Touchdown! - February 5, 2017

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Exodus 20:16-17

To bear false witness: lie, deceive or confuse. Bearing false witness in biblical times could cause someone to be found guilty of a crime they didn't commit or could ruin their reputation. It's not just about lying, though that's certainly included, it's about muddying the waters of honest and trustworthy conversation.

Said another way: Share in conversation that nurtures, supports, and enriches. Don't be insincere, empty, or frivolous.

The foundation for our relationships is communication. It's how we know about someone and how we become known. And, the mainstay of that foundation is truth. Without truth—the foundation crumbles.
Movie example:
With a foundation of lies, the relationship cannot really exist. You can't truly know me if everything I tell you about myself is true, and if you can't know me, then you can't be in real relationship with me, you can only be in a relationship with the me I have presented to you.
Trouble is, we don't even have to be caught up in a whole sordid affair of lies—it only takes one to jeopardize.
When I was in seminary, I went out one night with friends and got to talking with one of the guys. He was an athlete and told me about how he had been drafted by the San Diego padres in college but had thrown out his shoulder and wasn't able to play anymore. That Christmas I went home and talked with my pastor, who was a huge Padres fan. I asked if he recognized the name of my friend and he stared at me blankly and said no. It wasn't until another year or so later that my friend finally came clean and told me he had never been drafted. He had wrecked his arm, and had to quit the game but was never drafted. There were a couple of problems that resulted from his having lied:
1) By sharing in authentic facts, my friend prevented me from really getting to know him.
2) He made me complicit in his lie—by believing false information, I had gone on to spread the untruth—naively, but still falling into "bearing false witness" myself.
3) Once I learned he had lied once, I began to wonder how many other times he had lied. That one lie cast a shadow of doubt on all the truths he had told me too because I had no idea where the truth was and where it wasn't.
In essence, even one small, seemingly harmless lie can do a lot of damage. That doesn't even begin to account for the big ol' whoppers we tell.
In this sense, this commandment prohibits empty fluff in our conversation. Better stated, speak with meaning. Speak truth. As my brother in law says, "Say what you mean and mean what you say." (repeat) Don't beat around the bush. Don't be caddy. Be honest. Be real. Be authentic. Be encouraging.
Potting soil: compost—the good stuff, potting soil: filled with sawdust and Styrofoam. It's not nutrient rich, it's just filler.
Sometimes what we say is full of sawdust and Styrofoam. Either we don't have enough of the good stuff, or we're worried it will be seen as a trivial amount, so we fluff it up.
God forbids that here.
God says you should have an honest and meaningful conversation that nurtures your relationship and builds trust and depth of knowing.

Commandment #10: Thou shalt not covet.

Covet vs. desire
Listen to this commandment again: You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
Covetousness is almost always nearsighted. It sees the neighbor's destination but it doesn't fairly estimate the length of the road leading there. We may yearn for the healthier, more toned body of a movie star, but how many of us are willing to work out 3-6 hours a day to get it? In coveting, we undervalue the work that is involved in someone having what they have. Let me give you a personal example: in the last 5 or so years, each of my dad's sisters and their husbands have remodeled their homes. They renovated kitchens and living rooms, one even remodeled an entire house. As a 20-something, I have admired their renovations and even thought about buying a "fixer-upper". And then I went to Mississippi for the first mission trip and spent the week dry-walling. It wasn't terribly complex, but it was a lot of work...and I started thinking about how much work it would be if I did an entire house, and I thought, maybe I wouldn't want to do the work...maybe I could hire someone instead...and then I had to factor in cost...remodeling a house wasn't cheap. In wanting what they had, I had an appreciation for the end result...what they were able to do after working full-time jobs all their lives and saving up, but I didn't have (and probably still don't) a full appreciation for all the work it took for them to get there.
In coveting, we idealize someone else's life. We idealize their marriage or their finances or their job and we fail to see the hard realities that go with any success. We fail to see the necessary work, and, in essence, fail to see that we could indeed have that thing...if we were willing to work for it.
In giving us this commandment, God says, celebrate what your neighbor has. Think about how hard they've worked, or what they've sacrificed, and be happy for them. And, take the time to be grateful for what you have too.
Now, there's another side of coveting....that doesn't have to do with what my neighbor has...but simply what's in the store or online. That side of coveting deals with our emotional and spiritual needs that we try to fill with stuff. You know what I mean. You have a rough day and so you have a couple beers or a big thing of chocolate. You're upset with your spouse so you go buy a new toy. We're programmed to think of stuff as satisfying—to believe that it can alleviate the pain or frustration or being exhausted of life. We try food. We try drinks. We try clothes. We try movies. We try video games. We want and want and want, believing that somehow if we just had the next thing, it'd all be better. Yet somehow, those things don't actually help. They leave us unsatisfied....only moving onto the next thing to seek some reprieve. God encourages us to stop looking at all the stuff and instead to turn to God...to find what we need in God. It sounds cliche, but really....are we more convinced that wine, or beer, or nacho cheese sauce, or a new pair of shoes is actually going to solve our problems at home or at work? Why not seek after the one who actually could help us?
**** transition****
The law is meant to give us life and fulfillment in our relationships—healthy, loving and fruitful relationships with God and with each other.
It'd be nice if all it required was following each of the laws...or maybe if it were easy and straightforward to follow the laws. But we are broken and sinful people and we fail each other, we fail ourselves and we fail God. God saw that too. The laws were meant to draw us into wholeness, but given our inclination to rebellion...they don't get us 100% to where God wants us to be. We continue to sin and fall short of the glory of God.
God saw that and so God did something even more dramatic to help us.
God sent Jesus to restore us—to forgive us of our sins and free us from guilt and to be the down-to-earth concrete example of the one who led a sinless life. Christ never rebelled against God. He was always faithful—even when it was hard, Jesus remained faithful—for our sake.
We finish 10 commandments today, hopefully with a fuller appreciation and understanding. Hopefully with a desire to receive God's blessings for our life. Hopefully also aware of how we have been sinful and where we need to repent. (meaning do a 180 and live differently)
Today we take communion, to be reminded that even when we have trouble being faithful to the commandments, God is there, to try and fill the gap and draw us into beautiful, loving, healthy, fruitful relationships. In a few moments, we will share in Holy Communion. First, we will have what I call a prayer song. It's a piece of music meant to help us focus our hearts on God. It's meant to provide time and space for us to talk to and listen to God before we receive the gift of communion. You may join in the song as you feel led, or come and kneel at the altar rail, or stay where you are. Feel free to follow the Spirit's leading.
• Time to repent
• Center ourselves on God
• Ask for forgiveness
• Be made new in Christ.
• Leave here liberated.
Pray