The Secret Wireless

“You shall not steal.” What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor’s money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income. You shouldn’t take what does not belong to you. That is a basic rule which we have all been raised to adhere to. People everywhere know that you shouldn’t steal. Thieves are looked down upon and punished in cultures around the globe. God’s law is universal. Stealing takes on various forms in a complex economy such as our own. It is not simply a matter of taking the jewels out of someone’s safe or robbing a bank at gunpoint. Stealing refers to any time when we take anything from an unwitting partner. While all Christians should be encouraged to be generous, we, as Christians, should not “take advantage” of the charity of others (II Thessalonians 3:10). If you are in need of assistanc...

You shall not commit adultery. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and descent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other. This is a commandment that in our day and age is becoming increasingly marginalized and forgotten. The clear command from God is that we refrain from any sexual conduct that is not honoring to God or our spouse. (If you are not married then consider God in Christ as your “spouse” even if you are a man.) This excludes a whole range of activities from blatant sexual affairs to “harmless” flirting with others. Homosexual behavior is not honoring to God or to other human beings. Fornication and pornography do not give respect to the other people involved, even if they are consenting partners. The key here is that we are to love and honor our spouse over any human being. Obviously God is to be loved and honored over all. But our spouse...

Matthew 5:1-12 “Blessed…” 1 / 30 / 11 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. The Beatitudes are Jesus’ famous introduction to the even more famous Sermon on the Mount. This is the speech of Jesus Christ that is probably best known throughout the word, both by conservative and liberal Christians, by both the most religious believer and the most ardent atheists. When it comes to the Sermon on the Mount almost everyone likes what Jesus has to say here. And each person tends to read these passages and interpret them however they see fit. But there are not infinite possible meanings for this sermon. There is only one true meaning. When Jesus preached, He had a point, something that He intended to convey to His hearers. And so it befits us here this morning to begin a six-week ...

You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need. With this commandment God instructs us how it is that we are to begin to bring honor to our father and mother. We start with the most basic of tasks: attending to the physical needs of others. Often when we ask a neighbor if they believe themselves to be a good person they will respond, “Yeah, I think so. After all, I never killed anybody.” Murder is at the peak of our list of horrible sins because it is, humanly speaking, the worst. To put an end to another human life is despicable. Even soldiers in battle take another life only in great need. And often they suffer trauma for years and perhaps the rest of their lives because killing affects us in such a negative way. And so most of us can happily say that we are “good” because we have never killed anyone. We might even be able to say that we have ne...

Ladies and gentlemen, Emmanuel is coming. The festive cry had gone out through all of Jerusalem. Jesus was on his way. This famous worker of miracles was coming to town. This infamous preacher was marching on the city. “There He is. No, not that one. Over there. He is the one riding on the donkey. Yeah, that’s Him. Hosanna!” the people cry. “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest!” Emmanuel is coming. The excitement filled the air. The people genuinely wanted to meet this Jesus. They wanted to see him, touch him, be healed by him, be ruled by him. But be careful what you wish for. You might just get it. You see, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is no regular visit. This is not his vacation. He is coming to Jerusalem on business. And he has two different, yet related items on his agenda. He intends to confront and upset the comfortable. And he will comfort the upset and the confronted. Emmanuel is coming. He ...

Honor your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them. [Luther's Small Catechism] This commandment signifies that we should not only respect our parents, but also any person or organization who is given authority over us. That could be a family member such as a grandparent or uncle. It could be a governmental authority like the president or mayor. It could also be a vocational authority figure like my employer. In the Fourth Commandment the Lord bids us to be obedient to these people. We should do what they say as long as it does not conflict with the expressed Word of God. We may not always like what they tell us, but we should comply. This keeps peace and allows the world to function. But this command is more than a statement that we should obey all the rules that other people make for us. We are also to love an...

“You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” (Small Catechism, 1st Commandment) This commandment may seem to be a bit outdated. After all, not many of us have little statues in our homes that we bow down to. We don’t make a habit of worshiping gods or goddesses in the traditional sense. We might think that because of this we can skip this commandment and move straight on to the next one. However, God does not give us such authority. Not one dot of the law shall pass away (Matthew 5:18). This commandment still holds true. It still applies to us, as sophisticated as we might think we are, because there are other gods in our lives. And we often place them in front of and above our Heavenly Father. Think about where you spend the bulk of your time. Where do you spend the bulk of your money? Does the television get more hours in a day than God? Does the satellite company get more of my money than Christ’s Churc...