I have stopped breaking the Ten Commandments, haven’t you? I do not murder people, and I do not commit adultery. I do not take the Lord’s name in vain. I tell no big lies and I no longer disparage my parents. I do not covet my neighbor’s goods (if only because he has nothing I want ?.) I do not steal. I work for a living. And God is everywhere honored in my house. I even have a statue of St. Francis as a bird feeder. I can’t remember the other three commandments, but I do not break them, I am sure.
In my humanity, I probably violate some of the lesser laws, but I have stopped breaking the Ten Commandments. OH, REALLY!!! The Pharisees in Jesus day took the same position and He was not buying it.
Matt 5:20 “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. NASB
Jesus addressed this very issue with a certain ruler who insisted that he, too, was a keeper of the commandments.
Luke 18:18-23 And a certain ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 “You know the commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 And when Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” NASB
The rich young ruler in Luke 18 above went away unhappy, because he was unwilling to give up his money. Hopefully, he later changed his mind and came to the Lord. We are not told. The vast majority of Christians in the world at large cannot relate to his wealth. They have never been close to “rich, wealthy or having much.” But most Christians can relate his sense of “goodness.” We think of ourselves as basically good people. We are keepers of the commandments, we think, but are we really?
By the time Jesus came among them, the rabbis had reduced the requirements of the commandments so as to make them “keepable.” They had “dumbed the gospel down.” Jesus taught in such a way as to bring the requirements back up to their original intent and spirit. They became no longer “keepable” in the flesh. Only with the help of the Holy Spirit could they be kept in the Gospel Jesus taught.
We do the same thing today. We dumb down the commandments so we can say we keep them and so justify ourselves. But do we really keep them? Let’s take a look at that.
Commandment One: “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex 20:3).
Right from the “get go,” we see the call to relationship. Do we give other gods preference over our relationship with Him? What about: career, family, hobbies? What about our own pride? Are there things we will not do for God because our pride is more important than obedience to God? How about loving Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich or homosexuals? Will we love them and think kindly of them (as opposed to their deeds) because God requires it of us?
How about our FORK? Do we love eating more than obeying God concerning stewarding our bodies? What about TV or other forms of entertainment? Do we ever sometimes forego them just to spend more time with God and the study of His word? What about our money? Will we live on 70% of what we make so our “neighbor” can just live? Or is consumerism one of our gods? Food for thought.
Commandment Two: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Ex 20:4).
The second commandment is necessary because people do not always keep the first. Others know what we value when they see the carved images we keep on our walls and desktops. They can review the playlist on our worship screens, er, a — TVs, to determine who we serve. Do the things we keep before our eyes draw us closer to or away from God and His call on our life?
In our technologically superior world, we have images and idols that actually move and speak. What do we watch and to what do we listen? Does it give glory to God or to some other god? What do we watch on TV or at the movies? Would it qualify as worship? Is it edifying? Does it foster a good relationship with God and our neighbor? Both bald-headed, big bellied Buddhas and bouncing Beyonces are graven images in our day. Food for thought.
Commandment Three “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Ex 20:7).
Using God’s name lightly in a vain, empty manner is insulting and degrading to Him. I can do this by perjuring myself in a court of law or by cursing. I seldom do these things anymore. However, this commandment also applies to hypocritical worship, using God’s name in meaningless prayer and praise.
Isa 29:13-14 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, 14 Therefore behold, … the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be concealed.” NASB
This also applies to misrepresenting our relationship with God. When we say “Thus says the Lord…,” and yet the Lord did not say it, we have broken this commandment. When we falsely misrepresent to others what God has said, we have used His name in vain. And yet we cannot properly represent God unless we know what He is saying or has said.
We must know Him well and intimately to speak for Him validly. Anything else is willful misrepresentation.
Matt 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ NASB
One of the biggest problems we Christians have is that by calling ourselves Christians, we purport to be representing God. Jesus said,
“I and the Father are one. If you have seen the Father, you have seen Me.
I say what I hear my Father saying. I do what I see my Father doing.”
Can we say that? We should be able to. “Knowing” God implies that we can represent Him and what He teaches. Anything else is taking His name in vain.
Commandment Four: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex 20:8).
Sabbath means “rest,” but God intended Sabbath to stand for more than an absence of work. He means that in our relationship with God, we will cease from our “labors,” including our busy efforts to save ourselves. Why, then, must modern-day Christians feel that being busy is equated with being spiritual? We must stop trying to save ourselves by our own labors. We must stop trying to sanctify ourselves by our own labors. We can only be saved or sanctified by entering into an intimate, trust-based relationship with God through Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
All salvation is based in relationship, and all relationship is based in trust (the real meaning of the word “faith.” If we hear Jesus, He tells us that the real meaning of Sabbath is “a trusting relationship with God.”
