What’s Written on Your Heart?
Jeremiah 31:23-34; Luke 18:1-8; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
The date was August 28, 2003, and the following is a portion of the article that appeared originally in the New York Times and then in other papers around the country. The author – reporting from Montgomery, Alabama, - told of the culmination of a nearly two-year long court battle, writing…
After two years of controversy, a week of protests that resembled revivals and $1 million in lawyers’ fees, the Ten Commandments standoff was resolved on Wednesday in about an hour, by five men and a jack.
A moving crew, hired from out of state because no Alabama company would do it, lifted the 5,280-pound Ten Commandments monument installed by Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama and rolled it away.
All the speculation about the titanic slab of granite crashing through the floor of the Alabama Supreme Court or being too heavy to budge ended as the moving crew pushed the monument out of public view, as federal courts have demanded.
Dozens of protesters watched, furious and helpless, from behind the locked glass doors of the courthouse.
Many have been camping out on the courthouse steps, wearing their beliefs on their backs, with such T-shirts as “Jesus is the Standard” and “Satan is a Nerd.” As the workers readied the monument, a preacher belted out, “Pray the wheels crumble!”
After they did not, protesters started screaming: “Bring the monument back! Bring the monument back!”
Moore, who was suspended last week for defying a federal court order to remove the monument, issued a statement saying, “It is a sad day in our country when the moral foundation of our law and the acknowledgment of God has to be hidden from public view to appease a federal judge.” … the article continues…
For now, the monument is tucked away in a locked back room in the Alabama Supreme Court. Court officials have not indicated what they will ultimately do with it.
Protesters, though, continued to flock to Montgomery. All day they blew ram’s horns, shook Bibles, passed out cans of Coke and knelt on the courthouse steps under a punishing sun.
“This is just the beginning,” said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition. “We’re going to call everybody we know and tell them to come to Montgomery to look inside that empty building and see what the future of America looks like.”
Alabama is not the only state to have a controversy of the posting of the Ten Commandments. Nearly every state in the union has had to deal with this issue. The Federal Government, like it or not, has declared that the public posting of the Ten Commandments is acceptable if they are posted as part of a historic display along with other historic icons. But, in cases like the one in Alabama, it is in violation of the Separation of Church and State to solely display the Ten Commandments on government property. Now, I don’t want to focus today on whether we should or should not agree with this ruling on the First Amendment!
What I DO want us to spend some time thinking about is why is the posting of the Ten Commandments so near and dear to so many Christians! In doing research for this message this morning, I found very few references to Jews who were outraged at the removal of these plaques and monuments. But there are a LOT of Christians – probably some of us right here in this sanctuary – who are bothered by these separation of Church and State decisions and feel that the government is trying to take away our rights to faith and religion – in the name of not offending others!
But why? Why does it bother us so much? Is not the Third Commandment – You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…? I think for some of the protesters on their knees outside the state capitol the Ten Commandment monument had become an idol. We see it as representing our faith and as a reminder of God’s will for our lives. But do we need a 5200 pound granite structure to remind us of God’s Law?
The Ten Commandments were given to Moses to be shared with the Hebrew people to help them fulfill the covenant God made with humanity after the great flood. They were to be laws not worshipped, but followed. After sharing of the Commandments, the tablets were put into the Ark of the Covenant which was housed in the Temple. They were not put on display as a sign of the Hebrews’ faith! God expected that these Commandments would be embodied by His people. And yet, we are reminded in today’s scripture from Jeremiah that the people sinned and broke the covenant with God.
It is at that point – after people sinned and were sent into exile – that God said, I will make a new covenant…I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people… all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
How many of you believe this promise from God? How many of you believe that God will write his commandments on your heart and place his law in your minds? I do! I believe through the teachings of Christ God has written the commandment of love upon my heart and continues to bring my mind in line with my heart so that God’s laws of love can be followed in my daily life.
