Sermons Preached by the Rev. Raymond Shaheen, P.P.
Year 1978
April 2, 1978
April 9, 1978
April 16, 1978
April 23, 1978
April 30, 1978
May 7, 1978
May 14, 1978
May 22, 1978
May 28, 1978
SERMON TITLE
"NO OTHER GODS"
"TO LOSE THIS SENSE OF
REVERENCE"
"HALO-FOR A DAY"
"AS GOD'S AGENTS"
'THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE'
"THE GREATEST THIEF"
"A LIE IS A LIE"
"TO BE CONTENT"
TEXT
Exodus 20:1
Exodus 20?7
Exodus 20:8
Exodus 20:12
Exodus 20:13
'SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER/SISTER Exodus 20:14
Exodus 20:15
Exodus 20:16
Exodus 20:17
(Prepared by Sheila Fisher 2/1/2012)
The Seats'^ -r..-.. ; -y^;, ..-
.,;. - ■-, r- « - - -
i ' ;•:'. ■ :; "■• ■ '■''' •■
(First la s Series of Seraons Based on The
Zee Commandmenta)
Father sad from Hia Sea Jeeee Christ,
W
^
Presumably as delightful and surely as successful as any musical that
began in the National Theatre, then asovad on to Broadway and international
acclaim is FidjLerJ^XheJRoof . Many recollections will eons quickly to your
raond. As charming as any, of course, is whoa Tevya asks his wife whether she
loves hira or not. And then she replies in sich superb fashion by detailing the
thiags that she's fen?, day by day, throughout tedious monotony, perhaps, of
twenty-fiv* irs, Aad then it occurs to bin - - she loves him!
I suggest to you that again and again ;/ou and 1 must appreciate, with a
pristine quality, £fe basic teachings of the Christian faith, They as al
there, but pou and I -mist discover thesa anew for ourselves., And only as we
discover then, by whatever route it may be, w:.ll we begiu to appreciate who Sod
is, what ; a like, aid how He deals with us •• -• - to that extent we may find
as we have sever found again, or before, the p-irpose for our living, It f s is
that spirit that I come to this sacred den- today, to introduce a aeri< ' ysr-
s^as that 13J deel with the Tan rnimwniTiMiim
The Zee Coanandaents have always been there, but let as say it to you as
strongly at I can every generation has to interpret and reinterpret the
8 for themselves. Thay ere not siaply to be accepted as something
that's been handed down. As worthy *a that may he of e
eoaehov In our crcra experience we en La duty bovi.: .::. [5,-y,
'■ 1st me rea it for you as it appears : 1 ,-. ■ .., id . K&.
"Ho Other 3 te'
"lad Goi ike all thase words , saying,
' your God, who brought yea out of the laud of
tj oat of the house of bondage*
'You shall have wo other god® before sse,.
"You shall, not make yourself a gntvea image, or any likeness
of anything that is In heaven above* or that is in the earth be-
neath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow
down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God ass a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to
the third end the fourth generation of those who bate sse, but
showing steadfast love to thousands of those whs love me and keep
ray commandments .
'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for
the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes ais name in vain.
'Remember the sabbath day* to keep it holy. Sis days you shall
labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day 1b a sabbath to
the Lord your God; In it you shell net do any work, you, or your
son; or your daughter, your manservant, or your m&id-ssrvant, or
your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for is sis
« the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, aid all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the
sabbath day and halloaed it.
f Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long
the land which the Lord your God gives you,
*You shall not kill*
•Too shall not commit adultery.
Pou shall act steal*
'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
I rat nhall not covet your neighbors house; ye* shall not covet
your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his
ex, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's,"
Mow when all the people perceived the thunderiugs and the light-
nings and the sound of the trumpet end theottrntain sacking, the
psaople were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, and said
to Moses* 'You apeak to us, and we will hear: but let not God apeak
to us, lest we die.' And Hoses said to the people , 'Do not fear;
for God has corns to prove you, and that the fear of him may be
before your eyes, that you taay not sin.'"
What your reaction may be to this series of semens X*m not quite certain.
And X esa*t find myself saying to you I don't much care what your reaction aay
be. Frankly, I do care. And I place such a high value upon this series that
I wouldn't take ten weeks, a sizeable chunk out of the year, to invite your
attention again and again to the general theme of the Ten Commandments, as we
consider each Commandment in turn.
I'm fully aware of the fact, of course I ass, sad yon ka<&*? that I an —
"Hs 0*:b.sv ;-©dt'* ••- 3
aware of the fact that our*) is a generatioa that doera't much care for dis-
cipline, We have a generation ca oar bandc that's always saying, "Give ate
freedom let ate do uy own thing - - I want to be stsf "«..... a generation on
our hands that cries out against restraint, that has no appreciatioa whatsoever
tor discipline . I as: fully aware of the fact that Sunday after Sunday when, we
deal with these Tea Commandments we'll be talking about a "Thou shalt not - ~ '
or a "Thou shalt - - " in which the authoritative tcs^e of tehees down
through the corridors of time, telling us what Be expects us to do and what Be
believes & true follower of His would not do,
There is an ancient fable of a spider who descended one day by the slender
thread he had spun our. of his body from the dark rafter in thtg barn which was
'hie hoias. On the lower level he built his w<£b„ and before long grew sleets and
;v ;-::■' •• Like many human ball gi beeem forgetful. One day o& he moved
efficiently about his web, he was irritated to discover that slender filament
which rose vertically from his web and disappeared into Che darkness beyond.
As he looked at it and mused, he said to himself? "Why, that thread catches no
flies! Of what earthly use can it be'?' 1 ' . . . end so speaking, be extended the
crooked claw and severed the thread ........ whereupon* as you well know, the
whole web collapsed.
Paul Althouse, a voice of God raised by God to npeak to the people of his
native Germany «e they lifted themselves out of the jrubble, proclaimed the good
news of God in a series of sermons based upon the Tea Commandments =. As ha began
that series of sermons he gave them to understand In no uncertain way that the
rubble was there, and their hopes that they had placed in one man had been
destroyed — the Reich that was to go on for a thousand year* just wasn't these.
And he said it happened because "We lost our link with the eternal - - we
severed that tJ read that unites us with God."
I Co not clalsa to have any prophet f e blood coureing through my wins,
but as I come to you today and as I shall coise to you Sunday after Sunday b
the grace of God* I stay strika that note, with you, at ±t could be that ua~
lees today and in our time, unl ess we establish anew an appreciation for our
link with God, our world too could collapse . This I most certainly believe.
What is religion you remember it frcra your Latin, don't you? — -
religic, rellgionis — it mases to be held to or to told on to something, to
to* bound by something. And God has His hold on us. God binds us to Bita by
His laws. God binds us to Him by His rules and by Els regulations •— they are
Ten Commandments , mark you — not tan suggestions — not ten options. But be-
cause He loves us He calls them comman dmenta. ..... -noa for His sake hot for our
good. He is our Heavenly Father who knows how we must be dealt with*
Bid you know that Aristotle had such a thing which he called "The Doctrine
of Habituation"? Now bear with me as I try to describe it for you — the Doc-
trine of Habituation. He argued, as I understand* that there is a time when
,s not possible to give a child freedom. It is net that the child is bad.
If is that at the stage of childhood the child has net the wisdom of experi-
ence, the ability to take the long view end to calculate the consequences which
freedom demands! We have, therefore, at this stage • to submit the child to
discipline, to control him, so that the child develops the habit of doing the
right thing.
Listen to this simple observation: you only learn to play the flute hy
practicising playing the flute according to the laws of flute-playing, ttm
only learn to be good by practicising goodness under the disciplines and some-
times even the punishment of the laws of goodness. There is a stage at which
tha child has to be habituated, and even cojsgelled, into goodness — only after
he has reached stage of habituation is it possible to treat hie with freedom.
"No Other Gods" -5
j our Ha . -.- i ...:.•:;., God's b trying to get that through to
us from the very beginning, And if X wera ., y the isagery of the Pennsyl-
vania Buteh to the mind : - God, I could haar him say to us, "Why are you so
long so dumb, eo short ao smart?" - — ■ "I have beer* telling you these thing
all along the line, eves from the very beginning. ...... "
...think of :he Garden of Eden — how idyllic the imagery is
that comes immediately to your mind — the Garden of Eden —
and even in [ha Garden of Eden — God. the Creator of the world
says to man t ut a Heavenly Father: "This Is a no-no — enjoy S
make the most of it, but this is something you shall not do.
..•and having endowed se with the freedom of obclce^ God Himself has His
moments when He stands back sad ea»» what damned fools we cert rtfee of ourselves.
God, if we may apply the flgare of speech to Bin, atanda thara and wrings
Hie bands and bows His head wnd cries out sorely - -• - "Rhea - - when, will they
ever leera?" To keep us froit tripping ourselves up, and out of love, authori-
tatively speaking, He says, "These are the rules."
I am a regular raadar of a Roman Catholic publication called "Ou r. Sunday
V^itorJ' A man, I think by She name of Jim Laagdon, has a column which I read
avidly, Some time ago he was reminiscing as to what his life was like, before
he became & column writer. He had an interesting position with a certain com-
pany that manufactured games, snd his responsibility was to write tha rules for
the gamas. Somebody would daaign the game, somebody would contrive it in bis
mind, and then thay would manufacture it. But before it went on tha markat
thay had to determine how the game can be best played.
<■«»=,, -and he'd experiment. And he'd sot down ec-.rtain rules.- ted than ha*d in 1 I :
some of his friends into his office or his studio and he'd, tell than about the
game, and he'd watch them play it..... and as he observed them and aaw the mis-
takes thay made, he'd benefit by that and write them into tte tolas eventually ,
as the game went oa the shelf in the store.
And then sometimes ke f d iavite some of Ms friends into his home and he'd
tell them about the game, and thea he'd say, "Here, I'd like you to play it.
Let*© see how it goes. Tell ana what yea thick of it." And there would be al-
ways those who would say, "Well, where are the rules'?" - - - and he'd discover
that when they played by the rules they were happy aid thoroughly enjoyed the
gase. But on occasion he'd have some folks who'd completely disregard the fules
— he'd say, "Here they are*" But they'd say, "No, we're going to try it with-
out the rules..... we* re going to play It our way." And inevitably he'd discover
that when people did £t that way, they because bored, they didn't e&joy it, aad
sometimes became very, very angry.
I'm reluctant to say it to you, but give me the liberty for the moment: God
is like a ssaker-of-gas&ss . . .
...now let sss say quickly, God is the giver of life, He knows how
it's to be played. .. .He knows the way to achieve success. He knows
hot? we can make the most of the experience. Whan we don't . . . .
I used to hear people say something about breaking the Tea Commandments.
I'm not sure that's the way to put it. You don't br&ak the Tea Commandments.
This is what happens: when you don't obey them, they break vou! Life itself
Now the first Commandment:
"I a s the Lord thy God. You shall have no other gods before m e."
Man is always the god-maker, you know that. We're always enthroning southing,
or someone. There is always something that we worship, I'm not going to take
your time nor spend my energy in talking to you about the gods we worship. God
knows we'll do it. God knows we'll always place a high value on something or
soaeeae. And so at the very beginning, to spare us a lot of mistakes., He says,
"I ass the Lord your God. Kaae me first."
Il^^fjTAgrJtgjte'' " 7
You know how this whale business of believing in God began, surely
do. Historically there was poly-theisna. Man who believes in God believed
* a ^sany gods. He had a god for almost anything, you same it. Then he advances
to a certain stage in bis religious experience where he had a national god, a
god that belonged particularly to his own people, to his own tribe. And this
was one god of m any (tods. His god was not the only god* but his god but his
god existed alongside oi? other gods, soae good, some bad.
And then you had this exceedingly precious sECEw;nt in history when Moses
codifies the law. And Gsd talks in terms to His own children of only one God.
And that's how monotheism became part of the picture. You can't divide your
loyalties ; even when you think in terms of God., And in language that we sight
understand even to the wad of tiras, Jehovah says, "I am a jealous God! 1 wo^t
allow you to afford to share me, because there is none like our God"— the God
who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How I'm reminded, Soatby once wrote & poem. Ee tells a£ the abbot in the
monastery who put a ball on a dangerous rock to warn incoming vessels. A roving
pirate eace sacked the town and cast the bell into the ssa. Years later, as the
story goes, on a wild and stormy night, this same pirate tried to steer his way
into the harbor, but he listened in vain for the bell on the rock which would
have given him his bearings. And he and his ship went down to asx ocean grave.
I say to you as earnestly as I can, we are ourselves responsible for msny
of our defeats simply because we have cast off our consciences. We blindly ig-
nore their warnings until they shrivel and die* We have so aeeustossd ourselves
Fi©r&i
to doubtful/practices that we think we have outsmarted the laws of God. Then
in our hours of strongest testation we find ourselves adrift , with nothing to
guide us to safety. A good educated Christian eoaaeiene© is a good thing t©
keep alive against the time when it alone may stand between us and disaster.
£o Cos! gi^s -i:ts fcfts %$ SpGESR^fessis , tha ehief of v'deu is 2
■ ' 4"*-' * - r ('-
I ate the Lord jgrar ,God" |
...«&' H& keeps folding us by its s; Ss£-3s^erl" "Baaeafeii:!" "Think first ia^
lSH§,J*£..%r" Aa <2 "K?h*n wsj bsve tha g^sts aad strength fco do it we sm?e $ur#
cs.t.vss 'i.-i-a's v i ^ f gt:r..b-«f , Tills I essac certainly !j;.Iieva.
