The Whole Point

Alright, we are wrapping up our series on the / / Ten Commandments. The Big 10! But we actually finished them up last week. We’ve gone through them all. And this has been one of my favorite series. Honestly, if you’ve missed weeks, I really encourage you to go back and listen to the other weeks on our website. But, this morning, let’s recap and then we’re going to look at how Jesus recapped and summed up these commandments when people asked him about them.

/ / Have no other Gods except Me

We believe that there is only one God, and that there is only one way to God, and that is Jesus Christ, who lived, died and was raised back to life, proving that He was more than just a man, that in fact he was telling the truth when he said that he was God himself. Jesus said in John 14:9, / / “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!”

And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:6, / / …for us, there is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.

At first it may seem like he’s saying that the Father is the One God, but clearly he makes a very distinct connection by describing how we relate to both Father and Son. And if you don’t look closely, you can miss it.

First, of God the Father he says, / / “BY whom all things were created, and FOR whom we live.”

And of Jesus, God the Son, he says, / / “THROUGH whom all things were created, and THROUGH whom we live.”

Genesis 1 says that in creating the world and all that is in it, it says, over and over again, / / “God said...” He spoke into existence things that were not already there.

And John 1 we see that connection, bringing us Back to the beginning when He says, / / In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was WITH God, and the Word WAS God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

and in vs 14 it says, / / So the Word became human and made his home among us… (18) No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

/ / It is the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that shows us who God truly is. Unfailing love, kindness, the giver of life.

And so we read these Commandments through that lens, the lens of Jesus Christ, the Good shepherd, saying in John 10:10, / / “My purpose is to give [you] a rich and satisfying life.”

There is no other religion, no other god, no other faith that can make such a claim.

/ / Have no idols

I read this to very deeply mean not just mean physical, but in our heart as well, although the idols in our hearts are really just false gods, and the physical idols are representations of what mankind has made into gods, and so the first and second commandment are so closely connected.

In “have no idols”, I hear. / / Give no person, thing, substance ideology, a way of thought, a way of being, a way of belief, a place of honor in your heart more than you should.

I often wonder when people say, “thoughts and prayers” in a way that hopefully won’t offend people that don’t pray, but the reality is, you don’t want my thoughts. My thoughts won’t do much for you, but praying to the God who created you. Well that can move mountains!

/ / Do not misuse the Lord’s name

This is so much more than swearing. So much more than using His name as a curse word or for lack of something better to say.

John Piper says, / / “The elimination of that kind of use of the name of God is kindergarten in the school of Christ. If you still have kindergarten behaviors, here’s the remedy: fill your words with the weight of God’s truth, and fill your hearts with affection for his name!”

And as beautiful as that is, look at what he’s saying, this is the kindergarten of things, it’s the first thing that should be dealt with in not misusing the Lord’s name.

But here’s where it gets so much bigger. The word name speaks of God’s character, reputation, fame & glory. It is the reality of who God is.

So, really what we are asking ourselves is, / / Do our lives exemplify what we say we believe? Do we claim the name of God [His character, reputation, fame & glory], who He is, but live by our own name [for our character, reputation, fame & glory]?

The Amplified version of the bible says it this way, / / You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]...

/ / Keep the Sabbath Holy

When scripture talks about God and the Sabbath it says that God blessed the sabbath. It can be so easy to think of these things in the reverse. I have to keep the sabbath for God to then bless me for my good behavior. And that can happen with any of these commandments - taking it as a reward for good behavior rather than a result of right living. But when we look at it correctly - / / God blessed the sabbath, and then invited us to partake of what He has already blessed - it’s an invitation to blessing!

It’s not blessing used as manipulation to get us to do what he wants.

Jewish culture responds to the Sabbath in three ways:

/ / A break from work - they were very intentional in not doing work going as far as preparing all the things they would need on that day the day before, and leaving things that could be done til the day after.

A time of rest & connection with family and community, to eat together, often accompanied by songs of faith, recital and study.

A way and focus of honoring God - and they did that through going to the synagogue, where they would read and hear scripture.

And when we look at what we are, Body, Soul & Spirit, this is such a gift from God.

A break from work / / rejuvenates the body

A time to connect with family and community rejuvenates the soul

A time of honoring God will rejuvenate our spirit

Remember, Deuteronomy 30:19 says, / / Oh that you would choose life!

