or “weighty”—I can hear it now! But it’s the response to our parents that is to be “weighty.” It’s the word the Old Testament uses for the glory of God, for the “weightiness” of His divine majesty. To honor one’s parents, then, is to give due weight to their position. It is to give them the recognition they deserve for their God-given authority. To honor is to respect, esteem, value, and prize our father and our mother as gifts from God.

And it is significant for us to note that the commandment calls for honor to be given to both fathers and mothers. I am told that this commandment was without parallel in the ancient world, for while the Old Testament is often considered patriarchal, here the Bible clearly insists that mothers should receive as much honor as fathers. It was unheard of! Then unless a parent is removed by death, every child is expected to honor both a father and a mother. You might also note that God’s plan isn’t for two mothers or two fathers in a family—we are to honor our father and our mother. That’s God’s plan—make no mistake about it.

God’s commandments are clear in that we are to learn to live under authority—and the place that this is first to be learned is in our home growing up. However, there is no indication that one ever “outgrows” this commandment, and there are certainly those who believe that this honoring of parents is foundational for each of us in learning to submit to other authorities in our lives as well.

So—why is it so important for me to honor my father and my mother? There is built into our very social fabric a sense of order and identity that intentionally gives us roots and strength and perspective and discipline. At the heart of that structure is the family, headed by our parents. And acknowledging that God-given order prompts a reverence for parents—a high regard, a respect, an esteem for the older members of each of our families.

Why should children respect their parents? Because life’s just a lot happier at home when they do, right?! Parents deserve to be honored for the many sacrifices they make on behalf of their children. They deserve to be listened to because they have been around a lot longer than their kids! There has to be some benefit to getting old! Parents have a wealth of life experiences—and, interestingly enough, parents often seem to go through a cycle of losing then gaining wisdom:
• When our kids were little, they just naturally turned to Cindy and to me for lots of things. If we had said the moon was made of cheese, they’d have believed us! They assumed we knew most everything!
• When our kids moved into their teen years, they quite naturally began to doubt the wisdom of mom and dad. There were times when they thought us terribly out of touch with the real world! What in the world could such old geezers like us know about their world, anyway?!
• And now that our kids are young adults and getting established in their careers and establishing homes of their own, they’ve actually sought out our advice once or twice! We’re not yet brilliant in their eyes—and will likely never seem as smart as they once thought us—but I get the impression now and then that Cindy and I have perhaps gone through a tremendous transformation and become so much wiser in recent years!
It’s just amazing how parents make such progress!

Sons and daughters should respect their parents because this glorifies God—which is reason enough all by itself. In other words, God is glorified when parents are honored as they should be! It is evidence of a submission to God’s plan for social relationships—all of which begins in the home!

But if children are to obey and honor their parents, then there is a reciprocal obligation on parents as well. If children are supposed to obey their parents, then obviously parents are supposed to give them proper discipline and direction. The New Testament makes this clear when it attaches these words to the Fifth Commandment:
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4, NIV).

Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged (Colossians 3:21, NIV).

When parents place unreasonable demands on their children, when they correct them in anger rather than in love, or when they stunt their growth by stifling their freedom, they abuse their authority. And parents are called upon to give their children many other things besides proper discipline. We are called to pray for them, encourage them, counsel them, protect them, and provide for their daily needs. We are called to set a godly example, for although children don’t always listen to their parents, they never fail to imitate them—you learn that after you teach your kids to drive and they eventually begin to pick up your bad driving habits! (and then they all become back-seat drivers telling you how to drive!) We are called to educate our children, preparing them for life, including the possibility of marriage and parenthood. And if children are commanded to listen to their parents, then we as parents are commanded to teach them the Scriptures and lead them in the worship of God. And such acknowledgements go hand-in-hand with the Fifth Commandment to honor our father and our mothers.

It’s all a matter of getting things started off right—in the home, so that we can get it right elsewhere! We are to honor our father and our mother!

