the 10 Commandments

Commandment 3

God’s will for His Children is found in the Law.  And Jesus made it personal. Jesus showed that God’s Law is not to be followed out of ritual/religion.  Instead, He showed that obedience is to come out of love – a response to God’s grace and love.

And God wants us to remember:  commands are not options.  They aren’t called the 10 Options; but honestly, we make them optional.  And as we have learned, if you want God’s blessing, you want God’s protection, you want God’s security, you have to LIVE within His will, His circle of security, called the 10 Commandments.

And as I have said before, if I look at this series on the 10 Commandments as a history teaching I will miss out on its powerful words and the refining change it will and can bring.  

I’ve said this before in my mind back in the day, and I’m shamed to admit it, “Man, I wish such and such had heard today’s message given by the pastor.  If only he/she could have been here to hear this, then God would have convicted and brought about the change needed in his/her life.”  Yet, even though that thought may have been true, I feel shamed to admit it because I missed out on what God had in store for me in that message.  My thinking was self-righteous because I assumed that the message was not for me – that I was good and needed not change.  So don’t do as I have done.  Don’t feel the shame that I have felt.  Each message is not for somebody else.  It’s for me.  It’s for you.

And so far, God has asked us to look at whether we have any other gods in our lives and have used idols to represent them.  And in our culture, these gods and idols don’t usually come in the form of an object – they come in the form of an attitude, thought, or wants and desires.  When we the give power and authority to some thing or someone else that rightfully belongs to the One True God, we create a modern day idol or god.  And often the biggest idol or god in our culture can be seen everyday in the mirror – it is called Self. 

So God calls us to hear his convictions and to repent so that we might be restored into His circle of safety, security, and prosperity.   And if we decide to step outside the bounds of this circle, we will find we are on our own.  We will find that we are left vulnerable to all kinds of attacks from the Dog, Satan.  If we want God’s favor and prosperity, you and I must deny ourselves and pick up Jesus’ cross and follow Him.

Today, God gives us His 3^rd Will – His 3^rd Commandment:  You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.

Or in other words:  You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.

So what does this command mean, and how does it apply to you and me?  How can we misuse the name of the Lord?  How can we take His name in vain?

When I act in vain I am concerned about one and one thing only.  Do you know what that is?  Myself.

And when I use the Lord’s name in vain, I misuse God’s name for my own benefit and solution.  I don’t care about God.  I care solely on how God can get me out of the mess I’m in or how He will bless me.  That’s vanity.

There are passages in Leviticus and Matthew that show how we can take the Lord’s name in vain.

Leviticus 19: 12 – “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God.  I am the Lord.”

And in Matthew 5: 33-37, Jesus said let your “yes be yes” and your “no be no”.  

Do you know why He said it?  It’s because when we swear by something greater than ourselves we are really saying the words we use have no authority – they can’t be trusted.  Jesus wanted us to see that we don’t need to swear; our word alone – our character - should be good enough.

But He also wanted us to see why making an oath is a bad deal.  He was saying, my paraphrase, “Don’t swear (make a promise) on God’s name because you won’t live up to it.  You will break the promise and thus take the Lord’s name in vain.”

And God says, “This is not my will – to have man misuse my name.  After all, who is man to misuse my Holy name?  Who is man, my creation, to misrepresent Me to the public I am trying to save?  Who is man to think that I was created for him, when it was I who created him for Me?”

God also speaks through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 7:  9-11 – “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe” – safe to do all these detestable things?  Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?  But I have been watching! declares the Lord.”

This passage shows how man thinks that he can be outside the will of God, not obey God’s commands, and then vainly say, “I am good (safe and secure) because I believe in God.  I even believe in His Son, Jesus.”  But God wants me to see through this passage that taking His name in vain, misusing His name, is not merely some words such as exclaiming “Oh, my God”, which Christians think we can write or say “OMG” and not break the commandment, or cursing, “Jesus Christ”, or “God damn it”. 

No, taking His name in vain is really shown through my actions.  Taking God’s name in vain is knowing what I am to do and not doing it, yet still feeling vainly confident that I am in the will of God and have his blessing. 

The Israelites were exposed for their sins (those 10 Commandments that they were blatantly breaking), yet in their mind, they were doing nothing wrong – they had God, they had the temple, they had the Ark of the Covenant.  They felt safe, not because they were within God’s will through their obedience, but simply because they were vainly saying, “We are God’s chosen people.”