(fhis aemaoE transcribed as E^o^ded)
The Third Scatd _ g Saster April 9, 1978
(Secmt in the Series of Sermons oa th& Tea CGSKBsndmsnts)
GMCK, Mercy sad. pea « from God < tc J^ 1 "
Father and fron Hiss ,!on Jesus Christ, r MA
The nana of Lorii?. Wade probably doesn't mean ouch, if anything, to you,
But you ought to give her some heed, If only anfiantarlly, during these prefa-
tory remarks. Let me toll you how sha first ciiase to ay attention.
She was one of fifteen - - fifteen people had bsen chosen by a distinguished
British journalist from Fleet Street to present a aeries of articles dealing with
the way they observed the contemporary scene: specifically, How do you think
people think about Goal — and the authority tha t bel ongs to God? And also,
how do you assess the co ntemp orary, .sc ene, from the stand-point of morality ?
The articles were submitted.
The man in charge gs'/e top marks to Loris Wade - - a surprising thing be-
cause she had' ju£t tvraod twenty years of age ot the time she wrote her article.
Why was she so recognized? From his standard, she mo:;e than any others present©?.
the strongest protest against the loosening of moral standard...... twenty ya&m
of age when aha wrote her article. ...... .anS she also presented the strongest
plea for the recognition of the necessity of rules and regulations and Um,
You may be a bit uncomfortable when I tell you that in the article that shm
wrote, as 1 understand it, she was quite deliberate m she rebuked the Church.
She appealed to the Church to stand its ground, not to compromise,, sot to retreat.
of us who try to put one finger on the spiritual pulsabeat of the Church to-
day lament the fact that it seems as though the Church doe* try to ceaprsajiise
with the world, tries to meet the world half-way. If the world doesn't come up
to the standards which we are meant to proclaim in tha name of Jesus Christ sad
according to Biblical truth - » shea let's wink, or ad jus!; ourselves downward
tc where the world happens to he,
I must confess to yoo that 1 don't believe that in the final analysis that
the world really respects us when this happens. Stem was the cartoonist, you
know, who cleverly pictures the boys in the barracks staking soma reference to
Che padre who had been with them — the kind of person who feels that he has to
be as one of the boys t who leans over backward not to let his clerical collar
show, who lowers his standards. As the chaplain leaves, according to the car-
toonist, one soldier says to the other, "If it's anything that I can't stand 9
it's this unliolier- thagi-thoa attitude!"
Now back to Lorin Wade and her article. These are soma of the things t© which, si
which ste addressed herself:
— one, divorce la on the increase . Observation: the Church all
too often eays, Let marriages, then, be taade store flexible 5 less
demanding in what we expect from a marriage. And let's say nothing
harsh of those who live together without: the benefit of marriage •
— she ■csaSslma the fact that isaaora lity is common . . . and then
she rebukes the Church for saying that pre-marital intercourse is
not necessarily wrong • ■ •
— she recognises the fact that illegi timacy is on the i n crease —
sad therefore she caste down heavy on the part of those within the
Church who without any qualification whatever favor abortion . • .
— she recognizes the fact that murder is on the Increase — and
therefore she rebukes the Church for not talcing a stand in favor
of Esore rigid sentencing.*...
*,.s© Lorin Wade surveys the contemporary scene. Undoubtedly many of you will
not fully agree with what she's observe*. But I dare say if you lis tan to «e
K"--- : . •-■" y. "":■':-' "•' , '"'' : ;'"--; *r -.-"'.- : y ?" .', I: .,: .,.. . ;',.V. L:tu ■:£:■; i^oxL.ck^ &,■_;
"To teia This; Sense of Severance 89
she regards the necessity for rules and regulations and authority — X qaote
"If everyone is fouling like aad is a gs^ of soee*?, the
athletic association does not a^toeaeically Changs the
rules so that those who are dei-i.g so can continue to play
a dirty gasse within the law* I':. -en if everyone escapt one
player is fouling, they would still of necessity base their
rule judging on how they think the gsroe uhould he played and
not how they think it is baiflf played, You do not scrap the
rules just because souse peepX* prefer to ignore them or to
reject thaa= (!
That's why, God willing, I shall be cooing back to this pulpit repeatedly during
these weeks ahead to talk to you about God's rules — God's regulations — the
authority that belongs to Him.
In conversation with one of our choir mashers between the lesst service sad
this he was kind enough to give ate the benefit of soasa of his reading in which
he shared with isa the thought that a man who is well -warsed in the contemporary
scene predicted the day when the Church, will again declare in no uncertain
terras the recognition of the authority of God.
A wit once observed that it took God one ni|&t to get Israel out of Egypt
. . . .but it took Hits forty years to get Egypt out of Israel! Forty years - -
that s s a whole generations, at least la those days. And it ssay take us a whole
generation to get us back to where we belong in this appreciation for the Tea
CoaaandKBBts. X said to you last Sunday in the initial oersaoa that every genera~
tion needs to discover anew and for itself the validity of the Ten GMnaadatmta,
to begin at the point where God says; "Ms is it!"
Today it's the Second Cotaaandsseat in the brief tim that regains;
"To Los e JMs Sense of Severance" -1
i .... . r ...M .m i —n. mw tw nniiiri i inn « innni i »i« . U muni m i m i mw w i» miii«i m i ii. Mn
llIX'u shalt not. .take the a aiae o f -<i the iiii X-orc : . thy. .Gqd
ift3-in ? for the. .Lord will not: hol d hla guiltless
that :-.akes hl r, name in , vain."
What, I ask you -sow — think carefully — What, X ask you now, is your
most cherished, pgfeawt aid personal possession? How think. What is your
cherished, your most treatmrec. private and personal p oa aaaa lon?
I'm going to answer the question for you and ansver it for you sublimely
in the words of Dr. Edfir Carlson, who at OM time Wtt President of our Gustavus
Adolphus College in St. ?etar, Minnesota. Presumably speaking in general terms
on the Catechism, and touching on the Ten Commandments, in particular, he said
to the college students it chapel en® day, " Your name is your most cherished,
private and personal possetyion. Other people may have the same nama, sad other
people may spell it the saa» way, but your name, when spoken and meant: for you,
is your most personal and private possession. To all Intents and purposes,
then, you are equated with yoti? name. Your name is yo ur s."
God has a name. He does not prefer to he maaslec-s. He is always telling
us who Ee is and what He's dor* and what He's bam up to. He's always reveal-
ing Himself. lie wants us to Uaow exactly who He is. And that' a why for our
benefit Ha revealed Himself fully and completely in Jesus Christ. As St, Paul-
said it so wall - - "In him" (raasning Jesus Christ) " — all the fullness of God
dwells." God wants us to kac>»- exactly who He is.
There was a time, as sonar* of you my know, in the development • of the Chil-
dren of Israel, in the human race and their knowledge of God, according to the
Hebrew tradition, when xaes did not pronounce the eases of God. They respected
it that much — they felt themselves unwo rthy , as God gave thess to understand
it, 60 use Ely '.hid ttca after a :: ; j£Ia G-sd, cuC of lovs for t*B* lets us
have His nam, and yon won't forget, Ha goes M fat as to give us His name.
Now God says, "My nana is to be kept holy,"
'To Lose This Sens® or R&verencs'
Now you can spall that etcher way, both waya — l?i*lX. °^ wholly — wholly
His. Ifc belongs to nose otter. And whan ycu think of God's nana, we're meant
to think in terms of who ", God is. For reseat er now, yeu equate the name with the
person: the person is the name — ■ the name is the person. It can't be other-
wise. If somebody says somethi.ig unkind about you, and they use your name s
you can't hide behind the fact avid say 9 "They weren't talking about me — they
were just talking about my name." Sew God bad brought the Children of Israel
to a particular point,. He knew exactly what km ahead for Eksm, and He also
know what would happen to them if t.iey would forget Him — who He is and what
He is. So He said, "You keep paramount in your thinking who I asi ■— whenever
you think of me and my name, you heap it holy. Ycu don't, etwee ±t» yen don't
misuse it, you don't drag it in the dust. For your sake!"
For He gave thera to laadarataad that whenever they were to think of Hits
titer were to think of Him as He is — the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
the God who brought them out of Egypt, the God who freed thorn from Pharoah's
hand, the God who parted the Red Sea the God who led them into the Promised
Land by day and by night, giving them some token..*.. the God who gave them
manna from heaven. . . .the God who gave them Moses and Joshua. ••••*•
= o . . ,not only the God who was the Father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacobs but
the God who was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who also has & nasss, a
name which is above every name — a name which means He shall be our Saviour.;
to free us from our sins • - - all these things ai*e to come to our mind when
we think of God, lest we forget, we forget at great peril., So God says, "Be
careful how you use my name because this will Indicate how you think of «el"
words are important. The little girl was absolutely right when aha says,
"How do I know what I think until I first say It?" Let me find syself in the
"To. .^QgAJB^l J?J|-ff.§Q-i!V, J!gS|gSSR^C ? ""**
company of people where alienee reigns, and then somabody begiis to speak —
and as scon as siosssbody begins to speak, unless ha'o plagued bj hypocrisy,
I can tell imsaediately scmsthing of that parson's character, antra he is
and where he's coming from, Words are that important:. And God eays, "Be
careful then, when you use words , how you use my MM* because as you use
those words people will know what you think of ma»"
Let iss giva you as succinctly as I can the most relevant of £.11 examples.
What would you think ©f a person, if when he was inclined to swear to curse,
or to be profane — would use the MM of his mother? -- the woman who pave
him life, the woman who cradled him la her anas, the woman who follows him to
the very grave.., ....the woman who loves as no other parson in this world can
love him. What would you think of hex.'? What would you thiitk of tht! mas who
would use her name as he curses, as he swears , ass he speaks profanely?
God has foo11ngp t too. And our character is revealed by the war we speak
the name of God. I can't tell you now t^bo it Mil, vbathar it was tbt President
of Yale or Harvard, who at Oat tires said the mark of a truly educated man is
the Btark that lies in his willingness to apeak the BM of God without reluc-
tance, and with respect.
My last word concerning this Coianandment to you is this, as Luthar inter-
prets it for vmt "We should so fear and love God as not to curse, swear, conjure,
lie, or deceive, but call on Ida in p r ay or , praise, and thanksgiving."
. «..lt isn't very decent of a chap who eventually will be driven
to his knees and will have to call -upon the name of God, who
tip to that time has dragged the very naae into the dust,
(This sermon transcribed as recorded)
Seraaca - Pastor Raymond Shaheen
The Foun ol Easter April 16, 1978
"HALO-FOi : , A DA?"
::.:.'■ .' : ! i ; v .:;.^:' barn.:, era i'S :&?a : k rr.'S^Ys^tSi} n
GRACE, Marcy and Peads from , ,. 3^
God ©or Father and from Hia Son 6 j p^
Jesus Christ, our Blaasad Lord. ^
As a tourist in England soma years back, I remember seeing the very civ.
cartoon designed for the London, Midland and Scotland Railroad, for presumably
the people in charge of that railroad wire fully aware of the fact that there
ware only two kinds of travelers — thone who remember to take their luggage
with them, and those who can forget, to counter that sort of thing, especially
those who are inclined to forget and tUvn cause a buries for the officials of
the railroad company, as part of their propaganda they had this very clever
poster. It was the caricature of an elephant, presumably who never forgets —
but there was a note tied onto his tail .....end underneath this inscription;
"SAVB YOU LEFT ANYTHI NG BEBIHDt "
People who travel through life are in duty bound to ask themselves the
question every now and then: 9o I have everything with roe that rightfully be-
longs to rae? Bo I have everything with tee now that I ought to continue to take
as I continue ray journey? Xa there anything that I've left behind?
The proverbial elephant who never forgets anything may still in this rapid
age of ours need to have a note tied onto his tail. For those of us who travel
through life in this mad and terrific pace which becoases our generation of nsces
sity must be reminded again and again: have we left anything behind? In there
something in the past that we ought not to leave there? Is there something that
we've received along the line that's eeant to b& continued with us and we are
still to be recognising it as something usefrl, without which we ought not to
be able to continue our journey.
"Hale : , :\i2idB^x!l ~~
lt T s ia th: manner and this hat I cms tgain to this saere:; desk
us ■ :. tonti&ue & serins of sermons bamd upon the Tan Commandments. For most
certainly the Tea Cotmaandiu™'::; cone to us oufc of the past. Bat as I read t t
mind of Cod y with whatever »v^:^.r::V--.i '.:;;' ;.■;& ".>:'.■'.:.,•) "■-.■=<, tl-.e Tei C^nsi'dsarts ;?6)?©
not intended to be left behlnu os. God has sot changed His mind, they are
still meant to be useful. We ought not to ioatimte our Journey through life
without then.
