"An Empty Frame" – Exodus 20:1-20
Sunday, July 8, 2007
In the lobby of the courthouse in Pulaski County, Kentucky there hangs a large Empty Frame…
It isn’t there as a joke…It’s not a mistake either…
It’s a testimony to what used to hang on this wall…
The frame used to contain the Ten Commandments
In 2001, a U.S. District Judge ordered that the display be removed…
A Federal appeals court upheld this decision in 2003…
The ruling states that courthouse postings of the Ten Commandments violate the First Amendment of the Constitution…
an amendment that forbids Congress from making any law “respecting the establishment of religion”
This is often called “The Separation of Church and State” amendment.
By order of the court, the Ten Commandments came down…
but, The Empty Frame remains.
This controversy continues across the country…
There are people on both sides of the issue with strong opinions
and people will argue about whether or not to display the Ten Commandments in public spaces for years to come
But, the issue has me wondering…
Should God’s Law trump man’s law?
Should the rule of law in our country more closely resemble God’s Law?
Did the Founding Fathers really intend for church and state to be separate – for the church to have no influence on government or, did they simply want to insure that no particular religion was given preferential treatment under the law?
These are complex questions…
Questions that have been debated for over 200 years
So, what is the church supposed to do about it?
That brings me to the more important question – the subject of today’s message…
Many churches don’t even display the Ten Commandments
on their own walls…
In fact, I searched our entire building and found no public display of God’s Law anywhere…
The only Ten Commandments hanging in the church are
in my office and in Iris’ office…
There’s nothing in our classrooms or hallways that would remind us of what the Ten Commandments are.
How sad that our own church displays only An Empty Frame
So, my questions this morning are these:
• Where are the Ten Commandments in our own lives?
• Are we displaying them clearly in our own daily words and deeds?
• Are we keeping them prominently posted in our personal lives?
• OR…Are we just empty frames?
As people of faith, we must fill our frames with not only The Ten Commandments,
but also with The Great Commandment to love God and love one another
To some, God’s commandments sound like a harsh list of “thou-shalt-nots,”
but that is not their intent…
They really give us a very positive framework for how to live our lives.
The first four commandments guide us in our relationship with God…
the last six guide us in our relationships with one another.
If we really look at the Ten Commandments, what we find is that they are challenging, but they are not negative.
The positive side of the first four is that we are able to worship God…
“…with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength…”
When we worship God instead of the powers of this world,
we lead much happier lives.
Better to bow down before God than to bow down before the idols
of Wall Street, Hollywood, or corporate greed
Better to rest on the Lord’s Day and be ready to do the work we must do during the week.
These aren’t limits to our freedom…
They are prescriptions for our mental and physical health.
The positive side of the last six commandments is that we love our neighbors as ourselves…Sounds like something Jesus once said, doesn’t it?
We’re an empty frame when…
• Our lifestyle displays the values of consumerism and materialism
• We present our own interests as being identical to God’s interests
• We attempt to legitimize our ideologies and positions
by attaching the name of God
• We have no concept of Sabbath rest that includes rest for ourselves,
for others, and for creation
• We fail to honor and respect our elders
• We carry hatred and resentment in our hearts against others
• We are unfaithful to our marriage vows
• We take for ourselves what belongs to someone else
• We pass on gossip, rumors, and innuendo about another person
• We are envious of the success of others
These may sound like little things, but…
Have you ever tried to pull a dangling thread from the hem of a pant-leg,
or skirt, or jacket…only to find that you’ve gotten hold of one of those running stitches?
Instead of breaking off, the thread continues to unstitch itself until the whole hem falls out…
Instead of being free of an annoying little thread you now have a major mess.
It’s always the little things that get us into trouble…
• Human moral failure doesn’t come from huge misdeeds…
• Like murder, or grand theft, or adultery…
• Our ethical standards aren’t ripped out by the roots by big, glaring sins…
Usually, we simply get caught up in the little acts of pulling on a loose thread…
• Like, holding onto our anger…backbiting…small-mindedness…gossip…selfishness
• Eventually, our standards of behavior slip away until we talk ourselves into almost anything, as long as it’s to our benefit.
What happens is that, little by little, our frames become empty…
And when the people of God display empty frames
What can we expect from those who are outside the church?
Here are a few sad facts…
• Violent crimes are splattered across the news every day
• War and ethnic cleansing continue to spread like plagues around the world
• Cultural covetousness has led to the rape of planet Earth and the wanton abuse of her precious natural resources
• Sociologists tell us that we are raising a generation of “super criminals, super predators…”
• Individuals so permanently psychopathic, so violent, so morally bankrupt, that they are capable of committing the worst of crimes for the least of reasons
It seems that this frightening trend can be traced to a tiny loose thread…
An Empty Frame…People no longer understand what it means to live with God or with one another
These super-predators think nothing of murdering another over a petty disagreement – it’s a good way to win an argument
They think nothing of spraying an entire playground full of children with gunfire to get to their enemy – bystanders are simply disposable
They think nothing of burning down someone’s home or business just to even the score
Saddest of all is that this new breed of super-criminal…
The most sociopathic, conscienceless, blood-thirsty, remorseless killer, thieves, and rapists…Are typically between the ages of 12 and 18…some are even younger
And they’re not isolated to our nation’s biggest cities…These new predators are found in cities and towns of every size across the United States
Here are some statistics for juvenile crime in Oklahoma:
1999 2004
• 2,825 arrests; 6,167 arrests
• Rape: 3; 12
• Robbery: 19; 28
• Assault: 63; 158
• Burglary/Larceny: 756; 1469
• Vandalism: 72; 145
And I could go on and on…
The point is, from 1999 to 2004,
juvenile crime jumped more than 75% in Oklahoma
According to the FBI, teens and young adults experience the highest rate of violent crime…Those aged 16–19 are the highest; aged 12-15 are in 2nd place
Every 92 minutes, a child is shot somewhere in the United States…
Most ARE NOT accidental shootings
So, where do these super-predators come from?
