Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Friends in Christ, as we are travelling through the season of Lent, this third weekend, let us pause for a little while, and reflect upon the journey of our lives. To give you a sense of where you are in life, and to help you realise where you need to be and to go, I reckon you need a good map! Without the help of a map, a journey, for example in a new town, or in an unfamiliar big city like Brisbane could be lot more difficult. Without map we are lost. Recently, I was driving in a city, tell you what, without a map, as a driver I was exposed to unfamiliar traffic conditions, the risk of losing track of destiny was a real danger. Without the prompts of maps we may risk taking a wrong exit. Not carrying a map has other disadvantages such as exhaustion, waste of time, resources, and experiencing unnecessary frustrations. In order to save a lot of that hassle, a map comes as a handy resource to lead and guide us.

Likewise, the Ten Commandments God gave us, act as a map to help us navigate through the journey of life.

Let us therefore examine how we are faring with Ten Commandments today, let us pray:

God the giver of all good things, we thank you for the law and the gospel you give us. As we come to listen, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and redeemer. Amen.

Friends in Christ, I once heard the plight of a Sunday school teacher. Apparently, the lady was teaching third grade Sunday school lessons, that day the focus was on ‘honour thy father and mother.’ So the teacher asked students, ‘does anyone know a commandment God gives for brothers and sisters?’ One sharp third grader raised his hand and answered, ‘thou shalt not kill!’ I do not think this dude was trying to be funny, but innocently owned and applied a commandment to his own situation. Maybe he has an annoying sibling to deal with, therefore he thought of connecting fifth commandment to his situation!

On the surface, the third grader’s remarks sound innocent, but his answer also presents a major problem: it show cases, what is basically wrong with human nature. Who teaches a child to be mean, or nasty, or throw tantrums if they are not pleased with something? No one does! No parent spends their time and resources to teach selfishness to their children. If anything, it is the other way round, parents (and other adults) take time to teach children to behave well, show good manners, and carry on in life politely abiding by the rules. In a regular day, if a child must interrupt adult conversation, parents teach them to behave courteously. So much hard work goes into coming up with good rules for children to follow. Yet, the ankle biters find ways to break them. How is this the case? The logical answer must be, maybe that is how human nature works. No one teaches bad stuff, we manage to stumble upon them on our own.

The Bible calls this state: ‘old self.’ Born into a sinful world, and corrupted by sin, humans naturally behave in such a way. ‘Old self’ dictates ‘terms and conditions’ of how humans carry on in this world. ‘Old self’ finds it easy to put God or others aside for the sake of its own interests.

Scripture does not sugar coat how this works out: ‘none is righteous, no, not one’ (Romans 3: 10). Proverbs adds: ‘folly is bound up in the heart of a child’ (Proverbs 22: 15). The writer of the Ecclesiastes agrees: ‘surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins’ (Ecclesiastes 7: 20). To say otherwise would be a lie (1 John 1: 10). People, no matter how much they want to see themselves as ‘good’ people are prone to committing sin, by intention or by accident. According to scripture, we do not commit ‘mistakes’, we commit ‘sins.’ Apostle Paul gives a label to our default state: ‘old Adam’ (Romans 5: 12). The old Adam struggles with a lot of things, like greed, pride, jealousy, anger, gluttony, lust, you name it, and all the vices in the world go back to the same source, i.e. sin. The grip of sin over human hearts has been the guiding force for humans to act selfishly.

Times might change, but not the human hearts! Sin still stains and hurts our world today. Have you ever considered, the so called dramas we watch on TV or on a streaming service? The novels we read has plenty of characters like these acting out of pure selfish interests? The tension in any story is a result of sin. To be honest, good people, living in all honesty, in a good society with no reckoning issues isn’t usually a drama material.

If we take a reality check of the world, we see the ugly face of sin. Why else would people prefer to hurt each other, blame, exploit, and steal from one another? People, spend time at poker machines or other gambling avenues seeking cash that does not belong to them. How common is it for people to be greedy, or spread lies or gossip about people they do not like? But this is the truth of our existence.

Maybe a good reason why laws, and rules have their place in this world. To protect and promote, peace, stability, and well-being of all. Ignoring laws is not good! Fresh off from the pandemic we know, how important it is to follow rules and guidelines for the safety of everyone, especially, for the sake of those who are vulnerable.

To make our journey’s a little easier, God gave us the Ten Commandments. If you take the law of God, in total God gave 613 laws to his people. Of these, the Ten Commandments, also known as Decalogue, sums up the law of God. The Decalogue is given for our benefit, particularly, in three unique ways.

