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Sermon preached on Deuteronomy 5:16-18 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 10/13/2024 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
We continue our miniseries through the Ten Commandments. Today, we look at the fifth, sixth, and seventh commandments. These begin to describe our duty toward our neighbor. They will raise issues of honor, life, and chastity, in areas so greatly neglected in the world today.
Let us begin with the fifth commandment where we find the command to honor our parents. The command to honor is about showing the proper weight or value to the person you are honoring. You are treating them with the respect and dignity that their office deserves.
So, this commandment explicitly addresses the parent-child relationship. Let us notice that at the start of these commands that deal with our neighbor, it begins with the dynamic of the immediate family. If you are going to function well in society, that is going to begin first in the home. The first neighbors you will get to know are your family, especially your parents. Learning to properly honor your parents will help you throughout your life, as the promise attached to it describes. Learning to honor your parents will serve you well and contribute to a long and blessed life.
What is here in the fifth commandment has extended applications beyond just the parent-child relationship. While that is the first relationship where we learn about authority, life is full of different authority structures. In marriage, a husband is to be the head of the wife. In the workplace, there are bosses who manage employees. In church, there are ordained officers in positions of leadership over parishioners. In government, there are various layers of authority that we citizens have to answer to. In other organizations, they generally have leadership structures with rules to follow. Life is full of various authority structures among humans. Sometimes we will find ourselves in charge of others. Often, we will find ourselves under someone else’s authority. We must learn to function well in such relationships. The fifth commandment speaks of the first authority structure we are born into, and by extension calls us to consider our duty in all such relationships among humans. Of course, this will ultimately help us to learn to honor and obey God, our ultimate authority.
Colossians 3 expounds further on this, where it deals with the relationships of husband-wife, parent-child, and master-servant. Its helps us to see that both sides of those relationship have obligations to the other. People in authority must not abuse that position of authority. Those under authority need to learn proper honor and submission to such authority.
In our day, our culture has very strongly spoken against the abuse of power by people in positions of authority. Not all of the solutions proposed are the best. But we can recognize that too many people take advantage of others through abusing their authority. Indeed, the Bible recognizes that such is sin and calls people to turn from that. Colossians 3 gives some examples. It says that husbands need to not be harsh with their wife. It says that parents aren’t to exasperate their children. It says that masters are to treat their servants justly and fairly, the same way they’d want their heavenly master to treat them. We must be on guard against the temptations for authorities to sin against those under them.
But we should also not miss that people under authority can also sin by how they might despise or subvert an authority. Colossians 3 also gives examples of this. It calls wives to submit to their husbands. It calls children to obey their parents. It calls servants to serve from the heart, not just when the boss is watching. Let us note that such submission is not to be absolute. We should submit in the Lord, meaning, that our submission can’t ever be used as an excuse to go and do some sin, just because an authority told you to do it. In that case, we have to obey God’s higher authority over man. Nonetheless, ordinarily, we should look to show godly honor and submission to people in authority, and we should recognize that this is a common temptation to want to do otherwise.
Such honor and submission needs to appreciate the unique nature of each relationship. For example, the relationship between a husband and a wife in light of the oneness of marriage is going to be different than a relationship between an employer and an employee in an at-will employment setting. What that submission and honor looks like should reflect the nature of the relationship. Wisdom is need for each application.
Let me point to one way we can think about the fifth commandment finding fulfillment in Christ. I think of how Ephesians 5 speaks of the picture of Christ and the church as something that can be modeled in the relationship between a husband and wife. The loving leadership and sacrifice of Jesus and the godly submission of the church to Christ can be pictured in human marriages. By way of example, even with their sinful flaws this side of glory, authority structures can ideally be a beautiful thing, even as they point us to the gospel, and teach us how to honor God.
Let us turn now to our second point and consider the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder.” This forbids all unjust taking of human life. Man was created in God’s image, and such life is to be especially honored, which is why Genesis 9 calls for the death penalty for murder. Thus, this command is not against capital punishment, just as it would not be against killing someone in self-defense or in a wartime situation. But at the same time, this prohibition against the unjust taking of life is not only reserved for premeditated murder, but would speak against all forms of murder and manslaughter. Likewise, it applies against abortion, against suicide, and against neglect that leads to death. This command, positively, calls us to treat life as a blessing from God that we are to steward. We should look to preserve our own life and the life of others. That means we should care about our health, and look to treat our bodies well.
You often here Christians speaking so much about abortions over other things. When you compare abortion with combined murder and manslaughter in the United States, it about 40 times more human lives are ended in abortion each year than murder and manslaughter combined. Almost a million human lives are taken each year in abortion, on average. That’s a staggering violation of the sixth commandment and a reason to raise alarm.
Jesus gave an extended application on this commandment in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, he speaks of how even sinful anger and evil name calling against someone violates the spirit of this commandment. An underlying hatred from the heart of someone is the underlying issue. That’s what would drive a man to unlawfully take a life. Sin begins in the soul of man, and things like slander represent a greater concern of the heart.
