Ten Commandments Archives - From a Rocky Hillside

August 2, 2026August 2, 2026

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

July 26, 2026July 26, 2026

Keep the Sabbath Holy

Title slide with photos of Maybrerry and Bluemnt Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
Exodus 20:8-11
July 26, 2026

The sermon was recorded at Mayberry on Thursday, July 23, 2026

At the Beginning of Worship

My Dad's catch, fishing on Masonboro Island

I come from a family who fishes for sport. Growing up in Moore County, North Carolina, we fished farm ponds which provided bream and bass for the dining room table along with irrigation for tobacco fields. When we moved to Petersburg, Virginia, my dad took my brother and me fishing along the banks of the Nottaway River. Fishing was done on Saturday or in the evenings after work. We never fished on Sunday as it was too much like work since we ate our catch. The only labor I remember occurring on Sunday was cranking an ice cream maker on my grandparents back porch. At our house, we had the electric model.

Then, when I was nine, we moved down near the coast. A few weeks after arriving, my mother got us kids ready for church. Dad was no where to be seen. This wasn’t unusual as sometimes he had to work on Sundays, but when we learned from Mom that he had been invited to go deep sea fishing, my theological brain (or maybe it was my cynical brain) went to work.

“You mean it’s okay to fish on Sunday in salt water but not fresh water?” I asked.

Today we’ll begin our look at the fourth commandment—keep the Sabbath Day holy.

Before reading the Sermon

I want to point out the two different reasons given for the commandment on keeping the Sabbath holy. As I’ll read in Exodus, God took a day off after creation and commands us to do the same. If God needs a break, and we’re not better than God, we should take a break.

Deuteronomy likes the reason for Sabbath observance to Israel’s experience in bondage in Egypt. As slaves, they had to work when commanded. But God requires Israel to rest and also to provide rest for slaves and servants and even animals.

Read Exodus 20:8-11

Smoke on the Mountain, Joy Davidman’s book on the 10 Commandments which I have referred to several times, contains a fantasy. A Martian anthropologist visits earth. Davidman wrote in the early 1950s when it was still possible to believe green people with flying saucers inhabited the fourth planet. The Martian’s assignment was to study human religious behavior.

His report concluded that like most “primitive societies,” those of us who inhabit the third planet worshipped the sun. Every seven days he witnessed a “solar worship ritual.” Some, he reported, adored the sun by baring their bodies by lakes and the seashore. Others gathered in large arenas where the crowds watched strangely dressed priests perform rituals with a ball and wooden stick. Others addressed a smaller ball with long skinny sticks. These balls, the Martian assumed, are icons of the sun.

But his report also included a description of a heretical sect. Some people, he noticed, did not worship the sun. They dressed differently on the seventh day. The heretics, as the alien labeled them, shun the outdoors. They gathered in buildings often with colored windows, obviously to block the sun. The anthropologist was not sure, but thought these strange unbelievers may have been excommunicated and were being punished. After all, “Their faces and gestures show none of the almost orgiastic religious frenzy with which the sun worshippers pursue their devotion.”

Was this Martian right or wrong, Davidman asks. “For,” she says, “Sunday is still a holiday for us, but for many it has ceased to be a holy day.” We’re told in the fourth commandment to “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” What does this mean? Is it to be a somber day where we gather in our “Sunday best,” with long faces to worship the Lord? And what constitutes the day being holy?

Holy is a term generally attributed only to God or to that which God claims for his own glory. A holy day is one in which we dedicate to God. We set it apart. The Martian rightly observed that one day a week is different—it’s a day that most, not all, of the population is free from work. But is the Sabbath, for us, holy? Or have we profaned it into a holiday far removed from its roots? We live with a tension. As Jesus points out, the Sabbath shouldn’t be legalistic.

Obeying the fourth commandment is one area I think our Calvinist and Puritan ancestors did us a disfavor. John Calvin cited civil order as a reason for keeping the Sabbath. We generally think of Calvin as a theologian, but forget he was also a lawyer and a bit of a political philosopher. Calvin felt it was good for society to have a day set aside for preaching, for such grounding in God’s law helps control and restrain society.