So if I fret and worry about money, I have broken the Sabbath. If I try to make myself holy by my own efforts, I have broken the Sabbath. If I strive on any day of the week, I have broken the Sabbath. The only time the Bible tells us to strive is “to strive to enter the rest of God.” This means we need to work hard to give all things over to Him and quit trying to carry the weight ourselves.
Sabbath breakers attempt to play God in their own lives and in the lives of others. Sabbath keepers only “strive” to improve their relationship with God and cease playing the Holy Spirit themselves. They study to show themselves approved unto God. They spend their lives working on the right stuff and cease from their labors in all other areas.
2 Tim 2:15 Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. NASB
Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. NASB
If we quarrel with others and revile our enemies, we have broken the Sabbath. Our battle is never with people. It is only with the spiritual power that has captured them.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle (strive) not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. KJV
2 Tim 2:24-26 And the servant of the Lord must not strive (with people); but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. KJV
So, as they say, we need to “let go and let God in all things. It is time to retire. It is time whose presence gives us joy. It is time to go where we have always wanted to travel but have been too busy with work to take the journey to the heart of the Father. Jesus prayed all night and was refreshed in the morning. We sleep all night and wake up tired. Interesting comparison!
Commandment Five: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land” (Ex 20:12).
God established parents as the authority figures in our lives. Children often get their first impressions about God from their parents. We need to be good parents, but we also need to be good sons and daughters. When God chooses rulers to rule over us, He never gets to use perfect people. There aren’t any. So we do not honor our parents because they are honorable (although they very well may be), but we honor them because they represent God.
My mother and father were really good people who taught me about God and how to work, but they were also flawed people. Like all of us they were captured by their sins,
by their training and by their circumstances. As I grew older, I saw more and more clearly their shortcomings and I grew confused and critical. As I gained more experience in life I saw more clearly MY shortcomings and I grew in compassion and forgiveness towards my parents.
You may have grown up in a shack, but it was your shack, the place God gave you. Others may have grown up in a palace, but it does not follow that they were better off.
We can burn the shack down in our memories or remember how God used it, flawed as it was, to shape who we are today.
So it is with parents. They are the vessels of your creation and nurture. Some were bad and some were very bad, but all were used by God to shape you into who you are today. For that reason alone, we are called to honor them, to forgive them, to learn from them, and to be grateful. Without them we would not be here.
Reality is that some parents stink. In the movie, Parenthood, Keanu Reeves says, “you have to have a license to drive a car or even to catch a fish, but any idiot can be a father.” Even if your father was as bad as his (and they do not get much worse), he was still the man God used in your life. God knew in advance who would be your father and mother.
Ps 139:13-16 For Thou didst form my inward parts. Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from Thee, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. 16 Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. NASB
It is easy to take this scripture as poetry, hyperbole, even romantic chimera, but it is to be taken literally. It is to be taken in light of the science, not in spite of it. Let me tell you scientifically how this works. When you are created in your mother’s womb (the earthen vessel referenced in verse 16), it was a cooperative effort involving your mother, your father and God. They each had a role, but God was in charge of who you became.
Your mother provided the egg, your father provided the sperm and God decided which swimmer won the race, thereby determining exactly who you are. You may even have been “conceived in sin,” but you were created on purpose by God Himself using your parents. There could have been no ovulation, no fertilization and no implantation without God’s design and decision.
A thousand things could have prevented your conception, but a great many things had to line up to cause you to “happen. God intentionally and purposefully orchestrated your existence, including giving you your parents. So we need to at least honor God’s wisdom and His choice, even when we do not think one or both as honorable people.
That covers worst case scenario, but truth is, most of us did better than that. We were given flawed but well-intentioned parents who did the best they could with the understanding they had. Once we have our own children, we find out just how complicated it is to become good parents. We see our own mistakes, shortcomings and flaws and we appreciate when our children cut us a break.
So it behooves us to honor our mother and father as commanded by God, because God chose them for us and used them to make us who we are.
Commandment Six: “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13).
Jesus gave us clear definition about this one. As we said before, the rabbis had reduced its meaning to only those actions that resulted in dead bodies, but Jesus reestablished God’s meaning by saying that “if we even call our brother a fool, we have committed murder” as far as God is concerned. This commandment forbids us to revile, hate, or harbor anger against anyone. That renders it more difficult for even the Christian to keep.
Rom 12:17-21 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. NASB
The implications of this are startling, and life-changing if we embrace them. We are called to live in peace with all men as far as it depends on us, even our enemies. We are required to see people as captured, not evil, even when what they do is very evil. We are called to forgive everyone who offends us, even if we cannot be reconciled to them because they will not repent.