But it isn’t always that simple in real life, is it? Learning God’s plan for the family sometimes brings sadness and disappointment—even anger in some cases—to people who never had a good family background. To put it bluntly: some dads and some moms are jerks! They don’t deserve respect! Being able physiologically to bring a baby into the world doesn’t make their lives honorable!

The longer I live the more amazed I am at how our lives are continually shaped and impacted by our family of origin. How our parents related to us—and, how we relate to them—forever seems to impact our lives! It’s often funny…and sometimes heartbreaking. If our parents let sin rule their lives, we somehow seem to bear the residual effects! Good and bad…we’re impacted tremendously by our family!

So, how does a son or daughter “honor” their father and mother when that father or mother isn’t living an honorable life? If the Fifth Commandment is binding upon us regardless of the home in which we were raised, how is a person to honor a parent who doesn’t seem worthy of respect? Because God clearly puts others in authority over us, we are to treat them with respect and obedience even when they don’t seem to deserve our respect.

The Heidelberg Catechism, of over 400 years ago, clarified the issue in this manner, saying that the Fifth Commandment requires:
That I show honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all who are set in authority over me; that I submit myself with respectful obedience to all their careful instruction and discipline; and that I also bear patiently their failures, since it is God’s will to govern by their hand.
In other words, respect for those who are in authority is respect for God, because all authority comes from Him. Our respect is not based on their personal qualities or their performance as a parent, but on the position God has given them.

Having said that, how does one deal with a parent who has been abusive or indifferent or absent? It’s just not natural at all to “honor” such a parent! It’s not fair! It may not even seem right at all! And yet there are many times and situations when honoring a father or mother calls for us to evidence toward them the same grace and forgiveness God has offered to us.

Please understand that our respect for those God has placed in authority over us never supersedes our ultimate respect for God, our Heavenly Father. The child that is demanded by a parent to do something that is a violation of God’s law is clearly obligated to first and foremost obey the law of God—though we understand that in the intimidating situation of abuse a child is often forced to do that which he or she knows is wrong. Our hearts ache for such children—as I believe the heart of God aches for them…and they surely merit our love and compassion and mercy.

But how does someone obey the Fifth Commandment when simply dealing with a father or mother that is clearly not worthy of respect? Does the lack of such respectability give license for a teenager, for example, to rebel against his or her parents in other ways? Does the lack of such respectability give an adult reason to be indifferent to his or her parents years later? Giving respect and love are clearly demanded, but doing so is certainly not the same as finding the emotional support one hopes to find in their parents—regardless of how old they are!

I know a man whose mother has never merited his respect, but he has been a dutiful son regardless. He has seen that her needs have been met across the years and went regularly to see her in the nursing home where she was cared for in her last few years. It was physically and emotionally stressful for him to do so, but he did it anyway. When she passed away, there was undoubtedly a deep sadness that his mother was never the mother he wished she had been, but he can live with a sense of inward peace now knowing that he was faithful to her and as kind to her as she let him be. He has honored his mother—even though he never received emotional support from her. She was a terrible mother in many ways, but he has chosen to honor her anyway. God provided for that man’s emotional support through other means and helped him to create a loving, nurturing family himself—and he has lived a life worthy of his kids’ respect.

What about the emotional scars and wounds left by a mom or dad unworthy of respect? Let us never forget that our God is the God who heals. He does not want to leave us suffering in our woundedness, but wants to restore emotional health to us. God uses many different means to bring about such healing—and, as His sons and daughters, we have every right to pursue such healing—and certainly God does not want us to live our lives wallowing in such pain and hurt! Even if a parent was absolutely hateful to a son or daughter, healing will not come if we merely return hatred for hatred. As believers in Christ, we are taught to love our enemies—and to respond to evil by doing good. Is there any better place to put this into practice than in the context of family relations?

