Category: Sermons

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Luke 17:11-19: Are we thankful?

title slide with photo of Bluemont and Mayberry Churches

I’m back from my travels. In two weeks, I plan to post about my bicycle ride along the C&O Canal. I’m also back in the pulpit this morning…

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches  
October 11, 2026
Luke 17:11-19

Taped at Bluemont Church on Thursday, April 8, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

A number of years back, I received an email from a former classmate. Concerned about her son, she asked for prayers. In her plea, she addressed me as a “great man of God.” Taken back, I checked the address. Was it meant for me? She could have mistaken me for someone else. Either that or her memory had already started to decline, as she hadn’t seen seen me in decades. In high school, I could be a troublemaker. But don’t worry, I still prayed for her son.

I bring this up because there is a belief common, even among faithful Christians, that God listens and favors the prayers of the righteous and faithful. Such a belief isn’t fully Biblical. Now, I should also give my classmate some credit. She addressed me as a great man of God as a way to honor me; it’s just that I don’t see myself in that manner. Any greatness any of us have comes from God, not from ourselves.

Before reading the scriptures:
I’m taking a break from the Psalms this week. Instead, I want us to look at the gospel passage from the lectionary, the healing of the ten lepers in Luke’s gospel. This story demonstrates Jesus healing and compassion, but only one of the lepers experiences true transformation—the tenth leper.

Before reading the passage let me say something about leprosy. It was a dreaded skin disease in the ancient world. Jewish law, especially in the book of Leviticus, laid out tough requirements of how do deal with lepers. The intent was to protect society from the spread of the disease. Scholars debate over what kind of leprosy Leviticus addresses. It doesn’t seem as severe as the type of leprosy we know today, which invaded Europe and Western Asia later. Regardless, the disease was horrible and in a time without public health departments and modern medicine, having it was tragic. While society needed protection, victims of leprosy also needed help. In our story today, ten found such help in Jesus Christ.  

Read Luke 17:11-19

“Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture they don’t understand. What have always bothered me are those passages that I do understand.” This quip from Mark Twain contains wisdom. We probably should spend more time worrying about what’s clear in scripture than what’s unclear. If we understand this passage, we should be troubled! Jesus heals ten people and only one thanks him! What happened to the other nine? Are only 10% truly grateful? Did the other nine just “take the money and run,” so to speak? Did they intent to come back to thank Jesus and something distracted them? As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

And what about us? Where do we fit in the story? Would we stand alone praising God, or would we run with the crowd and forget from where life and true healing comes?

The foundation of our Christian life is based on God’s gift. Presbyterian and Reformed theology teaches that the Christian life—our worship, ethics, stewardship and morality—is based upon our response to the love God has already shown us. We don’t worship and praise God because we want God to do something. That’s the theology of a pagan. We worship and praise God because we have experienced God’s grace. The Samaritan leper would have made an excellent Presbyterian. He knows the proper response. He bows down in awe and reverence to Jesus, God in the flesh.  

Now, this doesn’t mean the other guys are necessarily bad. They do what Jesus asks. Together, they herd off to the priests and have themselves declared clean. Perhaps their mothers didn’t make them sit at the table after a birthday party and write thank you notes so they didn’t know better… Of course, I’m merely speculating. Jesus didn’t ask to be thanked. Perhaps the Samaritan’s response came as a pleasant surprise.

Jesus heads to Jerusalem the first verse tells us. Luke devotes a great deal of his gospel to Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. Jesus begins his journey in the ninth chapter and doesn’t enter the city till the nineteenth chapter! It’s surprising this takes up so much space in Luke’s gospel, for the journey itself would only have been a few days of hard traveling. Yet, a lot happens on this trip. 

The location of our story, along the border of Samaria and Galilee, is telling. Most Galilean Jews went out of their way to avoid this area, preferring the indirect route around Samaria. We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. The story disturbed the Jews. They considered Samaritans their no-good cousins.

For pious Jews in the First Century, the one thing worse than a Samaritan (and even a Roman!) would have been a leper. The pious avoided anything which would make them unclean. They assumed their holiness came from from their own efforts as set out in the Torah. Leprosy was a dreaded disease, feared by all in the ancient world, and coming in contact with one would require a ritual of purification. 

The book of Leviticus devotes two whole chapters to the disease, instructing the priest on how to diagnose it, as well as how to declare someone free of this horrible infection. Lepers wore torn clothes, let their hair hang loose, and covered their lips as they cried out “unclean” whenever anyone approached. Often they hung bells around their necks. Think of a cow bell warning others of their presence. They couldn’t work. They had no option but to follow the law, remain shunned from society, and depend up the charity of others.

Today, leprosy is no longer the problem it once was. Today, doctors easily treat it with drugs. If I remember correctly, the last leprosy hospital in the United States (in Louisiana) closed in the 1990s. Yet, there are still hospitals around the world, some started by the Presbyterian Church, such as one in Chang Mai, Thailand. With the right drugs, leprosy today can be easily treated.

The frontier, the area separating Samaria and Galilee, was the perfect place for lepers to gather. These people, because of the disease on their skin, are chased out of society. Here, in the frontier region, the distinction between religion and race disappears as their common affliction brings them together. They eke out a living by begging. As Jesus and the twelve enter a town in this region, these ten lepers follow. Staying at a distance, they cry out to Jesus to have mercy upon them. We can’t even be sure they are looking to be cleansed. They’ve must of heard of Jesus, as they use his name, but it’s likely they just want dinner. 

Jesus sees them. That’s all we are told. In seeing their condition, Jesus’ compassion moves him to act. He tells them to go to the priest and have themselves declared clean. Jewish law required a priest to readmit one once healed. Obediently, they turn and walk away. They may not have even known what Jesus had done for them. The text tells us they were healed along the way and the priest declares them clean. Nine continue on with their lives, but one, the Samaritan, returns.

Biblical scholarship suggests this story can be divided into two parts.  The first, verses 11 through 14, focuses on healing. Jesus heals all who those afflicted. Verses 14 through 19 centers on salvation. Only one of the ten, the one who recognized his healing as coming from God in the flesh, experiences this deeper healing.

God doesn’t limit his blessings to the faithful. As the often quoted verse goes, “God sends rain on the just and the unjust.”  A loving God created us. John 3:16 reminds us of this truth. The difference between the faithful and unfaithful comes in our response to God’s blessings. All ten obeyed Jesus and went to the priests, only one went a step further and returned to worship God in thanksgiving. How about us? Where would we be? Would we acknowledge from where our life and blessings come? Or, would we arrogantly assign the praise due God to ourselves (or someone or something else)?

I once heard a definition for evangelism which resonated with me. It came from a Lutheran pastor out West who wrote: “Evangelism isn’t bringing God to the unbelievers, but helping the unbelievers grasp the ways God has already been graceful to them—and to encourage a response of heart-felt thanksgiving.” If God is all-powerful, as we believe, he is with all people: believers and unbelievers. As Reformed Christians, we talk about common grace, the grace God gives to all his creation. We should point to such grace as evidence of God’s action in the world and give thanks.

One of John Calvin’s favorite metaphors for God was a fountain or a spring. Consider the image of a spring bringing refreshing water bubbling water from the ground. When I come upon such a spring, I can’t help but to drink from it. That’s how Calvin suggests we consider God. In The Institutes of Christian Religion he writes:

For until people sense that they owe everything to God, that they are cherished by his fatherly care, that he is the author of their every good, so that they should ask for nothing apart from him, they will never bow to him in willing reverence. No, unless they fix their happiness firmly in him, they will never devote themselves wholly, truly, and sincerely to him.”

How do we express our thankfulness to God for what he’s done for us? Do we pray at the table, giving thanks? Do we give thanks when a little prayer is answered? Or do we look back over our day in bed, thanking God for the good we experienced? And are we unselfish with the blessings God entrusts to us? Too often, I fear, we see that which we have as an entitlement, something that we deserve. Yet the healthiest people are those with a deep sense of gratitude.  

Yet, too often, I’m afraid, we’re like the other nine.We take what we can get and run. We need to change. The tenth leper shows us a better way. He experiences grace and then bows before the King of Kings, which is an appropriate response. Amen.  

This sermon was edited from a sermon I preached in 2010 at the First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, MI.

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Psalm 10: Our Wicked World

title slide with photo of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
September 20, 2026
Psalm 10

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Presbyterian Church on September 18, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

This week there was an article in Wired Magazine, which contains articles on computers, networking, and stuff. This article featured Maddie, a student at the University of Florida. She made a bad decision. Photographed naked, this photograph and others, some photoshopped, started appearing around the internet. 

I had never heard of the “burnerverse,” which is “a loosely connected online community of sports fans.” Many of these accounts are anonymous. And some of these “burners” set out to destroy the lives of women, and by doing so they promote their own internet presence. The article primarily dealt with issues at universities of Florida and Mississippi, but acknowledges the problem exists elsewhere.

Why would someone want to intentionally destroy someone’s reputation, especially someone they don’t even know. It becomes a game from them as they seek more hits and more followers on their internet sites. But it’s wrong; it’s evil. Thankfully, Maddie had a supportive family with research abilities which allowed them to expose the anonymous men involved. Three face serious criminal charges. But that’s not always the case and often those who commit such evil deeds remain anonymous and continue to destroy lives. 

We live in a wicked world. It can be very cruel. But that’s nothing new as we’ll see in our scripture for today. 

Before reading the scriptures: 

Today we’re going to look at Psalm 10. Perhaps I should have preached first on Psalm 9 first, but I will save that one for closer to Thanksgiving. Psalm 9 & 10 probably went together at one point, but they remain separated in the Hebrew text. However, the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), and  Latin Bibles, join the two chapters together. This is because the two psalms complete an acrostic poem, with every other line starting with the next letter in the Hebrew alphabet. 


Psalm 9 begins with a Thanksgiving, then slowly moves into a lament. Psalm 10 is all lament. A part of the power of this Psalm is the Psalmist willingness to come before God swinging. He demands action. Long before Rabbi Kushner wrote, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, the Psalmist asks the same question. 

People often use the existence of evil to challenge the concept of God being good. But Scripture remains honest. Evil exists in the world despite God’s goodness. However, God assures us of this: evil will never have the final word. 

Read Psalm 10

Have you ever felt God wasn’t there for you? What did it feel like? Was it scary? And what does it take to feel so abandoned. 

I know there have been times on wilderness trips where I have been lost or at least was unsure of my location. But at such times, I felt free to talk to God and never felt abandoned. 

Barbara Brown Taylor, in her book An Altar in the World, points out how “God does some of God’s best work with people who are truly, seriously lost.” (73). So if you feel lost, don’t give up hope. God’s there with you even when you don’t feel God’s presence.

This is the situation for the Psalmist. He deals with evil people who lack a conscience. They do whatever they want to destroy others. The Psalmist feels they have his number. He could relate to Maddie in the Wired article I spoke of earlier. As he finds himself hunted down, he wonders where God hides. 

Starting with verse 2 and running through verse 11, the Psalmist list the traits of the wicked who attack him. They persecute the poor for the fun of it. They have schemes to separate people from their possessions. There are no guardrails on their desires which come from them either thinking God’s far away and does care or that God doesn’t exist. Both remove God out of the picture of what’s right and wrong. 

In verse 5, we see their arrogance. Feeling freed from morality and restraint of the Almighty, they don’t think they’re being watched. They prosper by their wickedness. They see themselves above the law and brag on their evil ways. 

Starting in verse 8, we learn how they hid. They sit in ambush in the village. They keep a lookout for those who are helpless and lurk as a lion, waiting to seize the poor. We’re reminded of what those with evil intent say in Proverbs (1:11), 

“let us lie in wait for blood;
     let us wantonly ambush the innocent.”

We must avoid such people. They do their deeds in the dark, hidden from others, thinking they’ll get away with their actions for, in their understanding, God nor the authorities sees what they do. 

The Psalmist has had enough of the ways of the wicked. In verse 12, he returns to God, calling on the Almighty to wake up, to look out and see what’s happening. As in Psalm 5, which we looked at last week, the Psalmist attempts to shame God into maintaining his reputation. He makes sure God understands how his enemies mock God. They think they’ll get off free. But that’s not the case. As we see in verse 14, deep down in his heart, the Psalmist knows God sees and takes notes on what’s happening.

God might not alway intervene in the affairs of the human race, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t interested. God sees and, sooner or later, people will be brought to account for their evil ways. This is especially true for the evil ones who abuse those who cannot help or defend themselves. This Psalm signals the orphan for God care, but throughout the Old Testament, three groups are repeated lifted up for concern: widows, orphans, and foreigners. All these people have no one to look out for their interest. But not only does God takes special interest in them, God demands his people to care for them. Our calling involves doing God’s work in the world.

In verse 15, we see the rage of the Psalmist as he calls on God to break the arms of the wicked, to hunt them down till they no longer exist. Notice, the Psalmist doesn’t seek to break bones of his persecutors himself. He leaves vengeance in God’s hand. After getting his anger off his chest, the Psalmist praises God, who remains king for all of us. God is eternal, while we-including nations-are not. Sooner or later we’ll pass from earth, but God rules forever. 

The Psalm closes with a glimpse of the world to come. The Psalms of lament always hold out hope. Here, we learn God hears the prayers of the meek. God strengthens their hearts and encourages them to seek justice. Hope abounds, for in the future, there will be no more terror from these beasts.

So, what might this Psalm say to the church and to those who attempt to follow Jesus today? First of all, it provides an honest assessment of the world. Evil exists. We live in a fallen world. As Jesus tells the disciples in Matthew, “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” We still live in such a world, but we should not embrace or condone it. Nor should we accept it. We strive for innocence. We help the oppressed. And, under no circumstances, should we exploit them. 

Finally, while we may not experience full justice in this life, take hope. God isn’t hidden nor does God ignore what happens. We have a vision of a future with God where justice for the oppressed with be realized. Such a vision may come as terror for those who ignore God’s justice in this life, but the oppressed and abused find relief. While we continue to see justice in this life, we are assured that in the life to come where justice will prevail. 


In this Psalm, God reminds us that being on the right side of history may, at times, seem futile in this evil world. But that will not be the case in the world to come. Amen.

Sources:

Alter, Robert, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W. W. Norton,  2007.

Dickson, EJ, “A College Girl was Exploited on Camera. A Network of Anonymous Ment Got to Work,” Wired, September 14, 2026. 

May, James L., Psalms: Interpretation, a Biblical  Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994.

Taylor, Barbara Brown. An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith (New York: HarperOne, 2009).

Weiser, Artur, The Psalms: A Commentary. 1959. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1962. 

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Psalm 5: Taking Our Troubles to God

title slide with photos of Mayberry & Bluemont churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
September 13, 2026
Psalm 5

The sermon was recorded at Mayberry on Friday, September 11, 2026.

At the beginning of worship: 

Mozart’s greatest opera, Don Giovanni, tells the Don Juan story. Don Giovanni has three passions: food, drink, and women, especially women named Donna. He attempts affairs with Donna Elvira and Donna Anna. Through his attempt to seduce the latter, he’s challenge by her father. He kills him. At the end of the opera, the father returns as a statue from the graveyard, to claim Don Giovanni’s life. He’s urged to repent before it’s too late. To do so, he must renounce his life. He can’t do it and the opera ends with him being dragged by demons into hell. In his mind, the torments of hell are better than giving up what he enjoyed in life. 

Hopefully, most of us don’t begin our theology with hell. If truth be told, we don’t want to think about hell. And, I suggest, spending too much time thinking about hell is dangerous. We’ve been too conditioned to think of hell by Dante and the like. But perhaps there is a reason for hell. 

What would heaven be like for Donna Anna and Donna Elvira if Don Giovanni showed up? It seems to me it would be less than paradise. Some people’s presence, without great purification, would have the ability to destroy heaven. Actually, and this is important to remember and should keep us humble, we will all need some form of sanctification or purification to come face-to-face with God. And, as I’ll explore in today’s sermon, only by God’s grace will we arrive.

Before reading the text:

As I did during the fall of last year, I plan to mostly preach from the the Book of Psalms this season. I will use Psalms which I have not yet preached on over the past 40 years. I have preached on over half of the Psalter, but that still leaves me a lot from which to choose. Today, we’ll look at the 5th Psalm. 

This is a personal lament. The Psalmist, and this is the third Psalm attributed to David, complains to God about people telling lies about him. He ask God to intervene on his behalf. But while this is a personal lament, the Psalm itself was proclaimed within the community at worship. We should remember the Psalms were Israel’s hymnal. They were sung and prayed in worship. And while this Psalm centers around the complaint of an individual, it ends incorporating the entire community. 

As I preach through the Psalm, it could be helpful to keep your Bibles open and to follow along. Don’t just follow in the reading, but use it as a reference for my interpretation of the passage.

One more thing. This Psalm also nicely follows up to my sermon of a few weeks ago when I preached on the 9th Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. 

Read Psalm 5:

Let me suggest from the beginning, the good news from this Psalm applies to one enduring slander, bullying, and deceit. It seems depressing, filled with judgment and consequences. But not if we understand the Psalm from the one bullied or facing slander and lies. The Psalm addresses the oppressed individual’s needs and offers hope for those who strive to live righteous lives.

I think many within our nation felt this way back on 911. Remember that day twenty-five years ago when it seemed our world fell apart. We knew we were attacked but didn’t understand why or what was happening. It was a scary time. This Psalm addresses such a time, especially within our personal lives. 

Our Psalm begins with an appeal to God. We might also call it a Call to Worship, as we do when we gather on Sunday mornings. The Psalmist demands an audience with God. His, assuming David wrote this Psalm, troubles are so great that only God can help. Twice this Psalm demands God to listen. Such repetition emphasizes the demand. The sad words come as a sighing, a cry, a prayer, offered at worship in the morning. Of course, if David was the original author, some changes occurred to the Psalm as it appears the Psalm was adapted for use in the temple, which didn’t exist during David’s reigns. But let’s not dwell there. 

We should focus instead on David’s anguish. He must have had a sleepless night. He worries about those who spread false rumors. Have you ever heard a rumor about something you supposedly did or said, and then had a hard time turning off the tape within your brain which plays the accusation over and over? That’s must be what’s happening within David’s mind as he worries about his reputation.

This psalm does not inform us of God’s reply. But the Psalmist obviously thinks God listens, for he continues into the second part of the prayer. Perhaps faith draws David forth, Starting in verse 4, he acknowledge God’s traits. God despises wickedness. Evil cannot exist in God’s presence. 

This leads the Psalmist to assume those whose tell the destroying lies will not enjoy God’s presence. For the bloodthirsty and deceitful will never stand before the Lord. God is holy and those polluted will never find an audience with the Almighty. 

A shift then occurs in verse 7. The Psalmist feels called into God’s presence. Notice, it’s not because of the Psalmist’s righteousness. Rather, the God who cares for the meek of the earth, invites the Psalmist in through God’s steadfast love. The Psalmist enters in awe, with head bowed, perhaps knowing he’s not worthy.

In the next verse, the Psalmist asks for supplication. “God, lead me through my enemies, make your path straight for me.” When we are in trouble, we may find ourselves with no one but God who can help. It’s also important we don’t try to take things in our hands. If we do so, we might make a bigger mess of things. Vengeance is mine says the Lord, a passage found in both the Old and New Testament. We are not to seek revenge, instead we’re to ask God to show us how to live into the future. 

Next, in verses 9 and 10, comes the Psalmist complaint. Earlier, when he acknowledged God’s goodness, the Psalmist established God as one who despises wickedness. Now he brings before God those can’t stand before the Almighty. They lie and plan destruction. Their mouths are like open graves, they can flatter but can also kill. Standing them

 before God, the Psalmist wants to assure they pay the price for their treachery. Yet, notice their fall isn’t because of God. Their own counsel tripped them up. Having rebelled against God, they find themselves cast out from God’s presence. As with Donna Anna in Mozart’s opera, the deceitful one must be banished before she can enjoy life. 

With the concern of those who slander and make his life difficult off the Psalmist chest, we move to close the prayer. The Psalmist prays for the righteous within the community. While this is a personal lament, it also applies to the community of faith, those who seek refuge in God. The Psalmist asks for protection upon the community. May those who are innocent be covered with God’s favor. 

The Psalmist, in a way, prays for God’s kingdom to be fulfilled. “They will be done, thy kingdom come,” we pray. Such a kingdom, according to the Beatitudes, consist of those who are poor in spirit. It also includes the meek, those who long for righteousness, who show mercy, who have pure hearts, who seek peace, and have been persecution for righteousness’ sake. The Psalmist fits within many of these traits. 

We’re shown in this psalm how to take our troubles to God. We can bring God our concerns and seek out God protections when threatened. 

But I want to address one other thing. It seems this song divides the world into the good and bad. However, we must be careful of such dual thinking. After all, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, we’ve all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. In Romans 3, the Apostle Paul draws from this Psalm among others to indict all people of our sinfulness. Even David, to whom the Psalm is attributed, did things which did not please nor bring God glory. This was especially true with him setting up Uriah’s death so that he could cover up his adultery with Bathsheba. 

So, if we’re all guilty, how can we come before God? We find the answer back in verse 7. We can only come before God by God’s steadfast love. That’s grace. God answers the prayers of those bullied in life, but God will also answer the prayers of the bully, if they repent of their behavior. But that’s the topic for another sermon. 

So when you are beaten down by life, let’s take your troubles to God. And while we try to live and do what is right, we know we are not always so innocent. God will help us when we are bullied, as in the case of the Psalm. But we should also remember this: God looks out for those we bully.  Amen. 

Sources:

Alter, Robert, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W. W. Norton,  2007.

Mast, Stan. “Psalm 5:1-8 Commentary for Sunday,  June 12, 2016” 

Psalm 5:1-8

May, James L., Psalms: Interpretation, a Biblical  Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. 
Louisville: John Knox Press, 1994.

Weiser, Artur, The Psalms: A Commentary. 1959. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1962. 

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The Tenth Commandment: No Coveting

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
September 6, 2026
The Tenth Commandment

The sermon was recorded at Mayberry Presbyterian Church on Thursday, September 3, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

How many of you have seen the movie, “The God’s Must Be Crazy?” Released in 1980, I think consider it one of the funniest films of all times. When the movie opens, you think you’re watching a documentary produced by the National Geographic Society. A serious narrator introduces a primitive tribe in Africa. Everyone lives in perfect harmony as they share everything. These folks have not had contact with the outside world. They’ve not been corrupted; they’re happy and content. But all that changes. 

One day a bush pilot flies over their meager village and after chugging down a bottle of Coke, he drops the empty bottle out of the window. Those on the ground think the empty soda bottle is a gift from the gods. And their lives improve for they find many uses for the bottle. It serves as a hammer. The sun reflects through the glass allowing them to build fires. You get the idea; the bottle quickly becomes a handy tool. Soon, since there’s only one bottle, the tribes harmony breaks apart. They fight over who has the right to use the bottle. 

Finally, the elders gather and decide the gods must be crazy to have sent such a dangerous gift. They choose one man to take the bottle back to the gods—in other words back to civilization. The movie continues with his journey and you’ll have to watch it to find out what happens. But to tie this into our theme for today, covetousness leads to disharmony.

Before reading the scripture:

We’ve come to the end. Or at least the last of my sermons on the Ten Commandments. It’s been a long summer and I’m sure you’re ready for something else.

Today, we’re looking at the 10th Commandment, the sin of coveting. This may even be the first sin we commit. It’s a sin which could go by many names such as jealously, envy, lust, or “keeping up with the Jones.” Today, I’ll read through the commandments. Remember, they’re all important.  

Read Exodus 20:1-17

Coveting, that desire to have what doesn’t belong to us, has always been a problem. It’s the foundation of the original sin. In the garden, Adam and Eve enjoyed everything they needed to have a happy life. Only one thing in the garden remained off-limits, the tree of knowledge. We often interpret this to be an apple tree, although the story doesn’t identify a specie. However, think of it this way. If the tree was an apple, they could have eaten their fill of oranges, pears, apricots, and peaches. Just one tree that they had to avoid, but they couldn’t do it. 

Like a magnet, they’re draw straight for the forbidden tree. It became too tempting. Listening to a serpent, Eve takes a bite and offers it to Adam and they enjoy the fruit. Maybe it was a juicy apple so when they took a bite, the juices dripped from the corners of their mouths. They disobeyed God because they wanted what did not belong to them.

We learn to covet at an early age, or maybe it is instilled into us, either way, it’s wrong. We see covetousness manifesting itself in children, which is why I think it might be one of the first sins we commit. A child, when very young, learns the word “mine.” If he or she doesn’t want to let another child play with a toy, the toddler will clutch the toy in his or her arms. If another child has a toy they want, they’ll grab it and shout, “mine.” And as a child matures and learns to follow directions, they’ll get to the age when they are always testing the limits. At this stage in their development, the easiest way to get a child do something is to declare it off-limits. Tell a kid it’s off-limits and like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they’ll be doing it in a heart-beat. 

Coveting starts early; we want what does not belong to us and it seems we’re easily seduced by the forbidden. When I was right out of seminary and serving a church in Ellicottville, New York, I remember an overpass on the road heading toward Buffalo. Someone wrote on the concrete, in graffiti, “I don’t want it all; I just want your half.” There’s a lot of truth to that statement. It’s coveting at its best. 

The problem of coveting has always been with us. As I’ve shown, it was there in the Garden of Eden, but I wonder if it didn’t become worse in the 20th Century with catalogs like Sears and Roebuck, J. C. Penny, and Montgomery Wards. It’s strange to think of those catalogues being a thing of the past, but now we have Amazon. We can shop and drool over the keyboard. Now, acquisition in and of itself isn’t bad. But the motives which drive us to want what others have can be a problem. For we find ourselves focusing, as Christ warns, not on treasures in heaven, but on storing up that which rots and rust, that which thieves can steal.

As a kid, the only good thing about going back to school was the arrival of the Sears Christmas Catalog, or The Wishbook as it was known. The catalog should have been called the coveter’s handbook. It arrived in the mail early in September, right after school resumed. I still remember the excitement felt the day we came home on the bus and discovered catalog sitting on the kitchen table. Its arrival created a war between my brother and sister and I. We’d all argue about who got to look at it first, and over the next several days, we’d spend hours looking at all the neat toys and making our lists for Christmas. “I want, I want” it’s an early phrase we learn as a child. Looking at the pictures of the kids on the pages of the catalog, playing in a toy utopia, caused our mouths to water. And by having a brother and sister meant that I got to break this commandment in two ways. Not only did I covet the toys in the catalog, I coveted the catalog itself, when in the hands of my brother or sister. The catalog encouraged a double violation of this sin.

There’s been a lot of discussion about the tenth commandment ­probably starting right after the Hebrew people broke camp and moved away from the mountain. It is often pointed out that the commandment doesn’t fit with the other commandments on the second table of the law which deal with our relationship with one another. After all, murder, adultery, theft and false witness are all sins that involve an action. But covetousness, desiring something that belongs to someone else—be it their wife (or their husband if you’re a woman), their servants, their possessions, their land—isn’t a sin that can be seen. It resides in our heart. No actions required.

We can hide our desires and go around life with a poker face and fool people. We can be praise for our good deeds when, in reality, such deeds may have been done for less than honest reasons. The desire to have something which belongs to someone else, is the root sin which may only becomes visible when one of the other commandments are broken. Think about it, psychopaths aside, people don’t go around murdering because they enjoy it. Murder generally occurs because one protects, or thinks he or she protects, one’s self interest. The same is true with adultery, stealing and bearing false witness, sins which are committed because we put our own interest above that of the community. All of this is a result of coveting. Our wants and desires lead us down a dangerous path of thinking we’re more valuable than others. 

John Calvin, in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, suggests that instead of focusing on our desires, we do the opposite: that we focus on our neighbor’s good. Such a technique will help us control our urges to want what we do not have and, as the commandments are so designed, will result in a healthier community. These laws help strengthen our relationship with God and with one another.

I want to suggest a danger of misinterpreting and wrongly applying the tenth commandment. If we’re not careful, we can use the command to condemn others who desire to improve their lives. Perhaps the best example of this would be to criticize of a group of oppressed people who desire freedom to live a life of dignity and provide for their families. To use this commandment as a way to condemn, we cover our butts, not wanting them to have what we have. Such response breaks the intention or the spirit of the commandment. God gave us these rules for the betterment of all people, and to use it as a means of oppression dishonors God. After all, Israel was an oppressed people in Egypt. Perhaps in such a case, instead of criticizing, we should heed the Jesus’ words, “Judge not.”

The sin of coveting is something only we can identify within ourselves. Jesus desires our hearts be pure and when we spend all our time focusing on our neighbor’s possessions, we lose the ability to be grateful and generous. We then tend to focus on our own desires and slowly turn away from our Savior and our neighbor.

The tenth commandment makes a great ending to the laws given to Moses. He start out with the warning not have any other gods. God is all-sufficient. We end the commandments with a prohibition against dwelling on what we don’t have. When it comes to stuff, we can never have enough to satisfy our desires. This is why coveting can be so dangerous, for our desires will keep us from being grateful to God for what we have. Our desires will eventually set us at odds with our neighbors. It’s a hard command to keep for temptation abounds, for we’re always being reminded by advertising of what we need (even if we never knew we needed it. We’re also reminded of what everyone else has (even if they don’t have it). Therefore, we feel we’re left out. Such messages, when we believe them, are deadly lies which undermine our dependence upon God. 

Do we worship the God who can satisfy our longings, or worship stuff that leaves us hungry for more? The choice is ours. Amen.

Sources:
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Ford Lewis Battles,
translator (1559)
______. Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley,
translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),
Childs, Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological
Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.
Christensen, Duane L, Deuteronomy 1-11: (Word Biblical Commentary
Waco: Word, 1991).
Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder &
Stoughton, 1963).
Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon on the 10th Commandment at First Presbyterian
Church of Hastings, Michigan. “(September 2, 2007).
Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten
Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).
Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for 
the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009)

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The Ninth Commandment

title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Presbyterian Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 30, 2026
The Ninth Commandment
Exodus 20:16

Sermon recorded at Bluemont on Friday, August 28, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

One afternoon, a preacher walking through his neighborhood came up on a group of boys trying to out-lie each other. He stopped and after listening for a few moments at some whoppers, asked the boys what they were doing.They explained they’d found a puppy. They all wanted the dog, so they decided the one who told the biggest lie could take it home. 

This disturbed the preacher. Looking at each boy in the eye, he told them they should be ashamed. He went on to say that when he was there age, he never told lies. The boys bowed their heads and shrugged their shoulders in shame as their leader, picked up the puppy, handed it to the preacher and said, “You win, you get to keep the dog.”

I won’t stand up here today and say I’ve never told a lie. If I did, as John’s first epistle reminds us, I would be deceiving myself and the truth would not be in me. All of us have lied—whether telling our mother we didn’t have any homework when we wanted to play baseball, or saying we’re going to the office when we have fishing rods or golf clubs stashed in the trunk. Although lies vary in degree of intensity, they are dangerous as they put us in the league with the great liar, Satan whose name means one who slanders, who lies, and who deceives.

Before reading the scripture:

We’re to tell the truth, that’s the meaning of the 9th Commandment, right? But what about “little white lies.” I’m sure not only have we all told lies, there’s probably been times we all wished we’d told a lie instead of telling the truth.


What’s the relationship to those little white lies we tell? That’s what I want us to consider this morning. What does the ninth commandment mean today? “Is lying ever appropriate?” If so, when?  Let’s listen to the commandment. 

Read Exodus 20:16



Let’s hear this commandment from a modern translation: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” And from the King James Version. “Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.” 

Sermon

What does it mean to give false witness? What’s the intention of the commandment, especially in light of Jesus’ teachings? 

First of all, in Old Testament times, jurisprudence depended upon witnesses in court telling the truth. The same is true today, but we’re a bit more sophisticated than back then. In our situation, we are supposed to be considered innocent until proven guilty. We also have more tools like DNA which can help the innocent defend themselves. In our courts, the burden of proof remains with the prosecutor. In the ancient world, including Israel, this wasn’t necessarily so. Instead, someone could bring an accusation against you and it was up to you to prove yourself innocent. And it’s hard to prove yourself innocent if your accuser is a good liar.

The classic tale of miscarriage of justice in scripture is the story of King Ahab and Naboth. Naboth had a vineyard Ahab wanted to buy. But Naboth didn’t want to sell, so Ahab’s wife Jezebel sent a letter, under her husband’s seal, to the elders of the city instructing them to set Naboth up by having two scoundrels charge him with blasphemy, a crime punishable by stoning. With Naboth dead, as king, Ahab takes his land.

Perjury, in the ancient world, where two witnesses could result in the execution of an individual, was a serious crime. Those who committed perjury, if discovered, received the same sentence as the victim they condemned. In other words, if in Ahab’s day justice had prevailed in Israel, which it didn’t, all who conspired against Naboth would have also been stoned. 

In the courtroom setting, truth is a necessity. But the same goes from anyone with authority. If you are in a position to have privileged information, and misrepresent such information, you’re guilty. This is a serious crime for people make decisions on you word. Think about buying a stock based on a company’s financial statement. You have no way to determine if what’s said is truthful or if they’re cooking the books. And when it comes out that it is not truthful, a crisis arises as we wonder whom, if anyone, we can trust. Obeying the ninth commandment not only protects your neighbor, it protects the foundation of society.

I’ve tried to impress upon you, the second table of the law provides basic ground rules for a society. To review these commandments quickly: we’re not to kill or harm our neighbors: we’re not to lure their wives away or if you’re a woman, their husbands; we’re not to take their property; and we’re not to make up lies about them so as to destroy their credibility in the community. 

Telling lies is not just harmful within a legalistic setting. It is also destructive within families and between friends. We’re told in the book of Proverbs that a good name is to be chosen before riches. But think for a minute how easy it is to destroy someone’s name. By taking half truths, or slightly distorted truths, we can make an opponent out to look like a demon. Let’s face it, this happens all the time in politics. But it’s not limited to the political world. It’s behavior we witness with children on the playground. 

For some reason, we Homo Sapiens have to have someone we can vilify. It may be a classmate, a neighbor, someone in church, but it seems we need someone we can talk and gossip about as well as ridicule. And the danger comes from more we participate in such activities, the less our conscious pricks us with the words from this commandment. Pretty soon, we come to believe that we’re truthful, which is the greatest lie of all.

We’re all heard, and most of us have probably used the cliché, “the truth hurts.” The cliché serves as a hammer. We tell someone our version of the truth, much to his or her pain, and then we drive the nail in with the phrase, “the truth hurts.” It’s a way of self-justifying our actions for hurting another person. Gossipers use the phrase all the time, as if to claim they are not violating the ninth commandment. But before we let such a person walk away with a clear conscious, consider the intention of this commandment. Is it just to ensure that we always tell the truth, or does it have something to do with the way we treat our neighbors?  If it was just about telling the truth, why didn’t God just say, “Thou shalt not lie?” Why was the commandment couched in terms of bearing false witness against neighbors? 

I suggest the intention of the commandment has to do with the way we treat our neighbors. And don’t forget, as Jesus shows in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, our neighbors are not limited to those living next door. Nor are they only those who look, think, and act like we do. Everyone created in the image of God is a neighbor.  

John Calvin spent considerable time in his sermon on this verse condemning those who pretend to be “zealous” when they only want to trap their enemies. We all know such people. When they learn about a neighbor’s sin, they act like they’re helping their neighbor reform, when they’re really out for blood. They attempt to look good and godly while making a neighbor look bad. In the 18th chapter of Matthew, Jesus lays out how we confront a neighbor over his or her sin. We’re to be respectful and not involve any more people than necessary. 

Before we sign up for a crusade against someone else, we should ask ourselves, “What’s in it for us?” Are we just out to get back at someone, to make ‘em look bad. In such cases, we’re using the truth as a hammer. Sure, we might keep the letter of the law, but we break its spirit.

As we’ve seen this year in my sermons, Jesus, in this Sermon on the Mount, reinterprets the sixth and seventh commandments to include not only the acts of murder and adultery, but also the intentions within our hearts. I think we can make the same assumption for the ninth commandment. Are comments about our neighbor done for their benefit, or to make us look good? Even if truthful, if our intention is to promote ourselves at the expense of our neighbor, in other words, if we’re trying to destroy our neighbor’s reputation, we’re guilty of breaking the commandment.

Now let’s explore a minute about what we call little white lies. First of all, let me say that I think we should strive to be truthful and loving in all we do.  Truth and love go hand in hand. Sometimes, we might have to massage the truth a bit to keep from hurting someone. I suppose when we do this,  we should confess it to God just to keep ourselves honest. Let me give you an example. Think about a toddler drawing a picture. To your eyes, it’s nothing more than a bunch of colored lines. But he or she asks what you think of her picture, what should you say? Should you say it’s the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen? No, even if that thought ran through your mind, you’re not going to say it for it would destroy the child’s sense of self. 

We find ourselves in such situations often and not just with three year olds, but also with those who are 43 and 83 and 103. Perhaps the guiding rule needs to be what is best for our neighbor? Now, if the child is now 18 and still drawings such pictures and plans to apply to art school, his or her best interest might be for us to be more truthful, but to convey such truth in love.

On a different level…  Let’s say you lived in Nazi Germany and hid Jews during the holocaust. Would you break the intention of the commandment by lying to an SS Officer and saying you’ve not seen any Jews, even though some are hiding in your closet? In such cases, the greater interest is justice for the innocent. 

On the other hand, how about telling a lie to protect a friend or coworker from some wrong they’ve done? In this type of case, I don’t think your protected for your little white lie. Let’s say you know a colleague who deceives the government, shareholders, or customers. Whistleblowers are often condemned for a lack of loyalty, but loyalty is misguided when it comes to covering up crime and protecting the guilty. In such a case, using a white lie to protect the one in the wrong places you in clear violation of the ninth commandment. 

Do you see what I mean about the commandment’s intention? By being couched in legal terms, the commandment seeks to keep our neighbors from being unfairly accused? At the same time, this also means exposing the guilty, especially if by exposing the guilty party protects unsuspecting victims. The ninth commandment helps build and protects community. Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John, Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin Farley, translator (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980).

Garrison, Jeff. Sermon on Exodus 20:16, First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Michigan, August 26, 2007

Sade, Kenneth, The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990). 

Scriptural references: 1 John 1:8, John 8:44, Revelation 12:9, 1 Kings 21, Proverbs 22:1, Matthew 18:15-20, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 5:21-35. 

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The Eighth Commandment: Don’t Steal

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 23, 2026
The Eighth Commandment
Exodus 20:15, Ephesians 4:28

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Presbyterian Church on Thursday, August 20, 2026

At the beginning of worship:
The Ballard of the Flim-Flam Man is delightful and humorous book set in tobacco market towns of Eastern North Carolina during the 1950s. Mordecai Jones, a character created by Guy Owens, is the Flim-Flam Man. He travels with a younger apprentice, Curley Treadaway. They get into all sorts of mischief as they attempt to separate people and their money. One of the key rules to this dishonest trade, which Mordecai impresses upon his young student is that “you can’t cheat an honest man in the skin trade.” 

You can’t cheat an honest man for he’s not out to get something for nothing. You can rob him; you can stick a gun in his back and force him raise his arms while you lift his wallet, but that wasn’t the Flim-flam man’s way. He had certain, although misguided, values. He wasn’t a highway robber, he wasn’t going to forcefully take someone’s money. Instead, he preferred to cheat those with a burning desire to get something for nothing. There is a lesson here for us that we can trace back to the eighth commandment. As the old saying goes, “a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Before reading the scripture:

Like our previous two commandments, the eighth commandment prohibiting the taking of someone’s property is quite concise. Don’t steal, we’re told. We’re to respect the property of others. According to the traditional teachings of the church this includes avoiding unnecessary lawsuits to gain from another, receiving stolen property, and even kidnapping for slavery or ransom. Let’s look at what the Bible says:

Read Exodus 20:15 and Ephesians 4:28

We should ask ourselves what consists of a violation of the eighth commandment. Obviously, if I walk into Nester’s Store and pick up a pack of gum and walk out without paying for it, I’m guilty. If I steal a car, I’m guilty. If I break into one of your homes and steal your prized black velvet Elvis portrait hanging over your fireplace, I’m guilty. Cut and dry examples. In God’s eyes, I’m guilty. In the eyes of the law, I’m guilty. And in the case of the Elvis painting further penance would be dished out at home when I attempt to hang the painting. We all agree on these examples, but interestingly, the church’s traditional understanding of this commandment isn’t limited to physical theft. 

The Westminster Larger Catechism suggests stealing includes tricks and schemes which seek to gain our neighbor’s wealth, dishonesty in business dealings, deceptive advertising, counterfeiting money, charging exorbitant interest, being greedy, and even misusing or wasting God’s gifts. 

When you expand the list like this, it points out places in our lives where we’ve not lived up to the standard set by the church. It’s quite a list and many of them are just as much of a problem today as they were back in the 17th century when the catechism was first published. Just think about all the business scandals we’ve gone through over the past twenty-five years. To bring the catechism up to date, we should also include insider trading and falsifying stockholder reports.  

To understand the problem of theft from a Biblical perspective, we must understand the Biblical notion of property. Here in the USA, we talk a lot about private property and our rights. If we have a piece of land, we act like we’re little kings within our boundaries. But that’s a different understanding of property from what we have in Scripture. According to the Bible, we don’t own a thing. Instead of owing property and thereby having certain rights, in Scripture any wealth—whether land, durable goods, knowledge, or capital—belongs to God. It may be ours in our eyes and certainly in the eyes of the county tax folks, but in the eyes of God, it belongs to him. We’re allowed its use God’s property as a steward. 

This has implications for the eighth commandment, for if I take what belongs to my neighbor, not only do I commit a crime against him, I’m also stealing from God, who ultimately owns the possession I stole.  

This broader understanding of property expands the meaning of theft. Yes, stealing as defined in the state legal code is a crime and the Sheriff will prosecute you. But what God considers a crime may or may not be considered one by law enforcement.

We live within a market economy and demand generally sets the price, but according to the way the church has traditionally understood this commandment, price gouging is wrong. Stealing, according to this broader understanding also occurs when an employee takes advantage of his employer and goofs-off. It also occurs when an employer takes advantage of an employee. Both the employee and employer are called to a higher standard in scripture. And likewise, stealing occurs whenever we fail to use the gifts God has given us to his glory. If we’ve been given great talents and we don’t do anything with them, we’re guilty. Also, if we’ve been given great talents and use them in an evil manner, we’re guilty of stealing from God. 

The honest man and woman know honesty and hard work are virtues and don’t jump for the fast buck. Therefore it’s harder to cheat them. We might not think about it in this fashion, but cheating another and trying to get something for nothing are both violations of the eighth commandment. Ponder this: both the Flim-Flam man and his victim stand guilty.

Now, as I’ve shown with the other commandments we’ve discussed, each commandment can be expanded to include positive actions. The prohibition against murder can also include constructive suggestions such as watching out for the well-being of your neighbor. The same is true here, not only are we not to steal, we should also help our neighbor watch out for his property. John Calvin suggests that if we want to know what stealing entails, we should consider the rights of others.“The principal of charity,” Calvin says, “is to be our guide.” This commandment requires us to care for others. This is in keeping with the notion that all we have comes from God. If we’ve been blessed more by God, more is required of us, for we are to use those blessings in a way that honors God and helps our brothers and sisters.

It is interesting that Calvin and other Protestant Reformers don’t limit stealing to ways we generally consider its definition. Certainly they condemned the physical act of taking something which doesn’t belong to you, but they also come down hard on deceitfulness. Perhaps they understood how often those held in high esteem were guilty of such practices. In Dante’s Inferno, his poetic depiction of hell, swindlers are placed deeper in hell than strong-armed men, or “armed robbers.”  

John Calvin in a sermon on this passage, divided types of theft into two animal categories—foxes and wolves. The wolf, which has no other means of getting what it needs, resorts to brute power. The fox, however, uses trickery. Both are wrong, but often as a society we come down harder on the wolf and, to some extent, idolized the fox. This, as you can imagine, isn’t anything new. In Roman society, the simple thief could be crucified, while the fox might have been made a governor, given prestige and a province to plunder.  


Theft, whether committed by a common criminal or a white-collared executive, is wrong. And today, in the information age, theft is as easy as ever. I wonder if we, in America, haven’t brought into the idea that theft is only related to taking physical property. In this manner, we interpret this commandment as a protection of protect our possessions without requiring any responsibility from us. 

How else can we explain so many scandals concerning business practices? If I remember correctly, Kenneth Lay, the CEO of Enron taught Sunday School before going to jail. How did he do that? Or how can we explain parents rising up in indignation at a teacher flunking students who plagiarize? How do we explain the practice of preachers using someone else’s sermons, without giving credit. Or AI stealing information from books under copyright without paying the authors? 

In our information age, it is easy to steal. And it’s not just hacking computers, raiding bank accounts and stealing credit card numbers. These are the things we fear and yes, such theft occurs, but so does a more subtle form of theft, stealing and using ideas without giving credit. Or stealing art—the downloading of music and movies without paying the artist. Most of us, at least after about the age of 15, would never consider slipping in to a movie theater without paying. But would we watch an illegal copy of that same movie at home? 

There is an old episode of the Simpson’s titled “Homer vs. Lisa and the Eighth Commandment” which deals with the moral implications of theft.  


For fifty bucks, a one-time fee, Homer has a cable television installer hook him up illegally. No longer does Homer pay for cable and he can watch all the shows for free. This little “victimless crime,” (if there’s such a thing), creates chaos in the Simpson’s home. Next thing you know, his son Bart charges classmates admission to watch the Playboy channel.

Bart’s action disappoints Homer, but he has compromised his moral authority. How can he convince Bart of the wrongness of his actions when Homer steals from the cable company. The Simpson family becomes polarized. Marge, the mother, is scared her husband will be arrested. Lisa, their daughter, joins with her mother on a moral crusade. Lisa takes seriously her Sunday School lesson on the Ten Commandments and encourages her father to cut the cable. In the end, that’s what Homer does, but ironically, not until he’s had all the guys over to watch a heavyweight title fight.    

Unfortunately, for us, understanding theft is more confusing today than ever, which makes Jesus forgiving the thief on the cross really good news for us all. There’s always hope. But we shouldn’t give up striving to apply this commandment to our lives.

As Christians, we need to claim the high moral ground. Theft is theft, whether we are an executive or a cat burglar, a student copying a paper or a homeowner avoiding paying for utilities. Calvin’s suggestion we consider what is right by our fellowman or woman serves as a good guideline. Are we being fair to all? Another way of asking the question is the popular cliché, “what would Jesus do?” I certainly don’t think he’d be pirating music or misleading stockholders anymore than he would shoplift. What would Jesus do? Or more importantly, what are we going to do?  Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Ford Lewis Battles, translator (1559)
______. Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley,
translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),
Childs, Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.
Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder & Stoughton ,
1963).
Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon on the 8th Commandment at First Presbyterian Church
of Hastings, Michigan. “(August 12, 2007).
Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten
Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).
Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for the
Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009).
Owens, Guy. The Ballard of the Flim-Flam Man, (1965: Wilmington, NC: Coastal
Carolina Press, 2001)
Pinsky, Mark  I. The Gospel According to the Simpsons (Louisville: Westminster/JKP,
2001).
Presbyterian Church USA, The Book of Confession, “Heidelberg and Westminster
Catechisms” (Louisville, KY, 2021). 

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The Seventh Commandment

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 16, 2026
Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27-28

Sermon recorded at Bluemont Presbyterian Church on Friday, August 14, 2026.

At the beginning of worship:
Today we’re looking at the 7th Commandment. I can’t think of this commandment without thinking about Jerry. I met him when he started attending Bradley Creek Elementary School in the sixth grade. From the beginning he tried to make himself look good to the teachers. The rowdy group of boys I ran with found this an irritant. 

We had a banquet at the end of the school year. Billy Mason, the principal at Roland Grice Junior High, spoke. He encouraged us to become model students by remembering two passages in the Bible. If we followed these two scriptures they would guide us through our Junior High years and keep us out of his office. He asked if anyone knew which two he referred. 

Some girl up front, the type who always had the right answer, raised her hand. The principal gave her a nod and she nailed it: “Do unto others,” the Golden Rule. The principal smiled and nodded approval. She wouldn’t be seeing the inside of his office.

Then the principal asked for another volunteer and Jerry stood up and boldly proclaimed: “thou shalt not commit adultery.” For a moment the principal remained speechless as we burst into laughter. Not that we knew exactly what adultery entailed, we just knew it wasn’t something we were likely to do in Junior High. 

After gasping for air, the principal tried to regain order. He mumbled something about how he hoped we would obey that commandment, too. But he was thinking of a different one. He encouraged us to keep the fifth commandment, to honor our fathers and mothers. In other words, if we acted as if our mothers were watching, we’d have a healthy dose of old fashion guilt and avoid trouble.

Before reading the Scripture:
Last week, as I closed the service, I added a humorous charge before the benediction. Since I had preached on the 6th Commandment, I told you to go out and don’t murder anyone. Then I said, “but you can do better than that. Go out love everyone.” Afterwards, one of the Elders said he couldn’t wait to see my backflip this week. Questioning what he meant, he said that I sent you out to love everyone and this week, I would be qualifying that charge… He’s right because our language uses love in too many ways. Last week, I was referring to love as a verb, not an act. 

