Ten Rules To Live By Exodus 20:1-17

Not long ago there was a court battle on whether to allow a memorial stone of

the ten commandments to be placed outside a building. Eventually the

monument was put up and an enraged young atheist took his truck and drove

into the monument destroying it. A little closer to home I was at a city council

meeting a few years ago when I discovered that a small plaque placed on a

telephone pole in a park in Steubenville of the ten commandments was being

taken down because one citizen had called the freedom from religion foundation

and they threatened to sue the city.

This leads us to the question…why? Why would people find these rules so

threatening? I believe that it has to do with the fact that people who are atheists

are convicted by what they read and would rather be rid of them than conform

their lives according to these time tested precepts.

We today I’m going to take a brief look at all ten commandments and how they

can be a guide for our lives on how to become more like Jesus. Let me begin with

the first commandment… You shall have no other God’s before me.

At the time this was written many of the people of God were falling back into a

polytheistic system of belief where they were worshipping false gods rather than

the one true God. For example when Moses went up the mountain to get the ten

commandments and then came back down and saw the people worshipping the

golden calf they had fashioned for themseleves that calf was symbolic of a God

that gave them (Gold) money , (Stength of the Bull) power and (Virility) sex. As

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes….there is nothing new under the sun. Today we still

worship these false gods but just don’t form them into statues.

The second commandment is “You shall not make for yourself an idol”. At the

time the people literally were making idols of false gods and were bowing down

and worshipping them. These false gods were a way of trying to get what the

people wanted apart from the one true god through manipulation.

I studied missionary work around the world in seminary and one of the things I

found was that the people believed in God but they did not think they could reach

Him so they would call upon lesser gods or demons and offer sacrifices to them to

get what they wanted … for example a good harvest or a child or to curse

someone they did not like.

I know it sounds crazy but I have seen a rise in idolatry and a fascination with

witchcraft lately. Not only do we see it on TV but I was recently at a bank when a

lady ahead of me was sharing that she was excited to be going to Salem

Massachusetts this weekend in order to take part in their Halloween activities and

she said she might even “become a witch” while she was there.

Then I saw on Facebook about the growing popularity of “witches marches”

where people got together and did a walk for charity dressed as witches and then

were singing the praises of witches and what they stood for.

I know that sounds crazy but when people turn from the Lord it opens the door to

all forms of divinization and calling upon other entities than God to get things

done for them.

The third commandment is “You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain”. In

ancient Israel they recognized the power of God’s name and in the culture they

would call upon the name of God or in other circumstances gods to get what they

wanted accomplished in life. To swear an oath to God in his name was binding

and people were bound to follow it otherwise they would come underneath the

wrath of that God because they did not fulfill their vow.

Now today we often see this commandment by broken by using the name of

Jesus as a curse word. I often find it curious that people when they are injured or

frustrated will use the name of Jesus in a profane way rather than Buddha or

Satan or other gods. This shows the rebellious heart of human beings who deep

down need to repent of their sin and get right with God.

The fourth commandment is “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”. At

the time this was written the Lord required the people to take a day off of work

and to set it aside to worship Him. There grew up many rules concerning the

Sabbath day that often made it a day that kept people from even doing good and

holy things and as a result of it Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man not

man for the Sabbath as He encouraged people to help others on the Sabbath day

rather than be stressed out by making sure they didn’t walk too many steps to a

neighbor’s house.

The next commandment is honor your father and mother so that you may live

long in the land the Lord your God has given you. This is a general principal that

as you honor and learn from godly parents your life will be blessed and typically

be blessed with a long and fruitful life. The most common thing I see in pastoral

counseling is parents grieving over a son or daughter who has not followed this

commandment and is in rebellion against them and God. Pamela and I pray on a

regular basis not only for the children who have gone into rebellion but also for

the parents to not fall into despair.

I ran into a person this week who was distraught who was a godly parent with a

godly spouse and had home schooled their kids all their lives and one of the

daughters was even a missionary and yet their son was now in trouble with the

law and their whole family was thrown into chaos.

God has set up life in such a way that it is a blessing for us to honor those in

authority over us in order to teach us humility as well as it is a precursor to the

obedience and honor we are to show to almighty God. This also extends not only

to children but also to adults as we are to honor our parents even if they are not

perfect people but show them respect for the fact that if it wasn’t for them, we

would not be alive today.

The next commandment is “thou shall not kill” which actually means in Hebrew

“Thou shalt not murder”. The reason is that we are created in God’s image and

when you take someone’s life you are killing the highest creation of our Lord and

showing the upmost disrespect that you can. This commandment extends not

only to those in good health but also the preborn and the aged.

The next commandment is “You shall not commit adultery”. This command is pretty straight forward and

tells us that fidelity or faithfulness to our spouse is required by God.

When trust us broken between a husband and wife it is difficult to be restored

and sometimes nearly impossible. Adultery often does not affect only the spouse

but can also effect the children as the home is thrown in disarray because of the

betrayal.

The next command is “You shall not steal” which also is a straightforward

command to not take what does not belong to you. This is not only a matter

taking things but also involves deceit, betrayal and a host of other sins. The next

command is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

This is a command that forbids in the broader sense lying as well as specifically

lying about someone in order that you betray or destroy another person’s

character. This is sadly seen on social media as people direct often false verbal

assaults on others. I even recently heard of someone who did this by sharing

private past sins to a large group of people in a mass email. This devastated this

good and holy person and sent her reeling as her reputation had been damaged

by this.

And the final command is you shall not covet. Coveting is an inordinate desire for

something that someone else has where one obsesses about it. It is not jealousy

but rather more sinister than that. It is where one is angry about the blessings

that another person possesses. Such as man I wish I had his wife or his car and

therefore they are angry with that person.

The ten commandments are like an x-ray or MRI machine in that it diagnosis our

problem so that we can seek out the grace of God for a solution. The law in and

of itself was not sufficient for our salvation but rather points us the grace of God

given to us through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. As Martin Luther once

said “the law is a schoolmaster leading us to Christ”.

It’s purpose is not only to show us how we fall short and are in need of a Savior

but also to show us how to live. As I have often told my youth… you will find out

God is right one way or the other. If you live for God your life will be blessed and

if you live apart from Him you will eventually live in misery because you will be

going against the way God deigned you to live. The choice is yours.

Might I encourage each one of us to live for Christ and in so doing follow in his

steps. The great St Augustine when he was radically converted to Christ after a

life of deep sin and once was quoted as saying “Love and do whatever you will” or

“Love and do what thou wilt”. What he meant by that was that as we love others

we will be following the law of God which is the law of love.

So might I encourage you…when in doubt love and you will never go wrong for by

loving you will be reflecting Jesus Christ who will lead you to everlasting life as

you walk in His steps. Amen! Amen!