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2nd Tablet Teaching Sermon

July Teaching Sermon: 2nd Tablet of the Ten Commandments

In June we had a teaching sermon about the first 3 commandments, which we sometimes refer to as the “first tablet,” which are all concerned with our relationship with God. On July 25, 2010 we examined commandments 4-10, the ones dealing with our relationships with other people. (Note: The Ten Commandments are numbered differently by different churches, and in churches that descend from John Calvin’s teachings instead of Martin Luther, “you shall not make a graven image” is considered the second commandment and everything shifts until the end, when the 2 about covetousness are combined into one. The catechism we use from Martin Luther has the graven image clause as part of the first commandment.)


This teaching sermon on the 2nd tablet focused on how the commandments are not just a series of “Thou Shalt Nots,” to avoid endangering the lives of our neighbors. More importantly, Luther’s “meanings” of the 2nd tablet describe positive actions we should take to promote life. Following the commandments is not about avoiding the bad, but actively doing the good! Can you hear the life-giving commands of God in Luther’s explanations below?


4. Honor your father and your mother. We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.


5. You shall not murder. We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.


6. You shall not commit adultery. We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse.


7. You shall not steal. We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbor’s money or property nor cheat them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals to obtain it for ourselves, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.


8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.


9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. We are to fear and love God, so that we do not try to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or property or try to get it for ourselves by claiming to have a legal right to it and the like, but instead be of help and service to them in keeping what is theirs.


10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not entice, force, or steal away from our neighbors their spouses, workers, or livestock, but instead urge them to stay and remain loyal to our neighbors.

 

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