God blessed the Sabbath because it’s the day that he chose to rest, and He blesses us by inviting us into His blessing. But, / / If you want the blessing of the sabbath, it must become holy, sacred, set apart for you. It has to have value. It is rest for your body, soul AND spirit - dedicated to God.

This isn’t about centering yourself - it’s not taking a “me day”. And that’s not a dig at mental health, because we need to make sure we’re watching that and taking care of ourselves, but the whole “mental health day” and “taking a me day” is probably WAY MORE connected to the fact that society doesn’t take time each week to dedicate 1 day to God. We’re over here taking “me” days when we should be taking “God” days.

The Amplified bible says this verse in this way, / / [Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God).

It’s about dedicating time to God and THAT is what rejuvenates body, soul & spirit.

/ / Honor your Father & Mother

And so we make this turn at the fifth commandment. The first four are about our connection and relating to God, and the next six are about our connection and relation to the humanity around us, starting with our family at the earliest of ages.

Remember, honor does not mean absolute servitude or agreeing with everything that our parents say or do. It’s not about endorsing every one of their actions or behaviors or beliefs. Honor does not mean you have to be ok with how they may have hurt you. Honor does not mean excusing someone from doing wrong, from abuse or neglect.

Honor means to give place to. In english we define it as - to regard or treat someone with admiration and respect. To give special recognition to.

God’s intention and purpose in this commandment is to explain to Israel HIS ideal for healthy relationship within the family. Remember, going from slavery to promise requires some reframing of how we understand things and how we do things. Any amount of time in slavery, and potentially 300+ years of slavery is going to give anyone a pretty jaded perspective on life.

So, the context of this commandment is Godly parents raising Godly kids in the promise of God.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, / / …you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

This commandment is just as much about parents being parents that honor their children, even in the face of difficulty, as it is about children being children who learn how to honor their parents, even in the face of difficulty.

It’s about Right relationship, starting in the home!

/ / Do not murder

The law, in the greater sense, speaks toward situations of accidental killing, and war. But this commandment uses a word that is specifically directed to / / the taking of another person’s life for personal or selfish gain.

Again, God defining what is going to create a society worth living in, worth protecting, worth blessing.

We defined that in our constitution, right? The right for everyone, regardless of who they are, to have the freedom of life, liberty and happiness.

/ / If freedom starts with life, then the taking of life has to be unacceptable.

/ / Do not commit adultery

Pretty straight forward definition here - you are married, you had intimate relations with someone who is not your spouse. You have committed adultery.

commit is an interesting word because it tells us what not to do, and what to do all at the same time.

Commit by definition is:

/ / to carry out or perpetrate.

but it also means...

/ / pledge or bind

So, read between the lines here, this command is: / / Do not commit adultery, instead, commit to your spouse.

One means I did it, just one time maybe. The other says, I make the choice everyday, all day, you are who I honor and respect and love.

/ / Commitment is not void of mistakes, but it is the action of commitment that proves we are truly committed.

The best thing you can do is to commit to each other and in the face of difficulty, choose to work through it.

Kelley and I have always said, the healthiest relationships are those where two people are willing to work together, by working on themselves, so that together they can work anything out.

If two people, who are not stuck on pointing at the other person all the time, but willing to do what it takes to heal and forgive and work on themselves, and then commit to the relationship they have together. Man, anything is possible!

A side note. Regardless of the commandment, adultery, murder, lying, cheating, stealing, etc.... The goal was God leading us to life, not perfection, and redemption is available for all of us through Jesus Christ, and there is healing and freedom available to you.

Remember how Jesus treated the woman who was literally caught in the act of adultery… He says, / / I will not condemn you, now, go and sin no more. He doesn’t excuse the sin, he doesn’t condemn the sinner, he simply invites us to correct our path and follow His ways!

/ / Do not steal

Last week we got into the final three, where we really looked at what it means to be content with ourselves. The reality is, when we are not content with what we have and who we are, we end up beginning to desire what others have and what they do, and it can lead us down a path of doing things we shouldn’t do to become or gain something that isn’t ours in the first place.

This one wasn’t speaking of robbing someone at gun point, but rather the word used in this commandment means to thieve, to steal, to deceive - basically saying, / / do not gain or get something from someone else by means of deception. Do not act deceitfully for your own gain by getting something from someone else.

The law spoke of four different avenues that this would be an issue.

/ / Inanimate Objects - money, property, possessions, food, water etc...