When I go to Manhattan that* are MB? things that I enjoy seeing. There
are two places, however, that if at all possible I want always to include in
the stay, no matter how brief it may '■>&. 'Soth of thea are churches: cm* of
them, on 5th Avenue, in my judgment the rawt magnificeat of all Gothic churches
ia this part of -the world, St. Thomas...., .she other Lb St. Bartholomew Chureh
on Park Avenue. The rector there wrote a bock a few years back. A frlead
gave it to sse. 1 was thumbinfe through :V:s pages not ao long ago, and in that
book he reflects about an experience that he had had with a couple who had
invited hita into their home.
They had been married for some time... but now they had aovad into this,
their new home — contesroorary from the v*rd go. And as he went from room to
room he soon discovered that the decor sv-1 the furnishings were all contemporary
He found no fault with that. And then m they finished in the kitchen, where
they h&& a cup of coffee, he looked out through the window and sew beyond the
foreesevay thn garage, with two cars parked ia the driveway. And he jokingly
said, <f fou build a garage and you kasp your cars on tie outside — it doesn't
make sense." M& the woman said, "Oh, but •» use the garage. This house doesn't
have an attic, aid so the garage serves as an attic for us. The garage is the
modem-day adaptation of the old attic."
And tfesy said to hiiSj "Perhaps you'd like to finish your tour by going to
"Halo- For-A-Dar" -3
the /;:...: . •: *." And as they went they shewed hint a nuaiber of ©Id pieces s
and his eye fell on ia particular — he knew what it was, it caste out of
his generation and the generation before him. It vaa a chiffonier* (now that's
■;■< d r : -■■. : . : -""-''t ..-"".. ''. ..' ■■••: v-dd '•fell ?.3 ;.; be cis r'd. •- r.V;v!:o '-•■- eva^
its nama sounds strange in this, our day. Bat tell se about it."
And thsi young woman or the woman of the house said, "It's an heirloom.
Xt belonged to my grandparents, end Z remember how when I visited in their tome
they used it. And I recall so very well the v&tj place where it was located.
Then say grandparents wanted «% -parents to have it, sad as I was growing up In
my home we used it too, we had a place for it. And then dad and leather broke
up houseScseping, they wanted us to have it. So w© brought it along with us,
and we've used it*. But now that we've aoved into this contemporary house , and
with our contemporary furniture, it seems to be out of place, it just doesn't
fit. But out of raspaeS for my parents s&d ray grandparents, wa can't Quite
give it up. So we've stored it in the garage, we've put it aside, and that's
where it ia asw* H
I suggest to you that there's a parable here. Could it be that that's
the way it ia with the. Ten Commandments? •- - something valued in the past, some-
thing that our grandparents and parents themselves respected, sossethiag used
and cherished by them - — - somehow for us moderns we can get along without it.
We just don't need this sat of rules. It doesn't quite fit our modern way of
thinking and our modern way of living. Yet, nonetheless, w® can't quit® give
the Ten Cemaaadasnts up s so we'll store them somewhere ~~ respectfully we'll
tuck thee sway.
Could it be thst that's the purpose that the Church serves — wa tuek the
Tea CoaBB&adsisats away in the Church, and ere quite content to allow the Church
to beesssa the custodian of the Ten Cosssaanassnts, the custodian of something
that cornea out of the past, an hGiirlooia - - something v^irM in a day that
has cose aid gone. »•• "?s 8 "* not about to make full uae of It. W» «an
gat along without it. We'll store them scv owners alee.
If this is a generalization that can b« asde about the whole series of
tha Ten GoffiscandcseRte, it's most particularly true about the Cteanmndaent that
we're about to study now:
"BesaBhar the Sabbath .day ,,_to
teeo it holT«"
....«« won't have done with it completely, but yet we wen't place the same
value upon it that our forefathers did.
Sosas yaars back when I visited Charlotte, Korth Carolina, our best was
driving us around the business aroa. and then whan wa MM to a certain store
he stopped and he said, "Sow I want you to pay attention to this store - - '
Be said, "Thara's something unusual about it." Wall the appejjres.es era that day
wasn't st all uausm&I.
Be said, "Lat a© tali you about it. That store was cnmed and operated
by a man who was a God-fearing individual , h& waa of the old
school, and he had a great regard for tha TenCCoaosndmento .
and particularly for the one that deals with the Lord's Say.
Xt was hia rule that when Sunday earn, fOm shades would be
drawn, the curtains would be drawn, and if you passed bis
store on Sunday, you couldn't even have the NttafU of browsing
end looking at the nascliandis®. So rigidly did he adhere t»
this Commandmant!"
I was just told since this aessaos was preached at 8*30 by a person who
heard it that such a praetica was followed a nutEber of years ago by Woodward
and Lothrop hare iu the nation's Capital > Bat it's gone by the board act.?,
you knc» it has. And now we have tha open Sunday on our hand* where many
places of business are open and we're encoaraged to shop.... and there are
even advertisements that read: "Theee bargains are SUHBAI ONLY bargains,,"
...we've come a long way from the drs.wing of the curtains
the pulling of the shades*...
Now what's to be said about this Comuandment? The key word of coarse is
wabar. That's what God's always saying to us: Bos f t you dare forget! Be-
eanse there axe sos?e things we need to raaxsfcer. It is only as ws know the
stock from which we stem that we're really able to fulfill cur role in life.
God is saying to us: "Remember who I afc" - ~ - and. tfa&t'B why the first three
Coaaasndsasnta deal basically with Qod Himsel f - - - tat all that follows has
little meaning unless we first recognize God, the fact of God, the nature of
God, His name , and His day . . . . . reirajKyar.
The word Sabbath really means "to com;* to a halt ~~ to break off — - to
stop." And that's how the old Jew understood it. He began by rememberisg
that God created the heavens and the earth in sis days. .. and than on the seventh
day Ha cams to a stop — He broke off. And is it too much to stfggMt that in
having done that, Ha took tints to reflect upssa what had been done, sad the
purpose for which it had been done. That's exactly why we have one day in
seven that's set aside with a 'halo-of-sorts* in order to bring things in true
and proper perspective, in order to concentrate anew upon the fact of God, as
to who we are and whose wa are and what we are s&ant to be.
Oam thing needs to be clearly established at the outset. I don't get up-
tight at all about this business of it3 being the first day or the sevenths
really I don't. And when my Seventh Day Adventist friends try to get as into
an argument on this point, I have little enthusiasts to pursue it. Really now,
to settle at this level can cloud the basic issue of the 'first* or £h® * seventh'
day, for all saves days of the weak are important to God. And because this is
true, and because He wants us to understand that He holds «a jyjeogneabJa for
"Halo-For-A-Day'' -6
what we do in and with all Sevan, He has placed a 'halo-of-sorts- ©a one day
par ' Hilar. It Is ©a this day that we asrs macs; to get ail the others
proper perspective.
How this shouldn't be difficult for you. Hhy do we celebrate anniver-
saries, why do we celebrate birthdays? Isn't it tru« that on a birthday,
properly observed, you and I recognise that somen© gave us life. If we're
not inclined to think about it at other times, then properly la observing
our birthday we recognize that se-aebody gave us life s and that someone ia our
infancy stood over us aad cradled us and guided us and nurtured ue. Tve need
to remember these things. That's exactly why It Mttti to w® that God gave
this Commandments Ksmejefeer — on tlzta daj in particular , what Z have dose for
you — 1 crested the world — I gave you life.
She envy of soise ©f you grandparents, presumably, Winifred aad I deeply
appreciate the feet that we caa see our grandsons as often as we can. Aad I
reflect in yovx presence now aad saasa hew, when both of then were brought
hotsa from the hospital after they had been born, and they stayed a great
period in our home, I can still I MMfc ef them, little mora than a week
©Id, sot beiag able to do practically anything for himself ..... even a pair
of hands had to turn him over. Man our birthdays ccms around, we do well to
properly reeognisa what's beau done for us in the past — who gave us life
aad who sustained us through these days s-M years of our life. The old Jet:
broke off one day in the week to remsmber wfaat God bed done for hiss.-
It was on that one day in the week when he remembered how God had de-
livered hte out of Egypt.... it was oa that one day of the WM& when he remem-
bered hew God led him through the wilderness.. -..it wee on that one day in the
week when he reiasmbered how God gave him taenna from heaven* ...» .it was on that
one day in the week when he remembered how God gsve him Abraham Isaac and
Jacob. It was on that one day ia the week when he reminded himself of the
covenant which God had xaade maA said, "2 will be to you and you will be to
ess is a way that I will not be to any other people," MA the Jew is what he
is today became he Is rej&g^ering; he survives as a station because he remes-
feerss who he Is and and What God has done for hita.
And by the saiss token the Christian ■■•- for a while he observed the seventh
day of the week* avid then it occurred to him that It m ©a the fire?; day of
the week that God had done something for hira» He left the grave esBpty. And
from that time on, as Christians began to realize this and to remes&er it, they
said* "We will make the first day of the week as an Saster, and all of our wor-
ship experience, it will be on the first day of the week that we will look back
and we will remerabar what Jesus Christ has done for us...V
— - thay rcsssnbered it was on the Day of Pentecost whan the
Holy Spirit caiae to them, and banded theat together into the
Family of Cod*. .and that gave thera the Holy Christies Church....
<. ...they said « "He will look back and we will tswtdbor - - " that's how the
first day of the week came to mean so much to us, because on that day they looked.
back and they reraessbsred.
If you want rules and regulations , if you want rigidity, t&y friend, when I
think of keeping this Csraaaadtaent, it isn't SO reach whet you shou l dn' t do as
aauch as it is what you WMiht to do. M& that's why God gives tha Comoandment :
Mgg,#BS " "* " rsnirihor me, and what I have done for you — hxesk. off J Stop?
Bring to a halt. *Uk* titas to think fully of as." This 1 saost certainly
(This seraon transcribed as recorded)
Sersssa - Faster Baymoed Shaheea
The Fifth Ssaaday of Baster April 23. 1978
"AS GOB'S AGEKCS"
(Series on the Tea Coaaaandz: -3.tt.ts
GRACE, Mevey sad Peace from God our
Father sad from His Son
i»K&K«ti, mzxey ana reece xrosa uoa our . « »a
Father sad from His Sea Jests© Christ, Hk*^
V>''^
It was an article that appeared in the Ataariciia Scholar and was written
souse time ago by Louis Kroaberger. This is what fee had to say:
"Ours is not so much an age of vulgarity as of
-vulgarization. Everything is tampered with,
touched up, adulterated, or watered down in an
effort to make it pay*. What we nee*! for cultural
health today is what we needed and ^et for our
physical health when we established the Pure
Food sad Drug Lavs."
What we need now,, thought Louis Krenberger, is & kind of "Para Thought and
1 don't know how many people say have responded to the article, but I
would hope that somewhere there was a preacher who t/rote sad said, "My good
friends we have had each a sat of laws for over two thousand years — they
are known as the Ten Commandments." But in cur worship of the gods of elec-
tronics and jet propulsion we've forgotten the God of the Tan Commandments,
we've forgotten the God of the Sermon on the Moisat. Regardless, I say to you,
of the complicity of the modern world* there can be ao substitute for plain,
everyday personal honesty, for sobriety, for industry, for purity, for
tfeuthfulness. We are absolutely stupid if we think we can outgrow the plain
virtues. It is absolute folly to ignore them. No artificial prob«s of
government, of science or economics can support for long a society that is
morally rottea at the grass roots. The plain \"irtus@ are the keys to human
happiness, the building blocks of a healthy society,
~ - that's 515? introductory remark to you s® we come today to
another la the series of sermons being preached ©a the Ten Commandments.
"As God's Agents" -2
Kow we do well to keep in mind that there are tnos© «ho maintains
rightfully so, that you can divide the Ten Ctaamandmrats into two groups. The
first group is this ones the set of Commandments the:: deals specifically with
our relationship to God, a kind of vertical relationship: God and the Individu-
al, God says to each of us: '1 am God - - don't forgot it I And' don't make any
graven images, and dsn't misuse ay nmm 3 ©r abuse ltc„..snd resesfcer, there's
on® day in the week in which you especially think of Ms, that you might recog-
nize My claim upon the other six days in the week"
..oso the first set of Commandments deals specifically with
God. ...His Name.... and His Day.
Then the others deal primarily with our relationship to our fellow men,
a kind of horizontal arrangement. We are to treat others according to our
relationship with God.
Now you're not forgetting, are you, that as God was having the Children
of Israel led toward the. Presaiesd Land, and as they wandered through the wil-
derness, in His plan for them they came to an abrupt halt. He said, new you'v®
got to atop here a minute and you've got fco understand some things before you
go any farther - - because they were to he surrounded by other people who did
not pattern their lives according to the life-style of the Chosen People.