You see, the Fifth Commandment is not just for kids. This commandment calls for a lifetime of respect and honor given to our parents.
• Yes, it’s clearly for young children in our homes.
• And yes, it’s definitely for teenagers too! Teenagers honor mom and dad when they listen to what their parents are saying, including the warnings about who they choose as friends and where they go and what time they’re going to get home…and honoring mom and dad means listening without rolling their eyes as they’re walking away!
• And the Fifth Commandment is for young adults too—as they transition into adulthood and begin to relate to their parents adult-to-adult. Honoring our parents in our young adult years rightfully brings a new awareness of the value of our parents and the impact they’ve made on our lives and, hopefully a valuing of their seasoned wisdom but also an awareness of their personal weaknesses. While Scripture admonishes men who marry to “leave their father and their mother and cling to their wife,” and while the relationship with our spouse clearly becomes our primary focus of attention, there is still no license to then ignore the Fifth Commandment.
• And the Fifth Commandment is for middle-aged people like me, too, and even for those older than myself whose parents are still living. Honoring our parents means being attentive to them, caring for them as needed, listening to them, calling them, helping them as we’re able, and keeping them enfolded into our lives. It means loving them as we will want our children to love us when we’re older too.

I came to an awareness of my role as a son a few years ago after our kids left home for college. I realized that parents likely think about their kids most every day of their lives—it’s just a mom or dad kind of thing! They’re so much an extension of our own lives! But kids probably don’t as quickly think about their parents every day. They have their lives to live and relationships they’re building—and eventually perhaps a family of their own to give time and energy to. And so, as we’ve begun releasing our kids to live their own lives, I’ve been challenged to become a better son—a son that is more attentive to his parents now that our nest is empty.

And it’s been a good thing for me!—and for Mom and Dad, too, I think. And it’s affirming to hear my parents express their appreciation for my calls to them—and their appreciation in knowing that I’m interested in them! I believe that’s a right response to the Fifth Commandment—even at the age of 53!

By the way, this is the only commandment with a promise:
Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God will give you. (Deuteronomy 5:16, NLT)
God is promising a blessing for those who obey the Fifth Commandment! Here’s a promise for abundant living—a full and meaningful life! So the lesson is clear: one of the important ingredients of a great life is getting things right in your relationship with mom and dad—regardless of what was in the past and regardless of how they “performed” as a parent. God will bless us if we determine to be sons and daughters who love and honor our parents.

Will you embrace and pursue that blessing? Will you honor your mother and your father? God will help you if you determine to pursue this—and He will bless you for being obedient to His will! But also understand that there will be increased heartache in your life if you refuse to do so. May I challenge you to be submissive to God’s Fifth Commandment by honoring your father and your mother—and may you then be marvelously blessed in your own life!

[Prayer:
• thanks to God for our parents;
• ask God to show you what you need to do to honor your parents today;
• tell God about your hurts, disappointments and even anger in response to your parents, if those feelings are present and ask for Christlike love and grace in your response to them;
• ask for his help and healing; seek wisdom to know how to be good sons and daughters

Pastor Casey’s Blog

“I Love You More”

These words are very familiar to me while I was growing up. My mother and sister and I would tell the other we love them, only to have the person respond by saying, “I love you more”. This past weekend Alyssa and I were privileged to get the chance to go to Honolulu, Hawaii for my sisters wedding. Savannah, my sister, had asked me back in January, when they became engaged to perform the ceremony. You can imagine how excited I was when I heard that the wedding would be in Hawaii. Especially since I had never been there before! The few days that I was there were spent with family and friends, lying on the beach, shopping in little stores, and eating at local Hawaiian restaurants. It was amazing to swim in an ocean that was not freezing cold like the Washington and Oregon beaches I grew up visiting.

So after a day and a half of tanning and boogie boarding, it was time for business, the wedding we had been waiting for.
The family went down to the beach where Savannah and Scott had picked their perfect wedding site. Once pictures were done, it was game time.
I stood with my back to the ocean and the sunset to my left as I watched Scott walk his mother and father down the beach as the waves came up to our feet.
Followed by two sets of groomsmen and bridesmaids, it was the moment I had been waiting for. My sister with her beautiful white dress and matching white lei then walked through the sand with my mother escorting her. The look on my sister and Scott’s face was priceless.

