9-20-2025  Ten Commandments

  

The scribes challenged Jesus as to what is the first commandment and Jesus responded: Listen, the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and the second is like it – you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There are no other commandments other than these because all the law and the prophets are based on these (Matt. 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-31). 

EXODUS

Chapter 20

“I am the Lord God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage.

1          You shall have no other Gods before me.

2          You shall make no graven image for yourself, nothing in the likeness of heaven or the earth beneath or that is in the water or under the earth.  You shall neither bow yourselves down to them nor serve them, for I the Lord God, am a jealous God and I visit the iniquities of the fathers unto their children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.  But I show mercy to the thousands who love me and keep My commandments.

3          You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God in vain (a lie or being destructive), for he who takes the Lord’s name in vain shall be held accountable.  

4          Remember the Sabbath Day and to keep it holy (set apart). You shall do all of your work in six days . But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God and you shall do no work on it, neither your sons nor daughters, manservants nor maidservants, not even you cattle nor any stranger in your city . For the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them in six days, then He rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed and hallowed the Sabbath day. (a time of rest to celebrate the Lord).

5          Honor your father and your mother so your days may be long upon the land which the Lord has given you.

6          You shall not kill.

7          You shall not commit adultery.

8          You shall not steal.

9          You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10        You shall not covet your neighbor’s house nor his wife, nor manservant nor maidservant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Okay, so why did God give Moses the 10 commandments?  Read the scriptures. All that the prophet said and did were at our Father’s direction.  They spoke what God told them to speak (Gen. 7:1-5, Moses).  And the prophets did what God told them to do, as exampled when Elijah went to Ahab’s prophets with a challenge to see who served the true God, Baal or Jehovah (the great I AM [Exod. 3:13-14]) (1 Kings 18:25-39).

So let’s take a quick look at the 10 Commandments to see how God fulfilled the description of love.

The first four commandments have to do specifically with our relationship with Father.  God created the heavens and he earth and all that’s in them (Gen. 1-31).  So He is the creative force behind all existence.    We shouldn’t make any graven images, statues or pictures and say this represents our God and then bow down and worship these ‘things’ as if they were God.  God is Spirit and all who worship Him should do so in Spirit, with all our heart and mind and truth (John 4:24).   As necessary, we do come before Father first to cleanse our heart so we can commune with Him with a clean heart.    

Remember that Father honors our requests so we need to be careful for what we ask (Psalm 5:15).  A piece of fruit is better than a candy bar. We need nutrition for our body and spirit.  Just because we get a sudden urge, Father is NOT our manservant to jump every time we bark. He does honor sincere and meaningful requests, especially when we are aligned with His will (1 John 5:14-15).  But also remember Jesus asks us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44-45) and leave vengeance to God (Rom. 12:19).  So surely, we should never ask Father to send His damnation upon someone. The world wonders about the condition of the world.  One of the world’s favorite expressions is G–D D—n it.  I wonder why there are so many problems?  The world lives in its own mess.  Why should we ask God to make it any worse?  God is love (1 John 4:8) so let’s use His holy name in love – at all times.

And, of course Father asks us to remember the Sabbath.  After creating all that is, Father rested on the seventh day.  Even though He tells us man should work six days in the week, the seventh is a time for rest and commune with the Lord, a time to cease from our own works and rest in God’s works (Heb.4:9-11).  Amen? 

In honoring our parents we find ourselves in a transition period from moving from God to those around us.   Our heavenly Father has shown us love so can now we share that love with those whom we encounter.

When we love someone, we most assuredly won’t kill them.  As I have committed myself to my wife, I will not commit myself to another by committing adultery.  And, by the way, this includes ‘spiritual adultery’, which is worshiping something other than God.  How long can I enter into God’s house, then go into the house of Satan oar even bring Satan into God’s house.   We cannot love two masters.  We will love one and hate the other (Matt. 6:24).  Love means I won’t steal from others nor tell lies against them.  When I consider my neighbor my equal, no better or any worse, I should care enough not to desire anything that is his. That is to say I can desire something like what he has, but not that item  which is in his possession.

We mentioned a couple of examples of hearing God and doing something for Him as an act of love.  We’ve seen examples of how we can show our love for our Father which includes loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus tells us that we can pray “My Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed is your name.  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give me his day, my daily bread and forgive me my debts (sins) as I forgive my debtors (those who sin against me).  Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.  For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever.  Amen”.  This simple a prayer but is our ticket for daily living, it meets our daily need. In the same thinking, the Ten Commandments give us a simple definition of God’s love and how to live in it.

I’ve heard many say that the Ten Commandments don’t apply anymore but aren’t they a basic description of how we can show our love for the Lord and others?  Just how do we love if we don’t keep the 10 commandments?

Amen