From the cross, Jesus showed us the way. Looking down upon those who had falsely accused Him, flogged Him unmercifully and nailed Him to a tree, He asked God to forgive them. Even as they were taunting Him, sneering at Him and shoving His mother aside so they could get a better look, He asked God to forgive them.
He could have “murdered” them and we think He would have been justified. Jesus knew it would have been sin. He told Pilate that He could call for angels to come and resist these people (and Pilate), but that would not be the will of the Father.
In light of this, we Christians have to put this commandment back on the table as something we need to consider. It is not as easy to keep as we supposed. What I used to think of as easy to keep has now become a big area of focus requiring a daily miracle from God in my heart. Turns out I have strewn bodies all over the deck, …and I thought I was doing so well.
Commandment Seven: “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex 20:14).
Once again, the rabbis had reduced the commandment’s meaning to refraining from a specific overt sexual act. (One of our Presidents defined it even more narrowly as requiring genital penetration. Even his friends would not buy that definition, but the nation’s youth did, resulting in an epidemic of oral gonorrhea.)
Jesus lifted its real meaning back up to God’s meaning; i.e., the call to sexual purity. “If we even look at a woman with lust,” Jesus said, “we have committed adultery in our hearts.” Throughout history men have given themselves license to “look but don’t touch.” No one can be mentally pure, they say, and yet even mental impurity breaks the seventh commandment.
When I was a young man, this truth dawned on me and brought me to great grief. I wanted to be God’s friend, but here was a commandment that seemingly was impossible to keep. I sought the Lord with many tears for His help. I knew I could not keep the commandment so widely defined.
Then God asked me a question. “Wayne, do you think of your sister like that?” I was horrified. “How about your daughter, Wayne?” Impossible! Never even crossed my mind. Then God said, “Wayne, they are all my daughters and they are all your sisters. When you see them as sisters, you will not be able to think of them that way.”
As David said, “I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” Overnight my problem disappeared. The protective barrier I had around my mother, my aunts and my sisters began to automatically envelope all women everywhere. I began to see them as real people with feelings and vulnerabilities, as people who I was responsible to protect. I began to see them as my “neighbor,” and the problem went away.
It was a miracle, an inspired word from God planted by the Holy Spirit in my willing heart. It was one of those miracles that can happen every day, but we do not credit it as a miracle because no blind eyes were healed, except they actually were.
Sexual purity is available to us even in our minds, but we have to seek it from God. It does not come naturally. First, we have to want it. We need to realize that we are forsaking things the world considers proper, even normal; i.e., things like certain movies, magazines and computer sites.
We need to realize that God and those who have gone before us are always watching, encouraging us to live in holiness (Heb 12:1). We must reserve sexual activity (physical and mental) to be enjoyed fully as God designed within the boundaries of Biblical marriage. The apostles once asked Jesus on another matter, “Who can do this?” Jesus told them that with men it was impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Commandment Eight: “You shall not steal” (Ex 20:15).
Stealing involves taking something that does not belong to you or that which belongs to another. We know what it means to refrain from robbing banks or embezzling money at work or heisting your neighbor’s lawn mower. But what about stealing someone’s royalties? Are we allowed to burn CDs without paying for them? Can we take free copies of software from another person without paying for it? Are we allowed to bring company software home to use on our personal computers? (Sometimes the answer is “yes.”) Is it permissible just because everyone does it?
Do we have permission to reprint? If we asked, would the author allow us to make copies without payment? Similarly, how about personal use of the copy machine at work?
Is it permitted for employees to do so? Do we make restitution for paper or bring our own? How much theft is permissible before there is a violation of the seventh commandment? In another vein, do we “steal” the credit that belongs to another or are we meticulous to give credit to whom it is due? Do we ever steal another’s reputation by lying about Him? Once again, this is food for thought!
Commandment Nine: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex 20:16).
We do not lie in court about other people usually. That would obviously not be right. But what is gossip but bearing false witness against a neighbor? Truth is, we very seldom know the truth or circumstances of another and we should be quick to admit it. We make assumptions without facts and hope they are correct.
People often ask me if I think Saddam Hussein went to Hell when he died. How should I know? He seems like a good candidate, I grant you, but only God knows what transpired between them in the spider hole or the prison cell. I would be a false witness if I told you I knew. I fully expect to see Nebuchadnezzar in Heaven and he was the direct lineal ancestor of Saddam in every way, but his testimony in Daniel chapter 4 causes me to realize that God can reach even the most evil of men.
What about all of these millions of incorrect and just plain wrong stories on the internet? The vast majority of them turn out to be false. This leads to unnecessary fear in people and much damage to people’s reputation. Remember Richard Jewell who was convicted in the press and on the web for the Centennial Park bombing, a hero turned into a goat! What if that had happened to you? Are we positive about the truth of a story before we pass it along? Remember: statistically most of these stories are FALSE!