/ / Animals

/ / People

/ / Moral or Spiritual Realities

Remember the story of Absalom, King David’s son who / / “stole the hearts of the people” from the king and he used that to betray his own father to take the throne. Stealing hearts, acting deceptively for your own gain.

And scripture also talks about false prophets taking what others had heard from God and saying it was them. Doesn’t work like that.

/ / Do not testify falsely against your neighbor

The Amplified version says this, / / You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).

Mark Twain said, / / If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.

One lie usually turns into so much more, trying to cover and hide how it all got started.

Again, this is ultimately speaking to deception, isn’t it? Deception is at the heart of both lying and stealing.

When we steal, we are deceiving someone to take what we do not have, and usually, that’s to feel better about ourselves.

When we lie, it’s the other side of the coin of deception, we do so to ensure that we don’t lose what we already have. Whether that is to cover our tracks, or who we really are, or hide what we’ve done so we don’t have to deal with the unwanted consequences. We lie to cover.

Both of which will absolutely destroy relationships, and so this commandment, along with all the others is God saying, If you want healthy, happy, and thriving community, there are certain things you just must not do… do not lie.

/ / Do not covet

And then we got to the last one. And this was a big one. / / Do not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

/ / Covet means to yearn (have an intense feeling) to possess or have [something]

When it comes to the last 5 commandments I think the best way to look at them is backward. Start with 10… do not covet. Don’t allow yourself to become discontent with what you have so that you look at what others have with a longing that is going to cause problems in your heart. Because that is what will lead you to lying, stealing, deceit, adultery, murder.

If you’re not looking at your neighbor’s wife with longing, you won’t sleep with her.

When we are always looking at and drooling over other people’s lives, and stuff, their jobs, cars, vacations etc… it breeds discontentment, and when we are discontent we open ourselves up to act on that discontentment to try and make ourselves content when what we should REALLY be doing is turning to God.

Paul says in Philippians 4:11-13, / / …for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live with almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Notice how Paul’s not saying he’s content because in Christ he has all the stuff. He got what he wanted through Christ. NO, He is content IN CHRIST, so that in any situation, with or without, he is content.

Find your contentment in God, which really is pointing us back up to the top of the list, isn’t it?

Have no other Gods

Have no idols

Don’t let the name and character and who God is just become something you just use frivolously in your life, like it’s just something you do but doesn’t have true meaning.

Dedicate time to God, to family, to community, allow God to rejuvenate your body, soul & spirit.

One of our pastors, Rick Oldland, when we first posted on Facebook about this series, he put a comment and said, / / “The key to keeping all 10 commandments is to keep the first one.”

Learn to honor God with our lives above all else. When you learn to keep the most important thing the most important thing, it keeps you on the right track.

There is such a depth of life in these commandments. God speaking to the very heart of our desires to find life and giving us the very practical instructions on how to find it and live in it.

From being slaves to sin, to finding the promise of eternal life, just like Israel moving from Egypt to the promise land, there is a road that leads to life. It’s not always easy, in fact, it can be pretty difficult. Sure, the instructions themselves are simple, but simple doesn’t always mean easy, does it?

So we make that commitment. Remember what it means to believe in Jesus. It’s more than just to say it, it’s to make a wholehearted commitment to His teaching and His ways, to who He is and what He has said.

We love verses in the bible like, “he hides us under the shadow of his wings...” but we need to be more like those little ducks I keep seeing walking around our neighborhood, almost falling over each other because they stick so close to the mother.

I want to take a moment, as we wrap this series up, to look at two scriptures today from the New Testament where Jesus speaks into these commandments. Because the temptation is always to look at scripture and think the Old Testament is the Old way, and the New Testament is the New way, but that’s not how we need to read scripture. Scripture itself speaks of Jesus. And Paul says clearly, just because we live under this banner of grace, it doesn’t mean we don’t pursue righteous living, in fact, it should empower us to live that life.

Alright, so first we’re going to look at Matthew 22 and then we’ll look at Matthew 19.

Both of these scriptures someone comes to Jesus to ask a question about the commandments. Both times they are looking to justify themselves and their actions.