How does a child become a cold-blooded killer by age 12?
We must all share the responsibility…
Children cannot raise themselves…
Although they are increasingly forced to try
Children are dependent on parents, schools, a community,
and the culture to teach them right from wrong
When we fail this task, we leave them stranded in a moral wasteland
When we display empty frames, we show them no alternative
to their own selfish wants and desires
We are teaching our children…
• Every time we accept violence as entertainment
• Every time we accept “grasping greed” as “striving for success”
• Every time we de-personalize the poor and hungry and homeless by turning them into statistics
• Every time we settle for the “quick fix” instead of really solving a problem
• Every time we shut out the cries of others to focus on our own desires
• Every time we use and discard friends, co-workers, or family members as though they were disposable
Our empty frames become pictures of broken loyalties, self-centered needs,
and loveless relationships…
All the while, children are watching, learning, and
modeling our attitudes and behavior
Consider: In Miami, two brothers aged 15 and 17 celebrated their parents’ weekend absence by cruising the family car into a poor section of town and shooting six-inch spear darts into the backs of people walking down the sidewalk – mostly elderly African-Americans. When they were arrested, the oldest boy voiced concern about how this would affect his chances to get into college and their stunned parents insisted that the boys were “good kids.”
Consider: In Los Angeles, four boys aged 14 to 17 set out for a fun evening armed with baseball bats. They started out bashing mailboxes and graduated to bicyclists and pedestrians – bashing them in the head and laughing as they sped away. They even caught their antics on videotape so they could enjoy their fun later. After their arrest, friends and family just shook their heads and told the press they were “good kids.”
Guess what – these are not “good kids”
• These are children raised in a cultural atmosphere that is
“commandment-free” …Or, at least, commandments-optional
When churches are reluctant to proclaim the Ten Commandments…
The Church is an accomplice to raising this generation of super-predators…
When the culture is afraid to display the Ten Commandments…
The whole nation shares in the responsibility
When our society refuses to stand up and shout about…
Love and loyalty…Respect and honor…Justice and worthiness…
Then we are all responsible for an ever unraveling thread
I know, there are some who may see this as an over-reaction;
others may think they’re not part of the problem;
and still others may think there’s nothing one person can do about it…
[POEM: “I Am Just a Raindrop”]
The following poem was heard on Paul Harvey’s broadcast in 2004:
I AM JUST A RAINDROP
I am just a raindrop
I was born in the sky and settled into a hillside
there to dance in the sun and sparkle
And nourish green and growing things
But there are other raindrops on the hillside
and they invite me to join them for a downhill romp,
and we become a chain of raindrops.
Thus able to travel faster and what do you know
soon others join us until we become a stream
now remember I’m still just a drop of rain.
And yet the other drops say
I’m important to them and they are important to me
and together we hasten downward toward the beautiful forest.
The grass bends in our path
the soil beneath us begins to crumble
until my companions and I are carving out a pathway
farther and deeper
until we are tearing little gullies in the earth
and then big gullies.
I’m just a little drop of rain
its my friends who have the power
I’m just along for the ride
Ahead a towering tree
stands majestically at the edge of the forest.
And soon my friends and I
are playfully ripping the soil from the roots
and its roots from the rocks
and low and behold the great tree comes crashing down in front of me.
For a long moment the tree lies motionless:
Facedown, defeated, dying.
But then my friends and I are under, and lifting, and moving the great tree
carrying it before us as a huge battering ram.
Nothing can stop us now.
I wonder if I can stop myself now, or, if I even want to.
Into the forest we plunge my friends and I
and our battering ram tree.
Other trees grouped together stand their ground,
from us they can see there is strength in numbers.
And our numbers are greater.
Our battering ram is sideways now.
We raindrops get behind;
we push with all of our might.
My friends and I are learning the strength and the weaknesses of trees.
Erode the soil, denude the roots, and you leave them with nothing to hold to.
So, soon, we are a raging torrent.
And they and we and the turncoat tree are thundering toward the sea.
And I am freighted.
I’m just a little raindrop,
but I’m soiled now.
How did I become a part of this?
I never wanted to conquer, nor to destroy
I only needed to be needed.
I only needed to be one of the crowd.
Down there ahead, at the end of the valley
Dear God that’s a town!
I will not be a part of this any longer.
Now my friends have gone too far.
Far too far.
I’m stopping right here right now.
But I can’t. I can’t stop.
I am no longer me.
I am something different then I ever meant to be.
It took a thousand million gallons of water they say
to drown that town that day.
So don’t blame me.
I’m only one little drop of rain.
God doesn’t offer an opinion one way or the other about our courthouses
or what should hang on their walls…
God does explicitly and specifically tell us
to write the commandments on our hearts
If we write the commandments on our hearts they become part of our lives
If they are part of our lives, we display them for all to see…
But, if we display an Empty Frame, we invite the unraveling of a single thread that causes the whole fabric to unravel…We are just another rain drop in the cultural flood waters – We couldn’t stop it if we tried…
So, the question is: What’s on display in your frame?
Amen
Acknowledgements:
The preacher gratefully acknowledges Homiletics Magazine for assistance in preparing this message.