Savannah and Scott informed me prior to the ceremony that they had written their own vows and would share them when I told them too.
Scott told Savannah in his vow that he remembered always fighting over who loved the other more whenever they said goodbye. Then he told her that when he tells her he loves her more, he doesn’t mean he loves her more than she loves him. He means to say that he loves her even more than the last time he told her he loved her and that his love for her grows more and more each day.

Can we actually tell God, “I love you more”? I know that we cannot possibly love God more than He loves us. But like Scott’s vow, we can continue to love God more than we ever have each day. Our love for God can grow more and more with every breath and with every day of our lives. How can we SHOW God we love Him more than we ever have? By saying, “I love you” on Sunday and then saying it again a week later? What if we try something a little more meaningful than that? If you consider Jesus your best friend, you want to spend time with him, not just when we want something, that’s not what a best friend is for. As we spend more time with God in prayer, in reading our Bible, and in community with other believers, our love for God will continue to grow. Do you love God more? Can you prove it?

Pastor Casey
Children’s Pastor

July 5, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT SUNDAYS?
Deuteronomy 5:12-15

 

It’s so good to be back with you this morning…

As we continue in this series on the Ten Commandments, let’s begin by reminding ourselves of all Ten of them by singing the little ditty the kids taught us a few weeks ago:
One—Don’t worship other gods
Two—No graven images
Three—Don’t take God’s name in vain
Four—The Sabbath is for rest
Five—Obey your mom and dad
Six—Don’t ever, ever kill
Seven—Be faithful to your spouse
(8) And don’t steal, (9) don’t lie, (10) don’t wish for other people’s things!

This morning we center in on Commandment Four. Let’s turn to our Bibles to read it.
12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the LORD your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15, NLT)

I remember when all the stores were closed on Sundays—nothing was open. Growing up, my family would go to Sunday School and Church Sunday morning, go home for dinner and for maybe some quiet play-time with a friend, then back to church for the youth service and then the Sunday evening service. My family didn’t eat out often, but we didn’t think about eating out on Sundays. We also wouldn’t get the Sunday paper—because we’d been taught not to read secular literature on Sundays—it would distract us from the true purpose of the Sabbath. I think TV was generally held off until after church Sunday nights.

I was a seminary student working at a shoe store in Kansas City when the city voted to repeal what they called “The Blue Law.” The Blue Law stated that only businesses considered essential could be open on Sundays—and I recall that our store manager was so excited about getting rid of the Blue Law so that they could keep the shoe store open on Sundays. It struck me at the time as being purely motivated by greed—I figured people could only buy so many pairs of shoes anyway, so couldn’t figure the necessity of a shoe store being open on Sundays.

Now…it seems like for most people Sunday is a day like every other—except that most people don’t go to their places of work on Sundays and so it leaves them more time for golf, fishing, camping, and watching sports on TV. Even for some in the Christian community, Sunday is seen as a “family day”—a “family day” that often takes precedence over gathering with other believers to worship. Restaurants thrive on Sundays, as Christians flood the best eating places—and I’ll confess that Cindy and I are often among those eating out. Sundays can be busy days at malls and department stores and amusement parks. We know that there’s a commandment somewhere about “the Sabbath,” but we’re not sure it applies here and now. After all, what’s so special about Sunday?

God’s Word instructs us to set apart one day a week as a holy day—unlike all the others. It is “a day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.” It is not to be a work day like all the others. It is one day among every seven set apart for the purpose of re-centering our lives around our Creator God, our Redeemer, our Lord.

We may have heard a lot in the past about all the things we aren’t suppose to do on the Sabbath, but let’s start with what we are to do. This commandment is not about a kill-joy God wanting to remove any hint of pleasure from our lives at least one day of the week. Rather, it’s about God building into the rhythm of our lives one day a week when our lives are recalibrated to be focused on Him all week long. This is about submitting ourselves to God’s plan—trusting that He loves us deeply and knows what we need. Just as God rested after His seven days of creative work, the Israelites were called upon to remember the Sabbath because the Lord had brought them out of Egyptian slavery, thus delivering them from their bondage.

