Top Ten Words

for Building Relationship with God and Others

Big idea: The 10 Commandments are founded on relationship, for the purpose of relationship, and mark out the course of our relationship with God.

Purpose: To set love-relationship as the interpretive framework for the coming series on the 10 Commandments

10 Commandments, old and busted

We are about to embark on a series-within a series. We have reached Exodus 20 in our series on Exodus and that means… we have reached the 10 commandments. And if you thought Pastor Rod and I were going slow before, we are about to move into slow motion. This is a landmark in Israel’s history, the meat and potatoes of the Mosaic covenant Pastor Rod shared last week. Just in human history, this stands as some of the oldest written laws known… and certainly the most influential. They hang prominently in our Supreme Court to this day. No bets on how long they stay there, though.

But at the mention of the 10 commandments, a whole host of concerns and questions arise. What about freedom from the law? That’s old and busted, Old Testament stuff! What about forgiveness and grace? What about a legacy of using these laws to judge… or even abuse people?

We are going to preach through these commandments in detail, not because they are historically influential or because this was a literal pivotal moment for the people of Israel. We focus in excruciating detail because this portion of Scripture, these commandments, in a unique and powerful way, applies directly to you and I today.

And it does because of the reason for which the 10 commandments were given, all the way back around 3300 years ago.

Set the Stage – Fear and Trembling

The Israelites approach Mount Sinai and camp out there for three days, waiting to hear the rest of the covenant. What are these commands they are to obey?

While they are waiting, the presence of God is manifesting upon the mountain, and the earth is boiling. There is fire and smoke, the ground is shaking, the sky is filled with lightning, imagine the rolling thunder on top of earthquakes… and then the voice of God rolls forth from the mountain.

The people are told not to approach too close at the wrong time… or they will die. They cleaned themselves and their clothes, they prepared, they purified…

The setting of the giving of the 10 Words (as the Hebrew actually refers to the Big Ten) is one of fear and trembling. Picture less Charlton Heston, more Sauron and Mount Doom.

This being, what do they know about God at this point? As Abba, Father, no. This powerful god-being, an entity more powerful than any they had known, who had struck down the greatest earthly power they (or anyone) had known. Now he has been localized for a few weeks as this pillar of cloud and fire… but the pillar is now unchained, it is engulfing this mountain.

And they were terrified.

Founded in Relationship

It is in this context that Yahweh reminds them of what they know so far. Yes, they are terrified (and fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom). Yes, if they get too close, in the wrong way, they will die. The danger is real. But God, the LORD, Yahweh, this is what you already know of me, I am the one who saved you out of slavery. I have already shown myself to be Savior. To be Redeemer out of slavery. This is how you know me, and it is upon this foundation that I shall now give you my commandments.

Exodus 20:1-2

And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

So before you hear a single one of my Words, my commandments, my laws; know this: I am the I AM, your God, the one who has saved you.

So these 10 commandments, these laws, are founded on relationship from the very start. That is their starting point.

The 10 Commandments are founded on relationship. Last week was all about the covenant which is the form and framework of that relationship.

The Purpose of the Commandments: Relationship

This breathes some life into these commandments, but we might still be concerned with the purpose of these commandments. Why did God give them? What was his purpose in all these “thou shalls” and “thou shall nots?”

How about to arm the judging-spirit within all of us with a way to condemn those around us? A little measuring stick to assert my religious moral superiority over you “I keep 8/10 and you only keep 7/10.” That’s great for us Sabbath keepers because we get that X factor, plus 1 to all 10 commandment tests. This was the law of the Pharisees and we have all been tempted, and probably have used these 10 commandments that way, at least in our internal monologues, but this was not their purpose.

How about: To kick the ant hill? To watch humanity to struggle and fail miserably so they’d be really happy when Jesus came? Ouch. Just to set an impossible standard, that’s kind of sadistic.

I think these ideas sit in the back of our minds. Yeah, that’s kind of why he did it, we think, but it’s okay now because “Jesus.”

Indeed, because Paul puts so much focus here in Romans on the way the law can and does operate in preparing the way for God’s grace, it is really easy to take that as the whole purpose of the law.

But, the purpose of the commandments of God were actually understood correctly by the people of Israel, even that first generation, as if God successfully communicated his intent, imagine that.

Having just reiterated all ten commandments, Moses at the end of his life included these parting words to the people of Israel, and they said it over and over again, every day, in summary of the Big Ten.

Deuteronomy 6:4

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

Jesus, when asked which commandment was the greatest of all clarified the connection by quoting this verse. He added another quote from Leviticus as the 2nd greatest commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Then he said this, and this is the most important thing to understand in any reading or study of the Law.

Matthew 22:40

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

It all “hangs.” It all “depends”. I have a few “dependents” in my house, I get to claim them on my taxes. The government lets me keep some money because it understands that these three little people depend upon me, they hang upon me, for life (for food, safety, security), for the stuff of their life.

In the same way, all the Law, and everything the Prophets said in applying that Law and redirecting the people to keep that law appropriately, all of it depends upon this love-relationship. Love of God. Love of one another.

Which is to say that the purpose, from day one, was to show us what love is. What it looks like when applied to morality. How do I love God? How do I love my neighbor.

