“Law & Order: SPU – Laying Down the Law”
Ex. 19:1-25; Ps. 19:7-13
Their teenager, with a brand-spanking new drivers’ license, is asking to use the car at night for the first time – and to pick up several friends to go to the mall. So mom and dad lay down the law, placing restrictions and tight boundaries around what she can and cannot do and about when she must be home. Surely, she thinks, my folks are the strictest of all my friends; they just don’t trust me; they don’t want me to have any fun. Why is it that parents feel they need to always lay down the law?
The players listen in a state of disbelief as the new coach lays out his rules for being a team member. They can’t believe the requirements or the schedule or the restrictions placed them. He is even telling them how to behave when they’re not with other team members. Certainly he won’t last long; no one will want to play very long for him; he’s taking all the fun out of it. Why is it that coaches feel they need to lay down the law?
God brings His newly freed nation to the foot of the mountain. He has Moses tell them that He’s about to lay down the laws by which they are to live. They are not free to live as they wish. As awed as they are by the fire and smoke, they begin to question their new life. They knew their freedom was too good to be true; they’ve barely begun and God is already placing restrictions on them; surely He’s taking all the joy away from them. Why is it that God feels he needs to lay down the law?
I can’t speak for all parents and coaches, but I do know that God knows something about true freedom, about we need to experience f blessing in life. God lays down the law, first of all, because WE NEED A PLAN to get where we’re going. Life often feels like a maze; we’re just can’t see our way through to the other end; we’re not sure how, or if, we’re going to make it; we get lost trying to find the way. Life is, in fact, a maze of options, voices, choices, decisions, directions, loyalties. There are many ways and many roads by which to be lost. Ever felt that way? And how do we find the way? To whom or what do we listen? What is our map? There’s an old Danish proverb which states that “HE WHO BUILDS ACCORDING TO EVERY MAN’S ADVICE WILL HAVE A CROOKED HOUSE.” We need a reliable map. It is the map which gives direction, shape, and purpose to our life.
The 10 commandments are our divine map for life. They lay down righteous actions and attitudes which lead to full, healthy living. The prophet Jeremiah said (10:23), “I know, Lord, that a person’s life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course. So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.” Would you take a pre-school aged child and say to her, “I don’t want you to be unduly influenced and I want you to learn by experience how to live. So from now on I’m giving you no advice, no rules; you’re on your own?” Of course not. The child would never make it. She needs guidance and direction. Are we not CHILDREN OF GOD? WE NEED HIS GUIDANCE to make it through life. We are lost without it. As Isaiah wrote (53:6), “All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” And where has it gotten us? As the Psalmist wrote (Ps. 119): “Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found....I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments...I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your statutes...Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” The 10 commandments are the map to get where we’re going.
God also lays down the law because WE NEED A PATTERN by which to live. We need to have the discipline, the structure, the system which enables ud to survive the trip. We need the ‘HOW TO MANUAL’ SO WE ARE PREPARED for whatever might happen along the way. Think of a mechanic – he is able to repair automobiles because he has the manufacturer’s guidelines and computer programs which point out the problem and tell him what to do. They give him the structure and systems by which he can maintain engines for optimal, long-lasting performance. What’s true for automobiles is true as well for people, nations, and groups. There are patterns, structures, procedures which enable us to function smoothly and achieve the ends for which we were created.
For us THE DIVINE PATTERN COMES FROM THE 10 COMMANDMENTS. God created and fashioned us. He is our manufacturer. He has written the guidelines, the computer programs which can keep us disciplined to fulfill the ends for which we were created. As Julie Andrews once said, “Some people see discipline as a chore. I see it as a kind of order which sets me free to fly.” Listen to Exodus 20, verses 18-21: “When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the horn, and when they saw the lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, ‘You tell us what God says, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us. If he does, we will die!’ ‘Don’t be afraid,’ Moses said, ‘for God has come in this way to show you his awesome power. From now on, let your fear of him keep you from sinning.’” The commandments are the manual to keep us focused and headed in the right direction. They are built into the fabric of life. The Ten Commandments are the authority which feeds our soul and keeps us on the path. As the Psalmist said (119:73), “God, you made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.” The law of God helps develop a pattern by which to live.
God lays down the law also because WE NEED PROTECTION. We want to stay strong and healthy. We need a source for healing and for preventing illness and injury. This bottle contains pill prescribed by my doctor. He’s ordered them because he understands that I need this medication to keep my heart in a regular rhythm and pace. When I go to him for a physical exam he’ll ask me certain questions, like whether or not I’m exercising, what I’m eating, and so forth. He wants to know the boundaries of my life because that helps him determine how to keep me healthy. When I get in our car, I buckle the seat belt – it can help prevent injury and death. In 1982 there was a letter to the editor which read, “Dear Editor, I would like to tell your readers how mad I was when I was forced to go out and pay $45 for an infant seat, and to top it off we couldn’t fit everybody in my pickup truck with that big bulky thing. On April 2, my wife was forced to go off highway M-120 into a ditch to avoid a collision – that’s 55 MPH to a dead stop. The back of the child car seat was facing the windshield (as I was told the law required for four-month old infants). That seat broke off the ash tray, cracked the dashboard and chipped the windshield. Our baby didn’t have a scratch on her. I would like to thank God and whoever else is responsible for passing that stupid law.”