Jesus’ extended application is yet very timely in our day. There is so much talk in our society about hatred and bigotry. Ironically, too often people who accuse others of hatred and bigotry are often hateful and bigoted. Yet, we remember how Jesus called us to love our enemies and to pray for them and to turn the other cheek and to be peacemakers. Yes, there is a time for righteous hatred of evils. But Christians are especially called to a merciful love toward others, even to people who would hate us. So, while people might yet greatly oppose Christians with hatred and bigotry, let us look to put Jesus’ teachings into practice by showing them kindness even as we lovingly call them to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus. If this seems hard to do, let us remember our Lord Jesus allowed himself to be unjustly put to death, to die in our place, so that we can live. Jesus also fulfills this commandment in the full, and his example spurs us on to live in a charity toward others even when they don’t deserve it.
Let us turn now to our third point to consider the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” While this explicitly speaks in terms of adultery, by extension, it is a command to put off all forms of sexual immorality and to live a chaste life. What is such chastity? In short, chastity is to only engage in sexual intimacy within the bounds of marriage. As Hebrews 13:4 says, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” Hebrews explains that we are to consider such physical intimacy to be exclusive to a husband and a wife. No one else is to be involved in that aspect of their life in any way. They are to forsake all others in that regard. And that is the only place such intimacy is to be enjoyed, within the bond of marriage. Chastity, then, is conducting yourself in sexual purity so that intimacy is only enjoyed with the person you are married to. If you are engaging in such activity with someone who is someone else’s spouse, then that’s what we call the sin of adultery. If you are engaging in such activity with someone who is not married, then that’s what we call the sin of fornication.
Understanding biblical chastity as related with marriage, helps to summarize all that the Bible includes under the definition of sexual immorality. If you start with the Bible’s definition of marriage, then that answers all the questions. The Bible says a man can’t marry a man and a woman can’t marry a woman, so that says homosexuality is wrong. The Bible says you aren’t to marry a close relative, so that says incest is wrong. The Bible says you can’t marry an animal, so that says bestiality is wrong. The Bible says you aren’t to marry more than one person, so that says polygamy is wrong. The Bible says that marriage involves a covenant between a man and a woman, so cohabitation, i.e. intimately living together before marriage, is wrong.
Along these lines, let us appreciate that God gave Adam and Eve clothes after the fall. Clothing is related to our sexual expression. It covers our nakedness so that only a husband and a wife can enjoy that nakedness together. We see this, for example, in Leviticus 18 where it repeatedly describes sexual intimacy in the language of “uncovering the nakedness” of someone. God gave us clothes, that is why it is sinful to sexually gaze upon someone who is naked who is not your spouse. That is why pornography and voyeurism are also violations of this seventh commandment. It is also why we should dress modestly as 1 Tim 2:9 commands.
Along these lines, Jesus confirmed in the Sermon on the Mount that we can break this commandment with our eyes. If we look and lust for someone who is not our spouse, then we again break this commandment. This again reminds us of that sin begins in the heart. It again affirms the importance of dressing modestly. It again explains that pornography is wrong. It again reminds us that the marriage bed is the exclusive location for such sexual intimacy, not even the privacy of your mind is to violate that.
There are so many reasons why we need this commandment today. The LGBTQ movement has been strongly promoting certain sexual immoralities like same-sex marriage and transgenderism. But in general, our pagan pop culture advocates for a sexual revolution that glorifies so many of the forms of sexual immorality that the Bible calls sin. God’s law educates and fortifies us against any evil the culture wants to celebrate.
But while Christians can acknowledge the evil of sexual immorality, we need to be on guard. The temptations for such sin are real and great. Many Christians have fallen in this area, bringing great ruin to their life and the lives of those around them. I mentioned earlier that abortion deserved special attention because of how prevalent that it is. Well, under this commandment, fornication along with pornography are tremendously prevalent sins. Too many times Christians who I believe love Jesus fall terribly into these sins. Let us be vigilantly watching and praying in this area.
For each commandment, I’ve pointed to some way that we can think of Christ bringing a fulfillment to it. Jesus, despite the great temptations of sexual immorality, lived a perfectly chaste life on earth. Why did he do this? For the joy set before him to betroth a bride to himself, namely the church. That he would be able to clean his impure bride of all her impurities, so that we the church could be a purified bride for Jesus.
Trinty Presbyterian Church, in conclusion, we’ve looked at these three commandments today that deal with matters of honor, life, and chastity. We’ve given many applications already, but one common denominator that we can find in all three is the ways they promote family when lived out properly. Surely, our society would benefit from being more pro-family. Surely, we Christians can benefit from a reminder of the importance of God’s institution of family, and the closely related institution of marriage.
As we’ve studied these three commandments today, let us remember again there is forgiveness of sins in Jesus. Surely, all of us have broken these in one form or another, in multiple ways. Let us be drawn again to the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And let us then be spurred on to go out again looking to live in new obedience to these true, good, and beautiful commandments.
Amen.
Copyright © 2024 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