First of all, the law of God acts as a fence (curb) to preserve peace and maintain order and stability in this world. Through this use, justice and equality for all is promoted. The second benefit is that law of God also acts as a mirror to show our sins and failures, so that, we could correct ourselves before God. This use of the law drives us into the arms of our saviour. Final benefit is that, the law of God acts as a signpost, to direct our ways, pointing us to live God-pleasing lives. Each of these uses of the law, guide us in the journey of our life.

Naturally then, we expect people to follow laws, and follow well. But, as Jesus found two thousand years ago, it was natural for us to turn away from God. There came money exchangers, those who sell things in temple. Turning away from God to ‘self’ was and always is our problem.

You see friends, God knew of this age old problem of ours, hence he gave a remedy to our struggle through the laws he gave. Keeping the law, we were promised blessings. Consider this Psalmist said: ‘the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.’ (Psalm 19: 7-9)

Psalm 1: 1-3 also adds: ‘blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the Lord,     and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—    whatever they do prospers.’

Because the law of God with its three uses builds us up to live God pleasing lives. God gave the laws to Israel after delivering them and setting them on a course to the Promised Land. In that, God expected the redeemed people to remember how he redeemed them. They were called to live God-pleasing lives in response to God’s act in their lives. Perfect relationship with God and each other is at the heart of the message of the Decalogue. The Ten Commandments, if you pick them apart, they show this dimension. First Three Commandments gives relationship we ought to have between God and us (the vertical connection): ‘You shall have no other gods’, ‘You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God’, and ‘remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.’ The rest of the Seven Commandments spells out the relationship we ought to have with each other (the horizontal connection):

“Honour your father and your mother’, “You shall not murder’, ‘You shall not commit adultery’, ‘You shall not steal’, ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour’, ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house’, ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.’ (Exodus 20:1–17).

How simple and straight forward are these commandments? In keeping them is the reward for peace, prosperity, security and a healthy community.

The first three commandments show how we must fear, love and trust God. Let me ask you today: what do you fear, or love, or trust most today? Do you crave for God just as you crave for other things in life? In that first commandment, God also commands people not to create graven images, whether of an idol or of our own ‘self.’ Meaning, searching for things like peace, security, meaning, pleasure, identity, and happiness not in self or other earthly things. Instead, seek these things in God.

In the second Commandment, God calls us to keep his name holy. How’s that going for you? Are you prone to invoking the name of the Lord to curse, to complain, to swear, to lie, and to deceive? Do you use the name of God, which you have received in your baptism, to call upon God in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks situations? Examine your hearts today my friends.

Or how about keeping the Sabbath holy? Martin Luther teaches us, to keep Sabbath holy would mean, ‘we should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.’ Are you that eager to come to church, hear and hold on to the promises of God as they come to you? Have a think through today my friend!

Is the fear and love of God directing your relationship with neighbours? Working for their well-being, supporting their needs, not passing gossip in order to protect the name and reputation of our neighbours. Are you honouring the sanctity of life around you, not taking things from your neighbours, including their life, possessions, but work towards supporting their every need? You know how you are faring with these things. I encourage you to go home and read explanations of Ten Commandments in Luther’s Small Catechism today. May Holy Spirit guide you to reflect upon your life journey. But here is a piece of advice, as you do, do not be too hard on yourself, and remember to turn away from yourself to the gospel.

Like I said earlier, all of us have sinned, no one can honestly say, ‘I kept the law’. For the obligations of the law asks us to do more than what we naturally tend to do. Law always says ‘do this!’ But here the good news for you, Jesus says, ‘it is done!’ Your salvation is achieved by your brother Jesus who perfectly kept the law and out of love died in your spot. As that hymn ‘How deep the Father’s love for us’ puts it, I do not know why we should gain his reward but this I know Jesus wounds have paid the ransom for us. What the law of God cannot accomplish through us, the grace of God had already achieved it.

Unlike us, Jesus did not break the law, but fulfilled it. By grace Jesus offers pardon and eternal life as gifts of Father’s love. Hence, the cross of Christ is the true wisdom of God. Jesus blesses us to be a blessing to others. Plenty are the gifts we receive and we are called to share them with needy, poor and lost. Ten Commandments helps you merely to do this job well. But your salvation is only found in the crucified Saviour Jesus. To God be the glory!

The peace of God that surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Jaswanth Kukatlapalli

Pastor at Mackay Community Lutheran Church (Mackay), and

St. Martin’s Lutheran Church (Cannonvale)

Office Address: 44-46 Wellington Street, Mackay, Queensland, 4740