Furthermore, Calvin came down hard on living it up for “sport and pleasure.” This he considered makes a mockery of God’s holy name. Calvin desired order, yet, in his defense, he played with children on Sunday afternoons. Over time, the Protestant establishment developed strict laws for maintaining God’s day.

Thomas Watson, the Puritan I’ve quoted two weeks ago, suggests that on the Sabbath we should all get up before dawn since our Lord’s resurrection occurred before daybreak. Talk about nit-picky legalism! Yet, I’m always up before dawn on Sundays.

The strict and legal Sabbaths of the past were wrong, but for believers so are the free-flowing Sabbaths of today. God tells us to take one day in seven and use it for rest and worship, but with smart phones, most of us never leave work behind. This morning I want us to look at a number of ideas concerning the Sabbath and on what this commandment might say to us today, in the 21^st Century.

First, let’s think about the day itself. In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath was the seventh day of the week. Early Christians decided to celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, the first day of the week. There are many reasons for this shift. First, they started gathering on Sunday, the day Christ rose from the grave, to recall his resurrection.

Second, their experience of grace in Jesus Christ made them realized that keeping the letter of the law doesn’t bring salvation. Freed from the strictness of the law, they moved the day forward.

Now granted, some Christian groups insist the Sabbath be observed on Saturday. They debated this even during the Reformation. John Calvin defended the rights of those who celebrate the Sabbath on another day, as long as their reasoning wasn’t based upon superstition. In other words, don’t think keeping the Sabbath on Saturday gains you more favor from God.

A third reason behind moving the Sabbath to Sunday was to demonstrate how God’s grace precedes any efforts of our own. Just as in the Jewish tradition, where day begins at sunset and thereby begins with rest, so too our week begins with rest. We rest and then, in thanksgiving, we work. This cycle reminds us that grace precedes law.

The Sabbath was the first labor law. You see, the fourth commandment recognizes our need to work—“for six days you shall labor.” God created us to work. Genesis tells us the first man was created to till the earth; he was the caretaker of the Garden of Eden. Work is a holy task, created by God.

Work is good, but with work comes the need to rest. God rested on the seventh day. But while slaves, our ancestors were not able to rest. So this command requires rest to extend to our families, our employees, and even slaves. This labor law even extended to domestic animals. All creation needs rest. I may have come down a bit hard of Calvin’s interpretation of the Sabbath, but I like the way he interprets this section of the commandment. Linking the commandment to the memory of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, Calvin comes to the conclusion the Sabbath means we must “humanely treat those who are under our powers.” In a broader scope, keeping the Sabbath commandment means we not only make time for ourselves, but we also insure that those around us have time to rest and worship.

The Sabbath is also given by God as a way to force us to slow down and, thereby, allow us to savor God’s creation. As Simon and Garfunkel sang,“Slow down, you’re going to fast.” And our world is much faster than it was in the 1960s. Observing of the fourth commandment is in greater need today, for we must learn to slow down and, as the old cliché goes, “smell the roses.” We need time to consider the glory of God, time to study God’s word, time to be in fellowship with God’s people. We were not created as machines; we’re created to glorify and enjoy God And if our lives are too hectic, we are probably not able to glorify God nor do we fully enjoy the benefits God provides.

Observing the Sabbath is a spiritual discipline which takes practice. Each of us has to find our own ways to observe this day, to make the Sabbath holy. Certainly observing the Sabbath involves gathering with God’s people for worship and study. But what do we do with the rest of the day? Do our afternoon activities glorify God and fulfill the intention for the day? It’s a question only you and God can answer.

By resting one day in seven, we show we can’t do it all. We must stop what we’re doing, a discipline which helps us trust God. All of us, even the most religious, risk falling into a trap of believing God needs us to carry out His will. But that’s a fallacy. God doesn’t need us, we need God.

How do we keep the Sabbath holy? Treat others with dignity, allowing them time to rest? Trust God enough to allow things to wait. Observing the Sabbath helps us depend on God. As the Psalmist says, “the earth and its fullness belong to God.” We didn’t create the world and ultimately, the Sabbath reminds us, we’re not in control of it. Amen.

I am not sure why my footnotes are not coming through now that I have shifted from Word to Pages. Here are sources used in the sermon:

Calvin, John, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1559

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

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

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Williamson, The Truth About God; The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999), 48.

Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretation, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, KY:WJP, 2000).

Watson, Thomas, The Ten Commandments (First published as a part of A Body of Practical Divinity, 1692: London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970).

_{This sermon is a variation of a version preached on July 15,2007 in 1st Presbyterian Church of Hastings, MI}

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026

The Third Commandment

title slide with photo of Bluemont and Mayberry Churches

I’m sorry I didn’t get this up yesterday, but in changing over computers and programs, I ran into some technical issues! For some reason, I lost the footnotes. I’ve added the sources at the bottom.

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
July 12, 2026
Exodus 20:7, Revelation 5:9-12

This sermon was taped at Bluemont on Thursday, July 9, 2026

At the beginning of worship:

Let me tell you a story about Brian, a friend from my elementary and junior high years. Although we attended separate schools, we grew up in the same church. We also joined the same scout troop and remained members until Brian moved with his family to South Carolina. The two of us competed against it other. We struggled to out rank the other in scouts. We both had our eyes on the same girl. And we both sought positions of authority. At one time or another, we both served as patrol leader and as the other’s assistant. Unlike me, Brian aspired to the presidency of our church’s Junior High youth group.

I’ll never forget the night of the elections. A new school year began, so we reorganized the youth group. We had new kids aging up into the group and older ones, who had been leaders, moving into the high school group. Brian campaigned for the position of president. He coveted the position; a sin I’ll cover at the end of this series on the Commandments.

That evening, however, Brian did something which worked against him. He volunteered to give the opening prayer. Generally, getting a young teenager to pray in public required serious arm twisting from our adult leaders. This evening, Brian’s hand shot up before they finished asking the question. None of us who heard that prayer will ever forget it. It went something like this, “O Lord, I want to be president. Please help me.”

This prayer was too much for us budding Calvinists. Brian lost the election.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” the third commandment reads. Obeying this commandment is more than just refraining from mumbling God’s name in a fit when we curse and swear. Of course, we shouldn’t curse and swear. But there’s more to the commandment.

Before reading the scripture:

We are looking at the 3^rd Commandment today. How to translate this commandment has been debated over the years. The King James Version translates it as “You shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain…” A recent Jewish translation reads, “You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God.” In a moment we’ll hear another reading as we consider how we might apply this passage to our lives. All translations capture part of the truth.

I will also read a passage from Revelation which shows how we should revere God.

Read Exodus 20:7, Revelation 5:9-14

Like all the commandments, the third is simple and to the point. But reading it in different versions, we see the difficulty in translation. The Commandment comes with a warning, indicating we should take note of the commandment and how we violate it. God’s name is holy. It’s a name, as we profess in the Lord’s Prayer, to be hallowed. But its meaning goes beyond not swearing or trivializing God. The third commandment is not just a warning against profanity. However, this is often how we view the commandment: “don’t swear or curse and you’ll be alright.” By the time I’m through with this sermon, I hope you understand a deeper meaning.

If our use of language is what this commandment is all about, then Hitler, who shunned profanity, could be an example of how to keep it. I think he broke this commandment as frequently as he did the others.

Let me begin with a definition of blasphemy. “Blasphemy is speech which attempts to make God a part of our lies.” The author of this definition goes on to say: “It’s a sign of our infidelity that we are no longer outraged by it.” Most all of us would agree saying “G-D you” is blasphemous. It’s calling on God to agree with our assessment that the object of our wrath deserves damnation. But that’s a clear-cut example.

Yet, we’re guilty of blasphemy, of breaking the third commandment, whenever we invoke God’s name to get our way. We’re guilty when we fail to be honest with God. And we might even be guilty when we misrepresent ourselves to others. After all, when people know I am a Christian, they assume because of my identity in Christ, I am truthful. When I’m not, I stand guilty before God for using my relationship with my Savior to further a lie. If you’re a salesperson and use a Bible verse on honesty in your pitch, you better be careful. Another example would be Brian’s prayer, but I won’t say anything more about that.

Joy Davidman, in her book I mentioned two weeks ago on the Ten Commandments, suggests this command is like a sign we might see on a fence around a power plant. “Warning: High Voltage.”