So every time I publicly say that I am a follower of Jesus, but don’t live under His authority, I am taking the Lord’s name in vain.  When I choose to live as I desire to live, when I am my own authority yet still claim the name and blood of Jesus as my salvation, I am expressing vanity in its worse form. 

And so I have to make a choice today, am I going to represent or misrepresent the God who saves me?  Am I going bask in His grace and love only in word and feeling?  Or am I going to show His grace and love through my actions?

Taking the name of the Lord in vain is more than words.  It’s how I live under this name.  And if I’m going to claim the name of Jesus for my salvation and the salvation of others, but disobey God’s will, I am misusing or taking His name in vain.

the 10 Commandments

Commandment 2

Let me share a little story to get things rolling.

There’s this guy who forgets his coat somewhere and forgot where. He goes to the store and finds out a replacement coat cost $250 bucks.

Astonished he goes to a church to sit and think what to do. He enters the church and hears the sermon going on.

As he passes the coat rack he sees a coat identical to his own. He plots to wait for the end of the sermon then to make off with the coat.

He sits and listens to the preacher. The preacher then starts to recite the Ten Commandments. After the sermon the man goes to the preacher and says, "Thank you I was about to commit a terrible sin.  I was plotting to steal a coat because I lost my own. Then I heard you recite the Ten Commandments and changed my mind."  

“Oh,” said the preacher you must have heard me say, “thou shalt not steal.” “No,” says the man “I heard you say thou shalt not commit adultery and I remembered where my coat was.”

WowJ Just goes to show that people can hear the Word of God and not have heart change.  It goes to show that people can hear the Word of God and determine that some sins are worse than others (when God says they are all the same).

God gave the Israelite Nation 10 Commands that would govern them as they would enter into the Promised Land - 10 Commands given to them by their God who was to be their King, their leader - 10 Commands that if followed would be a hedge of protection (a circle of protection and prosperity for them as a nation).

The Israelite Nation was leaving a land of paganism (EGYPT) and entering into a land of paganism (CANAAN) – a land with many gods and practices.  So God wanted to make clear to them that they must be a culture that doesn’t participate in the pagan practices of the Gentiles – that they must be set apart and distinguishable – that they must live with conviction and participate in God’s ways.  Why?  All so that the Gentiles could see that there is only one God, and He is the God of the Israelites.

And so going into this land of “milk and honey” they were going to find cultural practices that went against God’s will.  So the 10 Commandments was God’s way of showing them His Will.

And the first will was: “You left a land and are going into a land where the people have many gods; moon gods, sun gods, fertility gods, etc., and you are to know that I am the only God – the one true God.  You are to follow Me and Me only.”

Now the second will goes right along with the first one.  You see, people, who usually have other gods, build or craft things to provide them an image of that god.  It seems that having something to hold in hand or to bow down to provides a sense of power and authority in the object.  Yet the object itself has no power.

So because of this, God gave His 2^nd Command:  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of any thing in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

God’s 2^nd Command summarized is this:  “You shall not make an idol, nor worship it.”

Idol worship is still prevalent today in every culture, which shows that idols can take the place of the one true God very easily.   And when something or someone is given authority or power that only God can have, THEN IT BECOMES AN IDOL.

Modern day idols, even in the Church, exist.  When we pray to holy statues, when we trust in the power of beads, when we look to horoscopes, psychics, and palm readers for answers, when the image becomes more than a symbol and is given power and trust to provide the answer, we have created a modern day idol.

But, I want you to think about this, one of the biggest idols in our culture is not a statue, it is the idol of self.  (I have created this, I have done this, I can take care of myself, I want this)

So when we worship idols, or even idolize ourselves, we are participating in pagan worship. 

God said that the effects of worshiping something or someone else other than Him, worshiping an idol, would result in consequences that will last to 3 and 4 generations.   As He said, He is a jealous God, and He literally punished the Israelites when they hated Him – He punished them when they walked away from Him to pursue the gods and practices of the pagans.  (Just read the OT and the many times the Israelites were slaughtered and taken into captivity for their rebellion against God).