In Matthew 22 Jesus is approached by the Sadducees, who were a group of religious leaders, but what set them apart was how they interpreted scripture - you can think of that kind of like current day denominations. We all believe in God, we all believe the bible, but we treat it differently, we interpret things differently. So, what set the Sadducees apart was that they didn’t actually believe in the resurrection of the dead. So, that would be awkward when Jesus starts saying He himself is going to raise from the dead. So, they challenge him with a question they think is going to trip him up. The question is this, what if there’s seven brothers, and the oldest is married but dies with no children, traditionally the next brother would marry the oldest brother’s widow. But, he dies without children. And so on it goes until all seven of them have married this poor woman and they have all died. Then the woman finally dies.

This is where the try to trap him, they say, “In the resurrection [ which they don’t believe in] who’s wife will she be, because all seven of the brothers were married to her.

Listen to Jesus’ response, / / “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.”

This is why I keep saying we need to read the scriptures through the lens of John 10:10, that Jesus Christ himself is the word of God and that his purpose is to give life. When we read scripture through our own perspectives, hurts, pains or human intellect, we will misinterpret it as God saying something He did not actually say.

Well, the Pharisees, another group of religious leaders within Judaism, another “denomination”, heard this and think they’re going to one up the Sadducees, who they always had a sort of rival with as differing schools of thought on what the Scriptures meant.

In Matthew 22:34-40 it says, / / …when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Alright, we’ve just spent 5 weeks looking at the Big 10 from Exodus 20, and when asked what the greatest commandment was, the most important, The son of God himself, Jesus Christ, doesn’t even pick one of them… Instead he quotes the book of Deuteronomy and the book of Leviticus...

This conversation between Jesus and this expert in the law is also in the book of Mark and actually records this Pharisees response. It says in Mark 12:32-33, / / “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

So, where did Jesus get his answers from?

We’ve been reading Exodus 20, but we’ve also noted that the ten commandments are listed in Deuteronomy 5, and it’s in Deuteronomy 6 where Jesus references that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord. Starting in vs 1 it says, / / “These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”

And then it goes in to the verses we’ve read when talking about honoring our father and mother, he tells parents to teach and read these commands over and over again to their families.

But then Jesus also quotes a scripture from Leviticus 19:18, which says, / / Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself.

And that verse is summing up, or completing a list of different things to help in how to conduct yourself within community and how to create a healthy environment. Very similar to commandments 5-10, it includes things like do not steal, do not cheat one another, do not defraud your neighbor, do not insult the deaf or blind, do not twist justice, do not gossip and spread lies, do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened... and then sums it up with, why? Because / / you should honor and respect your neighbor’s life just as much as you honor and respect your own life.

And Jesus finishes with this bonus statement - / / The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.

The ESV says that the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. The word, based on, or depends on, means to hang on. / / Everything in the law hangs on this one thing: Love God & Love People.

If you can do that, you’ve got it. You’ll follow it all. You won’t miss a beat.

Easier said than done, isn’t it? So, that’s the first scripture, Jesus brings fresh revelation to keeping the commandments, all of them, the entire law, boils it down to 2 things. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t talk about the others.

The other scripture I want to look at is from Matthew 19:16-30. Because Jesus didn’t shy away from telling people to do the right thing. Paul had this challenge with some of the churches he was leading - Sometime we can rely too heavily on grace and forget to direct people to right living.

We need Grace because there will never be enough right living, we can’t do it all on our own, but Paul essentially says grace should compel us to holiness that much more because of it being such a great gift!

And if you’ve been around people at all you know that we all kind of tend to try and justify our own actions from time to time, don’t we?

So, in Matthew 19 Jesus has a conversation with a man, many translations title him as the rich young ruler, or the rich man. And he comes to Jesus and says, / / “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”

This is what we’re talking about, isn’t it? Is there any good deed that we can do to obtain eternal life? No, of course not, we’ve just talked through our need for grace, right?

But, Jesus, in his wisdom, leads this man on a journey of conversation. He says, / / “If you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.”

“Which ones?” the man asked.

And Jesus replied, “You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus leads this guy on a journey of discovery through this conversation. The whole conversation is about motive and understanding of why these laws are in place. Keeping those commandments means nothing if you don’t understand the first 4. The first 1 really, just like Rick Oldland says - that’s where it starts.

What we read in Matthew 22, when Jesus answers the question about what the most important commandment is, he is essentially just breaking the 10 commandments into two equally important commandments that are all encompassing, and that also include the rest of the law and prophets.