And this is what caused them to run into trouble. Se God takes their leader
to Mt. Sinai and there reveals to him what he in tuna gave to them — Tsn Com-
mandments. Sot 'Ten Suggestions*. . . ..not 'Ten options'... ..not ten possibili-
ties ssaoag other things as far as God's concerned, to say s "If you don't Kind,
give this some measure of consideration. Bat ten rules, ten regulations, - -
Tea Coamtandmeats — given for our sake. (k»d steeds no ego-sat isf action. .. .but
for our sakesc
".:■ '
You esa't live ia a world without authority. You can't live in a world
^thout rales and regulations and lams. I wouldn't want t© be part ©£ a
group of people who didn't have seme respect for certain basic rales and
regulations, who didn't have soss© respect for authority. We've gone
through that period, you know, when we thought we could sack authority P
when each man could do his own thing sad completely igaara an authoritative
-mis® that spake in behalf of everybody else. Bat deep inside each oee of
?3s there is the recognition of the need for rule sad regulation. When you
leave this place this aoraing, and wherever you're parked, if you'll head
for Colesville Roaci, you'll thank God, of course you will, that there hap-
pens to be soma aeaoure of regulation for the highway or for the street that's
out there — you eosaa to the intersection* there's a sign that says STOP.,,
sad if you're drivisig down Golasville Road, you ought to thank God that there's
that sign, sorae semblance of rale and authority that works ia your behalf,
.....or you're driving on Colesville Road - - therm are the
lanes carefully delineated, and you drive with sons measure
of satisfaction because you believe that other people recog-
nize the fact that one stays in his lane -- for everyone
else's good, lest you jeopardise the safety of somebody
R. : ■ .-. ■-■ r
So God in our behalf lays dawn the law for our good,
a©w today we ctme to the eensideratioa of another one of the Tea Coaasand-
seata; "Bonor_thv^£^ejg_and_th y mother,, that thy life ma y be long upon the
IjMd-wMch the Lord thy G od giveth thee." Isn't it significant that the very
firat commandment that God lays down regarding society is a lev that affects
the family? — the relationship between children sad parents, and parents sad
children. It makes sense, doesn't it? TRiat is society but an extension of
the faa&ly? Pfeat is society but the family of man? Aad if we're going to
' 'As God 'a Agents" -4
behave as part of the family of mm. s we have to learn to behave properly as
part of ewe own family. And we begia with respaet for authority — we give
honor and respect: to those who are ov&r us. Martin Luther, bless his souX s
went on to say that this coEsasndaant doesn't apply simply to parents, but It
applies to ail those who have authority ever us — teachers.... judges.. ..of-
ficers «„«.. a Sunday School teacher.
Now if you have a gangling instinct, 1st se say to you ia such an uncen-
vantional way as pari, of the sermon, where would you place your wager right
now as the preacher talks to you aboat this commandment that deals with the
interplay between parents and children? — where is he going to lower tha besom?
— on the kids..... or on the parents? You don't know, do you? But I do.
1 have bees* wrestling with this very thing. It could be a very easy
thing for ma to some to this sacred desk this morning and to come down very
heavr upon the younger generation. There's nothing new about this generation
gap 9 there's nothing :sew about this lack of respect on the part of kids for
their elders. The cleavage between the generations is no new thing. It seems
to have been part and parcel of life all through history. Here is a well-
known quotation — listen to it:
"The ^orld is passing through troublous times. The
young people today think of nothing but themselves.
They isave no rsvere&ee for parents or eld age. They
are inpatient of all restraint, they talk as if they
knew fiveryfching. And what passes for wisdom with us
is fo ilishnesa with them. As for girls, they are
forwa.rd — isasaedeet — unwomanly in speech, behaviour,
u3T6S3 » • «
...am I quoting you from this morning's paper? Yesterday's paper? X could have,
perhaps, as a modern-day columnist would write in that fashion. But what 1 have
just read for you is a quotation from a sermon preached in 1274, The problem
—
has always been with us, that the young ought to give respect to their elders.
Bust 1 have no indention to come dovm h&my on the younger generation. Hor
do 1 have any intent 1 o coma down heavy on the older generation, I would pray
"As God 8 3 Agents" -5
God that I could speak evenly to both, because I thin,: that's the way the
eosEBaodaaent has to be seen.
How for parents to get it ia proper perspective,. 1st ®e remind you that
there s£e ©ossa things that G®d can't do by Himself, .n fact, very few things
God ever doss by Himself and by Himself alone B unaide L He feasts what He wants 5
and ia order to have His plan advanced and His purpos \ fulfilled* He seeds a&el
uses people to assist Him. His preferred instrument .s always a human being.
Aside from creation, na&s son® of the things that God has done by Himself,,
Oh j avory new and then there's soma dramatic evidence but by and large He's
always reaching for a person through whom to work, And that's where parents
come into the picture — He needs us. .
How those of us who are parents and grandparents need to understand it
this ways we are God's agents, -ess' re God's representatives, we ars to be to our
children and to our grandchildren as God! How that's awesome, but it's abso-
lutely true.
What is that simple definition that we have for God? God is love . And
fe«jw doas God manifest His love except through people! And so God uses people
to love, and He feegins with those who are nearest and dearest to Him, He be-
gins with the parents, and He says to the parents: "Now you deal with this
child as I would deal with this child!
You understand it, don't you, when God wanted to come to us, perfectly s&&
completely, what did He do? H© decided to cotae in huiian form. And in order to
come in human form He turned to two people — to Mar;? and to Joseph. And He
saii, "Now I entrust Jesus to your keeping. You are to cradle Him in your
asms, you are to bathe Hia, you are to feed Hia 5 you're to direst His seurse
through life."
<>*„.. and then think of that exceedingly precious aaomant when
some people came to Jesus one day and they were troubled with this whole busi-
111. ftj»J»— A •.„,_,*.-»» £
ness of the basic nature and character of G&il — "Give us soma imagery, tell
as what God is like!" And Josephs, God bless him, aatst have doss bis work so
vail that without sny hesitation, without any reluctance at all 9 Jesus said,
"Wail I'll tell yea what God is like — ■ He's like a fat'iser." And ©vary father,
every mother is to be as Gtsi to their children, to share love aad to sh&xa
trust.
How, wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all perfect people? But paresis
are not perfects And youngsters are net perfect, iad that's past of the
problem. I say this to you quite parenthetically, I don't know of any faeaft
of the work of the ministry that I dislike, and I ca profoundly grateful.
Which means I know equal joy in my soul to the working with young paopl® 9 and
1 covet for myself the kind of thing that happens in these interviews at
Bethany these Sunday afternoons, tedious as it may be from 3; 00 until 8:00
o'clock, after a demanding day her© in the morning. But it's a precious thing
to touch base with them* Not very often , but every now and than a youngster
will cota© to as, taking very seriously the Commandments » and saying, "Pastor 9
(not very often now, hear me completely!,
but every now and then)
- - "Pastor, I don't know W&
(they may not phrase it exactly this way)
...." - - but I can't respect my parents," Aad 1 know anguish in sy soul when
X hear fchssss talk like that, because 1 know parents are sot perfect.
And I suppose a sign of maturity is when you and t recognise that our
parents were not perfect people. 1 remember the mad® awakening in my soul wissa
I discovered that about say parents , smd 1 , shudder with I think how o»r two seas
must deal with that rude awakening when they think of me. Wa are not perfect.
But by the grace of God we're meant to do the best we caa a despite our Imper-
fection^ And s© I plead with say youngster who is prone to say, "I can't respect
my parents" — to adsait that th&y'xe not perfect, nor is he perfect, md if he
Sanson - Pa tos Shahec
- v-S£fe-^H^ISSL£LJS§MS— „«_ -^.. .,.■■» April 30 « 1978
. "%HK SACBEDKESS QFJLi:.
{from the' Series based on the 1 araa^assents)
3D ' ]b
GRACE, &SRCI AKD Peace from God , , ]( m ^
our Father and from His Son {0lr
Jesus Christ , oar Blessed Lord, Amen.
X don't know what thoughts ran through your minds as you were listening
to the anthem, but one of the things that crossed ay Kind as 1 listeaed to the
very first phrase that the choir sang was that it was the exact same words as
the beginning sentence of today's Gospel,..,... and then I had a thought — • I
wonder how many people listening new connect the two and feel as if there is
any way it would be related to the sermon? How, dare I ask how many of you
remember she first semtsactt of today's Gospel?,.,, or what the choir sang at the
beginning of the anthem:
s 'M....ypu love sb„ yo» will ' seep my cc t aBandments , "
Let's sot forget that for a moment as I call to y-war attention the fact
that when people go through the newspaper looking for a nm automobile, like as
act they are careful to read the small print because there it's stated what
guarantees come with the purchase that they'd like to sake. You know, when eae
manufacturers sell cars, they usually put their guarantee on them — two years -
24,000 miles, whichever comes first. Sosietiaes the guarantee is more. .. .sometime
the guarantee is less, But you know what happens when that time or the tsilaage
runs ©at: you're left entirely on your own.
Mow in comparisoK to that, when you give a gift to someone you really care
for, somethlsg different happens, You don't just give the sift and then turn.
your bask on the person ycu gave it to. Yo« want to sue if she. person enjoys
the gift, and you don't turn your beck ea fee gift, either - - you're anxious
to fiad oat if it really works, asd you sea to it that a® one eskss it away from
ants" -7
aspects perfection from Ms parents, he must reneaber how disappointed they
say be if they attempt ft© ©sipeet perfection front bin.
Is the sight of G©d we are all children. But the fact remains, however,
that for our sake God ssys to parents i You should ba honored and you Should
b© respected, and children should give this kind of honor aad respect to you.
Bet we have to earn the right to b© respected., And that's the great problem
that all of us parents have.
Mow let's get back to this whole business again to be to children as God,
to ba t© children as one who loves. And love is always to meet the need of
another person. And I aa absolutely conviacsd that when love can have its
sway, wmm love can be given a chance, it 'a always respected, finis X most
certainly believe.
* a *
(This sertsaa transcribed as recorded)
■ ■■ ■ - • IT . ' . ' ':■
■
"IBE SACRBDMBSS OF jJgg"
(from the Series based ©a the Tqe. CicBmandments)
LO < ^
GMCE e &SRCY AKD Peace from God , y^ ^
our Father and from His Son \)j$r
:■: ■ - '-1; ■ . ■ ■ .; .._ : _, ._ : : ; . ■ .
X don't know what thoughts ran through your minds as you were listening
to the anthem, but one of the things that creased w olad as I listened to the
very first phrase that the choir sang was that it was the exact same words as
the beginning sentence of today's Gospel., ..... and then I had a thought — • X
wonder hew atony people listening new connect the two sad feel as if there is
any way it would be related to the sermon? Mow, dare 2 ask how many of you
re&tsmber the first sentence of today's Gospel?..,, or what the choir sang at the
beginning of the anthem:
"If you love me a you will keep my co™Mf»<fowmts « "
Let's not forget that for a moment as X eali t© y>ur attention the fact
that when people go through the newspaper looking for a new automobile, like as
not they are careful to read the small print because there it's stated what
guarantees come with the purchase that they'd like to make. You know, whea car
manufacturers sell cars, they usually put their guarantee on them — two years -
24,000 miles, whichever corns?, first. Sometimes the guarantee is aoie....eoaatisis
the guarantee is less. But you know what happens when that else ox the mileage
runs oats you s re left entirely &a yo^r own.
•-" ;:;; -■-■ '—v ; ^".3oa to that, when you give a gift to someone you really ease
for, something different happens. You don ? t just give the gift and then torn
your basis on the person yoo gave It to. You want to see if the person enjoys
the gift, and you don't turn your b&ek o& the gift, either - - you're anxious
to find out if it really wetfks a aad ysa sea £o it that ass «ma takes it assay from
the person that yosa gave it to.
God gives us life - - not like & car manufacturer, who has to
worry about his profit. ... .b«t like »var, who wants to take . the op.e
thafi . &ves» she gift that he gives. I say this to you as an introductory
La sermon that's being preached in the ueries on the Ten Command-
meats. And today it's the Fifth Commandment that we g:„ve our attention to. It's
the Cosmaaadment that consists of only four words: You shall not kill.
Do you rem&aiber last week that a way of dividing the Commandments was
celled to our attentions * The first three have to do with our relationship to
Gad — a kind of vertical arrangement; and the remaining seven are thought of in
a horisoutal fashion «— commandments having to do with oar relationships with one
Having said something to us about where life begins — in the Fourth
: ::2mandments Hcaor your father and your mother - - God follows us now in the Fifth
Commandment, out of the door of our house, to 3ay something about life and the
way we live it with our neighbors.
It ought to be understood from the very beginning - - life is seen by God
as something sacred. In fact from the vary beginning the Biblical witness is
that God is a creator. The Genesis stories tell us that God created the world,
the highest and the greatest part of His creation being man. He places a high
priority on human life, and isaa is to have rule over all the creation, and he's
entrusted by God to care for it.
Seed further evidence of the high value God places oa human life? When God
chase to eame into the world - - in the fullest sense of the word He chose to
come in the form of a person, let life,, as it's related to God, is often mysteri-
ous. There's & lot about it that we don't understand. Who among us hasn't had
a moment or two when we wondered why we were horn! or v$ia>: purpose our life
might serve f or what the future holds for us? or yfay we have to endure a
liiiV.t-.-ieuls?: kiiisL v-S ^;rr : -»LzT,r-y-: C-:.':. ■;:~r..Cd have -as &s ia^snait:L"o ±iid3t-.i s wouldn't
he, to stand at the point of birth, or at the point of death, and not be greatly
8: ? ha .Sacredness of Life " -3
Eorod by a seas® of mystery? What a tragedy for a person to live out his da:
and aever com* -rips wj fact that their life counts! It's been said
that there are two great moments ia the life of any person; there is the moment
shea he is bora iato the world. ... .and then there's the moment when he discovers
why.
To know that your life has a purpose, that behind everything that you do
there's a meaning - - that's what makes life worth living. If life only has
meaning for us when we can sea it in relationship with something else, and when
you can link together the giver and the gift, then a big piece of the pusale of
life fits together .
