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What are
the Big 10 Commandments?
The very word "commandment" has a negative connotation to us; when independent-minded humans like you and me think of rules and regulations....we tend to think of burdens. People think that by their very nature God's laws are restrictive limits to our freedom. Ron Mehl writes (The Tender Commandments), "When many of us hear, 'THE TEN COMMANDMENTS' we hear the clank of chains and the rattle of padlocks. We hear God saying, 'You mess with Me, you step out of bounds, and I'll fry you like a bug landing on a transformer.'" And this view...this opinion...of the ten commandments plays right into Satan's master plan-the one he's had from the beginning. You see Satan has always wanted mankind to believe that God is a prude...that He is THE cosmic killjoy....a harsh old grandfather with a long, gray beard and bushy eyebrows....Who doesn't want anyone to have any fun....EVER! Mehl points out that Satan first employed this strategy in the Garden of Eden when he spoke to Eve and said in essence, "Has God REALLY forbidden you this lovely fruit? Oh my. What a pity. What a shame. You realize of course, Eve, that He knows if you ever tasted from this tree, you'd be like a god. Nothing could hold you back. God wants to keep you from the truly best part of life! Eve, true freedom means freedom FROM confining restrictions such as these." Well was Satan right? Are these 17 verses from Exodus 20 harsh and negative...narrow and legalistic...cold and confining? No! ----- In fact they are just the opposite....God's laws bring freedom...not confinement. They are not cold and harsh...to the contrary, they are warm and loving. God gave us commands like "Flee sexual immorality," and "Husbands love your wives," and "You shall not commit adultery," because He wanted to protect us. He didn't throw His precepts into the Bible just because He liked the way they sounded; He didn't concoct those rules to throw His weight around; No...He gave those commands because He loves us and He knows some things that we don't. He knows that sexual immorality is a path, not to pleasure and fulfillment but to emptiness and frustration. Moses reminded the people of the true nature of God's law in Deuteronomy 10:13 when he told them that God gave His commandments, "for their own good." Bill Hybels writes (The God You Are Looking For...): "The Lord tells us specifically that His commands are never burdensome. By this, He doesn't necessarily mean they're easy to keep. Rather, He's telling us that they're never foolish. They are never unnecessary or purely arbitrary. He doesn't force us to observe meaningless formalities, nor does He impose rules that have no value. On the contrary, every guideline, every law, every imperative in the Bible was crafted in infinite wisdom. They were given not only to honor God, but to benefit us as well." In Jeremiah 29:11 God says to you and me, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." And later in chapter 32 God says that His desire is, "....that people will always fear Him-but for their own good and for the good of their children after them." So God's law is not negative in nature....it's purpose is not to burden us but to protect us. The Ten Commandments are given for our own good. Josh McDowell (Right From Wrong) tells of a young man named Greg. Greg lived down the block from a family who had an in-ground swimming pool in their back yard. He had never gone swimming in their pool however; he barely knew the people, and a high wooden fence enclosed the pool. One dark evening when Greg knew his neighbors were away, he and his girlfriend snuck behind the house, scaled the fence, and entered the pool area to go for a swim. Greg threw off his shoes, climbed the ladder and, while his girlfriend was still taking her shoes and socks off, leaped off the end of the diving board. He heard his girlfriend scream just before he lost consciousness. You see, the pool held only a few feet of water. In the dark Greg apparently didn't notice this. His dive ended with a shallow splat of water and a sickening crunch of bones. Greg's late-night dive paralyzed him from the neck down for the rest of his life. Greg ignored the fence that his neighbors had erected around the pool. He probably assumed it was there only to keep him and his girlfriend from having fun. In reality it was meant for his own protection, and his disregard of that boundary cost him dearly. Similarly, God's laws are given to protect us....and when we ignore His moral boundaries the cost can be just as devastating. In my library I have a book by Dr. S. I. McMillen entitled, NONE OF THESE DISEASES. And in this classic book, McMillen shows how over two dozen divine commands or standards recorded in scripture served to prevent such disorders as: heart disease, cervical cancer, and arthritis....long before the advent of modern medicine. McMillen wrote in the preface: "After God led the Israelites out of Egypt, He promised His people that if they would obey His statutes, He would put 'none of these diseases' upon them. God guaranteed a freedom from disease that modern medicine cannot duplicate." You see, God's commands are like an umbrella. When you put up an umbrella it shields you from the rain. But if you choose to move out of the umbrella during a storm you are bound to get wet. So the nature of the ten commandments is not harsh or unloving. I think that the ten commandments would be best compared to a love letter.....a tender, heartfelt message written in stone by the finger of God. To coin Ron Mehl's phrase...they are ten(DER) commandments! In fact, this set of laws is one of the most powerful expressions of God's love in all of Scripture. Even the context of the decalogue shows this truth. Listen to the things God said immediately prior to the giving of His law. Exodus 19:3-6 says, "And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." In essence God told Moses, "Before you give the people these commands...before anything else, ....will you please remind them that I bore them on eagles' wings? Remind them that I cared for them in their Egyptian bondage---as a mother eagle cares for her offspring. Remind them that I heard their cries and freed them from slavery...make sure they remember that when the Egyptian army attacked, I parted the Red Sea....I made a way when there was no way. Make sure you remind them of my loving care Moses." So these ten laws sprang from the tender love of God for His people. Centuries later God reminded the prophet Hosea of His true feelings for them. He said, "When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree." (Hosea 9:10 ) In other words the mere sight of the Hebrew people brought pleasure to God's heart. And His love for them---and for you and me...for we TOO are His people-His love was what prompted God to give us these laws. And as we study each of these commandments in weeks to come I think we will come closer to understanding the heart of God. You know, this past week several families loaded their cars and took their children off to begin their college careers. And imagine that as they carried all those boxes into the dorm and helped them get settled, they reminded their kids certain rules to obey, like:
Now did these parents hand down these rules because they wanted to limit their children's freedom and prevent them from having any fun? No....of course not. They gave their children their own ten or twenty or thirty "COMMANDMENTS" because they love them and want them to be happy and healthy and safe. They laid down the law because they wanted to protect them from the ravaging effects of sin. Well this parental love was also the motivation for God's giving of His laws. And His love for us is infinitely greater than our love for our own children. Do you remember Jesus' words in Matthew 7 ? He said, "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!" God loves us and doesn't want us to learn by bitter experience so He has given us His word to guide us and protect us.....to help us avoid the destructive paths in life. So....why study the ten commandments?
PASTOR MARK ADAMS |
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