So, when this rich man comes to Jesus and asks him what good deed he has to do to inherit eternal life, he’s already given his motive away. Simply by asking that question he’s saying, “This is all about good works...” But from the very beginning God WASN’T saying that. From the very beginning God was saying, “I want connection with you, and I want you to be connected to each other! And so here’s some basic rules to follow to connect with me and how we should treat our friends and family...”

Raising a daughter has taught me a world of things and if you’re an observant human being, you don’t even need to be a parent to see this, you have seen and will see again, young people, and old people, get into it with each other. Right? And what do we tell our kids when they do something to a friend that they shouldn’t have done? / / “That’s not how we treat a friend....”

Why do we have to do that? For one of two reasons.

1. They don’t know yet, and so this is the first time and they need to learn it.

2. Because the world is constantly trying to tell them what it thinks is acceptable and ok, and Deut 6 says we have to keep telling them what God says....

Paul says in Romans 7:7, / / …it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting was wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”

I was listening to a podcast this week and they were talking about things that are regarded as what we would consider “wrong” or “bad” and they were asking the question, where does that come from? Does that come from the world? Does that come from our own humanity? Or does that come from God? And if we look to scripture, if we look at life through the WAY of Jesus Christ we see two distinct paths.

/ / The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. God gives life.

/ / The road to hell is easy and the gate is wide, but the road to life is hard, and the gate narrow.

/ / The devil is the father of lies and everything he does comes out of that character, to deceive and lie, but God is the perfect Father who never lies, and James 1:7 says that every good gift comes from the Father of lights.

/ / Oh that you would choose life!!!

1 John 2:15 says, / / Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

If you haven’t gotten it yet, these commandments are not about putting a damper on your life. Jesus didn’t tell the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more because he thought she was having too much fun.

/ / God directs our path because it’s the path that leads to life.

1 John 5:3 says, / / Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. The ESV says it this way, / / For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

Not because he’s a cruel task master, but because as a loving parent he’s saying, Because this is how you should treat your own life. This is how you treat your friends. This is how you treat your family. This is how you treat Me.

It’s parenting for kids and grownups alike.

Murder... we don’t do that. It’s not how we treat our friends.

Sleeping with our neighbor’s wife??? no no no, we don’t do that. That’s not how we treat our friends, and it’s not how we treat our spouse.

Lying. No, not how we treat our friends.

Disrespect. That’s not how we treat our parents

Until you define what love is, you can’t live by it. And one of the issues we have in society today is that the world is trying to redefine things because they no longer believe in the definitions given by God because they no longer believe in God.

I’m not saying the church has always done a great job at defining these things all throughout history. I think sometimes we’ve done a pretty terrible job to be honest. And it seems to keep happening over and over again. Jesus had that run in with the Pharisees. He said to them, you’ve become so overbearing with all of these laws that you are crushing the people, and you don’t even care, you don’t even lift a finger to help them.

Why do people not like the church these days? One of the reasons is because it’s become more about the rules and laws than it has about why those rules and laws exist in the first place.

There’s a very big difference between...

You aren’t supposed to do that? Why not? Because God will punish you if you do!

You shouldn’t do that? Why not? Because you might not see it right now, but it’s going to hurt you, this is why God said it’s better we don’t do it. There’s a better way, one that if you do this, you’ll be happier, more fulfilled, more full of life.

So, Jesus, in his conversation with the rich young man in Matthew 19 starts there, what’s your relationship to the rules? Has it become more about the rules than about God? And so he lists the 6 rules dealing with people but doesn’t say anything about our relationship and honor of God.

/ / “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?”

Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

First, Jesus doesn’t say, “if you want eternal life.” He says, “If you want to be perfect...” and that word means complete. Basically saying, “If you really want to get it all right...” And then he brings in the thing that’s missing.

Again, this is a conversation. You’ve heard me say that before. When we are asked to give blanket statements on issues of morality and differences of viewpoint, especially in todays society, these things happen best in conversation. Because hearts are involved.

See, this guys issue was the same issue many people in the church have today. / / We miss it when we try to find our assurance from what we can DO to keep the WRITTEN word, instead of learning to FOLLOW the LIVING Word!

And as long as our assurance of salvation is on what we have done, we will never actually have any assurance at all, because we will always question if we did enough. Were we good enough? Did we keep every law? This young man was basically asking Jesus, “Did I do good enough?”

And the only way to have assurance of salvation, of eternal life, is by following the LIVING Word, Jesus Christ himself, understanding that it is through him and not through us. But see, it’s hard to describe that if all you do is give people a list of rules.