Let me give you the quick outline. Like an article you might see on Facebook: 10 ways to love your spouse, 10 ways to flatten your stomach. Nutrionists hate him, his 10 easy tricks to losing weight!

10 ways to Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Then, like the detailed appendices that follow, their comes all the rest of the law and application and historical attempts and failures and prophetic redirections and corrections, all the rest of the Old Testament, incredibly valuable in seeing how all of this plays out in the human sphere.

But just as the law was founded in relationship, so it was for the purpose of relationship.

The 10 commandments were founded in relationship for the purpose of relationship.

What’s So Special About the 10?

You may have noticed I just played a small switch-eroo. First I said “the law” then I said “10 commandments.” We will soon see the law goes on beyond these 10 commandments, so what is so special about these 10 that we put them in a different category? What sets these apart from the rest of the law? This is an area for serious questions and study if you haven’t already answered these questions for yourself, but I will give you my 10,000 foot overview.

One, you don’t get a name like 10 Commandments without it being pretty obvious they are set apart. These are 10 words that God himself spoke and, in my best reading of the text, these 10 words the people of Israel actually heard from the voice of God himself. Then they told Moses they were terrified and would die if they heard anymore and Moses interceded for the rest, but this they heard face-to-face as Moses puts it later in Deuteronomy.

God wrote them in stone with his own finger. Exegete that medium, for a moment. In other words, if you wanted to imply something was “set in stone” what would you do? Carve it in stone with your divine laser carving finger. That’d do it. The rest of the laws to follow Moses took down dictation and wrote himself in a scroll, but these 10 were tremendously special.

Finally, the tablets thus created (actually recreated after Moses smashes the first ones) were stored in the ark of covenant, the scrolls containing all the other law was kept on a table.

Together with the distinctly moral focus of these 10 commands, we consider them as distinct from the ceremonial, ritual and social laws to follow, all of which make practical application of the Big Ten to the daily life of Israel in the desert and the coming nation of Israel.

So the 10 commandments, in a particular, special way, were founded on relationship and given for the purpose of relationship.

Commandments: the forever course of righteousness

Finally then, Dusty, what is your point? I am a Christian, you say. I am saved from my sins, I am not “under” the law, in the often-hijacked words of Paul. Why do I need to even think about these commandments?

I am forgiven of my sins, so even if I slip up and covet, or murder my brother (either actually or in my heart), no matter how deep and how far my breaking of these commandments go, I am forgiven in Jesus Christ.

Yes, thank you, amen. These 10 commandments are not and never could be the source of your righteousness. It wasn’t the source of righteousness for Israel then, either, by the way.

Relationship, right relationship with God, was always the point. But you and I are initially ignorant, just as the people of Israel were, on what that actually means. What does that look like? How do I love God and one another.

The Apostle John, who always called himself the “disciple that Jesus loved” connected our relationship with God and our keeping of His commandments in this way:

1 John 2:3-5

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

Jesus, who kept every one of those 10 commandments, all the time. Who lived a perfectly righteous life.

The commandments then become signposts marking the way. Screaming warning signs that say “Uppp, you’ve gone too far, this is not what love looks like.” Or “Yes, do this, this is the kind of thing that love for God does.” This is the kind of thing that love for neighbor does.

Is it optional, no, these are precisely the sorts of things that love always does. These “shall nots” are the things love never does. If you are doing these things, it is ludicrous to say that you are loving God with all your heart, mind and soul, or your neighbor as yourself.

The law is never the source of righteousness, it is forever the course of righteousness.

The law marks out the course, it gives directions at the turns. Last week I raced in a triathlon, and at every turn, especially when we were out on the streets on this long bike turn, it would say, “Olympic triathlons, straight ahead, or turn right here” all the way. So at the intersections I would know which way to go.

The law, the 10 commandments in particular, in a special way, forever mark out the course of right relationship, of love relationship with God. That is simply what loving God looks like, what loving each other looks like. It doesn’t cover every step, every moment, every instance, but it is a blazing very clear sign at the major intersections of life.

Application

So as we continue, in the coming weeks, to study and preach out of these 10 words… I want you to feel really, really guilty about each one and slightly modify your behavior for the better.

That’s what we often think about preaching and church and stuff, right? No, that’s actually of pretty limited value.

As we hear each Word of God, each Command, let us look for and hear the love language of God. He tells us this because he loves us, because He wants us to love him and love eachother. It is founded on relationship, for the purpose of relationship and it marks the course of our love relationship with God and each other.

Every single command. It is for His good, your good, our good and His glory. If we try to cut out or bypass the love-relationship aspect, these become lifeless, they are dependent upon Love of God and one another.

So we hear and we study and we ask: what is broken or missing or damaged in my relationship with God such that I keep doing that? I need to stop it, and I need to discover God as sufficient for that need or fear or whatever it is that drives me to idolatry.

Our relationship with God is damaged and obscured and weakened by our sin. So we embark in some relationship counseling, like marriage counseling, to seek and discover and find God. That we might love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. That we might love our neighbor as ourselves.

10 Words about our relationship with God. What it should be, what it ultimately will be. 10 Ways to love God and one another.

That I might know him, and know that I know Him, if I keep His commands, and I learn to speak His love language.