So let's keep in mind, then, that from God's point of view — life is sacred,
and every one of us is taken seriously by God. And what we do with our life mat-
ters to Him, and life as God sees it is always in terms of relationships.
It's a fact, so psychologists tell us, and it's Scriptural too, that so one
can be true to hiasself unless he has a loving relationship to other people. It's
also true, isn't it, that we are shaped by thosa who love us and those who refuse
to love us. Now think about that for a minute - - - who are the people ia your
life that have ;aada you what you are? Have you ever noticed the difference that
it makes this time of the year when the bloom of spring captures someone's heart
because someone else pays attention to them? Spring is the time when a young
man's heart turns to love . . . it makes a difference, doesn't it?
Or, have you ever acticed the difference that it makes when someone's been
rejected, and the spring's been taken out of their step? You see s life is so
relational — ne-to-you — you-to-me — y mr tc s omebody-else and so it goes.
And when God gives the Commandments He recognises the feet that we have a rela-
tionship within our boms. So the Fourth Commandment deals with father and mother.
But than there is the recognition of the fact that we live ia a larger fatally.
Md so there B s the Fifth Coamandmeat that has to do with the fact that we live
' ■■■'-' - '■■'■''.
Sometimes it takes a disaster to remind us of this fact that we're all
related to one another. But not too many years ago that point was driven home
even within the membership of this congregation, when we could not stand by
and know that within two hours' drive from here there were people whose liven
were devasted when that terrible storm called Agnes took its toll, and week
after week, carload after carload -~ how many ntsnbers of people were there, who
made the trek northward to Hsrrisburg, Pennsylvania, to help people dig out of
the mud, to recover from the flood people whose names we did not know. But
all that really mattered was that they had a desperate need* They were our
neighbors ... we could not stand idly by,
But you might be thinking to yourself at this point: What does ail of
this have to do with the Fifth Commandment? For doesn't the Commandment read;
■T°" ,.ffoall.agcjyj ii responding to a disaster or looking upon someone else
as a brother or sister of the human family - - what's that have to do with kill-
ing?,, . , . or with murder?
What do you suppose the results would be if yoti were to conduct a poll
this morning and ask people what they think is the most important of the Ten
Commandments? I'd be willing to bet that it would be this one. For who among
us wants to live in a world where life does not have value and where killing
'-"' '■■^■■■-•~w goes on without restrsi&tV ?g i:i: ;■■,<., :!>: to- pl:-,:^ Gv.zb a h?,> ":. \.. : ~h ■:-■'■. v
on keeping this Commandment, what's to be said about it?
WOuld you believe me if I fcoid you that this Commandment, as Luther ex-
: :&d " : - has nsach more tc cto vr,il± i.zv&>.z thsa -.:'■;;■ LA±,;,~:, *?. r^v : :l.c:: ■:. '■■-., .:..., ,
...and if you're anticipating sesae word this morning about capital punishment,
euthanasia, or any other such related to that, you're probably going to be dis-
appointed. What this Commandment focuses upon is much more basic to the daily
contact that we have with each other. Surely what it- has to deal witfc provides
r« dnei s of Life' 1 -S
or wrestling with ae of the snore ecaplex is&ues of life. Because
fir.. ?,t the Commandment reminds us that all life is sacred. It 5 s
created, it's give:: . God.
But what about Che second part of the Commandment in terms of keeping it?
What is it that kills? A couple of years ago there wan a best seller that was
made into a movie called "2he Anatomy of a Murder./' It was a story that took
apart, step by step, what, it was that brought an end to a victim. And the inter-
play between the characters, the way they treated one another that's what
made the story so interesting and full of suspense.
But the anatomy of any murder basics in the heart. The thought is the
father of the deed. And if you need a few examples, here are a couple . . .
- - you know, a person can kill by rejection. For some paepl©
that's the cruelest blow that life can deal, to be ignored, to
try to live as if you do not matter at all to somebody else,
that your life doesn't count...... why should you go on? . . .
- - you know, a person can kill enthusiasm. You watch what
kind of reaction you get soJsetira.es when somebody coses running
to you because they have a new idea that they've just discovered
something c * . =and you tell them that it's stupid, or that it 'a
already been thought of by somebody before. . . .or what they have
to say isn't worth listening to . * .
- - and oh, if looks could kill - -• just the way we look sometimes
at one another can be devastating. Have you ever had the experi-
ence of looking into someone's eyes that, were filled with anger?
What a crushing blow that can ha to the human spirit - - such a
strong message is being communicated without: a single word being
spoken .
And the list could go on: malice gossip — that's a good one* gossip —
how many people have foyers killed by gossip* suffered from character assassina-
tion? What a cruel Kay to die f ir»H have your reputation ruined by iiP3 s crude
talk, and anger and anger •• i*»e?e*s another one* Th» world would be a sorry
dace if every angry thought resulted in 3 awd* Ne take a lot of comfort*
don't we, in the fact that we d&*t do what we have a raind to do« • * . there
is name^calling.* ..««*> tell sthtfe stories ■ ■ * • so th? list co#id 90 on I
The intent of th* heart is ftOft serious than til* deed itself*
And If you want to argue tiat point, then you°re going to have to take en
Jesus Christ himself, because He laid th» cards on tfe* table with those who
thought they ware living within tbe law* You sight remember that in the Sermon
on the Mount He said to thtmz *¥cv have heard it laid that men of old. you shall
not kill, and whoever kills shall b» libel to judgment • • * I mean, after all,
H© was familiar with th» .Jewish 1st*, and He did know that It provided soma very
severe punishment for those who took another person's life « a « "But I say to
yoiij " Jest's said, at Me made broader implication of the Gomia«:ndment , "that any-
one who is angry with his brother is libel to judgment, and whoever insults big
brother shall be libel to l;he council ■ * ■ How that { s putting it on the line!
God judges not only what we do, but our motives for doing it. He's concerned
about what lies In lh& heart . To insult another person, to $hjB»* contempt for
him, to look down on a person with a sneer as though he w»re inferior to you • -
then you*re ignoring 6od°s will that we accept all people as He does*
But no matter what a parson may be like - * and here's the hard part for
some people to swallow • • - he°s loved by God. He's not completely worthless*
and you cannot write him off as though he did not exist.
it e s easy to love your friends, but you get down to the nitty-gritty of
this Commandment and you talk about expressing some kind of concern for your
enemy, end basic to ail this Commandment by recognizing that life belongs to
God » ; and that it ?* not cheap, and 8 price has been oiid for itj ^j»d that it
ttmot be taken for granted as though it doesn't natter.
•t studies show that by the time * young person graduates
from high school hs has eeea acre than 18 s 000 taurders en television . , , do
you it's possible that a parson can be ease immune to the value of life?
So we live in such a world that detachment is the social norm? and no one wants
to get involved because it is become a lack of respect of the value of the human
soul. That does happe». s you know. And that's why we can have a victim for rob-
bery, tor a rap*, for a beating — acream out for help in the midst of a crowd
.....and no oae stops, but just keeps on passing by. the Commandment deals with
the fact that lifs is sacred.
Sivoral yeera ago there was a hit on Broadway that is still being repeated
by sus&Bsr stock theaters. It's called: "1 Remember Mama" , . . and Mama is this
erful old cha r ac t er who always saw the best in everybody. If she couldn't
see it readily, thea she looked for it. But that wasn't the case with her sister,
Self alt - - she only saw the things that were wrong in people, and especially
in her brother Christopher. Mama understood Chris, but her sister always looked
upon her brother as no good, a down-and-out drunkard.
....when Uncle Chris died, all the family gathered in hiw
lis: tie room because somehow or other they felt that: Uncle Chris snot
have loft than something in his will. Then there comes the moment
is the piay when Kama walks into the room with a little account book
la her h&v*.d» and she looks at the little group. Including her sister,
and oh* soys, "Shore -will to no will - - ar?.d there's no money either.* 1
Mrs. Solfolt jumps to her Coot, poiats to her sister and says* "What's
that yea have in your hand? - - all the bills from the liquor store"
u „,and Mama says, "No, Lot M read it to you. You know how Uncle Chris
was lame? - - and bow bo always walked with ■ limp? It ■was his ose
Tfao'^hc •-- 1'xx: -pzcvl::,, "is uosuld aavo lifcsd to be a cosier, by.;: iassxae
' , i ' tl am i - ■;. -- I ■' .■;...' ,. ...-. .. ,. ... . -,>, .-. . ,■ ......
• ;.:\. _ s of Life" ft
Spinelli years old -• tubercular left lag - .*337.18 (walks aov) , . "
"Esther Jensen - 9 yesrs - club foot - $217.50 (y- ' . ow) . . "
Le Solfelt — « 9 years — fractured knee cap — $442.16 . - ■'
*.and just then Araie corse© rushing into the room* His mother
didn' t know what Chris had dona for his » * • •
And Has-*. says* "It doesn't tell the end about Araia - - I'd like to write:
'walks WU ~ - ?<*&> Sjayha OWM tj;^£i» Vl
This Go.'i3i«iiidJ2ent was intended to make us walk vs people m\o look at the
%/orld through Qe4 f * syos , Chat *13 life is esarei. sad Ifc'o not Cho keeping of
the law that's iaoertJBt it'l not tfco i^et-ing of the 3*££§£ of the la??
feat 1 ' a i;«?s&*fc5£ifc » - - Imir. the spirit a© «oU«
rliGt vm a&:-. ;H.v-;fcit"y' car ^voiry c&iKi. , „„'ia£ !? -: '.
looks at «mr saoslve?:-.
*
(IHsls bw>.:::;03 tr^ec'cl^d ••■i v^eX'J.'deo.)
Sermon - Pastor .Raymond Shahaea
Sjgiday.. .After The Ascension i f . ;.. i . _„„„_ M ay 7„ 19 7 S __
"SOMEBODY* S MUCHIER/SISTER"
(Sixth in the Seriss on She Tan GosaEandments)
'ft
GM.CE, Mercy and Peace from God jQt^
our Father and from His Son Jesus ^f
Christ, -our Biassad Lore, Men.
Wa continue today the series of sermons based upon the general theme of
T he Tea Comm andments. Each sermon has been introduced with a prefatory remark.
Bear now what'e to be said at the vary beginning today. Jonathan Swift once
said* "I have never bees surprised to find men wicked, bu£ I have often been
surprised to find them rot ashamed. "
This points to what Joseph feed Crutch has called "The New Immorality" - -
there haa always been wickedness among sen, but never until now have so many ap-
parently accepted it and taker?. It for granted — - such things as personal dignity,
saying in effect; "Everyone doss it - - I can't see that it really hurts anybody'*
. .«..90 we speak today,, va who are drawing the benefit of a permissive genera-
tion.
How did it happan? It didn't just happen. In "Mo, No Calcutta" which
talis the story of how the showing of that musical was banned in South Australia,
Dr. John Counts the psychologist, uses a significant illustration. He tells of
what he calls a classical psychological experience, , . .
•..a frog was placed in cold water, and then the
temperature was slowly and imperceptibly increased.
Eventually the temperature reached the boiling point,
that is, eventually, but as you know now 9 only gradually.
Yet alt this time the frog makes no effort to escape,
becausa the change occurred so slowly. There was no
recognition of danger » But eventually the frog died,
making no attempt whatsoever at self-preservation. ........
So, someone has observed, it ie with 8 : j. If the affects of smoking
ware immediately visible, then Zlm smoker would step smoking. But we are told
the effect is going to take twenty years to arrive, as it did in the case of my
brother . . . . it worked so gradually, but then the damage was done. So it is
suggested by analogy, that there could be what might be called a "moral desensi-
tizaticn, which happens 30 gradually that one day, all unexpectedly, v?e wake up
and find the standards destroyed and irreparable damage is done.
That's why, io I have to tell you again? 1 come back with all the
strength that I can. command to ask you to give heed to the Tan Commandments.
For it does seeir. to some of u« in recent years that we've become insensitive to
them, and permit ourselves* to believe that we can ignore them., ..kid then every
now and then we painf-illy recognise die fact that there's daiaftg* done. It was
a wise man Who said 2 You don't break the Commandments - - bvz failure to observe
them and respect them can breek youf
Now today in .:he series it's the Command-sent! Thou shalt n o t cosml t
adulter y. •
I can only toll it co you as It was?
- - There is the paradox of human nature that there was no sin
regarded in Judisszi that was regarded with greater horror than
adultery. And there was no 3 in which, to judge by the sagas and
prophets, which was more common. It's written in "' Book
Proverbs, the 6th chapter, the 32nd verse:
"Us who commits adul tery j~ : .- :
det -trcya d alf."
I can only toll it to ysu as it wai s
tell it to you as lt f e bee. echo d 9 he oieo of God. The
feet remains that the writings of the rebukes of the prophets
make it clear that the horror that was attached l& the sin of
;
adultery did not stop its being committed. I can only
tell it to you as it's written — is Jeremiah, the 5th
chapter, verses 7,8 one reads;
"Be 57 can 1 p ar don you? Y our children have forsaken ia e„
sad have sworn by those who are no gods.
jfoea I fed the a to the full, tfcay committed adulter y
age trooped to the houses of harlots.