This encounter with Jesus is also in the book of Mark, and Mark doesn’t record Jesus saying, “If you want to be perfect...” Mark 10:21 says it this way, / / Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.

“There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The Passion Translation says it this way, / / Jesus fixed his gaze upon the man, with tender love...

“Sure, let’s talk about the instructions on how to experience life, but let’s also talk about why I’ve given them. It’s because I love you.”

And IN HIS RESPONSE Jesus brings in the first 4 commandments, that don’t have anything to do with just having a list of rules to follow, but have everything to do with connecting to the God of love, the giver of life.

Mark 10:22 says, / / At this the man’s face fell… and then Matthew 19:22 and Mark 10:22 record the same thing, saying, …he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

/ / It wasn’t a matter of getting all the right things right, it was a matter of not truly understanding what had a hold on his heart.

We can want to keep all the rules, we can want to find life, but if we don’t understand that all of this comes from a God of love who is inviting us to a place of relationship with him, then all we will ever have is rules and regulations that we couldn’t possibly measure up to. This is why Paul says in Galatians 4:5 / / God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Because when we simply live by the law itself we will live under the burden of it, and the guilt and shame of not measuring up, rather than seeing that God is trying to lead us to life.

This wasn’t about money, it was about the hold it had on this young man who Jesus loved. And Jesus wraps it up with this final invitation, / / “Then come, follow me.” I would almost call this the now commandment of God, which is listening to the living word of God, who is Jesus Christ, who himself said, / / “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

When we truly understand that the rules on paper are just the starting point, the “This is how we treat our friends if we truly want to love them. This is how we treat God if we want to love him...” and that the voice of the Living Word of God is continually calling us to follow him to life, then we realize that there’s more to this than just a set of rules.

Are the ten commandments relevant for today? 100%.

Are they the end game? not even close.

If all we do is follow a set of rules, we’ve missed the point. Because people are really good at making rules and not thinking about the why.

People have tried to do this with this story in Matthew 19, but we can’t make a commandment, or a rule for everyone out of what Jesus says to this particular man in this particular situation. We can’t say, “Well, this is what the bible says, you have to sell all of your possessions and give the money away to follow Jesus...” Because he’s led him here in conversation and in love for HIM. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor” is not a commandment. We can’t put that on someone.

I don’t think I have to do that.

Because it wasn’t about the money, or the needing to sell all of his things that was the key to eternal life, it was the HOLD that the money and possessions had on him that stopped him from following Jesus, which IS the key to eternal life.

THAT is the key. Following Jesus.

Now, I hope if Jesus came to me and said, “Money has a hold on your life, and if you truly want to follow me, you’re going to have to get rid of the thing you hold on to....” then I truly truly hope I would make the right choice instead of turning away sad because of my love for my things.

But this is why the last year and a half have been so difficult for me, and I can’t sugar coat it, no pun intended... I have failed time and time again in this, I have walked away sad because the place that food has in my life has taken a higher place at times than my devotion for Jesus Christ.

“What, did you eat instead of read your bible?” No, not that simple. And for years it was hidden to me. I didn’t understand the control it had on me. I didn’t understand the obsessions was being placed before God and that in of itself was a direct affront to the first two commandments. I had another god wanting a place of prominence in my life. I had an idol I served, I bowed down to, I let control my thoughts and actions. This is why this needs to be more serious than we give it place in our lives. Because the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with our WHOLE heart, soul, mind and strength.

Just like he’s done with me, Jesus said to this young man WITH LOVE IN HIS EYES, / / “Deal with what’s getting between you and me, so that you can follow me with your whole self...” And I’ve heard the voice of God, I’ve heard the words of the Good Shepherd, I’ve felt the leading of the Holy Spirit, “If you want to experience life, lay down your right to eat what you want, deny yourself, and follow me...” But I can’t make a commandment out of that for you any more than we can make one out of go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor.

Because it’s coming out of MY conversation with Jesus Christ, who is not the written word of God that we all can read, but He is the LIVING word of God that we all can connect with and who wants to lead us to life.

This was always God’s intention… God said to Israel, do these things and you will experience life because they will protect you, and they will keep your relationships healthy, they will keep your community functioning properly, but when the list is done, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, / / Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and love the people around you in the same way Jesus shows his love for you - and you’ll always do the right thing.