There is probably more Scripture about lying than any other sin other than greed – and they do go hand in hand more often than not.  The first lie is in the Garden when Satan causes Eve to question the goodness of God.  In fact, in John 8:44 it says that Satan is the Father of Lies.  It is the one thing he does – the only thing he does in fact.  He lies. Scott Peck says that the source of all lies is fear and the primary motive of the cover-up is fear.   The central characteristic of the liar is the willingness to sacrifice everyone for their cover-up.…

A couple of things have happened this week that started me thinking about Caleb. The first was an email conversation with a young friend. In last week’s blog I had quoted a poem by Wendell Berry that said: “So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it.” My friend had coffee with one of his friends and part of the exchange sounded like, “That’s all well and good but not for those of us who live in the real world. Those options are not open to…

So, here we are at the final commandmentry. Do not covet. The commandment has been used to describe a number of sins and faults and I would like to describe it this morning as the sin that comes at the end of a process – and not something that is sometimes spontaneous like murder or lying or even adultery. There is something about covetousness that reflects intentionality and meditation. In fact, as we’ll see when we look at Micah that is exactly how God describes it. But first let’s look at two things that are often described as coveting – but are not. Neither of these involve other people, really.…

1.  You have probably heard this: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among them are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. There are some things that we hold as self-evident which means you need no proof for them. They are accepted by all people at all times as true. All we need to do is affirm them – but not prove them. In the same way, you would expect a number of the commandments – like do not steal – to be self-evident. After all, don’t we just know that…

1.  Now we come to the seventh commandment: you will not commit adultery. In a sense adultery is a combination of all the sins that follow. It is theft in that it involves the taking of something is not ours. It is covetousness in that it is desiring something belonging to someone else and it always involves a lie. That is why it comes after murder – it is a type of murder. The murder of fidelity and a sacred relationship. There are a number of words for sexual sin in Scripture and let’s look at those individually. First, there is porneia or what we call fornication. Several times Paul…

1.  Last week we looked at the fifth commandment – honor your mother and father – and pointed out that the first four commandments are about who God is and our relationship with him. The fifth commandment is then about the next most important relationship in our lives – that with our parents. That relationship is the root of all our other relationships in life. The sixth commandment begins a series of commandments about our relationship with others – but in a way it begins with the first family and the almost immediate effect of sin – the murder of Abel by Cain. No sooner had they lost paradise than…

1.  We’ve come to the fifth commandment this morning. First, God gives the four commandments that focus on the nature of God and our relationship with him. Now the fifth commandment that comes directly after that. What is the nature of our relationship with our family? It’s almost as important as our relationship with God. After the fifth commandment will be the description of our behavior within a broader community or tribe but this relationship – family – is central to our lives and the life of our community. That is why it follows immediately after the first set of commandments. There can be no society without strong families and…

1.  Steven Covey coined a phrase, “Begin with the end in mind” and I think that applies to the Sabbath this morning. What was in God’s mind when he spoke to the children of Israel about a day of rest? Was there something more than a day of rest in His mind? I think there was. I think that end is to be found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians 2:8: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” I think it was through…

1.  Douglas Taylor-Weiss, a conservative Episcopal priest years ago developed a list of what an observer of our culture might identify as our functional ten commandments: 1. Have a good day 2. Shop 3. Eliminate pain 4. Be up-to-date 5. Relax 6. Express yourself 7. Have a happy family 8. Be entertaining 9. Be entertained 10. Buy entertainment. In other words, live a fairly empty and superficial life. In a way, that is the target of the prohibition in this third commandment. Growing up, I thought this commandment was about using profanity – and a particular kind of profanity. It was concerned with using the name of God, Jesus or…

1.  The commandment recognizes that we were created to worship – to find a god – and that will either be toward the true God or to a worthless substitute. We cannot be neutral. We cannot turn off the “worship gene”. It is permanent and the only choice is to whom or what we direct it and how that either makes us mature or destroys us. 2.  The second and always unpopular fact of any discussion of idolatry is our primary relationship with God. He says he is a “jealous” God and we take that to mean He has moods or is insecure about our love for Him. The word…