The Ten Commandments

Sermon for Wednesday of Oculi

March 11th, 2026

Matthew 15:1-20; Exodus 10:1-17 - Ten Commandments

There are six chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism. The Ten Commandments, The Apostle’s Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, Confession, and The Sacrament of the Altar. In confirmation we work through all six chief parts always beginning with the Ten Commandments. The first few weeks are spent memorizing, quizzing, and discussing how God’s Law should be lived out in thought, word, and deed.

I used to think that we spent too much time on the Ten Commandments. Instead we should get to the Gospel quicker and spend most of our time on Jesus Christ crucified and risen for our sins instead of all those Laws that we can’t keep perfectly and that will never save us. That thinking was a bit flawed. It was simply a failure to properly distinguish between Law and Gospel and see how necessary both are for our lives of faith.

Jesus Christ crucified and risen for our sins is the heart and center of Scripture. It is the Gospel, it creates faith, it saves us. Without that as the focal point of our confession and faith nothing else matters.

Paul wrote, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

The Law will never save us. But Paul wasn’t minimizing the Law or saying that it didn’t matter. He was making the distinction between the Gospel which alone saves and the Law which alone shows us our sin and condemns us because we can’t keep it as God demands.

And yet the 10 Commandments are not just demands that we fail to keep which then become accusations that show us our sin. Certainly that is the primary function of the Law, to show us our sin and need for a Savior, but the 10 Commandments are so much more.

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The 10 Commandments are God’s will for His creation. They show us who God is. They reveal what is truly good, right, and beautiful in our relation to God and each other. They are God’s perfect love manifest in thought, word and deed.

Through faith we never stop striving to live according to the 10 Commandments. We love God therefore we desire His will, and we want to please Him. And we trust that He knows what is good, right, and true.

At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said: ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

And “Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said: ¹² “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus demonstrates in His life and in His teaching that the He loves the Law and keeping it is not an option. Therefore we should love it and always hold it up as our light and guide in life even as it shows us our sin.

If we actually lived life according to the 10 Commandments our life would be better. Our families would be stronger. Our love more genuine and sacrificial. Societies and cultures would be moral and just, not depraved and perverse. Our country would be blessed. We would see God’s love in action all around us.

Consider the 10 Commandments for a bit as God’s will for us in all things. First, the ordering of the 10 Commandments is important. There are two tables of the Law: the first table is Commandments 1-3 which is the love of God. The second table is Commandments 4-10 which are the love of neighbor.

We must fear love and trust in God above all things as the first table demands before we can love and serve our neighbors rightly. We must see and believe in the one true God. We must use His name rightly, hear and receive His Word often and worship Him as He desires.

Understanding God rightly reveals Jesus and the Gospel which is the power of salvation that creates faith. Faith created then produces good fruits in righteous living as demonstrated in our love towards God and our neighbors. Imagine how things would be a bit different if we actually lived out the 10 Commandments starting with the love of God.

The first thing we would notice is the pews would be full every church service. Our lives would be ordered around the gathering together and receiving the Word and Sacrament every week. All of our families and children would be here. There would be a steady, soft crying and chattering of children every Divine Service. This would be a pleasant sign of life and hope for the future of the church that would lift our spirits every time we gathered.

Our singing would be more robust our amens a little louder. Our focus directed always toward the altar with praise and thanksgiving with the anticipation of the Lord’s Supper. We would leave invigorated and renewed to live with humility and love toward God and our neighbors through the week.

When we walk in the light of the first table of the 10 Commandments we then desire to live righteously in all areas of our lives. After leaving here we would go into the world and walk as children of the light.

We would honor and respect all authority as from God Himself. Our families would be the bedrock and pillars of moral and just societies and communities. Marriage would be held as sacred and instituted by God Himself between one man and one woman. No exceptions.

Love would not be a shallow self-centered, self-serving emotion or feeling but a sacrificing of individual wants and desires for the other person. Husband and wife would value, respect and uphold each other for the purpose for which God created them. No form of sexual pleasure would be sought outside of marriage.

Men would be men. They would be spiritual leaders in their homes and churches. They would see their headship as sacrifice and not self-service. They would bring their families to church as if their spiritual lives depended on it. They would see themselves as the image of Christ and their wives and families as the Church. Women would be women. They would serve with compassion and love; they would nurture and tend to their families above anything else in their lives. They would encourage and build up their husbands to lead and sacrifice as Christ does for the Church.

We would raise our boys to be boys and our girls to be girls. We would acknowledge that they are distinct and different for a purpose ordered by God from creation. We would teach and instill these God given qualities throughout their lives. We would teach them that there are things that boys cannot do because they are boys and things that girls cannot do because they are girls. And they would grow up to be better men and women because of it.

Our children would be raised in the discipline and instruction of the Lord in the home first and foremost and then brought to church every Sunday. God’s Word rightly taught would be a part of the full education of our children, not just in the home and church but in the school as well. We would rightly see that there is no true and right education apart from a Christian worldview informed by God’s Word as the source of all things good, right, and beautiful.

We would protect the innocent. We would value every life from the moment of conception. We would not play games with or try to control reproduction. We would let God create life as He intended not as we desire. We would not attempt to play God.

We would not steal, whether outright or through laziness, manipulation or corrupt practices. We would help our neighbor to improve and protect his possessions and income. We would not slander and hurt reputations. We would speak well of others and explain everything in the kindest way or remain silent. We would not remain silent but defend the one being slandered.

We would not covet those who have the things we want. We would be content with what God has given us. We would help and be of support and service to each other in protecting and keeping our earthly blessings. This and so much more would be the things that we would strive daily to live out in our lives.

We are Christians. We love God’s 10 Commandments. They reveal who God is and what He desires. We desire to live according to them because we love God. Having been brought from death to life and filled with the Holy Spirit we now have new affections and impulses that reflect God’s will for our lives, even if our thoughts, words, and deeds often show the opposite.

The flesh is opposed to God, but the Spirit is alive and active giving us the ability to bear the fruit of faith in the world. God’s 10 Commandments show us what the fruit of faith should look like in our lives.

And we know even if we make progress in keeping God’s Law a little better tomorrow than we did today, it will never save us. And yet that fact does not diminish the necessity and importance of striving to keep God’s Law either. Without God’s Law Christ crucified has no meaning or purpose. But with God’s Law revealed it does because in the Cross is found the fulfillment of God’s demands. Through the Cross is the new creation. God’s image is being restored in us through faith and the Spirit with God’s Word.

Our imperfection is covered in the blood of Jesus. Through faith in Christ we uphold the Law. When we fail we look at that Cross and see Jesus hanging in our place. And we see God as He wants to be seen. We see His grace, His love, His mercy, and His will. And we see the Law being obeyed and fulfilled for us.¹ And that gives us eternal hope beyond today’s imperfection. May we continue striving to shape and form our lives according to God’s 10 Commandments, never taking our eyes off of the Cross in which we find their perfect fulfillment in Jesus. In Jesus name. Amen.