The Ten Commandments: Love Set In Stone

Scripture reading Exodus 20:1-17

Exodus 20:1–17 NIV

And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything 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 generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Introduction

When I was growing up, I like to think that I was a decently well behaved child. But there were a few times I remember getting trouble. Now I don’t remember what I got in trouble over at this point. But oddly enough I remember the defense I gave — and I remember my parents response to my defense. My defense for when I got in trouble for doing something wrong was something along the lines of “well… Joseph was doing it too” — “why is it that only I am in trouble, when someone else was doing it too?” — And my parents would say something like “We don’t care what Joseph was doing, that is not how we do things.”

— What my parents were teaching me was there a moral code that our family was supposed to live by that guided how we lived and interacted with the world around us...

The passage we read today shows us something similar to the lesson that I learned when I was younger about a code that my family lived by. But it’s important for us to take a bit of a step back to look at what is going on at this moment in history, so we can really get a grip on the significance of these Ten Commandments.

— The Israelites were in Egypt and they were enslaved by the Egyptians over a period of roughly 400 years... But the Israelites have now been rescued by God from Egypt… they escape and they are no longer in the land of Egypt.

— And although these Israelites are the descendants of Abraham and therefore they are God’s chosen people— but Egypt is all they know! They were in Egypt for 400 years! if you think about it, they were in Egypt for a longer period of time than the United States has been a country! — Generation after generation, they have become intertwined with Egyptian culture, they act like Egyptians, because that is all that they know!

And now… God has led the Israelites out of Egypt… and he has brought them to mount Sinai. And God presents to them: The Ten Commandments.

— God gives his people the Ten Commandments because he has already brought them out of Egypt… Now he needs to bring Egypt… out of them!

— and I think we have this tendency to look at the Ten Commandments and God’s law in the Old Testament through this lens that views them as restrictive, burdensome, and oppressive… But that’s not the point! The Ten Commandments are about formation! —> It is God revealing himself to his people. It is God Reaffirming to the Israelites that he has claimed them as HIS people, and It is how the Israelites should live… not as Egyptians, not like the rest of the world… but how they should live as God’s people!

And it’s really important for us to recognize that God does not just steamroll over the Israelites and immediately start laying down the law. Instead he begins relationally. He does not just tell them “THESE ARE THE LAWS AND YOU WILL OBEY ME” —> Instead he tells them who he is… and why they should obey him! God says “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

— God tells them that he is their God, and they are his people! —> He heard their cries, he heard their misery… and he saved them from their oppressors. —> God cares deeply for his people… God deeply desires to be in relationship with his people…

— But the Israelites cannot simply be the chosen people of God who get to be in relationship with him while they continue to live like Egyptians… —> They need to trust God!

— Back In Egypt, they had a variety of different Gods for different things… like if you needed a good crop there was a god you would pray to for that, if you were going into battle there was a god for that, if you were praying for good health there was a god for that as well… and there was an overlap in responsibilities for a lot of these gods. — Why do you think that is? Because they were not trustworthy! — if one of the gods failed, hopefully the other god that shared the same responsibility would come through.

— But the LORD says you cannot have back up gods and try and play it safe with me! — You are either in… or you are out with me! Either I am your God or I am not your God!

— And so God is letting them know, he is their God, he has been there with them and for them all along! he cares for them! The Israelites can trust him!

Centuries later after God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, Jesus is asked about the Ten Commandments— more specifically, he is asked the question: Matthew 22:36-40

Matthew 22:36–40 NIV

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The Israelites can love God, by trusting him… and They can show their trust in him by obeying his ways and his commands!

— Earlier we acknowledged that the Ten Commandments are not intended to be burdensome and restrictive… They are meant to be the building blocks of formation for the Israelites to live according to how God created them to live as his people!

— In these building blocks of formation, that are the Ten Commandments, love is woven through the fabric of every single commandment! — The Ten Commandments are not just laws that tell you what to do and what not to do, they are expressions of how we can love God and one another well!