They were well-fed lus ty stallionsa e ach neigh ing
for his, neighb or's wife ."
I can only -jell it to you as it was - - in the eyes of the old Js% T »
adultery was especially the crime committed against the marriage
b&&.
I can only tell it to you as it was:
- - in primitive times it was general for the husband to have
the right to kill any man who seduced his wife ~ - partly because
adultery was a crisis against property, and partly because the
whole structure of sesiety was built upon the family. This
explains why in she ancient codes the penalty for adultery was
death* It i® written in Levitie«3 a the 20th chapter, the 10th
verse :
"M ..a.raaa eospits adultery w ith the wife of his n eighbor,
both the adulte r er and the ad^ltress shall be put to de ath"
It is written in the Bock of Deuteronomy:
"If ..a. .man, .is _f.oiuid_lyl8g,wlth the wife of another aaa,
both, of them t shall, die a _ a man who lie s with the woman $ ...a nd
the, woman llkewi.ee,. Sa you sh all p urge, the evil from Israel''
I can enly tsll it to you as it was:
- - In days gene by if a woman was accused of adultery, she %?ss
thken in what we would call the village square, and in sight of
all the people who had quickly come, her clothes were stripped
from her breasts sad her breasts were exposed - - for, said, they,
ycu have exposed yourself to a isan who is not your husband, and
- ■ fo * 8 Daughter/Si ster" - 4
itow in shsma you are exposed to all of us . . .
...but that was not enough. According to their ritual,
they had prepared for her to eat the coarsest of all
grain that was fed to animal*, and she was forced to eat
it, the conclusion belag, you have been as an animal, with
an uacoatrolled appetite. .... .... and then if they had reason
to believe that she had actually committed adultery 9 they
would reach for the stones and they would atone her to
death, along with the man who was involved - - I can only
tell it to you as it was. .......
Now why, you want to ask 9 do you? — we who are arrogant enough as to out
questions to God — why do you come down so heavy against this sin, God? Why
do you make it punishable by death as once it was?
But there's an answer, of course. What is raost precious in the sight of
God? Honestly now, ask yourself that question: what Is most precious to God?
And you kaow the answer. The thing raost precious to God is a human being... and
a human being isn't a thing, and a human being isn't an animal. A human halng
isn't m&snt to have undisciplined appetite... .a human being isn't meant to be
elicited as a thing that's picked up at will and put aside when the pleasure
has run its course.
In God's plan for us He placed a high value upon the family. And to pre-
serve the sanctity of the family He rules against anything that allows the
violation of the marriage bed because He places a high value upon a human
being.
And how we have a generation on our hands that parades this business of se:
- - talks openly about it and displays it freely — this thing called sex which
was meant to he a perfectly beautiful thing - - - between the man and the woman
who belong to each other, nothing is more beautiful than this complete identifi
cation, whea soul and body cry out to each other. That's why we have a word
for it — when It reaches the ultimate we call it consummation — a perfectly
beautiful thing. But we have a generation on our hands that parades it, talks
openly about if. and displays it freely. They've done quite a job of talking
about what comes naturally. But they haven't gone far enough, Honestly, they
haven* t. They can tell us hew it all starts: strong desires and powerful urges
Mies will they tell us how it all ends? God knew, ikid that's the point that
the Hebraic-Christian tradition has been dealing with for centuries.
Now for a tjoment — what's so wrong about adultery, if two people could be
drawn to each Other? Indulge m& for a little while, I'm nostalgic yet. As eons
of you may know, I went back home to the 'hills-of-hosse' last Sunday and had th
good fortune to preach where I had been cradled in my mother's anas and brought
for baptisa, where I was named for Jesus Christ .... I stood within the vary shad*
of th© altar where the holy hands of a godly isan eor-firsad me in the Christian
faith fifty-one years ago. It was more than a sentimental journey..,.
* . • . I thought of the street on which I lived , where I played
and where people helped to bring me up — the people who have
known ma as no other people have ever known ae.
M& I rames&ered two things in particular - - 1 remembered the house where
Carlton Bennett c s grandfather lived, and had a back porch. And those were th©
days whea silk r<as delivered daily in bottles, and where you washed the bottle
after yen emptied the contents and got it ready for the milk-man to pick up the
east day - - yon put 106 in the bottle or you put in a ticket, and fox that
value he gave you another quart of milk. . • • «
....I saw a nickel and five pennies in that sailk bottle
one day. St was too much for me — I took three or five
pennies, I've forgotten which. Eventually ray mother
discovered it in my possession. She, knew nothing about
'
childhood and adolescent psychology - ~ - she only knew one thing: 2
bad done something that I shouldn't ha%"e dona. She didn't ask herself,
what will happen to Raymond's personality If I press the poiatf.o, embar-
rass fain? - - - she didn't ask any of these questions, She only knew
that 1 had something that didn't belong to me. And to the day 1 die 9
and as G-od gives me memory., I'll hear to my soul's well-being her
words: "Take It bade* Raymond - - it doesn't belong £o you*"
Sow that's what's wrong with adultery — - we take something that doesn c t
belong to as, Astd the hardest lesson for two people who nay thoroughly enjoy
thelx relationship is the recognition of the sad and sober thought that there
are some things that are not ours to give, and there are sons® things that are
not ours tt? take. That f s what's wrong with adultery — soma things you can't
give, and some things you can't take, no matter how well you isay rationalise - -
!r Take it back — it's not yours S"
I reflect upon it oa more than one occasion when I stand with a couple
making promises to each other and rings are slipped on each other's fingers.
What does that ring represent? ~- the fact that there are two people who belong
to each other as they do not belong to anybody else, that* a what that ring repre-
sents - - "I belong to him, and ha belongs to bks" - - - in the old Prayer Book
of the Anglican Church, when the risgs were exchanged they had such words as
these: " „ . . and with w body I thee honor . . " That's what's wrong with
adultery — the giving of what's not yours to give. ...the taking of what isn't
yours to take .
How indulge Be again. My first main job and how X got to know the streets
of Wiiiissaport was to work oa a milk wagon. X got 50£ a day. In. the summer-
time we chopped the ice and :overed ;hs silk bottles in the crates and covered
it with canvas to keep it from spoiling. .... in the winter- time we h&d the problem
of the milk freesiag and the caps be:ltag raised up -— you can picture it, some of
-.-.'■■"- :'■
you. Bat what I want to Kali you is that one day the man who owned the milk
route was somewhat troubled baeaues a stranger came, not g regular easterner,
and he aada a parens** on eh© street — a half-pint of cream, a pint of milk
and a quart of milk.... and as he walked away the ma who owned the route was
somewhat troubled and be said, "This may not be the last I'll »ae this men
or hear from him." And in my curiosity I said., "What do you mean?" He said*
"He's en inspector." ......and in those days they made periodic inspections
because there were sc-asa railk men who would stretch their dollar© by stretching
their silk - - they sould add water • — and so these tests would be made periodi-
cally. And that was toy first introduction to the word adultery. They were on
guard lest silk would 1 be adulterated.
And what was that? It was singly cheapening the product — introducing an
ingredient that really didn't belong there, asking it something inferior, if
not less than pure. Aod that 5 a what's wrong with adultery — it cheapens the
relationship, shakes it less than what it's meant to he.
l*vx going to suggest to our Associate Pastor, who directs our Youth Ministry,
that he buy a supply of what I'm going to read to you now. It's called "A
Letter To Teenage Friends" - - -
n ■ ■ . I'm not surprised at your confusion over the
question of sasaial morality. The world around you is
uncertain and speaks with many conflicting voices;
although I don't pretend to have the final word, never-
theless I* to. glad you have given me the opportunity to
try to clarify the matter for you,
tfhea your parents tell you that sex is the bond
of marriage and must he reserved for that purpose,
they are act being blatantly old-fashioned, ifeither
are they* in the name of some arbitrary morality* try-
ing to deprive you of freedom and pleasure. Morality,
after all, derives from the experience of mankind as
to what is good for people end what is harmful. Your
parents speak with love out of a greater knowledge than
yours to protect you from potential misfortune which
they understand, but which you as yet do not.
"Scj r/Sister" - t
,: , . From what yon have told me of your thinking on this
matter, 1 believe there are two things that you need to
know. The first is that sex is not always the 'beautiful
thing you envision. It can be, of course, within the
protecting walls of a life-long exclusive marital com-
mitmsnt. But sex, when it is abused, becomes an ugly,
horrible thing that brings not pleasure but pain, and
sufferings and sorrow. Don't let the mythology of the
raovie® and novels persuade you that illicit extramarital
sex is glamorous J and thrilling. It is usually furtive,
awkward, sordid." Its pleasures are fleeting and its
painful consequences may be lifelong. It does not
deepen, strengthen and beautify an affectionate rela-
tionship which marital sex may do, but leads almost
invariably to contempt and hatred.
9m other thing you need to know is that sex is
dangerous, like dynamite. It serves an important pur-
pose when properly handled but it destroys people whan
it is -sot. I am not referring solely to such things as
venereal disease and illegitimate pregnancies — although
both of these are far greater dangers then you thinks and
doctors and clergymen see a constant procession of sad
and frightened youngsters who thought they knew how to
take care of themselves* I s a referring more to the
txaxasotic psychological effect® of promiscuous behavior,
which often lie deeply buried in the subconscious mind
and play havoc in the later life, tasking people incapable
of mature adult relationships, wrecking marriages and
destroying innocent children.
Sex is nor. to play with, my friends — - it is not a
form o0 recreation or entertainment. It is the bond of
marriages the means of parenthood and a source of joy
whea ti'se& as God intended. When it is taken out of the
content of marital bonds it is as dangerous as a game of
catch -fith a live hand grenade.
Bsrhaps the foregoing will help you to 3ee what we
parents sod cosj&aellors mean when we say that extra-marital
sex is wrong, We do not mean merely that it is destructive-
dangerous, but it takes something of beauty and makes it
ugly — • but it produces not happiness and well-being but
m makes suffering end sorrow. That's what we mean when we say
it's wrong. I hope you can see* therefore, that your parents,
far from trying to deprive you of any good thing, are in fact
trying to keep you from prematurely seising end ruining this
wonderful but fragile thing called sex. They are trying 60
see that you in your youthful eagerness do not throw away
your own future happiness • . . M
Now I must conclude the sermon by telling you that I'm perfectly aware
of the fact that I'm a minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it
•s ebody'g Da u ghter / Sister" - 9
well be that in this group now present., as could be true of almost say group
that you sight find anywhere, there are some who have committed the sin of
adultery. 1 sust tell you this; adultery is a sin. But adultery is not the
enly_ sin.
Aad as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I declare to you that
sin can be forgiven. That's £he wonderful thing about it. And you can read
fer yourself hew they brought to Jesus Christ a woman caught in fcfee very act
of adultery, and they wanted to stone her to death. And Jesus Christ said,
"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."
...you know how the story goss s there wasn't a
single stos© reached for. And Jesus said, "Where
are your accuseds?" And noae raised his voice nor
his hand. And Jesus Christ said, "Neither do I
condemn you - - go, and sin so sore."
...•but occasionally I've discovered in my relationship with people that when
the sin has been committed, and the person who eossoitted it is truly sorry,
sad asks to be forgiven - - - occasionally* not vesy often, but occasionally - -
the other refuses to forgive. And that, I say to you with all the strength
that I can command, is a ijreajter sin.
& & is ft
(This seraoa transcribed as recorded)
tyP*-
GBAGE, MSEC? and fwusm fees Sea sous:
Ifafcber and from His Sea Jesus Christ,
on.? .Biassed 3.o.- v "., > :: ; ru
Today we «0sa to the eomeludiag section la the study of the Tan Command-
ments. Caly a fev more resale to be considered, today's Commandment that war~
:;a?a stt:-.> r^vr. ■.'.:•:■■ a ;ory simple directives f £hqu shalt net steal.
If you Were to cr,K&rcise your mind by listing the Commandments according to
their priority, where ^ould yen put this one? There is n© question where you
vanii m-.t ;:.':■,-. .-"'i-^jf, v": E :.x cni'se the first Commandment is basic to all the Cora-
ixsaadmettts . She rest have no t&eaning until you first reckon with the fact that
God is God s and His authority is to fee revered and respected . . «
one: Ehou shalt not steal - - how issportant €o you think it to be?
If you were a business man, there's no question how important you would
think it to s;e : , s?i ?■'; a &;.:l; -.;-a-.-.. oh'.:: 1 : i^ -::. • '. : . ■ ■'.. : :*.:;x •/•;::;/.:: : y-i'j.
should think.it to be. Some of us have to pay the prices that we pay just be-
cause people pilfer — tao loss in merchandise is absolutely appalling, to say
nothing of the expense involved la securing the necessary safeguards against
pilfering and atealini);. If ;?e>u were a merchant, there's no question as to how
important you would think this Commandment to be.