Yet today, idol or pagan worship, doesn’t result in immediate, swift judgment from God as prescribed in the 10 Commandments.  God still judges, but not necessarily in the forms of national captivity or catastrophic events to 3 and 4 generations.  Now He keeps individual records that will be judged in the Day of Christ’s Return.

Ezekial 18: 14-18 states, “But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:  …….  He will not die for his father’s sin; he will surely live.  But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.”

So, if I want to worship idols, while being part of the family of God through Christ, my children won’t be judged for my sins – they are accountable for their own choices.  Yet the effects of my sin might carry on for generations causing them harm and pain.

What I mean is this.   If my sins are addiction and abuse, my children are apt to see this as normal and carry on the sin into their lives and their children’s lives.  If my sins are worshiping idols or ideology or self, then my children and grandchildren are going to do what I have modeled for them, unless the true God gets hold of them and shows them the true way.

What I love though is that God doesn’t focus on being an angry, judgmental God.  No, He focuses on the fact that our love to Him is shown through our obedience to His commands, and that this obedience will result in His love (safety, security, prosperity) for a thousand (a lot of) generations.

Hear that again:  God wants to bless, not curse. 

But to receive that blessing, there is a condition, and that condition is our obedience, which shows our love for Him.

If I say I love God, but it’s not shown through my actions, God knows I don’t really love Him.  MY OBEDIENCE PROVES MY LOVE.

God created the 10 Commandments so that those who will stay within them will see the effects of His love.  Those who stray outside them will lose that protection and find themselves in harms way.

Take some time and read Isaiah 44: 14 – 20.  It shows the absurdness of worshiping idols and false gods.

Yet despite how absurd it seems to worship idols, man still finds ways to put God on the back burner for other things and superstitions.  As the scripture says, it’s so absurd to think that the same wood used to provide warmth through a fire can also be made into a god that man thinks will provide him with answers to his circumstances.  But that’s what Satan has done, created a blurred vision of who God really is so that we create our own images of Him.

So have you been or are you worshiping other gods (anything that takes the place of or preference over the one true God)?  That was the question from Commandment 1 that I asked last week.  And if so, repent and worship the One True God.

But now, Commandment 2 asks, Do you have idols in your heart and in your home? 

If so, get rid of them.  Destroy them.  

In the days of the Bible when a tribe became convicted of their idol worship – that they were replacing God with idols – they brought their idols into the town square and made a bonfire to destroy them.  I say this because if you have idols/pagan images in your home, your repentance is to destroy them publicly.  But if your idol is self, wanting what you want, desiring the things and practices of this pagan culture, then you must let your repentance be in your obedience to His commands.  You must show your repentance because mere words are not repentance.  REPENTANCE IS ACTION.  

Following God's Commandments are not for His benefit, but yours.  I hope you decide today to live within His circle of security.  He's promised to favor you for a long long time if you will.

the 10 Commandments

Commandment 1

What do you think of when you think of the 10 Commandments?  A set of rules?  Restrictive?  Something outdated?  Do you have good feelings or bad feelings about them?  Do you follow them?  Are you scared of them?  Do they provide you with hope and security?  Do you know all of them, or part of them, or none of them?  Do you know why they were given – their purpose? 

A ton of questions:  all to prepare us for our study of the Greatest Commands ever given to mankind. Commands that have helped shape laws and rules for civilizations throughout the centuries since they were first given.

But before we dive into the first commandment, we need to understand why. Why were the 10 Commandments given to Moses as he guided the Israelite Nation out of slavery in Egypt?  

First we need to understand that the Israelite Nation had grown.  It had grown from Jacob and his sons and their families to well over a million people by the time Moses comes to deliver them from their oppressor.  This means this was a large nation that had only known the rules of Pharaoh.

Second, upon their delivery, their exodus from Egypt, they would be entering into the Promised Land.  This land would be fertile and prosperous – a land of “milk and honey.”  But there would also be many tribes and nations with all kinds of gods and practices that God wanted His nation to have no part of.  In fact He told the Israelites they were to wipe out everything and everyone when taking Canaan for themselves.

Third, God provided for them a security circle.  He provided a circle of commands that if followed: would deliver them from their own sinful desires and pride; would put their focus on God and others, and not themselves.  If they would just follow these commands, they would find personal safety and security, as well as prosperity as a nation.

So to summarize the reason for the Commandments:  God was preparing them for the pagan nations they were about to face, and He needed to give them a tool to help them focus on Him and on others that would bring them safety and prosperity.

