Ten Commandments – What Does This Mean?

The Sabbath Rest

Encore Post: The Sabbath rest is ancient. God himself rested on the seventh day, just after he created the world in six days. When God gave his law to his people the command to rest on the seventh day made the top ten. God knew that working without rest would damage his creatures. So he built it in — rest every night and the seventh day. It provided time for his people to worship and to meditate on his word.

Yet for Christians the day they worship — and rest — is a matter of freedom. It belongs to the civil law, the law for the nation of Israel. It is not a part of the moral law, the law for all people. We know this because Jesus called himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” and St. Paul describes that freedom in Romans and Colossians. Still the church chose from the beginning to rest every Sunday, the first day of the week, to remember the Resurrection of Jesus.

While Christians should worship God every and any day, resting on Sunday brings with it the opportunity to hear God’s word preached, to receive his gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to meet with each other and pray for each other and to study the Word of God. It not so much that we have to go to church than that we get to go to church. At many times and in many places that freedom does not exist.

So we honor Sundays and Holy Days. We use the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sins and bread for our daily lives. We rejoice to honor our Lord Jesus, who died for us, rested in the tomb three days and rose again, so that we might rest with him forever.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Pray, Praise and Give Thanks

Encore Post: A name has a lot more packed into it than we often realize. It carries a person’s reputation, authority and power with it. In ancient magical lore, if you know a person’s true name, you can have power over them. God’s name is the most important of all, not because it is magical, but because God has promised to hear us when we call to him.

The Second command is all about using God’s name in prayer, to act as his tools in this world to bring the Gospel to the lost and do his will as we serve him and our neighbors. We baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We teach all that he commands us to teach. When we make promises to tell the truth and make promises to each other in his presence, we commit ourselves to keep them.

The problem is our sinful nature wants to use God’s name to cover lies and to make people believe we intend to do what we have no intention to do. We want God to give us things that we desire, treating God as if he were some kind of cosmic vending machine – insert prayer, believe you will get it and it will come to you. We are inclined to say “O my God” when we are surprised or shocked rather than as a prayer for help. These uses are misuses of God’s name and what the command tells us not to do.

So, then, do we go the other way, as Judaism does, and not even use his name at all? No, God wants us to use his name. We call to him in trouble. We are comforted when in his name our pastors forgive our sins. We draw strength when we remember that he came to us in our Baptism and put his name on us that in his name we are saved. We call his name like we call a beloved father, mother and grandparent, knowing we are loved and they want to share our lives. We use his name to praise him and thank him for his love and mercy.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

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Child and Pupil of the Catechism

Encore Post: Martin Luther was troubled. On a formal visit to the churches in Saxony, he discovered that Christian education in the faith was almost non-existent. Even the pastors could not recall the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed. For this reason, he wrote his Large Catechism and Small Catechism. A catechism is a book that explains the basic truths of the Scripture, typically by asking and answering questions. In the preface to his Large Catechism, Luther answered the common objections to memorizing and meditating on the catechism in this way:

“I am also a doctor and preacher … yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and ever morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to remain.” — Martin Luther, Large Catechism, Preface 7

If an athlete hopes to compete at the highest level and perform at the top of his game, he needs to work out daily. Most of his routines are basic skills performed over and over again. It is not that he has forgotten them or never learned them, but that they must be second nature to him and done in perfect form. Only then can he execute the most complicated of his moves well. The same thing is true for a musician. She will run through scales and warm up exercises to be sure that she will produce the notes perfectly when she attempts the most beautiful and complex pieces.

For Luther and for us, daily meditation on the catechism works the same way. As we review the basics of the faith, we are able to understand better what God wants us to believe and how he wants us to live. Building on these things helps us to face whatever challenges come are way each day and to enjoy the blessings he gives to us.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

What is a Good Work?

Encore Post: At first, the answer to this question seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? We all know what it means to be good. We start “advising” our children when they can barely walk to “be good.” Our schools, armed forces, institutions of all descriptions give awards for “good behavior.” Exceptionally good deeds attract occasional “feel good” T.V. news segments and feature articles. A few of these “go viral” on the internet.

But when you try to pin it down, the definition of good work changes quite a bit depending on the person we’re praising and who it is that notices the deed. What is good sometimes varies by age and by culture. A toddler who picks up her toys is being good. A firefighter that runs into a burning building to save a child or even a pet is a hero. Generally speaking, someone who takes care of others, especially if they do not have to, is often called good. We call this definition of good works Civil Righteousness.

For Christians and Jews, a person that keeps the Ten Commandments is thought of as a good, God-fearing and righteous person. We are tempted to think that if we can check off each one of the commandments in our daily routine that we are pretty good people. We’re tempted to pat ourselves on the back when we achieve this feat on the surface. It is very possible to be righteous on the outside, but in God’s eyes, this form of good works is simply not good enough. Without faith in Christ, our righteousness in like a dirty rag.(Isaiah 64:6-7)

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus takes on what the Jews thought it meant to be righteous — to be good people. God wants more than just holy deeds. He wants our every thought to be holy. “Be perfect,” he said, “as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Only Jesus himself lived up to that standard. That is why St. Paul tells us that no one is saved by works done according to God’s Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. (Galatians 2:16)