By the same token, atimized, you would know how impor-
tant this Commandment is. Interestingly enough, «hen God gave C om m and me n t,
it's a Commandment that deals with material possessions. B . ; Idren Israel
had *»ty little material posse* sioas, you know that. They were a pe< on chs
march. there ^asa ? t a single one of tl i " al sy to a si x, ...
there wasn't a single oaa \ .'.; sho ~ , ?.--\i
'■ '."'■' '■..,'
clothing ©a thair backs - - that was about it. '■ ware a people oh the march,
^M yet fed says* oaaong the tan things that He gave them as specif: ... rules,
thla one KegareiRg property*
Veil, you a&y say to yourself, if s saa has a great deal, if somebody
next to steel sossething, it wouldn't be very iiqwrtaat. 'But stealing is ateai-
iag, Robin Hood notwithstanding. And on the other hand you may quickly say to
yourself* if a tsaa has very little, than of course what he has is exceedingly
■oz&tziovs ts h£t& ? asd if it vat* to be taken frost him it would be a great loss.
Sen-? one also is quick to say to blnself, I thought God was ia teres ted in
spiritual things] t&en yon talk about the Coaasaadaasat , Thou shelt not steal,
you're thinking in terma of property, material things. Are material thiags
important to God? 4ad the answer, of course, is fas* • . V so much so that
there are those whs maintain, and 1 think quit®' properly' so, that Christianity
is the most m&tesialistic: of ail religions, because Christianity is always
""telling us the kind of value that we ought to place' on arterial things be-
cause yon cannot associate a parson apart from the things that he possesses.
Tail ma about the thiags you own, tall me about the material things that you
value, and I'll tell you sossething about your character, A person is as he
thinks.... a parson is as fea doea .»»«>a person is according to the things that
he graspe and calls his 'very own*
Do I have to tell yea whs you already know, that there are only three
ways by which jom earn into possession of things? You're right — the first
way is by the sweat of your brow 5 by the exercise of ycur talent, by year day's
work, fan gee, a hold of certain thiags that you're able to possess because
you've worked fer tham.
The second way you happen to has* possession of certain thing because
pmebody'a bean kind ©no^sa and generous cr ugh Lw them to yo . irinj
their lifetime they've a&id: we want you to hi . this. And what joy we know
when we're thought of so kindly and so generously..... and who hasn't been
thrilled to biah heaven to discover that he's been remembered in somebody's
will, as £r» the last will sad testament that somebody prepared they wanted you
to have, something.
But there's & third way by which a person may cose into possession of
certain things. It*a a very ugly way — by stealth or by force. Be ©teals.
He robs fro© another person.
God looks with favor upon the first two - - God wsats us to work hard and
to be able to earn our way.. . . ..and God encourages as to be generous and to think
in terms of other people with what we have. God frowns and etsrssa on a man who
would take by stealth or force what would belong to somebody else.
Now you may ask me, tell ma now in plains unvarnished language -~ what's
wrong about stealing?
The thing that's wrong about it is that nobody would want to live in. a
— society where people steal. Lat me put it for you this way as sometimes 1 put
it to boys and girls in Confirmation Class - - God gave the Tea Commandments
from & human perspective for two reasons s first. He wanted to protect them
against a society in which they would find themselves living once they had ar-
rlved at dials destination. They would be surrounded by a people of different
taores, they'd be exposed to an entirely different ethical and moral scheme.
They war© meant to be different. God had high hopes for them, they were to be
a kind o£ Exhibit A as to how people could live together, and live together es-
eesdingly well. And so that's why He gives them the rules and the regulations
according to a manufacturer's manual: "This is how you can best get along with
one another."
The second reason; God vants us to be content with one at ther. God
wants us to live together in peace and harmony, with trust snd respect for one
another. When you start stealing, you disrupt that.
co3.i. :; go dyyfi., ubo clyy;- of f;V: iraa-?. Dsp::c^-\oa so ■*« ks«f :?t., Ua seat our
:ta 3 K«l2.'y Seels he?-£ is tu-.-".3 l~-m'X-:j yoior.;?; ;-.t ■.sor ; ;s :v«:,?, o:" y:;.< ■;■■■- ocuilly
recall. I ir\?ad en £&.£ third floor ©£ £ very sisals. i-::-v."' v,;; ; .\.
.•••I ^as exceedingly thrilled, hoasetly I was, whan I went
to sjy aes? situation to discover fchat X was surrounded by ••-■-■•■■.-pie
who seated to trust ana another. There wasa't a single room
that ©-as locked la that doradtory, and we want back and forth
iiri&© •:s..B ons-?:k;-/ 3 3 Kin, fe'-rily, \;;v:; ■■:; ■.; t.ly , » ,. , ,
Xhie alsnasit of s«c?: cud ';:,\-;sy;as£ arsetei •) ■;■::.. ; ;.vyy .::..'. .;. -■:£-* life
on esatpus a vary pleasant thing.
But then one day,, after the said-tars, the fellow who roossed next to a® dis-
covered that a five-dollar bill had bass taken out of Ms laundry esse, where
he had pat ic 9 pr ; jbahly his Bother had sent it to him,
• •••the atmosphere dtaagad eoapletely. Every single or,-; of -as
who lived in tl-r; doE-adtery was saey-aet. It couldn't ba stfeeie-
wiss - - we hadn't any reason to believe that somebody froa out-
side earn in, vo wore than reaoved t . ut?s?no And thea,
eventually, I found that, people were reaching for keys, aad doers
ware feeing locked, aad one heci v bit troubled when ha went
through the docs where ©rlisarily he could vary easily have
walked in, to fiad it aow locked. It created an entirely different
GS-30.?y;-M'se " ■:•-::■.-- m'-s ",•-■ : ?■. ".;.;-.■■ 2 ;■'■:.-,=
That's what*© wrong with stealing, We be ; .s£n t© lose faiti n one another. Ss
no longer have taut harmony and goed will sad respect.
human soul, a persoa. And when we steal, ire do eomei *1h - that person. His
•srhele personality is affected by it - - is lira"-;:, si;?-;, . - -j&ca
"™- v ' : &fc*s -■ :; - ■■■- -■■ : 1- s'- -•■ :■.. ■'.-••:. ; : : ■-.: . _:: ■ ll.\ :.-.-, k: ■ :/ ■; --ell
what X ajaaa*
I could go oa is the; serf's j it t::U;;~ wcuM p.;,i;;:?.i:, £.::■ '::.?S"; y;n« 'ho?? is
ways that we seldom think a parses can steal, It f s not simply reaching into
somebody else's pocket, it's not simply defrauding somebody else s or taking
frosa a shelf or a display booth. A person can ( tm 1 froa God by keeping tram
God the better past of his nature • God knows our potential, God knows how
much we can Iova s God knows how good we could be. But we can steal frois God
whan we ksep firsss His? so grse..; a classing .•>
Do I haws to tell you how we can steal and keep from those who are nearest
to us by virtue of our relationship with them are the only ones who could care?
There are eertsia things that 1 as a sea could give ray father that nobody else
co;ild give him, sad e^sry tiia.j I gave him less than what a son should give his
father, 1 robbed ssy fathar. < • ,
....there were certain things that I as a son could give ray mother
that only a eon co Id give ay ootner, end every tiiaa I was less
than a son should have been to a mother, I robbed her, I kept, from
bar — I stale for Myself what %ms rightfully tors.
In the final analysis, this is whet's wrong with stealing: it e s a sia against
God, because froat the £hrlstiun perspective everytl ittg that v?a have belongs to
God. I say put ay nana oa the deed, I nay put «jr asms en the stocks and bonds,
but in essence everything tha ; ; I have end everything that you have is on deposit
by God, to be used by Site.
Today in the en lender of the Church is Pentecost , i . r of us will re-
jaasiber how *?e tasde /ass and provisos to be the kind of perccn that God wants us
to be . . . . (Reaffirmation of Confirmation vows by congregation)
\: -is s&r.-soa tr-sass :,"': o ,"' :\ ■; . or.ded)
Sermon - Pastor Raymond Shahesa&
! |it Su ada; iav
u .
ft J
(Sermon baaed on the Tea Commandment) , (
(SIACE, Mercy and Peace from God our \\i>^
Father and fross His Son Jesus Christ,
our Blessed Lord* Amen.
Today's sermon is the mext-to-the-Xast in the aeries dealing with the
Tan C ommandm e n ts, and we're about to consider the CcminsndJseat : "Thou shalt
not bear false. witness*"
Presumably with tongue Ik cheek Mark Twain on one occasion observed, there
are 869 different ways to tell a lie. Anyone who has had any experience at all
in the telling of lima knows full well that there are big lies and little lies
- - white lies, half-truths, dark and ugly lies. What now is to be said re-
garding this? Sail lst s s consider the Commandment as it's fully stated — not
simply "Thau shalt not bear false witness" . . . but the Commandment puts it
specifically . "Thou shalt no t bear false witness against thy ne ighbor."
There is not one word in the English language for 'false witness' — are you
aware of that? There is not one word in the English language for 'false witness.'
To the contrary, there are many s many words. There is ao word, it's been said,
in English which has s© many equivalents - - such ass
calumny . . . slaadar . . . misrepresentation . , . vituperation
. . . insult . . . scurrility . . „ railing . . . detraction . .
. whispering . . . back-biting , . . depreciation . . . vilification
. . . ianuendo . . . abuse ., . , tattle . . « insolence . . .
. sneering . . . taunting „ . , jibes . . . Jeers > . .
. . defsmatioa . , , libel , . , satire „ . . aareasss . . .
lampoon . . . sensoriousness . . . tale-bearing . . » salica
. . spite . « . envy „ . . evil-surmising , « . gossip . . .
....it* a been said there is no word that has so many equivalents in the
\glish language. So great importance we take in our consideration this
bearing of false witness -
It's aa exceedingly interesting thing to note that so far as the society
©f Israel was concerned, it was cot simply the giving of the Ten Commandments
that they took, seriously. It was the application of the Tea Commandments to
society.
Are you aware of the fact that as far as the law of Moses is concerned,
there are three general ©aaetmsnts which formed part of the social law of
Israel regarding this specific Commandment? — vetoes , which were introduced
la orier to undo so far as was possible the effects of evil speaking and to
make people shrink from the habit of evil-speaking. As sn example regarding
this Commandment: Yos shall not bear false witness , against your neighbor
- - the first enactment was that a man should never be condemned
upon the evidence of one witness. According to goad Jetrlsh tradi~
tion, at the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be
established. Moses decreed that no one man's word should ever be
sufficient to condemn another. . . ■
Let me pause at that point quite parenthetically and ask you how well yon
apply that test when someone corses and tells you something about someone else?
Hot-? quick are you to believe the first person who reports to you what may in
the ®n& be false testimony concerning somebody else? So stained are we by
original sin that it seems a lot easier for us to believe ill regarding some-
body else than to believe good.
.....in the application of this basic
Commandment Moses so decreed a series of three enactments, and the first one was
this: that you have to get the testimony from more than one person.
- - the second decree which Moses ordained wiHa a view to stamping
out the pernicious habit of slander had the effect of putting upon
the tale-bearer hiisself tit® whole responsibility fsr the condessna-
tioa aad the punishment of the person as had accused. According to
the 1st? of Moses, the slandarer who 'brought the accusation had by
his owsa hand to east the first stone at the mm being accused. The
slanderer, that, is to say, had to see the full effect of his own
words..... as ssuch as to suggest , if I bring this charge, if I
speak this slander - - if 1 bear this tale, what will be the final
result if this man is found guilty?
. . . .he had to see in hie fellow stan, standing alone md
naked before hits. . . .he had to stoop himself and lift the first
staue., ...he had to fling that stone at the shrinking figure who
stood sons p.acos from hia « * . he had to hear the thud of that
atone, and listen to the other stones from the hands of others
which his ass had set loose ... he had to jneet the eyes of the
dying man. And if the story was a lie, then the torments of hell
would begin to be stirred up in the slanderer 'a breast.
- - that was the second enactment by Moses: "You bring the charge
then you cast the first stone in view of other people as the man
stands naked before you - - you look him straight into the eye I"
It can be freely translated that Hoses perhaps was the kind of a man that
if somebody cane beating a tale about another 9 iaan, he would say, "How that you've
told me I cannot haip but know it. Bus we can't stop at this point. And since
I have sossa ssaasurs of responsibility in this regard, you eoma with me now and
you tell that nan what, you j .st told sae — you tell hisa, face-te-face." That's
the way Hoses would have handled it.
There was a third decree, and that slxsply was thiss that if one brought
testimony and it was proven false — than the person who brought the false testi-
mony would recei ; ; I sat &t&t the other person would 'have received
bed ha been found guilty «
...so the people of Israel took seriously this Coxnnaad-
sisat asd endeavored to stss^p out pernicious false-bearing witness.
How as I stead at this sacred desk 1 east sell you what 1 hoses tly believe,
that man is by nature a social being* Ha cannot go it fey himself , ®ad he is
made strong fey the beads that hold him, Had that eves* occurred to you* that
you sad I are made strong by the bonds by which we are held I
fake the spiritual bond, or the r e,ligicu@...boa d - - haven't I told you before
that that word religion coma from the Latin that means "to be held by, to be
bound to" - - sad you and I are Hade strong because we're bound by God. So
there's that spiritual or religious bead with which we must deal as God gave
us the Commandment: "I ass the Lord thy God" — reaeaiber whose you are and whos*
you are sasaat to serve - • X an b$isad to you, you are meant to be bound to as — *
don't let anything sever that bond/ 5 And so God gave the Cosssysndmsat » "Give at
due and proper respect . , . !l
There is the faglj^, bond — the bond by which we are held by those to whom
we are nearest sad dearest « • . and so God gave the Cemrjandasnt regarding hoi-?
important this family bond is : Respect for parents and elders . . «
There la a blood bond. .....we are knit together in this fabric of arnaulty*
and all life is to be seen as sacred, and so God gives the Comsaandsaent s "You don't
kill - - yea keep this bond sacrosanct with your fellow sea ~ - you don't murder. SE
There is a seat bond . • , va are held together by those with whoa we are
associated sexually. And because that's a very precious and a fragile thing,
God writes into the (taanandaeata a measure of protection for the sax bend — ■ You
don't aesiaait adultery . . .