We have a God of power, but we’re not to call on God for personal gain which would not bring him glory, nor are we to use his name in a superstitious manner.

There is a great illustration of this in the old movie, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. If you remember, the movie pitted Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Karen Allen, his good-looking assistant, against Nazis. Everyone’s after the Ark of the Covenant. Jones, a scientist, is interested in the Ark for archeological reasons. The Nazi’s interest is more sinister. They hope the Ark can help their armies to dominate the world. At the climax of the movie, the soldiers of the Third Reich recovered the ark and capture Jones and his beautiful sidekick. Then a Nazi officer approaches the Ark chanting some ancient words, hoping to tap into its power. Opening the ark, he finds only sand. He laughs, thinking they have been fooled. Then the ark comes alive. The Nazis die. Jones and assistant are safe.

Of course, Indiana Jones is fantasy, but in this one scene, the meaning of the third commandment is portrayed. At first, the ark seemed harmless. “It’s just sand,” the Nazi said as the grains poured through his hands. “It’s just words,” we might say. But what at first seemed so harmless becomes deadly. Seeking the power of the ancient ark for evil means, for a menacing purpose, the Nazis violate this commandment. They experience the wrath of a God who will not “hold guiltless those who take his name in vain.” It’s the same way with us taking God’s name in vain. At first, it may seem harmless. In time it can become deadly.

To fully understand this commandment, we need to consider the importance of a name.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, there is an implied power which comes with the ability to name something. Think back to the creation account found in Genesis 2. First, God creates Adam. Seeing the man is lonely, God goes about creating animals and each specie he brings to Adam for him to name. The theological implication is that the power of naming places the human specie above the rest of the animal kingdom. God, on the other hand, names the first human and thereby shows his position over us. But God doesn’t give us his name. God tells Moses “I am who I am.” In other words, we are creatures created by a God whom we cannot control. Trying to control God violates this commandment.

Now, if we don’t really know God’s name, we might think we are unable to violate this commandment. But, as I’ve tried to impress upon you, this isn’t the case. For we can call upon God, even praying as Jesus did, “Our Father, who art in heaven…” We just need to make sure that our purposes are noble.

Thomas Watson, a Puritan author from the 17^th Century, in a commentary on the Westminster Catechism, includes our tendency toward hypocrisy among the ways we break this commandment. According to him, “professing God’s name and failing to live answerably to it,” violates the intent of the commandment. In other words, saying that we believe in God and then acting like we are a god, or doing those things our corrupted hearts desires rather than living by God’s law earns God’s displeasure.

John Calvin, while discussing prayer, reminds us that “there are some who not only dare to pester God with all their follies, without any reverence or shame, and to lay before his throne anything that they have idly supposed might be good.” God’s name is holy; we should not be foolish enough to ask from God what is not good, nor should we invoke a name with such power for what is truly trivial. When we call upon God, let it be for noble purposes. In addition, as Christians we should not curse using God’s name. God is holy and to associate God’s holiness with something profane displeases our Creator.

There is another area we need to examine in our discussion on this passage: that is the use of oaths. In writing about this commandment, Calvin devotes more space discussing the right and proper use of oaths than he does discussing the commandment itself.

And a few months ago, when we worked through the Sermon on the Mount, I spent a lot of time discussing oaths. For Calvin, the problem wasn’t taking an oath; the problem resided in not abiding by or trivializing an oath. If at the end of such an oath, when we plead, “So help me God,” we better mean what we say. Or if we swear that something is true, it better be true. Otherwise, we take God’s name in vain.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” It’s a simple commandment with a clear warning and great implications. Don’t trivialize God. If you live your life as a Christian, be careful you don’t lie to God. Nor should you, by actions unbecoming of our Savior, lie to others about God. Amen.

Sources:

Calvin, John, Institutes, III.20.5

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

Gowan, Donald, Genesis 1-11: From Eden to Babel (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1988).

Hauerwas, Stanley and William Williamson, The Truth About God; The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999), 48.

Miller, Patrick D. The Ten Commandments: Interpretation, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church (Louisville, KY:WJP, 2000).

Watson, Thomas, The Ten Commandments (First published as a part of A Body of Practical Divinity, 1692: London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970).