What do I say to the pastor in Alabama who believes that the lack of a stone monument means the absence of God in America… I say get a life! Or, as another pastor more eloquently said, "It would be very inspiring for God-fearing Americans to see the Alabama monument on display again. However, something more pleasing to God would be to see the Ten Commandments written upon the hearts of each and every human being on this earth. Then the great moral code of God would indeed be the foundation for a righteous world and its government."
Our faith is not in a stone monument anymore than it is in the stone tablets upon which the original Law was written. Our faith is at the core of our very existence. I am of the school of thought that believes that children naturally believe in God. There is an innate hunger in them for the Holy. But as we grow and mature, if that faith is not nurtured, it is lost. And if we allow the world to govern our lives, our hearts are hardened.
Research shows that adults who accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior before the age of 18 are more likely to be active Christians in their young adult life than those who did not make a true profession of faith. Children have a faith that is so pure because the world has not yet corrupted it. God has indeed written his law on our hearts and when we nurture our understanding of the God’s law through prayer and study, worship and fellowship, then we don’t need outside influences such as monuments and plaques to remind us. Nor will those around us need to see Christian propaganda on our cars or bodies or hanging in our houses – because, when we allow God’s laws written on our hearts and minds to guide our daily living, our actions of love and justice will show others we are God’s children.
I once offended a fellow youth minister by saying, I don’t believe in the Bible. But I went on to explain, that my faith is in Jesus Christ ALONE! Now, Jesus Christ is revealed to me through the words of the Holy Scriptures – written and printed in the many Bibles I have on my shelf. But, it was not this written word that was nailed to a cross for the forgiveness of my sins. It was not this leather bound volume that was resurrected on the third day – promising me eternal life. I truly believe that all the Bibles in the world could disappear, and I would still have faith in the One who died and rose for me. Why? Because God has written his laws in my mind and in my heart.
Would it be more difficult to nurture my faith without the Bible? Sure it would! But God doesn’t stop existing if all the Bibles disappear. And God’s Law doesn’t cease to be if all the Ten Commandments monuments and plaques disappear!
Our God is a LIVING God. And he’s not living in stone monuments. He’s not limited to confines of these sanctuary walls. Our God created this world and dwells in all times and places in this world. Our God created each of us – writing the commandments and laws of divine love upon our hearts and in our minds.
These laws need to guide all our steps and all our actions. For as long as we listen to them and abide by God’s decrees in EVERY aspect of our lives, others will know of our relationship with God through our actions and words. If we are truly attuned to the internal word of God, then we don’t need external reminders. If we acknowledge God’s word written on our hearts, as well as on the hearts of others, it becomes easier to keep Christ’s commandments to Love God, Love our neighbors and even to love our enemies.
You see, it was God’s law of love written on the heart and mind of the persistent widow - in our gospel reading today - that enabled and encouraged her to return day after day seeking JUSTICE from an unjust judge who had no regard for people or God. And God’s persistence in and through that widow paid off.
Paul was teaching Timothy to rely upon God’s law of love written on his heart when he writes, But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from who you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for the salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
It is to the law of God’s love written upon your heart that I appeal to in encouraging you to go into this world seeking to do God’s will each and every day. Trust your heart – for God’s law is written upon it. Seek God’s way – for God’s law is written upon your mind. Listen to God’s voice that is in you – that you may be guided, taught and assured in all you do.
Brothers and sisters, we are children of God’s new covenant, sealed with the blood of Christ Jesus our Lord. The words of this covenant are written on our hearts and in our minds; therefore, there is nothing in this world that can remove God from our lives. Monuments may be removed. Persecutions will occur. The evil one will attempt to draw us away from our Creator. But, know and believe this truth: God remains faithful to us. Let us remain faithful to God by living according to words of love that God by God’s own hand has written on our hearts.
Jesus said, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and all the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Go! And live according to these commandments, written on your heart and on your mind. Amen.