Now let’s jump into the first commandment.

Commandment # 1:  You shall have no other gods before Me

God knew that paganism was a part of their culture.  They were coming from the pagan nation Egypt.  They were going into the pagan nations of the land of Canaan.  God knew that this new nation had its work cut out for it.  

But you would have thought that after having experienced the great miracles of God (the 10 plagues, parting of the Red Sea, pillar of cloud by day, pillar of fire by night, daily manna, etc.) that their understanding and belief in God would have been reinforced, but it wasn’t.

It wasn’t very long before they began murmuring against God.  In fact, while Moses was with God on Mt Sinai receiving the first set of Commandments, the people asked Aaron, Moses’ right hand man and brother, to build them a golden calf to worship.  (Moses had to make a second set because He broke the first set in anger when he came down from the mountain to find them worshiping this idol.)

So I share this with you to help you see that this nation had all the wrong ideas of God.  They believed God could be created out of sticks, stones, and metal.  They believed their created image could protect them and provide for them.

Yet God knew that their past thinking would also affect their future living if they didn’t have heart change.

So He gave them this command:  You shall have no other gods before Me.

Well, how does this command apply to you and me today?  After all we are a people who don’t create gods out of materials.

Or do we?   You can find on this earth, this continent, this nation, this state, this community, all kinds of gods that people are worshiping.  And a god is anything that takes the place of or preference over the one true God.  Anything that gets in the way of our worship and relationship of the true God.

So a god can be a teaching, or a practice, or an object.  Think –Buddhists still have little Buddha’s that they pray to.  Hindus worship Brahman, a god made up of many gods in many forms.  And there are at least 43 different religions in this world, which reinforces there are many different forms of gods being worshiped today; everything from self to nature to objects to ideals or thoughts.

But what about you and me?  We’re not Buddhists or Hindus or worshiping in a religion other than Christianity.  We worship the one true God – the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So how does this commandment apply to you and me?

As I said before, a god is anything that takes the place of or preference over the one true God. 

And I warn you that what I am about to share will prick the heart as they have become some of the gods that we see daily in our pagan culture.

• Our god might be materialism – wanting or envying greater or fancier things when we should be content with what we have already been blessed with. 
• Our god might be money – using money solely for our own good and benefit without any concern of how it can be used to further God’s Kingdom. 
• Our god might be leisure or duty – taking the Sabbath off so that we can sleep in, get work done, or go play. 
• Our god might be ignorance – deciding that reading and studying God’s Word to bring about change is not as important as the other things of life.
• Our god might be body art – needing or wanting to beautify our bodies or to memorialize someone or something with piercings or tattoos.
• Our god might be food or habits – not disciplining ourselves from overindulging in food or partaking in substances that are harmful to the body – God’s temple. 
• Our god might be sex – justifying that all sexual activity is truly in God’s favor even when we know it goes against God’s teaching that sex is to be intimately between a man and woman in marriage. 
• Our god might be body and health – placing utmost importance on how we feel about ourselves and how we look to the world rather than desiring to be beautiful persons made in God’s image.
• Our god might be family – placing our families’ lives and interests ahead of God.  

Our god might be………

God knew that the Israelites were heading into a land where there would be countless images and practices that would turn their attention from Him onto themselves. 

And He also knows that our pagan culture in the US offers us the choice of many gods.

So He established His first Command, the most important one, “You shall have no other gods before Me” to reinforce that He is to be first in our lives and our only desire.  

He established this command to remind us that He does not want His children partaking in what the pagan world has to offer.  He knows we can’t handle it.  That’s why He wanted paganism expelled from the Promised Land when the Israelites took possession of it.  WE DON’T HAVE TO BECOME PAGAN TO WIN THE WORLD TO CHRIST!!!!!

Instead, He wants us to partake in what He has to offer, which is a life of bounty, freedom, true pleasure, and safety. 

God knows that for any of us to step outside his circle of security means pain and harm.  And God wants nothing more than for His people to know that He is looking out for our best interests - He doesn’t want to see any of us hurt just like we don’t want to see our children hurt.  He wants us to know that He has created 10 Commandments because He loves us and knows what is best for us.  

But, in order to truly live within the safety of the 10 we must first accept that we are to have no other gods, except Him.