A Life
of Responsibility
(Ex.
20:1-17)
April
18th, 2010
Two week ago we talked about freedom and the cost of
freedom. Today I want to talk to you
about the privilege of freedom and the responsibility that comes with it. It is a responsibility to use that freedom
for the glory of God and the good of others.
The Ten Commandments were much more than laws for
governing the life of the nation Israel. They were and still are part of the covenant
God made with Israel when He took them to Himself
to be His special people. In the Abrahamic Covenant, God gave the Jews the title deed to the
Promise Land (Gen. 12:3; 13:14-18), but Israel’s
possession and enjoyment of that land depended on their obedience to the Mosaic
Covenant. The tragedy is that the nation
disobeyed the Law, defiled their land, and grieved their Lord, so they had to be
chastened.
Listen: The Law was NEVER given as a way of salvation
for either Jews or Gentiles, because “by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified” (Gal. 2:16). Salvation is not
a reward for good works but the gift of God through faith in Jesus (Rom.
4:5; Eph. 2:8-9). The Law reveals God’s
righteousness and demands righteousness, but it can NOT give righteousness (Gal.
2:21); only Jesus can do that (2 Cor. 5:21). The Law is a mirror that reveals where you
are dirty, but you don’t wash your face in the mirror (James 1:22-25). Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from
sin (1 John
1:7, 9; Heb. 10:22).
God does not give His Spirit to us because we obey the
Law (Gal. 3:2) but because we trust Jesus.
He does not give us our inheritance through the Law either (Gal.
3:18). We are dead in sin and we need
life but the law can not give life. So
what is the purpose of the Law? It is
God’s way of showing us our sins and stripping us of our self-righteousness so
that we cry out for the mercy and grace of God.
God gives His Holy Spirit to all who believe on His Son, and the Spirit
enables us to obey God’s will and therefore fulfill the righteousness of the Law
(Rom. 8:1-3).
One of the main ministries of the Law was to prepare the
way for the birth of Jesus (Gal. 4:1-7).
The nation of Israel was like an immature child who
needed a “guardian” to care for him, to instruct and protect him, the way slaves
in Paul’s day cared for their master’s children. But when children mature, the guardians are
not needed anymore. The Jewish
ceremonial system presented in Exodus and Leviticus was fulfilled by Jesus, but
the moral content of God’s Law still remains, and nine of the Ten Commandments
are repeated in the NT epistles for the church to honor and obey. The Sabbath commandment is NOT repeated, and
we will talk more about that later.
While all the Ten Commandments deal with our
responsibilities toward God, the first four are particularly Godward while the last six are manward. How we
relate to others depends on how we relate to God; for if we love God and obey
Him, we will also love our neighbors and serve them (Matt. 22:34-40; Rom.
13).
Responsibility
#1: Recognizing one true God (Ex 20:1-3)
The phrase “the
Lord thy God” is repeated five times in this section to remind the people of the
authority behind these commandments.
Listen: Moses is NOT reporting “the opinions” that he heard from a
friendly counselor, but Ten Commandments spoken by Almighty God. Somewhere along the line we seem to have
forgotten that. Even my “spell check”
recognized that and told me to go back and capitalize Ten Commandments. Israel was to bear witness of the
true and living God (Ps. 115) and invite their neighbors to trust
Him.
The phrase “before Me” can mean
“in opposition to Me”. For the Jews to
worship another god would be to declare war on Jehovah and incur His wrath. Every morning, the faithful Jew declares,
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord”.
How do we start our morning?
Responsibility
#2: Worshiping only the Lord (Ex. 20:4-6).
An idol is a substitute for God and therefore not a god,
for there is only one true and living God.
Have you ever had anyone tell you “to worship your god and they would
worship theirs”? Do you realize just how
unbiblical and illogical that is? There
is only one God. I love the way it is
said in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the
Lord: that is My name; and My glory I will not give to
another, neither My praise to graven images”.
Idol worship of that day included immorality, sacrificing children, and
demonic worship. That is why God
commanded them to destroy all other forms of worship.
The apostle John reminds us in 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols”.
If an idol is anything that takes the place of God, anything to which we
devote our energy and time, or for which we make sacrifices because we love it
and serve it, then John’s warning is needed today. The idols that entice God’s people today are
things like money, recognition, success, material possession, knowledge or even
other people.
God is a “jealous God”, not in the sense that He is
envious of other gods, for He knows that all other “gods” are figments of the
imagination and don’t really exist. The
word “jealous” expresses His love for His people because He wants the very best
for them. Just as
parents are jealous over their children and spouses over their mates, so God is
jealous over His beloved ones and will not tolerate competition (Zach. 1:14;
8:2). Do you really want to know
about idolatry? In the Bible, idolatry
is the equivalent of prostitution and adultery (Hosea 1-3; Jer. 2-3; Ezek. 16:23; James
4:4-5). God desires
and deserves the exclusive love of His people.