Wendel, Francois, Calvin: Origins and Development of his Religious Thought, Philip Mairet, translator (1950, Durham, NC: Labyrinth Press, 1987).

This version is revised from a sermon preached on June 24, 2007 at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, MI

June 28, 2026June 28, 2026

The Second Commandment

Title slide with photos of Mayberry & Bluemont Churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
Exodus 20:4-6, Deuteronomy 4
June 28, 2026

This version of the sermon recorded on Friday, June 26, 2026 at Bluemont.

At the beginning of worship:

This has been a long and hard week. Thursday, I had an all-Commissioner meeting of Presbytery in Roanoke. I arose up early to get the trash out before driving up to the Star City. When I opened my email, I learned that Loren, the interim pastor between Stewart’s retirement and my coming, lost her husband.

While in Roanoke, I planned to visit Peggy Slate in the hospital. Peggy ran the Higher Ground Retreat Center, just north of Bluemont. She also kept Wild Goose on track. I texted her daughter to let her and her father know my plans. In the middle of my meeting, I received a text saying Peggy’s kidneys failed and was moving to hospice at noon.

Then about 2:30, I received another text saying she died, not long after arriving at hospice. I left the meeting and spent time with her husband Guydell and children.

Then, after I got home, Barbara Wagonner texted that Mel Condit, a recent new member at Mayberry, died. For the past several months, Mel battled cancer. He was released from the hospital just a few days earlier. A wonderful addition to our church and community, Mel will be missed.

I’m older than Loren’s husband, the same age as Peggy, and a bit younger than Mel. Thursday, it hit hard. Our time on earth is short; life is precious. We should make the best of it, and should comfort one another during times of grief.

Before reading the Scripture:

Last week, we looked at the first commandment which excludes all other gods. Today, we’ll look at the second commandment which forbids any physical representation of either another god or the one true God. At Sinai, the idea of no idols showed a radical departure from the norm. At this time, everyone used art to depict deities. Israel stood alone and offered a new way of looking at God.

There is only one holy God who must not be depicted in artwork. This doesn’t mean that art is bad; it’s just not to be used to depict the one beyond our comprehension. Instead of knowing God through paintings or sculpture, we meet God in scripture. Even objects in church—from the Bible on the pulpit to fancy windows—must not be worshipped.^[1]

In their deliverance from Egypt, Israel encountered the living God, whose reality can be described, and then only partially, with language.^[2]

Today’s text is from Exodus 20, verses 4-6, and Deuteronomy 4:15-20, where we’re given more reasons to have no idols.

Read Exodus 20:4-6, Deuteronomy 4:15-20

A salty old sailor sat through a sermon at the Seaman’s mission. The preacher went on and on with the dos and don’ts of the Ten Commandments, visibly shaking the old seaman. “What’s the matter,” his buddy asked. “Well,” he said pondering, “at least I ain’t made no graven images.”

God, in the Second Commandment, goes to great lengths to stress the importance of not having idol in any form. Whether it comes from the heavens, the earth or the waters, idols are off-limits. God is creator, not a creature. God is the artist, not the subject of art and therefore is not to be portrayed in artwork, which draws upon the created world. The Almighty refuses to be objectified. If we objectify God, we then assume we can handle God.

We might wonder why God gets so upset over idols. After all, why would a a great and powerful God be threaten by us worship of something less than himself? Yet, idolatry is always more a reflection on us than upon God; God isn’t threatened by our misguided actions. God has the power over all other make-believe gods and there is no danger of him losing his position as the Creator and the Sustainer of the world. Instead of God taking this personally and being upset, God’s concern is our well-being.

As Bob Dylan sings, “you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”^[3] In a study on the Ten Commandments, the authors note:

“modernity did not succeed in killing the gods, rather it succeeded in fostering rampant superstition. Modern people like to think that as we become more educated, liberal, enlightened, the less we need to worship gods. No. We appear to have been created to worship…^[4]

We’re created restless, with a longing, an emptiness. We’re created with this desire that we try to fill. God created us this way so that we might see the need to have him fill our restless desire to worship something beyond ourselves. But God wants us to come freely, which means that we will also be tempted to create our own substitute for God. All of us have this desire for fulfillment; idolatry is when we try to satisfy it with something that is less than God.^[5]

Joy Davidson, who would later marry C. S. Lewis, wrote a commentary on the Ten Commandments titled, Smoke on the Mountain. Addressing this commandment, she said, “idolatry lies not in the idol, but in the worshipper.”

