Have you ever heard of the U.S. Supremacy Clause? I’m sure most of you have, but if you’re anything like me, you may not know what it says -- or, its implications. The US Supremacy clause states: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States… (dot, dot, dot dot) shall be the supreme Law of the Land…(dot, dot, dot dot).
Right there, dab smack in the middle, resides the hinge-pin upon which the doors of our nation swings. I find it fascinating the preamble to the US Constitution contains a statement that is seemingly at odds with the Judeo-Christian scriptures: specifically the ten commandments as the highest law of the land. That being said, let me ask you: should not, or is not, God’s law the highest supreme law of the land - the law from which all human laws are derived? This morning we’re going to take a look at the God’s laws - the laws from which all human laws have developed. So, how about it? Let’s just dig in. Please open your bibles to Exodus, Chapter 20. But first, let’s back up just a bit a catch up from last Sunday.
GOD’S SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND
Last weekend we took an eight-mile journey with Israel as they fled from Pharaoh’s yoke through the Red Sea. Within the course of only weeks, God performed one amazing miracle after another and saved his children from the hands of tyranny and oppression. Upon reaching the shores of freedom, God brought the twelve tribes of Israel to Mount Sinai -- where they established camp and began to live as a free people.
But they had no rules or laws of conduct to guide them. They were a people -- yes. They had a leader -- Moses, and they were (and are) the children of God. However, at that time and place, they were kind of a rag-tag nation of like-minded, like-cultured, and like-believing folks with little or no laws to guide them -- for the exception of God’s natural laws, which he wrote upon the hearts of all humankind.
God knew his Children needed some basic laws to establish them as a people set apart from the rest of the world. And while scripture states God’s laws have been written onto the hearts of all humanity -- humankind has a tendency to live apart from God’s laws. Let’s take a look only the first ten. Let’s read them together…. Exodus 20
GOD GIVE’S THE LAW
Commandments 1-4 inform us how we are to live in relationship with God. They spell-out, the specific manner in which we are to devote ourselves solely to God: individually and communally. Call it a vertical relationship from heart - to mouth - to heaven: from human to God.
Commandments 5-10 let us know how we’re to treat and live with one another morally and ethically. Let’s call this the horizontal relationship.
Now here’s something that’s kind of cool. When we put these together, they form a cross: the vertical and the horizontal. (MAKE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS). Sometimes we see a person make the sign of the cross over his or her chest of face -- as often done in the Catholic Church. In like manner, if you notice, I’ll often make the sign of the cross some Sundays as I give the benediction. When you see these done, remember God’s Ten Commandments and the deeper significance behind the vertical and horizontal symbolism.
To help you remember these a little bit easier though, let’s take a quick look at them again -- rewritten with a Southern tiwst. I received this from a friend the other day, and thought you would enjoy this a bit. These are the “Southern Ten Commandments”
Commandments 1-4 - the vertical:
(1) There’s just one God
(2) Put nothin' before God
(3) Watch yer mouth
(4) Git yourself to the Sunday meetin'
Commandments 5-10: the horizontal
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa
(6) No killin'
(7) No foolin' around with another fellow's gal
(8) Don't take what ain't yers
(9) No tellin' tales or gossipin'
(10) Don't be hankerin' for yer buddy's stuff
MANKIND BRAKES THE LAW
Ironically, though, before God wrote these down -- and after God literally spoke these to the entire nation -- Israel broke both the vertical and horizontal beams. In our own times and metaphorically speaking, it’s like they stepped on and disavowed the cross of Christ.
While Moses was atop of Mount Sinai with God, the people coerced Aaron to cast a golden calf. After doing so, they worshipped this human-made thing -- this idol -- despite God’s warning not to do so: referring back to vv 22-26. When God told Moses what had happened, and Moses confronted Aaron about what happened, Aaron lied. I’m going to paraphrase Aaron, but essentially this is what he told Moses: Chapter 32 verse 22-24:
“They made me do it Moses… You know how evil these people are. They forced me ya know. So, I gave in and told them to hand over all their gold; and they did. I took all their jewelry and tossed into the fire, and pop, and out came this calf! I don’t know it came into being -- I guess just out of thin air or somethin”
So, right away, Aaron and the people broke God’s supreme law of the Land. Maybe they thought Moses wasn’t coming back. Maybe they felt abandoned by their leader and God. We’ll never know…. But as the old saying goes, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”…. So, it’s kind of like maybe they thought they wouldn’t have gotten caught, or just because the chief lawgiver and his ordained leader weren’t watching, that it was okay to break the law. Again, we’ll really never know. But let’s consider the laws they broke and the manner in which they broken them.