There's the property bond - - sosa© of us are held by the things that we
possess, and as I told you the other Sunday, you can't separate a man from the
■ ■ : \ it >rt : =.:.„: I . ' \ .......... .
because they belong to so!SBb«>dy» Qod gives us the Cosmaadssat ; You 4oa't steal;,
jqu don't take what belongs to somebody else*
And Interestingly enough, perhaps yon haven't thought about it* there is
*k* ^SSMSSi. bond - - we are held together with one another by the words that
we speak* There are certain words that you have spoken to me that have endeared
you to agr seal* Whan 1 look back across the years and think of those who en-
eonraged sm ia say Christian commitment, when I think of those. ??he spoke the
right word at the right time; ia the right way to keep rse from falling — the
very eneouragssiettt that I've seeded oost — • I s,E /a been bonded and 1 h&ve been
held and 1 have been sustained by words that have been spoken. There is this
language bond - - - and because that bond ssa be abased - - words can heal, and
words ean kill. » . . .
— with sgr lips X can speak the truth
■ . . and with asy lips I can He .
— with ssy lips I can speak words that ean set a song
ia your soul. • . * .with ay lips I can eat you to the
quick.
fiords are precious.
Words are important-. They hold as to one another, or they san separate as.
X have a high regard for a physician friend of mine who once told ma, when
I had an appointment with him, how the word had just coma to the men that he
was going t© see next about a unfortunate thing in the life of his daughter.
And he said* "I dreed eeelng '-jhis man because cf the hate thac's going to swell
up within his seal. Aad you know what X 5 ® going to say to him? I'm going to
say to Ma, when 1 see him, 'How take pa->ise for a isoasents and realise that when
yea see your daughter for the first tine, that whatever words you speak to her
are going to determine yoar relationship from that titae onward* ■, . " Words
are that important.
6 can speak tha truth in ■ ■ « . - we can lie. God say : ."• lie —
you speak the. truth.
But goad people have been known to lis. And you* ye not forgetting, aw you.
that sfeesa Cootta&ds»mt8 were given as* God's people! - - not to strangers and
aliens. These ftMnmendanats were given to peopXs whom God loved, sad in whom
He was tsaking e© great en Investment.
Good people hevs been known te lis, Qo®& people lie becausa they're not
perfect. Every siagl® ©a® of us is stained by original aia.
I e«a understand why people lie because Vm never forgotten the first lie
I told w nether, and how she could probe the depth of say soul., 1 understood
why X lied. X also understood why I should never have lied.
If a oother esa be fosgivi-sg to her child, how aueh T/sore forgiving can God
be to a»i His children? Aad if anyone should ever lie to you — begin at this
point, aw friend, sad say to yourself - - there bat for the grace of God could
be I!
e a a
(This senson transcribed as recorded)
Sarwm - Paster David R, Shebeen
The Second Sunday aft er Pentecost , May 28 „ 19?8
"TO BE CONTENT" rfl
(Last ia the series of seemoas based en ths / i^j ^ '
Tea CoraBaadmsTsts - IX and X) LAf"
This sermon concludes a series that's bean preached frcm this pulpit
onrar the past eight weeks. The focus of our attention has been the Tea Ossa-
tBandmants s those rules for life that God gave to His children called Israel.
And as the sermon series concludes today we consider the Ninth and the Tenth
Coanandasnts together, for both have to deal with the sains issue, and specifi-
cally with that word covet .
Ems ths ewe Coassasadmeats read like this:
"Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's house,
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his servants » nor Ms ok, nor his ass, nor
anything that is your neighbor's/'
It is sisply to say, boiled down into one sentence, that we're talking about
a desire, a desire to have that which does not belong to us.
Living in the kind of world in which we do, it seems that just about any-
thing that we would a^jer wish or want is easily within our grasp. So what 8 s
the big fuss? We live in an abundant age* More often than not our thinking
is such that if we want something, we really need something, we can buy It.
Boss She fact that tfeo Commandments that we're considering today are autsbered
Nine and Ten on the List sake them any less important than Commandment number
Five, or Sis, or Seven? Whether you're thinking it or not, these are two tough
Ssssandssants to deal with.
Up to new, as this sermon series has unfolded, we have been talking about
Cessnaadments that hava to go with our relationship to other people* or the way
we live in society. But these two Cos&iandmaats — they are tougher in a way
because they deal with a person's inner thoughts. It's one thing to talk
about controling your actions - - it's an entirely different matter when we
"To Be Content'' !
&m£k abesst controlling ye«r feelings., and what. ym< think, aad year ©notion*.
For these two Coisaandaants are the kind that can he broken without the knowl-
edge of aay other person.
I dQPJt know what your understanding of the word covet is. But you're
right if you define it this ways that to covet soðlag is to desire to pos-
sess, to wish, to lust, co seek after. Bus literally speaking, the word s-saas
£e_£§at_after - - that is. to go .after something to the point o£ exhaustion.
To eovet sons thing is to desire that which yon. don't possess, And that is it-
self is not had, for who among us doesn't have & feero that w© con call to Kind
who has certain traits In character that we'd like to emulate, or has a certain
aspect about his life after which we'd like fcc pattern oars'? ?h& careful read-
ing of the Coaawndnent of course reveals that there is a place for deaira with-
in She heart. But what is not allowed in God's sehetse of things is the desire
to have that waiefc we have no right to possess.
Sow, as natter how a parson reads history, you'll have to allow for tim
fact thee down through the centuries the great struggle has always been between
the "feavau" and the "have-nots." This Commandment says that there are soae
things that you have no right to possess.
But there's a bit a»re to this business of coveting. The way the Greeks
used the word, in its original, meaning, they understood it as a desire to have
sora £ . the desire to go after southing as if to crave it and not be satisfied
until it was In you-,: hands, and it was a word that was used to describe a
detested quality in a laan's personality, and no where la the Greek world was
it ever used in a pcaitive way.
There is, In a certain seas®, a ccsdag face-to-face with the basic part
of hu» nature in this Coaewndnmt - - we're ao built and constructed that
desire is iastinetlva. It's one of the strongest parts of our being. Bsst the
value of any powerful force depends on what use we sake of it. The urge to
:■:' ------ = i; /.-" :'ii
"To Be Content:" -3
want - thB desire to fes^ - feQ drive to be - - all of these ess get e^ the
?a;lat where they eon so control as that they can be destructive. ?©« thiafc a£
ate airiest desire that ycis fes^ as it's related to eh© feigns to gain material
possessions, ^specisily the things that money eon buy, aad then you band that
over against the fact that it's by acquiring things that we do movant ourselves
and we do provide fesr the people who depend on as. Bat it's when trying to
acquire shiags gets out of proportion, life turns sour. The drive end the desire
to have eaa lead £s dishonesty — the saase of fairaaas in our relationship dis-
appears sad all wa can think about is getting what we want, no satter what the
priee 9 so rmtt&z what w© have to do to get it.
Aad s© the consequences for ourselves aad for others is never thought of
aad the drive is so strong aad desire to have become so great it can lead to
exploitation, The power of greed takes over aad the use of others is a
we use for selfish rasas. You know, that's one of the raasoas we have
Labor Laws we do la this country, that at one time ia our history eaployers took
advantage of youag children ia order to turn a profit ia their business. The
working coaditioas were unsafe aad the hours were long, aad there was no concern
expressed for the health sad the welfare of the workers or prostitutes —
it's in the sas:s ball park — it's the asking of a profit off the exploitation
of another person. We live in a materialistic world, and what wa do has to do
with our drive and desire to get. Md we think we caa buy ©isr way into happi-
If you look at the ads that appear ia television or oa the radio or in taaga-
sines, every one of them is designed to awa&eaing desire so that someone esa turn
a profit by satisfying a stisaulated need.
But coveting can appear in a acre subtle way. How about that desire for
status and place, the kind of drive that can lead ©as to be jealous, envious ,
gaining the things that ore in, are signs that a person has arrived. What are
the status syafcols of our day? What are the things that you really crave? — so
that you can show folks that you've elided to the top of the ladder ©f success?
Or how about the form of coveting that** the coveting of people? The
Commandment vmry cpeelftolly forbids the coveting of your neighbor'a mate, bet
what about friendship, and the way people pls^ one person off against the other?
You know there are some people who can't stand to see their best friend apand
ti$sse with somebody sl®@.
So deep down isslde ell of us is that idea that if ve een get, that If we
possess, md if we have, then we'll b& happy. The fasliag is the heert and the
Bind is that 'if I ted this, and if X had that, I'd be satisfied.* Btsfe it's
Szss s isn't ±t, that ansa we get what we want, and the brief thrill is over,
that we lose interest. Like the yoimg child with a new toy — fox- an hour or
two or a day or two he's fascinated with it, and it's tossed aside aid he'a
standing at the store window, wanting southing else. There's the desire, like
the rhythm of hunger and thirst, the satisfying of a desire, end then the rise
of the desire again, and it's for that reason that the relent Greek philo-
sophy Epicure, laid do«n this prescription - - he said, "If you want to sMte
a man happy, add not to Ms possession If ymg waa£ to ^^ a ^ happyv £fife@
sway Ms desires." In other words, a person can't be satisfied by acquiring
thiags, bet the cure for coveting is learning to be content.
"IiW tell a story about an old king who was dying of melancholy. And
after he bad tried ell the doctors and the wise man is vain, he was told that
if ha could get the shirt of a perfectly happy man and wear it, then he s too,
would be happy. And so there was the search for the perfectly happy Msn...and
they found lite — a traveler, walking along the road, a man of little means,
wit^out^a shirt p |« „X£ the possession of things brought contentmant,
then this ought to I > p i es t age in the history of the world, for never
has our civiliaatlfl id , meh of tbe things whleh were once the ponesafcm
of the privileged for? and are within the reach of so many.
eat" -5
AsaA jet it's alas? true, isn't it, this age in history is i;hs most neurotic
and dissatisfied, end that it sees® that the mark of an affluent sociaty &s
unrest, ss&d unease..... that sooner or later we discover that csmteatssafc is
net to ha found in the possession of things.
So than where is contentment to be found and how sight wa go about dealing
with this business of coveting? In Shakespeare's Henry VI, the King is asked
the quastioas "But if thou be King, where is thy crown?" The King answers , "My
crown is ia sy heart, not ok say head, sot decksd with diamonds and Indian atones
nor to be smn« Vfy crown is called content!" A crown it is that seldos kings
«saj oy .
In £h© first case, any situation that causes someone to lose their self-
respect cannot produce happiness. In the second case, any forbidden relation-
ship which is the cause of tragedy for others cannot produce happiness. In the
third cas®, any situation that causes a person to be separated from God cannot
produce happiness. On© sure way of feeing unhappy is always to dssire what other
people have. The Christian is *neant to be content and recognise the placa for
things In this world, that there are some things he will hever have, there are
some things that once he does have them, will never bring happiness if he keeps
them to himself. It's what a person does with what he has that determines his
character, and happy indeed is the person who recognizes that he can't take it
with him, and o© lives life with the intent of being concent and to share what
h® has.
Bane Gordon is the author of a play called "Too Little For Milo"....aad
there's a point in the play where the dialogue unfolds, when the teenager daisghtei
who becomes upset with some of the actions of her parents confronts her father
and puts t© him a question ia a vary pointed way, as only a teenager can.
asks her father, "What is it that you really want in life?"
...and the father tells his daughter, "I want to be the
"To Be Content" -6
best of ray kind is asy business."
...sad the daughter asks bis* "Tk©a whae?" . , . and he said, "We ■want
to asake a fortune 1"
...and the daughter replies s "Then what?" . . . "Well, w@ want to travel
a little."
. . . "And then whet?" . . , "We went to be suss to be able t& put you
through school o"
..."And then what?" . , . "Well, we wssst to build a susssser place."
..."Then what?" . . . "We want to retire and bs able t® do sosa of the
things we've ae\»sr beea able to do. H
..."Than what?" . . . and with as exasperated sigh, eh© fsfiher replies ,
"Well then, 1 guess we'll die."
...and the daughter asks, "Than what?"
And wasn't, it Jesus who told the story about the sun who had sueh & craving tmd
desire for things that he aaassed all the possessions and put theta in hie barn,
only to lose his own soul?
I don't know how it Is with you when you've kind of tried to take st&ek of
yourself In light of the Coaawndiaeats, but when it eotass to these that have to
do with coveting, 1 wonder how I would react if I'd find myself in a situation
like the story that was told to oy father by Mae Troxler — about the ©an who
went to Mb neighbor and he said, "You see that new sar out there in front of
ay house — my brother gave as that!" And you knot? what the neighbor said? —
"I wish I could be a brother Ilk© that."
...now you think ©bout that.
(This sersson transcribed as recorded)
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11