Have you ever wondered why God rested after the six days of Creation? Was He tired? Did it wear Him out? Does God tucker out at the end of the week like we do? No, the reason God rested had nothing to do with fatigue. After the 6th day of Creation, the heavens and the earth were complete and perfect. God sat back on the seventh day to appreciate the finished results of His creation. The purpose of the Sabbath was to give the Israelites—and us!—time to reflect, not on our own works, but on God’s. God provides refreshment to our whole beings when we are reminded again that our physical needs were supplied and are supplied not by our own efforts, but by the God who created the universe and who gave us life.

You may already know that the Ten Commandments were first given to the people of Israel after their deliverance from slavery. God had called Moses to meet with Him up on the mountain, and Moses returned with the tablets of stone, with the Ten Commandments etched upon those stone tablets by the hand of God. This is recorded in Exodus, chapter 20. In Exodus, Moses focused on reflecting on the God of Creation on the Sabbath.

Where I’ve chosen to read the Ten Commandments from comes from a scene later in Moses’ life. In Deuteronomy, the focus was on God the Deliverer. Moses was near the end of his life, and was getting ready to turn the leadership of the people of Israel over to Joshua. The Deuteronomy, chapter 5, recitation of the Ten Commandments was his reminder to the people of that which is so very important. By then they experienced more of life, and thus he gives a broader reasoning for observing the Sabbath. Here Moses is teaching the Israelites that what was true of Creation is also true of redemption. Just as the spoken Word of God made possible physical life in Creation, it also became the means through which God had met the Israelites’ needs. God had spoken the Word and the people had been delivered from their slavery and given a new lease on life. All the feasts they were called to observe were other reminders of God’s redemption of their lives. And so the Sabbath is a time to reflect on God’s work in our lives.

One of the remarkable blessings of a Christian is the acknowledgement of God’s deliverance in our lives. While I’m guessing that none of us has experienced deliverance from slavery in a literal way, when we came to Christ and received His forgiveness, we were set free from the bondage to our own sin and guilt. He has forgiven us! And we are never to forget it! Setting aside the Sabbath day as a holy day, dedicated to the Lord, is one of the important ways in which we keep that deliverance fresh in our minds and keep our lives centered on the Christ who provided forgiveness for us!

We believe that God changes lives! He delivers sinners from the entrapment of their sin! He takes away our guilt, and grants us the peace of forgiveness! For some of us, that deliverance is more dramatic than for others. We’ve been hearing testimonies from people on Sunday evening’s Prayer and Praise time—and it really has become great cause for praise. All around us are tremendous examples of God’s deliverance—and much of what the Sabbath is to be about is building into our lives a day a week to center ourselves around the God who has delivered us!

I suppose an obvious question relating to observing the Sabbath is why we now do that on Sunday—the first day of the week. Didn’t God rest on the last day of the week—Saturday? Isn’t that the Jewish Sabbath? Yes—those things are true. But in the New Testament, the ritual elements of the Jewish Sabbath are superseded by the work of Christ. It was on the first day of the week that Christ rose from the dead. The early Christians found themselves drawn to worship on that day, focusing on the new life made possible by the Resurrection of Jesus. We refer to it as “The Lord’s Day.” Our Sabbath has moved from the last day of the week to the first day of week, commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord and the new creation that comes into our lives by faith in Him. While in Exodus, the focus was on the God of Creation, and in Deuteronomy, the God of Deliverance, in the New Testament, Christ has taken the stage as the ultimate Redeemer. But still, the Sabbath is a time we are to build into our lives when we slow down from everything else in order to re-center our lives around God and our dependence upon Him. We need that—and God knew it all along!

Unashamedly, Moses tried to spell out what making the Sabbath a holy day would mean for us—in terms of what we aren’t to do on those days. Let me pick up reading halfway through Deuteronomy 5:14—
On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. (Deuteronomy 5:14, NLT)

Get the picture? And again, if you have problems with this, talk with God—don’t fuss at me! I didn’t write this! But God did—because He knows us and knows what we need. Our Sabbath—Sunday—is to be a day of rest dedicated to the Lord! We’re not supposed to work on Sundays like we do every other day. We’re not supposed to force our family to work on Sunday—or those who may be employed by us! We’re not even supposed to make our animals work on Sundays! Your dog’s not even supposed to work on Sunday!