Our reading today is another short passage, concerning the 7th Commandment and I will include Jesus’ reinterpretation of this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount. 

Read Exodus 20:14 and Matthew 5:27-28

The seventh commandment is a tough one; we don’t like talking about it. I remember a comic strip; it may have been Frank and Ernest. The Hebrew children gather at Sinai, and a weary Moses comes down the mountain. He tells the crowd below he has some good news and some bad news. He bargained God down to only Ten Commandments.Then he gave the bad news, adultery remained on the list.

Adultery was considered a great sin in the ancient world, even before God gave the Hebrew people the law at Sinai and not just for the Hebrew people. You see this in Genesis, with Abraham and Sarah. Thinking he might be killed, Abraham passed Sarah off as his sister. Sure enough, a  king set his eyes on Sarah, but before he takes her in his harem, he learns the truth through a dream. He feels he has been tricked and is upset for he came close to committing a great sin. 

Literally, the seventh commandment shouldn’t be that hard to obey, even though it’s often broken. But as common of a sin it is, Jesus doesn’t let those of us who have managed to keep the Commandment in a literal sense, off the hook. He pushes the boundaries beyond the physical act and has us internalize it. Like with anger and murder, lust become equivalent to adultery. Unless you are blind and have no touch and smell and hearing, according to Jesus’ interpretation, you’ve probably broken the seventh commandment. Only God really knows, but I suspect most of us have had a few impure thoughts. Such sinfulness is just another reminder of how far the human race has fallen and how totally dependent we are upon God’s grace.

It still amazes me the fuss made over Jimmy Carter’s statement when he ran for President. He admitted to lusting in his heart. What’s surprising is that Jimmy may be one of the few politicians who stopped there and didn’t proceed on to the act itself. Back in the 90s, both our President and Speaker of the House, Clinton and Gingrich, engaged in such actions while pointing the finger at the other. And I won’t go into our current crop of elected adulterers. Unfortunately, those governing us often fail to served as good role models.

As hard as it is to abide, Jesus’ reinterpretation of this commandment is helpful. If you take the seventh commandment literally, you see it applied only to a man who seduced, or was seduced, by a wife or a fiancé of another man. In other words, in a strictly literal sense, this commandment is about protecting the property rights of another man. 

The protection of property rights helps maintain stability in society. As I said last week, commandments six through ten provide us the boundaries within where we can live life abundantly. By internalizing the commandment to include lustful thoughts, Jesus once again goes to the core of the problem. Adultery is a spiritual problem which resides within the heart. 

The Prophets often referred to Israel as an adulterer for chasing after foreign gods. If you remember, the whole premise of the book of Hosea is based upon the analogy of adultery. The prophet is told to take a prostitute as his wife and to love her, even though she remains unfaithful. The people can see, though Hosea grief, how God anguishes over Israel’s unfaithfulness.  

The Christian understanding of marriage is that it’s a three-way covenant. Actually, in some ways, its a four-way covenant. Marriage is not just an agreement between a two people, it also involves God and the rest of the community. We pledge our faithfulness to one another and to our Creator. Committing the act of adultery, because God is involved with our covenant, becomes the same as breaking the first commandment. This is why, if you get into the details of all the laws in Leviticus, you will find that the penalty for adultery in Israel was death. Adultery was as serious as idolatry.  

Keeping the seventh commandment presupposes the keeping of the other commitments. Too often we make an idol out of the family and marriage as the only commitment that matters. But that’s not the case; for us to enjoy life as God intends, we must both keep our marriage vows as well as our commitments to God and honoring those with whom we live in community. Just as with the sixth and eighth commandments, breaking the seventh commandment is a violation which affects the entire community. 

This is why, when I officiate at a wedding, I ask for the commitment from all present to support the couple in the vows they make. And it’s the same reason that in baptism, we ask for the community’s commitment to help the individual grow into Christ. When it comes down to its roots, our faith is not individualistic; it can only be lived out in community.   

I also want to talk briefly about the notion of being single and a Christian. Too often we lift up marriage as the ultimate goal, but we’re probably over reaching by doing that. “The church grows and lives by witness and conversion, not by marriage and family. We don’t have to marry to be faithful to Christ; instead marriage is optional and should be seen more as a calling than some right or a necessity for personal fulfillment.  

Jesus’ reinterpretation of the seventh commandment expands the Law further into a community concern which works to protect women and to awaken men to their responsibilities. As Joy Davidman writes concerning this commandment, Jesus “forgave the adulteress who repented and loved God and denounced the lustful and loveless men who caused her to sin.” In the story of the woman caught in adultery, it is interesting that only the woman was brought before Jesus. We’re left wondering about the man.

For us today, we must consider not just the literal interpretation of the seventh commandment. We should also heed Jesus’ words and the advice from the book of Hebrews, “to hold marriage in honor and to keep the marriage bed undefiled, for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.” There are a bunch of other scripture passages we could consider, especially in Proverbs and in the writings of Paul. By broadening the meaning of this commandment, from a strictly narrow literal interpretation which protected the man’s rights, to a broader interpretation which protects everyone’s rights, shows God’s intention to build healthy communities, one family at a time.  

But then, that was God’s intention all along. If we look back in the second chapter of Genesis, we see that God created the man and woman to help one another and that the two should become one flesh. Adultery is prohibited because it is the knife which cuts through this mystical union and destroys that which God brought together. Honor your marriage vows and look out for one another, in doing so we serve God and one another. Amen.  

Sources: 

Notes on the 7th Commandment in the Heidelberg Catechism, Center for Excellence in Preaching. 

Calvin, John. Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley, translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),

Childs, Brevard S. The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.

Christensen, Duane L. Deuteronomy 1:1-21:9: Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001).

Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder & Stoughton , 1963).

Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon on the 7th Commandment at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Michigan. “(August 2007).

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).

 Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009).

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Thou Shalt Not Kill

Title Slide

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 9, 2026
The Sixth Commandment
Exodus 20:13    Matthew 5:21-22

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Church on Thursday, May 6, 2026

At the beginning of worship:
Reuben, a friend of mine from North Carolina, was an attorney before retiring. Don’t hold that against him, he was also a serious backpacker. Back in the 80s, we spent many weeks together hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia into Pennsylvania. As we walked or sat around an evening campfire, we often discussed theological and legal issues and how they inter-relate. On one such hike, I learned of one of Rueben’s courthouse debacles.   

Reuben represented a man with a good job and a thriving side-business, making over $150,000 a year. This was 40 years ago. His wife wanted a divorce. She didn’t ask for much: joint custody of their kids, and the house. Rueben advised his client to make the deal.  

This stubborn dude didn’t want any part of it. He insisted on fighting for everything, including the house and full custody of the kids. Against Reuben’s. advice, they proceeded to court. The other side called witnesses. Attorneys appreciate clients who tell them everything. Witnesses spoke of how Reuben’s client bragged he would burn his house before giving it to his soon-to-be ex-wife. When Reuben’s client was asked about these threats, he didn’t deny it. Instead, he said, “I’m no longer planning to burn the house down, God will do it.” Rueben wanted to crawl under the table. The room became quiet. Then judge warned the man he better hope God doesn’t burn the house down because he, and not God, would be the main suspect. 

The judge gave the woman the house. About a month later, at night, it burned. As we might suspect, God wasn’t involved, except to look out for woman and kids, all who safely escaped.

Now, this guy attended church. I don’t think it was a Presbyterian Church, as we had no churches in that part of the county. The man confused his personal desires with God’s will. He let anger rule, which is always a dangerous thing. It ruined his life and that of his family. There is an important lesson here. If you have any question about God’s will, pray and check the Scriptures. God won’t tell you to do something against his Word.

Before reading the Scriptures:

Thou shalt not kill.  These four words from the sixth commandment, as they appear in the King James Version, have given Christians much to ponder. We’ve tried everything to rationalize them. It really means murder, we assure ourselves. And many modern translations use murder: check out the New Revised Standard, the NIV, the Message, and the New King James Version. But the Hebrew word here has a broader meaning—for it can mean the unintentional taking of another life or even a state sponsored execution. Instead of trying to rationalize our way around this command, we should understand God desires a world without violent death. Yet, we live in a fallen world. At best, this commandment causes us to live in tension between God desires and reality.

 Another place we can go to learn about this commandment is the Sermon on the Mount, which I preached upon a few months ago. I’ll read both this morning.

Read Exodus 20:13 and Matthew 5:21-22

As we’ve worked our way through the first five commandments, I’ve mentioned the reasons for the law. Today, let add to the list: God’s law helps us discern God’s will. As Christians, our first concern should be to live as God intends. Unfortunately, we confuse our own desires with God’s, as with the client of my friend I told you about earlier.

As much as you dislike someone, God’s not going to tell you to kill ‘em. That’s the enemy speaking. And the same goes with the rest of the commandments. God doesn’t offer dispensations to the law. 

The second table of the law provides the parameters in which we live out our lives within an orderly society. If we keep these commandments, society is stable. If anyone breaks them, all society suffers.

Thou shalt not kill. We like the modern translations better, ‘don’t murder.” For you see, few of us actually murder other people—at least not literally. Of course, Jesus includes character assassination as a form of murder. And then, we know the Bible acknowledges occasions where killing is necessary. How do we handle this?

First off, we’re not Hindus. To refrain from killing would mean we’d have to be vegetarian, for it doesn’t distinguish what is killed. Furthermore, within Israel’s theocracy in the Old Testament, war and capital punishment were allowed under certain circumstances and within certain regulations.   

What is forbidden here, in the sixth commandment, is for one individual to go out and take the life of another. But that’s not quite it either, for the word implies more than just premeditated murder, or even murder committed during a time of heighten emotions. Both of these are obviously condemned, but so is manslaughter, the unintentional killing of another member of the human race. In the 35th chapter of Numbers, God commands Israel to set up cities of refuge where those guilty of manslaughter can flee for safety. 