The horror of idols is that they’re impotent, they’re without power, and they can give us nothing. Instead, idols rob us of the power we have within ourselves and from God through the Holy Spirit.^[6]Certainly our idolatry have become more sophisticated. We gave up on Aaron’s golden calf and miniature statues of Artemis which endeared the Ephesians.^[7] But are we putting our trust in God, or in something else? What is it that we worship? What do we do with our desire to connect to something beyond ourselves? Do we go to God or to something less that has only enough power to rob us of a relationship to the living God?

Let’s ask ourselves? What are our Golden Calves today? What keeps us from fully enjoying God? When I look at the walls in my office, I see the various token representations of my accomplishments. I feel proud and might think to myself, “I’ve done some neat things.” Some of you have accomplished a lot more. But when I think, “Gee Jeff, you’re good,” those mementos become first cousins to that sacred cow of Sinai. What is it that we value the most?

Our accomplishments, our diplomas, our homes, our jobs, our cars and boats and motorcycles, our families? These good things can also be substitutes for God. God wants us to enjoy the finer things in creation, but he alone should be the object of our devotion. Akin to how one spouse will covet a devoted relationship from the other, so God desires our devotion.

God provides a reason for such a relationship. If we, who have been chosen by God, worship something else, we’re cursed. Yet God offers even more abundant blessings if we keep it.

Let’s talk about this curse. We may think it unfair God’s wrath is not only experienced by the idolater. It extends to his or her offspring for three to four generations. Yet, if idolaters share the wrong message with their children, how will they hear? The message of the idol will be carried on within the family for generations and the barrier they built between them and God will continue.

Psychologically, this curse plays out in the family systems of alcoholics and drug addicts. There are books written about the phenomena, such as Adult Children of Alcoholics.^[8] Someone who is a dependent upon some substance is essentially an idolater. The substance becomes their God. And within their family, because of how people live with and around them, the abuser’s family carries the curse with them.

John Calvin suggests the curse is not so much the result of God inflicting it, as the absence of God, which allows it to continue.^[9]The curse continues until someone says “enough” and invites God back into their life.

Now, consider the promised blessings. Idolatry brings a curse, but the blessing of faithfulness stands in sharp contrast. The curse continues for three or four generations, the blessing to the thousandth generation. God’s mercy overwhelms his wrath. Surely the Psalmists got it right when he proclaimed, “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”^[10] As human beings, we tend to be overly concerned with the wrath of God and the possibility of punishment. We forget how much greater God’s capacity to love is when compared to his anger. John Calvin, in his sermon on the Second Commandment proclaimed that it is “almost against God’s nature” to punish.^[11]

God’s love is much greater than we can imagine, hence the reference to a 1000 blessed generations. Think about this. Biblical standards set a generation at 40 years. A 1000 generations would be 40,000 years, which would mean that we’re not yet at the 10% mark for the blessings bestowed on those like Joshua and Caleb who were faithful during the Exodus. The blessings from that era continue!

Surely this commandment means that we are not to depict God in any creaturely way. But as Christians, we acknowledge that 1400 years after the commandments, God came to us as a man. In other words, God himself chose to relate to us in a way we can understand. Yet, interestingly, we’re not given a physical description of Jesus. The mystery of what God looks like continues! Instead, we’re told that we will meet him when we reach out to someone in need and that we’ll feel his presence when two or more are gathered in his name.^[12] God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ doesn’t mean we are allowed to worship a picture of Jesus, even if we had one. But the incarnation gives us a better understanding of the nature of the God we worship and adore.

Through Christ, we can have even a more personal relationship with God, which is what God longs for and we need. We can’t have this relationship with a piece of art; nor can we have such relationship with a god who’s nothing more than a projection of our own wants and needs. We can only have such a relationship with the living God. Only such a God can offer us salvation and ever lasting life.

Let me now say something about religious art. This is one of the areas we live out our faith in tension. Our devotion is to be to God, revealed through Jesus Christ. We all have crosses, Bibles, pictures supposedly representing Jesus, but none of these are to be worshipped even though sometimes, if used right, can help us focus more on God.