Now, when we read through the Bible, we get the idea pretty quickly that, almost immediately, it became a struggle to maintain the Sabbath as a holy day—so what we’re experiencing in our culture now is really nothing new. It’s certainly not a new battle. The Jews, in an effort to clarify what was work and what wasn’t and what was allowed on the Sabbath and what wasn’t, developed 39 classifications of work. They made seemingly endless lists of rules regarding what was not permitted on the Sabbath. By the time of Jesus, the original intent of the Sabbath had been completely distorted, and the Sabbath had become a burden rather than a blessing.

You may recall the scene when Jesus went through the grain fields with His disciples on the Sabbath day. They were hungry and the disciples began to pluck grain and eat it. It was the perfectly logical thing to do! When the Pharisees—the rigid law-keepers among the Jews—saw Jesus and His disciples plucking the grain and eating it, they were astounded! They publicly condemned Jesus, saying, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” Jesus responded, saying,
“Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:25-28, NIV)

Although Jesus came to fulfill the law and not to destroy it, His statement that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” removed the law forever from the unwholesome restrictions of the Pharisees. Our keeping of Sunday is not an observance of the 7th day but of the first, as in the nature of a new commandment based on a new covenant. Nevertheless, it fulfills the old commandment. The principle—the importance of setting aside a day of rest to reflect on God’s glorious work and our dependence upon Him—remains the same.

But make no mistake about it, Sunday—our Sabbath—is not to be like any other day in our week! It is to be “a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God.” We, even in the Christian world, have too easily turned it into a day that’s all about us! Imagine! Us turning something God designed to be centered around Him into that which seems to center around us!—in yet another realm of our lives! The Sabbath is to be a holy day, set aside to remember our Creator God, to recalibrate all of the rest of the days of the week to be centered again around Him—our Deliverer!

We have tended to make Sunday a day of recreation—which, in the literal sense of the word, is a day to “recreate” ourselves, to be renewed and refreshed ourselves. God wants to refresh us, but He wants to accomplish that in a deeper way than we can accomplish when we’re merely focusing on ourselves. He wants to refresh us and renew us by centering on Him, and as we renew our faith and trust in Him.

I know—it’s pretty daring to say such a thing when you’re living in a recreation haven like Idaho! And on the 4th of July weekend, no less—when many are out camping in the mountains and the lakes. But I must tell you that any observance of the Sabbath that minimizes our focus on God seems to violate the Fourth Commandment. Our tendency is to worship the created rather than the Creator. And there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the beauty of the earth God created—and Idaho has a lot of natural, God-given beauty to enjoy! But we must be careful not to worship the created rather than the Creator!

All through Scripture, God has called His people to come together to worship Him. It’s so appropriate that we come together as fellow believers to worship Him on Sundays, the day of the week we’re instructed in His Word to pull away from our regular routines and demands and to center on Him. What Christians have been doing on Sundays throughout the ages is a good thing! Let’s not abandon it! It is one of the significant ways in which we live out the Ten Commandments! God has called us to set aside this day as a day dedicated to Him—and that’s exactly what we do when we come together to worship Him! God knows how much we need to do this—and that we need to do it weekly!

Now, let me address a fair question—a matter of great concern to some. What about those who have to work on the Sabbath? Our daughter Krista is a pediatric nurse at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boise. Kids are still sick and in the hospital on Sundays—that’s just the way it is. And, if you’ll forgive me for saying so, one of the most demanding days of my week is Sundays! (I know…there are those who think I only work one day of the week, so what’s the big deal!…but I’ll assure you that’s not the case!) And while some may have discretion as to whether or not they work on Sundays, there are certainly those who do not—and it becomes a challenge, because, as humans, we still have the need for all of what God has designed for the Sabbath to be in our lives.