In the same way, we need some set of prescriptions, some boundaries, some restraints which keep us from being destroyed or injured on the path through life. We need someone to tell us “Don’t touch the fire! Don’t run in front of the train! Don’t play in the street!” It’s what gives us life. Even if we don’t understand the why of a law we obey it for our own good health. I don’t fully understand how my medications keep my heart from going out of rhythm – I just know I take them for my good health. GOD’S BOUNDARIES, WHEN OBSERVED, ENSURE PROTECTION.
Dr. Sydney Sharman – who is not a professing Christian - has done extensive research of the relationship between obedience to the 10 commandments and good health. His strong conclusion was that a lifestyle based on the commandments reduces immeasurably the vulnerability to neurotic ill health, and provides ample case studies to support his conclusion. And that should not surprise us SINCE THE LAW OF GOD IS MEANT TO KEEP OUR BODY AND SOUL FROM DANGER. Once again, listen to the Psalmist (119:93): “I will never forget your commandments, for you have used them to restore my joy and health.” The 10 commandments insure protection as we travel through life.
God lays down the law as well since WE NEED POWER for life. In Psalm 19:7 the Psalmist wrote (7), “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” THE LAW ENERGIZES US. We need to understand that everyone follows some law or laws. It may be the law of impulse - if it feels good, do it; or perhaps it’s the law of greed - get and gain all I can; it might be the law of hormones - I only go around once in life so enjoy plenty of pleasure; it could be the law of insecurity - do what I have to do to prove my worth; some even live by the law of other people’s opinions- I need approval to enhance my self-worth. So the question is not “Will I follow any laws?”, but “Will I follow laws which are destructive or life-giving?”
David promises that the law of God is perfect - sufficient for its purpose - because it REVIVES THE SOUL. It converts the soul back to its intended state. It provides fresh life, it restores life, and brings back from death. Some years ago I was traveling to California for a mid-winter conference. I had just gotten seated on the plane in Grand Rapids when one of the attendants came down the aisle and asked if I was Curry Pikkaart. My first thought, of course, was that there was an emergency. But then she asked if she could see my tickets. So my next thought was the ticket agent blew it! Finally she said, “I mistakenly took your ticket for the Chicago to California flight. You need it back or you’ll be stuck in Chicago!” I needed to match the intent of my heart with the direction I was headed! Getting the ticket back headed me in the right direction; it saved me from, in a sense, dying in Chicago. It revived my trip, gave me new life. So the law of God calls us back to the way of life. If you administer CPR to someone you literally pump new life into them; so God pumps new life into us and returns us to the rhythm of life. The 10 commandments give us power for life.
God lays down the law because we need a plan, a pattern, protection, and power – and because WE NEED A POSTURE for living. Remember that the record of the giving of the commandments occurs in the book of Exodus - a book of getting out of sin and its consequences and influences; it teaches about getting out of what debilitates and limits us. As Robert Schuller wrote, the commandments bring us from oppression to freedom, fear to faith, insecurity to security, sinfulness to goodness, depression to hope, unhappiness to joy! Is this where you want to be? IT IS OBEDIENCE TO THE COMMANDMENTS THAT ENABLES US TO EXPERIENCE ALL THAT GOD MEANT LIFE TO BE. Do you want that? The Psalmist (128): “How happy are those who fear the Lord – all who follow his ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How happy you will be! How rich your life!” In Psalm 19:11 he wrote, “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Author J. I Packer said, “Whether as persons we grow and blossom or shrink and wither, whether in character we become more like God or more like the devil, depends directly on whether we seek to live by what is in the Commandments or not.” Jesus said (Mt. 19:17) “If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
Our problem is that too often these commandments, which are meant to give life and joy and blessing, seem to being bring anything but that. It’s because OUR OBEDIENCE, AT BEST, IS PARTIAL. There’s a story about a businessman who was notorious for his ruthlessness. He announced to Mark Twain, “Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.” “I have a better idea,” said Twain. “You could stay home in Boston and keep them.” There’s wonderful Calvin and Hobbes cartoon that captures where I believe most of us are. Frame 1: Mother tells Calvin “Goodness, you’re filthy. Into the tub with you.” Frame 2: Calvin hops into the empty tub, fully clothed, and states, “I obey the letter of the law, if not the spirit.’ Frame 3: Mother yells up the stairs, “Let’s hear some water running!” Frame 4: Calvin, climbing out of the tub, grumbles, “Nuts.” Too often we, like Calvin, try to get by with partial obedience and therefore miss the blessing and joy God intends. The 10 commandments give us the posture through which we can experience all that God meant life to be.
IN OBEYING THE COMMANDMENTS THERE IS GREAT REWARD – for in keeping the law of God we ultimately find Jesus Christ. He himself said He was the fulfillment of the law. As John wrote, “In him was life.” When the Rock Opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar” first came out, one of the actors who played the lead role of Jesus in the major New York production was eventually converted to Christ. He simply said that playing the role of Christ over and over again transformed him; Christ took control. Because in Christ is life! In the face of Jesus Christ we see the glory of God!
Like Moses Jesus, too, because of a wandering, rebellious people, climbed a mountain - called Calvary. And through it God provided another act of grace. And we stand at the foot of that mountain this morning - with the cross as its symbol. Like Israel, we need to ask ourselves whether or not we will obey. Think this week about where in your life you need to shore up your obedience to God. Where do you need to stop your disobedience? Where do you need to change the attitude of your heart? It comes down to the words of Moses (Dt. 30:15-18): “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death. I have commanded you today to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, laws, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and become a great nation, and the Lord your god will bless you...But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land...” From here on, it’s up to you. The choice is yours. Let’s ask God to fill us.