In Reformed Churches, if you go back in history 150 years, you’d be surprised to find no pictures of Jesus and no crosses. If the sanctuary had stained glass, it was only decorative; they’d be no pictures of anyone in it. Over the past century and a half, we’ve back off such a strong prohibition against these types of art. However, we should remember no picture representing Jesus is accurate and be on guard that such art does not become a focus of our worship. For the God we worship transcends our abilities to create. And only a God who transcends our limited view has the power to be useful.

Think seriously about how you depict God. Make sure the God you worship isn’t some false god, but the God revealed in his Word, who has the power to create and to save. Amen.

This sermon was edited from a sermon preached in Hastings, Michigan in 2007.

^[1] Daniel D. Patrick, The Ten Commandments: Interpretation, Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church Louisville, KY: WJKP, 2000), 56.

^[2] Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1:1-21:9, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 114.

^[3] Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody” (1979)

^[4] Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, The Truth about God: The Ten Commandments in Christian Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 1999), 36.

^[5] cf, Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for A Christian Spirituality (NY: Doubleday, 1999), 3-5.

^[6] Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments in terms of today (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1963), 38-39.

^[7] Acts 19:23ff.

^[8] Janet Geringer Woititz, Ed.D., Adult Children of Alcoholics (Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1983, 1990).

^[9] cf, John Calvin, Institutes, II, vii, 18-20.

^[10] Psalm 145:8. Variations of this theme is found throughout the Old Testament.

^[11] John Calvin, Sermons on the Ten Commandments, Benjamin W. Farley, translator. (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1980), 78.

^[12] See Matthew 18:20, 25:40.

June 27, 2024June 29, 2024

Thoughts on the Ten Commandments

Title slide with photo of my elementary school

In early June 1969, I graduated from the sixth grade. We even had a graduation banquet. The principal of Roland Grice Junior High, Mr. Mason, spoke. He told us there were two laws in the Bible that if we obeyed, we could slide through our next few years of schooling without an intimate meeting with his “Board of Education.” He had constructed this “board” from solid oak. Corporal punishment was still in vogue back in those days.

Then Mr. Mason asked if any of us knew which laws he was referring. Some girl’s hand, one who sat up front, shot up. Mr. Mason called on her.

“Do unto other’s as you’d have them do to you,” she answered.

Very good,” the principal said. “Anyone know the other law?”

At first no one answered, so he offered a clue. “It’s in the 10 Commandments.”

At this point, Jerry’s hand shot up. Mr. Mason called on him and he said, “Thou shall not commit adultery.”

The whole room erupted in laughter. Even though most of us only had a vague idea about what breaking the commandment meant, we were pretty sure it was the one commandment we’d probably not break during our seventh year of schooling.

Now, the state of Louisiana requires schools to display the 10 Commandments in classrooms. Some think this violates the separation of church and state. Maybe so, but it might also be an opportunity. Let me offer a suggestion for how teachers might engage their students using the commandments to learn about current events and human depravity.

An educational tool:

Each day, have the students to read a newspaper. Encouraging them to look for examples of how politicians and public officials break each of the commandments. This could be made into games using bingo-like cards. The class strives to find examples of broken commandment as the students individually compete to complete a straight row on their cards.

Think of the possibilities. It’d be easy to fill in the blank for the seventh commandment with the number of politicians sleeping around. But the eighth commandment would also be easy. Plenty of public servants have their hand in the government’s till. The ninth would also be a gimme for I know of no politician who doesn’t stretch the truth. And how about the politician who covets his neighbor’s house (or office) and breaks the tenth? Or the one who desires a graven image of someone or something they worship and breaks the second. The possibilities are endless.

Let’s encourage the students to let their imagination run wild. They’ll learn a lot! And in no time, politicians will clamber to the schoolhouses to pull down the commandments. But before then, the students will learn that the oratory ability has nothing to do with the truth, that we all fall short and should be humble, and that without God’s grace, we’re doomed.