What will people think of me and my Christian witness if I knowingly or sloppily pass on mistruth? They will think I am either deceitful or stupid! Which one would you prefer? Proposition: It is a violation of the ninth commandment to pass along any internet story
that has not been verified thoroughly. If it later turns out that the verification was false, I am obligated by the ninth commandment to write everyone and correct it. This causes me from refraining from the exercise almost entirely.
The modern media accuses on page one in bold type and retracts on page 12 in small print. Is that not a violation of the ninth commandment? When we pass the information along, are we not in collusion with their violation? Legally they can get away with it
if they can prove absence of malice, but what about in God’s court? If your reputation and future was ruined by a false story, are you okay that the media was “absent malice?” (There was a real good movie by that name starring Paul Newman and Sally Field. Ask yourself if you would want to be in Paul Newman’s shoes in that movie.)
Commandment Ten: “You shall not covet” (Ex 20:17).
It is said that the gateway sin leading to all other sins is coveting. James says that all strife, argument or warfare is caused by coveting. I want but I cannot have, so I make war.
James 4:1-3 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. NASB
The opposite of coveting is contentment; i.e., being grateful for what we have. We are not supposed to want “more.” We are supposed to want God and the will of God. We are supposed to be thankful for whatever He gives us. Jesus tells us that the Father knows what we need and will provide it as He provides for the flowers of the field and the birds of the air. Solomon tells us later in his life that riches and possessions are “vanity.” They do not satisfy and they do not make us happy. He should know. He had everything and he was miserable.
The most widespread sin in our community is not murder or adultery. It is consumerism, and it is considered by most of us a virtue. We have been sold a bill of goods and we have bought it lock, stock and barrel. It is destroying us quicker than pornography. The Bible says we should ideally have enough for our needs and some left over for good works. The definition of “needs versus wants” is a full discussion in itself.
The world counters that we can never have enough. Isn’t it interesting what has happened to us? Most of us started out poor or middle class. We used to think that if we had XYZ we would be content. Now we can no longer even see XYZ in the rear-view mirror, but we are still not content. As George Carlin prophesied, we have a constant battle between our stuff and the space to store it.
When the Devil cannot persuade us to murder one another or violate our marriage vows, he resorts to other tactics. Consumerism is one of his real cripplers. Marketers send a constant drone of advertising over wire and web to convince us we must have “more.” They try to make us feel needy and unsatisfied. That puts them in direct, face to face competition with God for our souls. They warn us that the economy would collapse if we stopped buying stuff. No one is saying we should stop buying stuff. We should just stop buying stuff for ourselves. We should, indeed, buy even more stuff, but for those who need it more than we.
God prospers his people – intentionally, purposefully and lovingly. It is God who gives us the power to make wealth (Dt 8:18). He means for us to live in nice homes and drive nice cars. That is not the problem. He means for us to spend much of the wealth He gives us on others. He gives voice to the singer so he/she can bless others with it. He gives genius to the inventor so he can bless the world with it. He gives wealth to others for the same reason.
Read chapter 3 of Isaiah. I call it the Dillards’ chapter because the list of consumed goods sounds like the entire women’s department at Dillards, one of our nicer stores. In this chapter, God confronts the women of Isaiah’s day as well as our contemporary consumeristic society. It is the Word of God and the tenth commandment fleshed out.
The Bible teaches us that we are stewards, not owners. We do not own what we have. We manage that which belongs to another. It all belongs to God (Ps 50:10-12). While we would never dream of having an affair at work or killing the guy next door, we will steal from our neighbor the food out of his mouth in order to buy a third, prettier bowling ball.
We feel free to embezzle from God in order to buy more junk to put on that shelf we just bought to handle our excess junk. We feel free to redirect “kingdom of God” funds to personal projects at our lake house. When someone gets caught doing that on TV, we call for his head. Who will defend us when we get caught by God for doing the same thing?
And all because we covet! What do we really need? Why are our closets overrun and cluttered with things we never use while we go out to buy stuff to add to it. Shopping is not a Biblical hobby. Downsizing is an act of faith. It says, “I am going to reduce what I have to only what I need. Then I may be able to live in less or stop buying bigger houses. Then I may have money left over to help other people. Then I will be pleasing in the sight of the Lord, and I will finally be happy and content.”
We covet because we are discontent. We hoard because we are afraid we might “run out.” Both of these are reflections on our lack of trust in God. Otherwise we would realize that our loving Father is The Source of all contentment and that a trusting relationship with Him is all that we really need. Food for thought.
Dadgummit! I thought I had the Ten Commandments nailed down. As a heathen, I was doing fine. No murder, no adultery, etc. But as Christian, I see that I am just beginning to understand what the Ten Commandments require of me.