Have you ever been part of starting a new group or organization? Eventually you have to set some ground rules. They may be really informal and unspoken. Just simple rules of human interaction, like we’re going to take turns talking and not interrupt. But if someone new comes into the group and does not follow the rules it can be really disruptive. They look at this person saying “do you not get the rules?”
With most organizations, there comes a point where some rules have to be written down. If you want to incorporate you have to write a constitution and by-laws. Here at The Village, our leaders are actually working on that. We have to write down how we are going to elect our Lead Team. Up until now, because I was the founding pastor, I just hand-picked the Lead Team. That works for a start-up plan but long term, we can all see that is probably not such a good idea. More people need to be part of the process.
Rules,
also called laws, help us live together in harmony. But too many rules, as we can
see in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, can get cumbersome. Let me give you
some examples. From Leviticus Chapter 19 for those following along on the net: Don't steal, don't lie, don't deceive anyone. Don't mate two kinds of animals. Don't plant your fields with two different kinds of seeds. If a man has sex with a slave girl who is engaged to another man, but has not yet been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be an investigation.
They got
to the point in the days of the Old Testament that they were just trying to
manage things with too many laws. I think we can all see that there are some
situations in our world where trying to solve problems by writing rules and
laws it not working so well. And yet, we know we need SOME rules.
If you
could choose one or two commandments, or rules, that the rest of the world
would have to follow, really have to follow, what rules would you make? (We sent via text to Pastor Cheri, but you
can comment right here).
These are the big ten that God
gave to Moses for the people:
1.
1. I am your God, you shall have no other Gods.
2. 2. You shall not worship any idols.
3. 3. You shall not make wrongful use of God’s name.
The first three deal specifically with the people and their
relationship with God.
4. 4. Keep the Sabbath holy.
5. 5. Honor your father and mother.
The last five regulate social relationships among people.
Number four, is more similar to the first three, because it has to do with the
people keeping a day holy for God. Number five is more similar to the last five
because it relates to family relationships and the last five are about
community relationships.
6. 6. You shall not murder.
7. 7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. 8. You shall not steal.
9. 9. You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor
1 10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife,
or livestock. (OK, this has to do with
treating women like property, but we apply it to people)
Source: Preaching
Through the Christian Year A, By Fred B. Croddock, Gene M. Tucker et al.,
Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992. These are the main ten God gave Moses to give
us.
We had people texts come through with some commandments of our own. We had
most of the classics when Pastor Cheri read them. A lot of Old Testament ones, including
restatements of the Big Ten. A few of
Jesus’ teachings were well represented as well.
But we got some interesting ones too.
Know yourself inside and out.
Love yourself fully as you are.
The world, for good or bad, does not revolve around you. Prepare for icebergs, but express hope
always. Some great rules for living as a
follower of Jesus. There was a lot of
remembering not to murder/kill. There
were also a lot more thou shalt nots, and not enough thou shalts. But still, some great wisdom from our
Villagers in worship Sunday.
Some religious leaders asked
Jesus, “What is the greatest commandment?” and Jesus said: “‘You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first
commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the
law and the prophets.”
So let’s have a
look at those first 10 again. The first four are about loving God. And the last
six are about loving other people. And
Jesus basically includes us, ourselves in loving people. We should treat
ourselves with the same love that we treat God and other people. Just as we
would not kill others or lie to others, we must not kill ourselves or lie to
ourselves.
So being
faithful to God really comes down to one thing, Love; treating God, ourselves
and others with love. Now Love is a word that gets overused and misunderstood,
so I might add the word compassion. Let’s treat other people and ourselves and
God with compassion. Let’s show our love for God by treating ourselves and
others with compassion. Compassion means literally that we “suffer with” or to “feel
with” someone. It means that we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.
When my
own father died, I was going to therapy at the time. I was in seminary and I
was dealing with some family of origin stuff, the kind of stuff it’s a good
idea to deal with before you go out and start being a pastor and trying to help
other people. You need to work through your own stuff first. I was pretty mad
at my Father for some stuff. And then before I could work through my anger at
him, he dropped dead of a pulmonary embolism at the young age of 62. As you can
imagine, I got pretty mad at him. I
could have stayed bitter forever. Thankfully I did not. Over the period of
about a year or two, I came to forgive my dad for not being a perfect father. I
realized that he did the best he could with the hand he was dealt in life. I
tried to put myself in his shoes. I dug deep and found some compassion for him.
I decided it would not do me any good to live my life angry at him. And so I
let go of my anger and decided to forgive him, and just remember the good
things about him. Thankfully, there were some really good things to remember. And I knew that he loved me.
I am not
a perfect person either. There are plenty of people that I still find it
difficult to love. But I was able to love my Dad and forgive him.
When
Jesus was trying to help the people not get so caught up in oh, so many rules. What he said, “Let’s keep it simple. Love God,
and love your neighbor and yourself.”
Sometimes
I just sit back and imagine what the
world would be like if we could just do that.
How many of our world problems, our community problems, and our family
problems would be solved, if we would all just treat one another with love and
compassion. Just do that with me for a moment.
Imagine
ISIS militants deciding to treat their fellow Iraqi and Syrian citizens with
compassion. Imagine gang members in Toledo deciding to turn to love for all
rather than out of violence. Imagine family members who snipe at one another
day after day, deciding to say instead words of kindness and encouragement.
What if
we decided to love God so much that we treated every person as a beloved child
of God? Look around this room for a moment. Everyone in this room is a beloved
child of God. Turn to the person next to you and say: “You are a beloved child
of God.” That person may never be your best friend, but he or she is precious
to God, and that means that God wants to you treat that person with love.
Now, look
at your own hands. These are the hands of a beloved child of God. God loves
these hands and the person they belong to. God knows that you don’t make
perfect decisions every day, and yet, in God’s eyes you are a perfect and whole
creation of love. God is your God. God is a god of Love. God loves you unconditionally, and all God
wants in return is your love.
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