The value of the Big Ten

Now don’t get me wrong. The 10 Commandments have great value. They provide us with a boundary in which we might enjoy the life God offers. I’ve done a lot of thinking about the commandments throughout my ministry. Below is an article of mine that appeared (in slightly different forms) in a newspaper and magazine back in 2003. But more important than the Big Ten, are the ultimate two commandments: love God and love your neighbor. And let’s not forget the Christian principle of humility. Bragging about keeping the commandments either breaks the ninth or trivializes them as we think higher of ourselves than we should. The Commandments should be humbling to us all.

And, if you are wondering, the answer to Mr. Mason’s question was the fifth commandment, “honor your father and mother.” It should also be easy to find examples of politicians breaking this commandment.

The Ten Commandments (2003)

A variation of article appeared in The Presbyterian Outlook, September 29, 2003, along with an opinion column in The Daily Spectrum, a newspaper published in St. George, Utah.

They’re marching in Alabama again. This time the destination is Montgomery and those who march support Judge Roy Moore’s fight to keep a granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the courthouse lawn. They removed the statue on August 27. It appears Moore and his supporters have lost, but they promise to keep fighting. Sooner or later, the United States Supreme Court will have to step up and rule, but so far, they’ve refused to handle this hot potato.

I’d sleep better if the Supreme Court decided such symbols acknowledge a foundation of Western law and are thereby an appropriate symbol that doesn’t violate the separation of church and state. Or maybe not. Of course, there are a variety of interpretations to what the founders of the Republic meant by such separation. As one who swore off the study of jurisprudence for theology, like the Supreme Court, I’ll pass on that potato.

Instead, let’s consider what the commandments are all about. The Big Ten provide a boundary by which we live as God intends, outlining that which enhances and destroys relationships. Theologians distinguish between two tables of the law, the first deal with how we relate to God and the second addressing our relationship with others. Put together, the two tables set the context for a society that honors God and other members of the human family.

In ancient times, Jewish rabbis supposedly placed a drop of honey on the tongues of those studying the law to remind them that God’s law is sweet, not bitter. Theologically, the law is understood as life-giving.

A few generations, Presbyterians and most all Christians spent more time studying the Ten Commandments. Preparatory lectures, focusing on the commandments, were held a few days before Communion so members could prepare themselves for the sacrament. The catechisms of our denominations as well as those of other denominations go into detail of the fuller meaning of each commandment. If you read the Heidelberg Catechism, you’ll discover “Thou shall not steal” includes no deceptive advertisings. And in the new Catholic catechism, acts leading to the enslavement of another human violates the commandment. In other words, we should be careful about misrepresenting a used car or purchasing Goods produced in a sweatshop.

“Thou shall not kill” also means more than not murdering someone. Martin Luther equated failure to feed the hungry, when you had the ability, with murder. Likewise, “bearing false witness” is more than just telling lies. The Westminster Catechism extended the commandment to exclude backbiting and vainglorious boastings, sins prevalent throughout society.

I could go on with examples of how we ignore each of the Ten Commandments, but I won’t. Every generation has a problem with lawlessness. Instead, we should understand that even if we have monuments by all courthouses or on every street corner, we wouldn’t necessarily become better citizens. It’s odd that about the time many churches de-emphasized the study of the catechism, granite and bronze memorials started popping up around the country.

In the 1950s, thousands of monuments were dedicated in the aftermath of Cecil B. DeMille’s’ blockbuster flick, “The Ten Commandments.” Today, we’ve lost the fuller understanding of the law while trivializing it into something chiseled on a rock. With the law publicly displayed, we prat ourselves on the back and brag about our piety while forgetting what the law is all about. Perhaps we should thank the ACLU. Maybe the publicity generated by these lawsuits will force us to understand that the commandments are not an image to be viewed. Instead, the law is to be studied. As both Moses and the prophets insist, written on our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:6, Isaiah 51:7, and Jeremiah 31:33).

Before marching off to Montgomery, take time to study the commandments. In the larger scheme of things, having a granite slab out in front of the courthouse won’t make a bit of difference. What will matter is who we apply the commandments. If we write them on our hearts as the Hebrew Scriptures encourage, rest assured they’ll be safe from an ACLU lawsuit.

Update on my 2003 opinion column:

The 10 Commandments for Mr. Moore, a former judge and politician, appears not to have weathered well. It was only for looks, as he had a problem with the seventh, which led to his downfall.