Let’s get serious about worship. God is so serious about receiving exclusive
worship and love that He punishes those who refuse to obey Him. One thing to note, that is often
misunderstood, is that God does NOT punish the children and grandchildren for
someone else’s sin (Deut. 24:16; Ezek. 18:4), but the sad consequences of
ancestral sins can be passed from generation to generation and innocent children
suffer because of what their parents or grandparents have done. In Bible times, it was not unusual for four
generations to live in the same extended family and thus have greater
opportunity to influence and affect one another.
At the same time, the godliness of an ancestor can help
to bring blessing to succeeding generations.
Abraham’s faith brought blessing to his descendants, and David’s ministry
helped people long after he had died. I
am living in the blessings of my father right now. Thanks Dad!
Responsibility
#3: Honoring God’s name (Ex. 20:7)
I think it was
Shakespeare who asked the question, “What is in a name?” Well, there is a lot in a name. The Bible says that your name stands for your
character and reputation, what you are and what you do (John 17:6, 26). It was my father’s name that got me my first
job after college. It was the good name
of my family that got me many good things.
Now my son’s name has become very helpful, especially here in
Burnet. A good name is so
important. God’s name is the greatest
name in the universe and must be honored.
Remember the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew
6; the first petition is “Hallowed be Thy name”. Honored by Thy Holy Name.
Responsibility
#4: Honoring the Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11)
The word “Sabbath” means “rest”. While the Sabbath was rooted in creation
(Gen, 2:1-3), it was also a special sign between Israel
and the Lord and there is no biblical evidence that God commanded any Gentile
nation to observe the seventh day (Ps. 147:19-20).
When the Jews observed the Sabbath, it was not only a
mark of their devotion to the Lord, but it was also a witness to their pagan
neighbors to whom the seventh day was just another day. By resting on the seventh day, the Jews were
promoting their own welfare as well as that of their servants and farm animals,
acknowledging the lordship of Jehovah over time and creation. In the early days of the church, God’s people
assembled on the first day of the week to honor the resurrection of Jesus but
the principle of one day in seven still stands.
Boy, have times changed.
Responsibility
#5: Honoring one’s parents (Ex. 20:12)
In a world that worships and imitates youth and uses
euthanasia to eliminate unwanted old people, this commandment sounds like an
echo from a time warp. But the Jews were
taught to respect age and to care for their senior citizens. This is a good example for us to follow
today. The elderly are the only outcast
group that everybody expects to join, because nobody wants the alternative. How many times have I told you that how we
treat the elderly today will determine how we are treated tomorrow, because we
reap what we sow.
Responsibility
#6: Honoring human life (Ex. 20:13)
Listen to me closely on this one: Life is a gift from
God, and only He has the authority to take life. Because we are made in God’s image, murder is
an attack against God (Gen. 1:26-27; 9:6).
Protecting life is everyone’s responsibility. This is not talking about protecting yourself
and/or your family. Murder was then and
should be now a capital crime.
Responsibility
#7: Honoring marriage (Ex. 20:14)
This may surprise you but adultery was so serious that
it was considered a capital crime (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). The family is the basic unit of the nation,
and faithfulness to the marriage contract is the foundation for the family. According to
1 Thes.
4:1-8, adultery is robbery and in the end, those who
commit it rob themselves (Prov. 6:20-35). While God can and will forgive adultery, like
David, the adulterer and adulteress must live with the sad consequences of
forgiven sin. Adultery begins with the
desire in the heart caused by the second look (Matt. 5:27-30). There are just some things you don’t do.
Responsibility
#8: Respecting personal property Ex. 20:15)
God gave Israel an elaborate set of laws to
govern their use of the land, because the land belonged to Him and they were but
stewards (Lev. 25:2, 23, 38). The fact
is that everything we have belongs to God and we too are but stewards.
Responsibility
#9: Speaking the truth (Ex. 20:16)
When was it that we (America) forgot
that speaking the truth and honoring promises was the cement that holds society
together? To tell lies in court is to
undermine the very law itself, which explains why Moses required the witnesses
to be the executioners in capital crimes (Deut. 17: 6-13). It is one thing to lie, but quite another
thing to kill in order to protect your lie.
This commandment also prohibits slandering people (Ex. 23:1; Prov. 10:18; 12:17; 19:9; 24:28; Titus 3:1-2; James 4:11; 1
Peter 2:1).
Responsibility
#10: Controlling desires (Ex. 20:17)
The first and the tenth commandments deal with what is
in the heart, while the other eight focus on outward actions that begin in the
heart. Covetous people will break all of
God’s commandments in order to satisfy their desires, because at the heart of
sin is the sin in the heart.
Matthew 15:19 says, “For
out of the heart proceed evil….”. To covet is to feed the inward desires for
anything that God says is sinful. It is
that battle between your ears, in your head, coming from your heart that is the
problem. Joyce Meyer calls it “The
Battle Field of the Mind”.
Note that the 10 Commandments end with an emphasis on
being a good neighbor, for the second greatest commandment is to love your
neighbor as yourself. If we love our
neighbors, we won’t covet what they have, steal from them, lie about them, or do
any of the other things God prohibits in His Word. This is why love is the fulfillment of the
Law (Rom. 13:8-10). But only God can change our sinful hearts
(Heb. 10:14-18) and give us the love we need to obey Him and to care for others
(Gal. 5:22-26; Rom. 5:1-5).