The first four commandments are about how we can properly express our love for God:

— no other gods before the Lord, no false images and idols, do not misuse the name of the LORD, remember the Sabbath…

These commands are not about making God feel important. This is how we keep our hearts anchored to the God that truly loves us!

— We can keep our hearts anchored to the LORD by being all the way in with him as our God! By not being people who try to play it safe with backup options because we are worried that God might fail… God has never failed! We can express our love for him by trusting him and casting aside any other god!

— When we look at the command about not making false images or idols. A lot of us think, well I’m not much of a craftsmen, I’ve never made a golden calf so I’m probably good to go. But that’s not exclusively what this command is for… It’s also telling us we cannot make God what he is not… meaning, we cannot lessen who God is by making him out to be some sort of prosperity god that cares only about our wealth and physical health, or a nationalist god that cares about our country above all else, or even a part-time god that we can squeeze into our schedule whenever it is convenient. — — We cannot put any other god before him and we have to worship ALL of who God is!

— And the third command to not misuse the name of God is another that we really only partially grasp a lot of the time. We can be quick to assume that this just means that we should not swear or cuss using the name of God and while that’s definitely true, we should not be doing that… There is more to it. — As Christians… we are taking on the name of God. … God has claimed us as his own people! But whenever we fail to reflect the character of God… whenever we live by the ways of the world while parading around as God’s people… we are doing more than breaking a rule… we are making God look bad— and we are misusing the name of God — We are taking his name in vein! … So when we take on the name of Christ, we need to take on the character of Christ!

— Now the fourth command seems maybe a little odd and out of place because it is about rest. It’s about keeping the Sabbath holy. But really it’s rooted yet again in trusting God! … When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, there value to the Egyptians was entirely placed in the work they were doing… How many bricks they were making… Slaves don’t get days off, so to stop working for a day was putting them at risk of punishment from the Egyptians! — — So God tells them to stop! Stop working, stop striving, stop grinding away… and just rest and trust in me that I will provide for you what you need!

Each of these first four commands shine a light on how we can express our love for God well! — When we love someone we naturally prioritize them. We speak well of them and reflect on them well. We make time for them!

The next section of the ten commandments gives us explicit instruction on how God’s people should interact with one another:

— We are given the commands to honor our parents, to not murder, or commit adultery, or steal from one another, or to lie to one another, or to covet the things someone else may possess.

— Each one of these commands are deeply relational. These are not simply rules that are intended to keep society from falling into anarchy. These commands are how God instructs us to love one another!

— Could you imagine a world where these commands were actually lived out daily? Could you imagine if among God’s people there was no betrayal, violence, envy, or lies?

But it’s so hard to imagine this world, because we have all failed to obey God’s commandments. We have all broken his laws… We have all fallen short… We are a broken people who desperately need the grace and mercy of God because on our own we will always fall short!

— In chapter 5 of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says:

Matthew 5:17 NIV

“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.

— The Commandments were the building blocks of formation for the Israelites to act as God’s people... But the commandments cannot give life!

— The commandments expose our need for Jesus, who was the only one who lived in perfect obedience to the law… Jesus shows us the perfect fulfillment of the law. — He perfectly expresses his love for the Father by living in obedience and going to the cross. — and he perfectly expresses love for others in his willingness to lay down his life for others.…

— And now… all these centuries later… by His Holy Spirit, all who have faith in him are empowered to walk in that same love that Jesus perfectly showed us… And we walk not out of fear of punishment, but out of freedom, transformation, and the hope of glory in eternal relationship with the one true God!

— Sometimes I still think about the time I got in trouble when I was younger, and my parents sat me down and told me “That’s not how we do things.” … My parents were telling me that in my family there was an expectation for type of person we would be… Similarly, God tells all of his people “I rescued you… I’m With you… Let me show you how I do things… Let me show you how to live in love— with me and with one another.”

— Brothers and sisters, God is calling us and he is showing us how to live as his people! The time has come for us to trust God and to respond in loving obedience so we may become the people he has created us to be…

Let’s pray: