HONOR AND FREEDOM
Well I’ve got to tell you, this has been an interesting adventure through the Ten Commandments for me. I’ve learned a lot along the way. In all honesty, when I began this study I don’t think I could have told you what every single one of the Ten Commandments are. I can do that now. I might miss the order of the last few though.
It’s my hope that you’ve learned a few things along the way too. Mostly I hope that you’ve learned that the Ten Commandments are not a way to get to God. You see, we’ve got this idea in our society that you can work your way into God’s good graces. But God shows with the creation of the Ten Commandments that it’s not about what you do. It’s about having a relationship with him. The Israelites had a relationship with God based on the trust that they gave God by painting blood around their doorframes, with the trust that God was going to rescue them from the Egyptians.
This same idea comes back about 1400 years later. Jesus comes and he tells people that it isn’t about the sacrifice of sheep, goats, birds, and bulls. He’s about to pay the ultimate sacrifice. He’s going to give up his life as a sacrifice to stand once and for all. And for you and I it’s still about trust. It’s about placing our trust in a God we can’t see and believing that his son, Jesus, died on a cross to save us. And no amount of rule keeping can replace the gift of his precious life.
So today as we prepare to look at the last six commandments, I’m overwhelmed by what all I’ve learned along the way. Truthfully, I just hope that I can convey this in a way that brings home that point. God’s laws aren’t a way to heaven. Instead God laws are to keep us free.
For the last few weeks we’ve been talking just about the first four commandments. During each one of these, God has made a point to bring the focus on himself. He wants us to remember that it is he that should be in the center of everything. He does this first off by telling us that he is the one and only God. There aren’t any others. He’s it and because he is the only God he wants you to go to him for everything, good or bad. Then he tells us not to make any idols of him because when we do, we try to make him manageable. God is not manageable. He doesn’t fit inside whatever little box we try to place him in. Thirdly God reminds us not to misuse his name. And here we discovered that some of what we were taught growing up isn’t exactly what God meant with this commandment. Instead we learned that God doesn’t want his name attached to anything God is not involved in. Finally, last week, we learned that we’re to take a day off. That’s it, take a day off.. That day is to be focused on God for his providing for you and for me.
Now God shifts gears here and starts going in a different direction. He’s spent the time explaining that all of our lives is supposed to revolve around him. Now he says something that no other society in the world was saying and that many societies today still aren’t saying.
Every one you come into contact with is important to God. Treat them right.
That’s the synopsis of the last six commandments. Everyone you come into contact with is important to God. Treat them right.
You see he’s already made it clear that he’s supposed to be the center of everything that you and I do. Now he tells us that everyone around is just as important to him as everyone else. In fact the Ten Commandments do something that no other set of laws from that time period do. They put everyone equal according to God.
You see there’s something you won’t find in the Ten Commandments. You won’t find anywhere in there that you need to honor your king. It’s not there. You won’t find honor your leaders. That’s not there either. Nor will you find honor the priests. Nope. Not in there. You won’t even find the words, “Honor Moses.”
This is one of the reasons that I believe the Ten Commandments are real and that they’re written by God. If Moses had written the commandments on his own you can guarantee the words “Obey Moses” would have appeared in there somewhere. When you study the rest of the story about the Israelites they don’t obey him. In fact, a lot of times they miss what he has to tell them entirely. Somehow I can just imagine Moses in this situation telling God, “If you had just added one more commandment we would have could have settled this.” But it’s not in there.
In fact, it’s as if God is saying, “Moses, you’re a rule keeper too. You’re not any better than any of those people down there.”
In fact what you’ll find is that won’t be any rulers over the people of Israel for several hundred years. This idea is so foreign to what these people are used to, that they finally tell the priests and prophets that they want a king. The priests come back and tell the people that God doesn’t want them to have a king. But the people come back and say again that they want a king and God warns them about the problems with having a king. He tells them that with a king comes oppression. With a king comes new rules. With a king comes the idea that someone is better than everyone else and is above God’s rules. But the people don’t care and they demand a king. God gives them a king and sure enough all the problems that go with a king come right along.
The idea of everyone being a rule keeper does not come back until 1776. When a group of men from our country meet and begin putting together a constitution. What they decide is that no one is going to be above the law. No matter how high your social class or how low, whether you’re the president or a sewer worker, everyone of us is on the same playing field. In fact, if you’ve ever listened to President Bush speak he has something fantastic to say along this lines. In several speeches he has said that when it’s all over he is answerable to God. He still has to face God for what he’s done regardless of whether you agree with his politics or not. He knows that he’s a rule keeper.
And so as we begin turning to Exodus chapter 20. God makes a shift here. He’s gone it’s about him, about him, about him, about him for the first four commandments. Now all of a sudden he shifts gears.
And beginning in verse 12 he begins telling us that we are to honor other people.
In fact with the fifth commandment he gives us a commandment that you probably wouldn’t have put in here. I know I wouldn’t have put this one in here.
It says, “Honor your parents.”
Honor your parents.
Of course that isn’t exactly what it says. So let’s take a quick look at this one. “Honor your father and mother, that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
You see, this is the only commandment that God puts a direct promise with. He makes it clear that the people are to honor their parents in order to stay in the promised land. It’s as if he’s saying, “I put you in the land and if you fail to obey this commandment, I can take you out of the land.”
Some of you are smiling because you heard your parents say something very similar. You heard them say, “I brought you into the world and I can take you out.” There are some commentaries that I read while studying this that said this is exactly where that idea comes from.