But ideally, there would be no first degree murder nor manslaughter. Obeying this commandment means we not only refrain from killing, but also that we take seriously the well-being of our neighbors. In our modern world, recklessly driving down the street of a neighborhood while kids play violate the Commandment. Even if we didn’t mean to harm anyone, by not avoiding situations which could unintentionally cause the lost of a life, breaks the commandment. The implications of this command reaches beyond premeditated murder.  

John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, provides a twofold purpose for this commandment. First, we are created in the image of God and to kill means that we violate God’s image. We should “learn to walk without causing injury to anyone,” Calvin admonished Geneva in a sermon, “otherwise God becomes our mortal enemy.”  All humankind is under God’s protection. If we kill, we invite God to step in and intervene.  Because we are created in God’s image, we must hold our neighbor sacred. God also created them in his image. 

Calvin’s second reason is that we share the same flesh with the rest of humanity and because “the Lord has bound mankind together by a certain unity,” we should concern ourselves with the safety of all.  

Thou shalt not kill… The words roll off the tongue as an imperative. The sharpness of this command demands attention. Yet, as I’ve tried to imply, there is a much deeper meaning here than refraining from murder. Jesus, in our New Testament, equates unrighteous anger with murder. Murder, whether premeditative or a crime of passion, often springs from anger. 

Jesus goes to the root of the cause and encourages us to purge ourselves of such thoughts. We’re not to be harming one another with our words. We’re not even to think about it. At the time of Jesus’ reinterpretation, his Jewish contemporaries had fantasies of what they’d like to do to the Romans who controlled Palestine. Taking this commandment literally discouraged revolution against the Roman Legions, or from striking one of those hated tax collectors who worked for Rome. Jesus upsets the balance of things: “Don’t even ponder such thoughts. Love your enemies. Pray for your persecutors.” Calm your tempers and strive not to bring harm to anyone.

If we would, as Calvin suggests and as Jesus taught, look out for the safety of one another, our world would be a better place.

The intention of the sixth commandment is to promote life’s sanctity. The breath of life is a gift of God. As humans, we only have the power to kill, half the power of God, but such power should scare us nearly to death. We can destroy life, but we are not able, on our own, to create life. Instead, at best, we are co-creators with God. But once life is snuffed out, we are unable to do anything about it. So we’re to make the most of our lives, enjoying the benefits God grants us while striving to help others make the most of theirs.  

If we could get to the point in our society where we acknowledge the image of God in another individual and consider life sacred so to avoid an untimely death, many of our problems would be solved. This is why I am against easy abortions and capital punishment. I know many Christians, including some of you, disagree with me on one or both of these points, but my position is that life, all life, should be sanctified. Unfortunately, we have a ways to go to get to where society holds the sanctity of life dear.

We often think of John Calvin as a stern old man, which makes his writings on this commandment shocking. Chaos filled the 16th Century. Wars occurred between various Christian sects and against Moslem invaders from the East. Despite this, Calvin boldly proclaimed that even just and unavoidable wars pollute a nation. And he’s right.  

In the Middle Ages, when knights and soldiers returned from what was considered a “just war,” they still had to confess and make penance before receiving Communion. Such an requirement today would be seen as “un-American,” but if we realize God’s will is for us to live at peace, there maybe a therapeutic reason for such a requirement as we strive to build a world where life is considered sacred.  

Thous shalt not kill. It sounds easy, but it’s not. Maybe we should flip the commandment and ask ourselves how we can promote life? After all, life is the foundation of our faith. Jesus himself said, “I come that you might have life, abundant life.” As his disciples, we’re to be about nurturing life. There’s a lot to think about with this commandment and with Jesus’ reinterpretation. Ponder it. Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559).

John Calvin, Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley, translator (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980),

Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1974), 419-421.

Davidman, Joy. Smoke on the Mountain (1955, London: Hodder & Stoughton , 1963), 

Garrison, Jeff. “Sermon at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Michigan. “(July 2007).

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Willimon, The Truth About God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999).

 Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretations, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, WJKP, 2009),

Russell, Norman L. Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story (1993, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995),

von Rad, Gerhad. Deuteronomy, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1966.

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The Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Parents

Title slide with photos of Mayberry and Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 2, 2026
Exodus 20:12 Ephesians 6:1-4

Sermon recorded at Bluemont on Thursday, July 30, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

A man, his wife, and son, live together. The man’s elderly father’s health declined to where he could no longer take care of himself. To his wife’s dismay, her husband brings his father into their home.  

The old father cannot eat without spilling and knocking his food all around the table. After a few days of this, the wife insists the man eat in the corner, not at the table. But he still knocked his food on the floor. One day, the wife decides if the man is just going to drop his food on the floor, he can eat it there. She finds a trough and puts his food in it and places on the floor. The old man doesn’t seem to notice his lack of dignity, he just lies down and eats like a dog, with his face in his food. This goes on for a few weeks.  

Then, the parents notice their son building something which looks a lot like a trough to feed animals. They ask him about it. The boy proudly explains he made it from them, for when they are old and must eat from the floor. 

“A child will lead them,” the good book says. The parents immediately came to their senses and realize they’re not honoring the husband’s father.  The next meal they set a place him at the tablet. 

Before reading the Scripture:

We traditionally divide the Ten Commandments into two tablets or tables. So far this summer, we’ve looked at the first tablet, commandments one through four. Each of these shows how we relate to God.  

The second tablet deal with our relationships to the human family. The fifth commandment forms a bridge between the two. We are to honor our fathers and mothers, a commandment which closely parallels the first commandment.The first tells us to worship God alone, the one who gives us life. But likewise, our parents, those who play a significant role bringing us into this life, deserve honor. They’re not to be worshipped; we’re not ancestor worshippers. But they do have a special role to play in our birth and development. Our belly buttons remind us we didn’t come into this world on our own. Yes, God gives us life. But life comes through our parents. For this reason, they’re to be honored.  

Read Exodus 20: 12 and Ephesians 6:1-4.

Our parents are important not only because it is through them that we receive the gift of life, but also because it is generally through them that we learn about Jesus and experience faith. Now, this is not always the case. At times a friend or a spouse or a colleague mentors us in faith. In such cases it’s like having two sets of parents, one that gives us life, another which offers us new life in Christ. 

We can compare our life with Christ with our life with our parents. We start out totally dependent upon them—think about all that our parents did for us, starting with changing diapers and feeding us. As we grow, we began to do those things on our own, till one day we are freed from our parent’s control and must take responsibility for our own lives. 

Likewise, we start out our Christian walk, totally dependent on Jesus, without even knowing why.  But as we grow in faith, we find that he gives us more freedom as we learn how to apply our faith to our lives.  

Honor your father and your mother, an enlightening commandment. In the Patriarchal world of the Old Testament, men ruled. And since it was also a tribal society, at the time God gave the commandments, the leader of the tribe was also given i allegiance. 

But the Ten Commandments come along and suggest we honor, not only the father of the house, but also the mother. This is significant. Parents, both of them, are placed on a pedestal. The man is not set aside as the most important, but shares this position with the woman. Not only is the tribe important, but also the nuclear family. In fact, families become the building blocks of a stable society. And when families break down society become chaotic. Without the role model of good parents and with everyone striving to look out for themselves and no one else, the structure of society melts away. 

I’m pretty sure it was Anne Lamott who said that “families are where we learn forgiveness.” That’s true. And I think we learn even more: we learn tolerance and acceptance. We learn what is important for society; life isn’t just about us. Living in a family, we learn it takes everyone to make it work. This, by the way, is also taught in the first commandment. “You shall have no other gods,” we’re told. We’re not to promote ourselves into the Trinity, as qualified as we might think we are. It’s not about me, it’s not about you. The first and the fifth commandment teach that we have first pay attention to what God wants and then to what our families need. We have to focus on something other than ourselves. 

That said, it goes without saying that parents are also suppose to show respect to their children as Paul reminds us in the passage we read from Ephesians.

Honoring our parents is a generational thing. If we honor our parents and those who have come before us, for I think the commandment extends to not just our biological parents, we then teach our children to honor us and in so doing, we help build a stronger society. 

For an example of just how destructive not honoring our parents can be, remember the chaos which ensued in Cambodia following the Khmer Rouge take over of that country in the mid-70s. 

The Khmer Rouge taught people not to trust anyone who had been in authority, including parents. They encouraged children to rat out their parents for dangerous thoughts. This destroyed the traditionally strong sense of family and respecting elders which existed in a nation traditionally based upon the teachings of Confucius. The country quickly purged into darkness as the killing fields grew. 

Instilling the importance of this commandment into our children’s psyche, we help stabilize society. And if that’s not reason enough, we should remember it’s our kids who get to choose our nursing homes. With this commandment, like many of the others, what goes around comes around. 

Let’s face it; we owe our parents a great debt. They brought us into this world; they gave us life, they changed our diapers and fed us when we couldn’t take care of ourselves. Hopefully they showed us love. Therefore, we honor them. But there is more to the meaning of the commandment.

Throughout the history of the church, those interpreting the fifth commandment have always pointed in two directions. First, as I’ve already covered, we.honor our natural parents But on a secondary level the commandment is also seen as our requirement of honoring those to whom God has given authority. In other words, the civil authorities, those who lead us in government, are to be afforded the same respect.  

Paul makes it clear in the thirteen chapter of Romans that we are to honor those in positions of authority. Now granted, some parents do not earn the right to be honored, and others abuse their position of authority. Since God allows them to be in positions over us, we honor them till what they do goes so far against God’s word that we must obey God who always deserves our loyalty.

John Calvin suggests we show homage to God when we are obedient to those in authority. Of course, we expect them to be godly and to do their best to govern justly and fairly. Otherwise, they violate both God’s and our trust. We do not have to obey them for our first allegiance always remains with God. 

By the way, I hope you can see that there is a difference between honoring and obeying. Just because your mother is Ma Barker or your dad is Jesse James, you don’t have to go out and rob banks. But when or parents and those in positions of power are honorable and we submit ourselves to them, we learn what it means to submit ourselves to God’s will.