I believe that Christians who have to work on Sundays have a spiritual obligation and a human need to build into their lives another day that addresses that need. Mine has always been Mondays. If you call the church office on Mondays, you’ll find that I’m not here. I work hard Tuesday through Sunday, and I need one day a week when I can slow down from the pace of life to re-center my life on the Lord. Sundays are a time of worship for me—and even when I’m on vacation I do everything I can to gather with other believers for worship. But in my humanness, I need a day of reprieve from my ongoing responsibilities—and that’s why I have throughout my years of ministry religiously observed Monday as a day off. Those who work on Sundays must carve out ways to accomplish the same. It’s not so much that God demands it—though He does; it’s that God commands it because He, our Creator, knows what we need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ—we cannot ignore this commandment. And make no mistake about it: it is a commandment, not a suggestion! It’s right up there with not worshipping any other gods and with not murdering. It’s one of the Top Ten! We aren’t allowed to pick and choose from those, or to edit it according to what we think we need. If we ignore it, if we treat it casually, if we pick and choose which Sundays we’re going to observe as Sabbaths and which we’re going to ignore, then there are consequences, because God knows what we need. If we ignore the worship dimension of the Sabbath—the re-calibrating our lives around God once a week—there are no doubt spiritual consequences. People find themselves on the slippery slide away from whole-hearted devotion to God. They become lukewarm…then cold to the things of God. They become distracted by other things in life, and ultimately may walk away from God altogether. We need to gather with the people of God to celebrate God’s mighty acts and to recommit ourselves to Him within the Body of Christ, the community of faith we call the Church.

There’s also the physical/emotional consequences, for God created us in such a way that we must maintain a certain rhythm to life—a rhythm of work and rest, and a rhythm of worship in the midst of our ongoing demands of life. I teach a masters-level course for pastors every couple of years at Mount Vernon Nazarene University, and one of the premises of the class is our need for balance and a healthy sense of rhythm in our personal lives—even as pastors.

So what’s so special about Sundays? It’s a God-ordained day of rest in our week, set apart as a holy day, dedicated to the Lord our God. It is not to be a day of work. We’ve got six other days to get that done. It’s a day to rest from our work and to center on the Lord.

What should you do or not do on the Sabbath? While I’m not going to specify all of what they mean in your life, suffice it to say that I believe it’s a day you need to make every effort to gather to worship with other believers. Make it a high priority to be in worship on the Sabbath! And then don’t just go home and make the day like any other—get your work done on the other days so that on Sunday you can quiet your soul and your mind and your body. Give yourself permission to take a nap this afternoon if you want to! Don’t schedule Sunday like every other day! Be mindful when what you choose to do impacts how others may or may not be able to remember the Sabbath. Seek the heart and mind of God for your life and for your home. And may the Lord bless our lives as we submit ourselves to this commandment and as we seek, above all other things, His blessing in our lives.

Pastor Paul’s Blog

The other day I was working out in the yard when I was bothered by something in my eye. I walked inside and began looking intently into the mirror to see if I could discover what it was. It seemed like I was there for a while, in reality it was probably only a matter of seconds, but when I began to pull my face away from the mirror I was startled by a mosquito that had taken up residence on my cheek. I quickly swatted it away. I couldn’t believe that I’d stood there for so long peering into the mirror and didn’t notice this blood sucking insect on my face. I was too intent on the annoyance in my eye.

I must confess that this has happened more than once in my spiritual journey. I’ve concerned myself so much with an annoyance which makes me uncomfortable, such as my preference for worship or how I think the Lord should solve a problem, that I’ve not noticed the devil himself launching an attack on my soul.    I Peter 5:8 tells us that he “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I think part of the problem is that we, in our humanness don’t see ourselves as God does. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 13:12 that “we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror.” Only God himself can reveal to us those things in our heart and life that need attention. The Psalmist writes in Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Lord, help me when I get distracted in my spiritual journey, by temporal things, to look to you, the author and perfecter of my faith, that you may shine your light of love on my soul revealing those thoughts, attitudes and actions which are not pleasing to you.