You see what God knew was this. The moment that you and I fail to honor our parents we forget the upbringing that we’ve been given. We forget the existence of God and we fail to honor other people. We begin to disobey all the other laws that God is giving us and we go the direction that we want to go regardless of what God wants for us.
Then the commandments jump into honoring everyone else.
He begins by saying honor other people’s bodies. You shall not murder. You know what? Other people are important to God that means that their bodies are important to God. You can’t take their lives with your hands.
Then he says, “Honor their marriages.” You shall not commit adultery. You can’t take another man’s wife. You can’t take another woman’s husband. You’re supposed to respect their marriages.
Then he says, “Honor people’s property.” You shall not steal. If it doesn’t belong to you, don’t take it. Remember we talked about walking out of a store with a pen that doesn’t belong to you? If you take that pen it’s stealing. You’re not supposed to steal anything.
Then God tells us, “Honor people’s reputations.” You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You’re not supposed to be gossiping. Now I know that living in a small town it’s so easy to go gossip about someone else. We’ve got lots of opportunities. There’s the café, Casey’s, the library, and school functions. Don’t even start. You’re not supposed to be gossiping about anyone. Honor their reputation.
Finally God says, “Honor everything that belongs to other people.”
Alright so maybe that’s not exactly the way it’s put. Let’s take a quick look over Exodus 20:17. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Now I’ve grown up in the church my entire life and until I started this in depth look at the Ten Commandments I had no real idea of what covet means. Here’s what it means. Covet means to want something with your whole heart. It means to lust after something. It means to want something so badly that you are willing to let your desire to destroy your relationship with someone else.
Here’s an example. Jeremy has a really nice car. I’d really like to have Jeremy’s car but I can’t have it. So instead my relationship with Jeremy begins to deteriorate. Our friendship falls apart. Then something happens to the car and Jeremy doesn’t have it anymore. Suddenly our relationship gets better. I even begin to feel better about myself. Why? Because I was coveting. I wanted that car so badly I allowed it to destroy my relationship with him.
This is exactly why Jesus comes along in the New Testament and weighs in so heavily. At one point we see him confronting the Pharisees and they’re questioning him about the commandments. He tells them that if they look at a woman with lust that they’ve already committed adultery with her in their hearts. And they go, “Now you’re just making things up.” Jesus says, “no. It’s right in there.” That’s exactly what covet means.
Jesus is telling them to guard their hearts and minds.
Even Solomon knew the importance of guarding your hearts. In fact, one of my favorite verses in the Bible is found over in Proverbs 4:23. It says, “Guard your heart with all diligence, for it is the wellspring of life.” You see, you’ve got to guard your thought life. You’ve got to watch it with everything that you have in you. Because what you think shows what your true actions are going to be.
There’s a reason that God put this commandment in here. Because what God knows is that coveting leads to stealing. And coveting leads to adultery. Coveting even leads to gossiping about your neighbor. The very moment that you and I begin coveting we’re going to break one of those other commandments.
Now I told you before that when I was a kid, particularly when I was a teenager, I thought my parents had come up with all these rules to keep me safe. I thought they’d come up with the rules they enforced to keep me from having fun.
The truth is that a lot of people out there think the very same thing of God. His rules are there to keep us from having fun.
Here’s some reality for you. God gave his commandment to keep his free people free.
He didn’t give them to make you behave. He gave them to keep you free.
And I think there are three free things God has in store for us with his commandments.
The first free thing God has in store for us is this. If we obey God’s commandments we’re going to be free from sin. Now I know that as humans we’re never really going to be free from sin. It’s always going to be part of our nature so long as we’re here on earth. But if you’re trying to live by God’s rules you will be sinning less.
This is huge. This is something that so often we don’t think about.
I want you to see something. It actually follows the Ten Commandments. Over in Exodus 20:18 – 20 it says this, “When the people saw the thunder and the lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.””
As I read that passage I thought to myself how many times I’ve sat quietly and just asked God to speak to me. I wanted to hear his voice. And here are the Israelites telling Moses, “Don’t let him talk to us. No. No. No. If he talks to us we’re going to die.”
But Moses has a great point here. God has physically manifested himself so that the Israelites have a living example of the purpose of the Ten Commandments. They’re not to be sinning. You see, there is no previous history to build upon. God can’t say, “Do you remember the last time you worshipped idols and turned your backs to me?” He can’t remind them of when they had become murders, thieves, adulterers, and gossipers. The Israelites don’t have that kind of history yet. Overall they’ve only been a nation for three months. So God has to show them his power so they have a reminder to keep them from sinning.
Secondly, when you keep the Ten Commandments you will be free from guilt.
So many of us have guilt in our lives. And Satan is great at reminding us of all the times that we fail God. He pokes and prods us reminding us of our sins. But when you keep the rules, you’re not going to have the guilt from stealing. Because you’re not going to be stealing. You’re going to be depending on the Lord for the things you need. And you’re not going to have guilt because of adultery. Because you’re going to be depending on the God for your relationships.
Finally, if you follow the commandments you’re going to be free to live. To live the kind of life that God wants you to be living. You’re going to be depending on him for everything and with that you’re going to be following the path he wants your life to go down.
There’s the truth about the Ten Commandments. It’s not about getting into heaven. It’s not about being accepted by God. Once you put your faith in him, you’re already accepted. The commandments are just a confirmation of a relationship with him. So that he can keep his free people free.