The fifth commandment also comes with a promise. If we honor those over us, if we respect and look up to our parents, God promises us a long life, a life in which things will go well for us. 

This commandment, as a bridge between the two tables, sets the stage for all to come. For when we break any of the other commandments, we are not honoring our parents. I’m sure most of your mothers, at some point, indicated her embarrassment by something you’ve done? It’s old fashion guilt rising up which, if you think about it, has a stabilizing effect on society. Remember the family is the basic building block. The fifth commandment sets the stage for what’s to come. Strong families create healthy communities, so as we start this second table, look at how we can order society so as to strengthen it and to develop it into a place where all of us can safely grow in our faith in Jesus Christ.  

Ask yourselves how you honor your parents?  We’re not to worship them; we’re not even to follow them when they’re wrong. But our parents deserve our respect and when we give it, we help build a stronger and more godly community.  Amen.

This sermon was edited from a sermon preached in July 2007 at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, MI

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A Journey of Faith: Country Roads Revival

Jeff Garrison
Revival at Bluemont Church
July 29, 2026
Genesis 12:1-9

The video contains most of the service. I cut out the last of the songs as it was not in public domain. One of the microphone’s battery died, but with the others you can still hear everything. The sermon starts at 30 minutes.

The last week of August, a number of the Presbyterian Churches in Carroll, Patrick, and Floyd Counties hold a revival. Each night is at a different church. This year, we began on Sunday night at Fairview in Hillsville, then to Buffalo Mountain, then to Wild Goose (the former Indian Valley Presbyterian Church), then to Bluemont (we rotate between Mayberry and Bluemont each year). We will end up at Dinwiddle Presbyterian on July 30th. This is my sermon for tonight’s worship service.

At the beginning of worship:

This is the fourth night of the Country Roads revival. We live in a wonderful place with lots of country roads, some maintained by VDOT, others just two tracks curving around the hills. As we travel to different churches in these parts, we’re on a journey. Tonight, I want us to think about the beginning of one of the great journeys of the Bible. But before we get there, let me encourage you to walk if you are able. It’s good for you. As you walk, listen to the birds, the wind, look for the unusual, and think about God. Any of you who know me know you can often find either early in the morning or late in the afternoon walking. Come join me. 


Augustine of Hippo, the great theologian of the church at the collapse of the Roman Empire, once said, “It is solved by walking.” We live in a confusing world and things seem to be running at rapid pace. We all need to spend more time slowing down, thinking deeply, and enjoying the creation God lends to us to during our lives. There’s no better way to do this than to go for a walk.

Before reading the Scripture

The first eleven chapters of Genesis are often referred to as a prehistory. We learn about Creation and God’s care of his creation. We also learn how the first humans messed things up. But God refuses to give us on us. Chapter 11, the last chapter of this prehistory, ends with another famous Biblical lists of ancestors. You can look back to chapter 11, starting with verse 10, you’ll see the list which begins with Noah’s oldest son, Shem, leading up to Abram, who’ll later be known as Abraham. And we’re told that Abram’s wife Sarai is barren. 

That little bit of knowledge in Chapter 11 makes what happen in Chapter 12 even more surprising. If Sarai can’t have children, she seems to be an unlikely candidate for the mother of a nation. But bareness is only a human problem. Yet, it’s an arena God delights in. God likes surprises. God delights in taking the difficult path to bring joy to his people. Let’s listen.

Read Genesis 12:1-9

I wonder how Abram heard God’s call? Unlike Moses, who saw a burning bush, Samuel who heard God call during the night, or Isaiah who received a vision, we’re not given any details as to how Abram heard God calling. But think about it, what would it take for a man, well established and long in years, to leave his extended family and head out into the wilderness for an undisclosed location? Can you imagine Abram, walking to the edge of Haram and looking westward and only seeing sand. “Did I hear correctly?” he might think.

One day a tourist ignored all the warning signs and barricades along the edge of the Grand Canyon. He got too close to the edge and it broke off, sending him falling. As he tumbled, he finally grabbed a clump of sagebrush growing out of the canyon’s wall and held on for dear life. Then he prayed like he never had prayed. “Let go and I’ll catch you, he heard God say. The man looked skyward and asked, “Anyone else up there?”

Abram had a similar decision. Looking out from Haran, he’s called to do something which would be a feat for a young man. But for a man of his age, it seems suicidal. Yet, he decides to answer the call

If you study the scriptures enough, you’ll see a pattern. God often refuses to take the easy way out. Over and over again, God chooses an unlikely candidate to carry out his work. Abram, an old man, asked to get on the road and to start a new nation. Moses, wanted for murder and yet God orders him back to Egypt to face Pharaoh. David, just a boy who accepts Goliath’s challenge. Mary, a young woman assigned a special task of giving birth to the Messiah. God uses the weak to do what the strong can only dream of. As Paul reminds the church in Corinth, “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”

The Bible teaches that when God is on our side (or more correctly, when we are on God’s side), great things are possible. But if you try to do things on your own, we run into problems.

If you follow the Abraham story in scripture, you’ll see what I mean. He lies about Sarai, his wife, saying she’s his sister, to Pharaoh. This got them both in trouble. And not believing in the promise, he takes his wife’s servant as a concubine to have a child, which creates all kinds of entanglements in his household. But if we trust God and allow God to work within our lives, there seems to be no limit to what we might accomplish. The church needs to be reminded of this truth repeatedly. We don’t know what the future holds, but we need to be willing to step out in faith, trusting God to be with us. 

Now let’s look at this passage at hand and see what we might learn. First, God, not Abram, is clearly the main actor in this story. God initiates the conversation. Throughout Abram’s saga, God remains the subject. This wandering off into the wilderness isn’t Abram’s idea; it’s a part of God’s plan. It’s like this with us when God begins to get a hold of us. We don’t know what might happen.

We should understand God comes to us before we can approach him. In the call of Abram, God institutes salvation history. Through Abram, God demonstrates a willingness to take the first step in reconciliation with humanity, a work completed in Jesus Christ.  

God tells Abram to cut himself off from the land, from his people, and from much of his family. That’s a pretty tall order. Abram’ abandons his roots. Telephones didn’t exist back then, nor did mail. No way to check up on things happening at home. ATMs and Western Union Stations where a family member could wire him cash if he’s a little short didn’t exist. When Abram heads off into the sunset, he can only depend on God. The normal clan connections which protected folks two millenniums before Christ no longer exist for Abram once Haran disappears beyond the horizon.

Although its risky to answer this call, a promise is also attached to it. Abram will be the father of a great nation. Yet, even here, God remains the main actor. God tells Abram he’ll be mightily blessed so that he might be a blessing for others. This remains true for us today. If God blesses us, we are to be a blessings to others. For too whom much is given, much is expected.

In addition to Abram promised blessings, a curse is placed on anyone who might harm him. God protects Abram. His enemies must contend not only with Abram, but also with God. Interestingly, from the way the sentence structure (the one who curses you), it sounds as if Abram will have many allies and only one enemy.

Abram answers the call. Taking his wife and nephew and, we can assume, a bunch of loaded camels hauling their possessions, they drive their sheep toward the land of Canaan, a land Abram’s father had planned to settle a generation earlier. They probably took the longer path, heading north following the rivers of the fertile crescent, then turning south along the coastline, instead of heading directly west, through an unforgiving desert. This fits with what the Scriptures say as Abram first stops at Shechem, in the north, then to Bethel, in the south, before moving further south, into the Negeb. 

Let’s explore two theological themes from this evening’s passage. The first is that of a journey. When Abram answered God’s call, he found himself on a journey, which can also be a metaphor of faith. Early Christians were referred to as those of “the Way.” 

We journey as disciples, as followers of Jesus. For some, the journey is real, to new locations, new lands, and new people.” To others, the journey is metaphorical. We stay put, but we are still called to grow in faith. As a follower of Jesus, we can’t be content with the status quo. We must always look to improve ourselves and our world. Following Jesus requires changes in our lives. We’re to strive to become godlier, more Christ-like. When we live in a world contaminated with sin, accepting the status quo isn’t an acceptable option. 

When Abram stops by the Oak of Moreh, God appears again and promises this land to his offspring. So Abram builds an altar out of thanksgiving, and does the same in Bethel. Abram, as he travels, witnesses to his God. Like Abram, we, on our journeys, should never stop giving God credit. For without God, we would not be able to do much of anything. 

Verse 6 contains the second theme to explore. The Canaanites occupy the land. This land, promised to Abram, isn’t yet his. Furthermore, there are those on the land who don’t worship like him. Think about this. Abram could have adopted the religious practices of the Canaanites, but in doing so would have turned his back on the one true living God. We, too, find ourselves journeying around people who belief in what seems to be a foreign God. Some anoint God as a way to bless their way of thinking. They forget, only God can truly anoint and we’re to be on God’s side, as opposed to bringing God to our way of thinking. Although Abram spends decades sojourning in lands with foreign gods, he never forgets the God who called him on the journey.

Like Abram, we often find ourselves living in a land where people do not believe in the God of the Scriptures. We live in a world where there are many competing ideals which vie for our attention.  And it may be harder to us than it was with Abram to recognize the idols of our day. Abram could point out to the fertility idols of the Canaanites which dotted the high places, but the idols of today are more subtle. We have the promise of economic security at whatever cost, the belief we’re better than others which manifests its ugly head with racism, or the abusive belief we deserve what we desire often at the expense of others. These all run counter to Scripture.

We need to remember that like Abram, we’re just passing through. We’re pilgrims. Ultimately, our home is with God, but until we leave this life behind, we must continue to walk in faith and to listen for God to speak to us through the scriptures and the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Let us pray:  Almighty God, you know every heart here this evening. As we bow in obedience, we pray for our spirit to convict those who need to know you. Open ears that all might hear you call and follow you. Guide us in your ways, especially when our travels take us through the unknown. Help us remain focused on our Lord Jesus Christ and not be tempted by the idolatry surrounding us. This we pray in the name of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the one we follow. Amen.