They ignored the “Just one God” rule by breaking the second and third, which is “Put’n nothin' before God” and “misusing the name of the Lord.” Then they overlooked number 9, which was to “tell no tales” as they lied to another, and eventually to Moses and God through Aaron. And consequentially, by doing all this they truly failed to get themselves to the Sunday meetin' as God commanded: even though they designed and worshipped their own festivals.
The Bible says they worshipped in a party kind of manner. They got up, went to church -- in a manner of speaking, and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterwards they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. In other words, they partied hearty after services -- not exactly godly worship and fellowship, in my opinion. Let’s keep adding to the list.
By lying to Moses, they broke # 5 & 9 by failing to honor Ma and Pa - or their elders if you wanna say it another way. Aaron took what wasn’t his and broke #8. He demanded everyone’s gold and through it into the fire. Truthfully they all broke #9 by gossipin' -- for Aaron had become the laughing stock of the community. And in all reality, they alslo broke number 10 because they hankered for their buddy's stuff as they created a huge golden idol to worship.
So, what didn’t they break: I guess numbers 6 and 7; as far as we know anyway. The bible doesn’t say if there was any killin' or if one fellow fooled around with another fellow's gal -- as far as we know. But with human nature in the mix and a community of hundreds of thousands, an missing sheriff, Its possible there was messin around, and it’s possible if someone got caught doing so that they took matters into their own hands -- if you know what I mean.
THE LAW AS THE CORNERSTONE OF SOCIETY
Okay, moving off the hillbilly theme -- God had given these ten laws to Moses. These laws were to serve as the foundation for the society. Some have called the Ten Commandments the moral or ethical laws of the covenant -- and for just right living. They were not civil laws as we think today, but rather, they basis for the civil and cultic laws that soon followed.
Most importantly, however, God wrote these specific ten laws with his own finger. If you remember nothing else from today - remember that. These Ten Commandments where written by God’ own hand, and they serve as cornerstone for not only our Christian faith, but for all moral and ethical living for all people the world over.
From the first 10 laws, 613 civil and cultic laws of behavior, right living, and worship were ordained and established. Now, I say ordained only because these laws are contained within the Jewish Torah -- first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus; Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The 613 cultic and civic laws - or the Mitzvah as it is referred to in Judaism -- were both divinely and humanly ordained.
The Mitzvah was considered the Hebrew law of the land -- I guess I we could called the Hebrew Constitution. Similar -- although VERY different -- the US Code or the total law of the land in the United States has become the holy book for many in our nation. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been able to keep all the laws of our nation, let alone God’s Laws - especially, the Ten Commandments. Thank goodness, there’s such a thing as grace. And for you and me, and for all humanity, God’s grace is abundant, and it is embodied in and through Jesus Christ, and upon his sacrifice upon the two wooden beams of Calvary.
JESUS HEALED OUR SHATTERED BEAMS
Jesus said that all the law can be summed up into two: to Love God with all your heart, soul and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself. I wish I could stand before you today and say I do this perfectly. But, to do so would be to break at least two commandments - putting self before God and telling a lie; and I can’t do that. In this most simplest and depraved sort of way, I can’t even keep two basic laws that Jesus embodied. How about you? And because we cannot even keep the most basic of laws - to Love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, Jesus Christ came down from heaven to restore the beam upon which we have so trampled.
I don’t think it’s ever okay for us to purposely break God’s laws -- or even the laws of our own land: at least those that align with God’s word. And like Aaron and the Israelites, none of us are perfect. Because of this, Jesus Christ took on our imperfection, so that God would not recognize us for the lawbreakers that we truly are, but only see the Christ standing before him.
Sometimes we feel all alone and want to go our own way. Too often our national and local leaders abandoned us, despite the laws they create. And sometimes, and heaven forbid -- but probably true -- our religious leaders abandon us as well. And while all of this unfortunately that happens, God doesn’t desire for us to manufacture our own god or go about life our own way. Instead, he desires we cry upwards towards the mountain and seek his guidance. As we come forward this morning for Holy Communion, let us all look upward to the cross and seek God’s grace and forgiveness. Seek Jesus as the perfection and embodiment of God’s law -- and strive today to live for him, and not for self. Amen. Let’ us pray.
