Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Lets pray together, Father. God, we thank you for loving us.
We thank you that you're holy, good and righteous and kind.
God, we thank you for Jesus.
Lord. We pray this morning, Lord, that you would open our eyes and our ears to see and to hear the truth of your word, God, that it would affect how we live and the choices we make.
That our life would be a reflection of you to the world.
God, help us to live in a way that honors you.
God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for Jesus. It's in his name we pray.
Amen.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: Well, good morning.
Happy Father's Day to those that are fathers. Awesome day to just be reminded of just the blessing that fathers can be in our life. And so pray that you have a blessed Father's Day. We're in Exodus, chapter 20. And as we just continue walking through the book of Exodus, we get to a spot that is really, really, really familiar to most of us. Even if you've never read the Book of Exodus, you're probably familiar with this section of Exodus in that it's the Ten Commandments, or what has been known throughout history as the decalogue, or the 10 words is actually what that means. There is that there's 10 words that God has spoken in giving his commands to the people of Israel. And yet in the familiarity of this, you come across a passage like this as a pastor, and it's like, okay, everybody's so familiar with these ten Commandments, and yet the reality is, if we asked to memorize them, it's probably the kids that would be able to name them all that. The rest of us would probably struggle a little bit with that. But hopefully we'll give you some, some ways of remembering these. But I want to help us understand what is a Christian supposed to do with the law, The Old Testament law?
What is a Christian? How are we supposed to understand this? Like, are we supposed to keep these 10 commandments? And then as you read, maybe you get to Leviticus and your Bible reading plan where you stalled out before, and it's been like, yeah, there's just a whole bunch of laws and what am I supposed to do with that? Am I supposed to change the way that I dress so that I don't mix different types of clothing? Am I supposed to change the way that I cook so that I don't disobey God by what I cook or eat or wear and these things? And so we may get to these Old Testament laws and go, well, what am I supposed to do with this?
My goal today, one of them is that you would know how to rightly understand the Old Testament law. And we're going to use some of Jesus words to help us do that because he interprets it and helps us understand, give understanding to that. The other thing that I'm hoping to do in this is that we would get a clear understanding that the law was never given as a means of salvation.
Let me say that again, the law was never given as a means of salvation. We're going to see it in the text here today that salvation actually came before the law was given.
That the law is not a way of earning our way to heaven or earning God's love, but that it's a response, that obedience to God's law is a response to the identity of who we are as God's people. And so I'm hoping to get that.
There's one last thing that I'm hoping will happen in this and that it's that we'll begin to shift our framework of the way that we think about the law from going, oh, laws are bad or laws are restrictive, to actually thinking that the law is a pathway of blessing, that this is a parameters for me to continue to experience the blessings of God. Maybe we could say it this way, that the law protects and preserves the freedom that we have in Christ, that the law protects and preserves. It gives us a framework of protection for us to experience the blessings of the freedom of Christ that we have. That going outside of God's will and God's ways only leads to destruction, pain, hurt and bondage. And so that's our goal. Let's pray and then we'll jump into this text together.
Lord, we're dependent on your spirit to work this morning.
Lord, we're just keenly aware of the reality that these commandments are not new to most of us.
They're not new to most of our society.
And yet in and of themselves, they can't accomplish the salvation which only you can provide.
And so, God, we ask that this morning your spirit would work in our hearts. Your spirit would work in our mind, Lord, to give us eyes and ears to see and hear from you, that we might obey your will and your ways and function and flourish as your people in a community where there's a watching world that they might know you. We ask it in Jesus name, Amen.
Well, let's look at this. I want to start by just giving us a little bit of a context. So let me just put this in the back of our mind. We're going to actually start by reading Mark chapter 12, Mark, chapter 12, verse 28 through 34. And this is Jesus interacting with some scribes. And here's what happens. It says, and one of the scribes came up, and he heard them disputing with one another.
And seeing that he answered them well, he asked, so this scribe has come up to Jesus. Jesus has been interacting with these Sadducees. And so this scribe comes up to him and he asks him this question, which commandment is the most important of all?
So Jesus answered, the most important is, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength.
The second is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
The scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him. And to love him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that, he answered wisely. He said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God.
And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
We see here that Jesus summarizes the whole of the law by pointing them to two things. What is the most important commandment of the law is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
And then the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. And so we'll divide these ten commandments into those two categories of loving God and loving your neighbor. And that, that when we do that, we actually fulfill all of the commandments. If you just do those two things, love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, then you will fulfill all of the commandments of the scripture.
So you don't need all the explanations. And so then we go, well, why didn't God just say that?
Well, if you've ever read the instructions to a game or to anything, it's like, don't eat the batteries.
Why did we need that?
Because someone did it, that's why. And so we see in the laws that God wants to dwell with his people that they would love him with all of their heart, their soul, their mind, and their strength, and that they would love others the way that they've been loved by God. And yet that doesn't happen.
And we need explanations as to what does that mean. And so one commentator said that you might look at the 10 Commandments almost in a sense, like case law, like, these are examples of what it means to love God.
These are examples of what it means to love your neighbor. And so we're given the wisdom of God in order that we might love him and love one another. And so as we look at this, before we jump into it, I think it's very important that we just get a little bit of context. Moses has been going up and down the mount of Sinai, talking to God and then coming and talking to the people and then going back to God. He's this mediator that's been going back and forth. He talked to God. He came down and told people what God said. All the people said everything that he said we will do. They entered into a covenant with God.
And so they're in this covenant relationship with God. And then we see this beginning in verse one of chapter 20, that the Lord spoke all these words saying, so now Moses has gone back up on the mountain. God is speaking to Moses, and here's what he says. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
This is really important.
Before there's any laws given, there's a reminder of what God has done, that God has already saved, rescued, redeemed, freed his people from bondage and slavery. God has already brought about salvation before the law ever comes.
It wasn't about Israel obeying so that God would then bless them. It wasn't that Israel could obey these laws enough so that then maybe God would lean in their favor.
God had already moved on their behalf.
There was already salvation provided.
And now he's going to say, now as my people remember what he called them, he said, you will be my treasured possession. That's identity.
And then as my treasured possession, you have a missional purpose, to be a kingdom of priests that you're gonna be. You're gonna be my mediators to the people, to represent me to the people and represent the people to me. You're gonna pray for the nation.
You're gonna go to the nations, that you're gonna be a kingdom of priests, and you're going to be a holy nation. You're gonna look different.
You're gonna. People are gonna look at you and say, I know the character of God because I've seen his people, that that's who you are.
And so he reminds them of their identity and what he's done for them. And then this is what he gives Them. As far as instruction, verse three, we get the first of the ten commandments that you shall have no other gods before me.
The first one, what we see here actually in these four is going to be that what many people describe as a vertical commandments, that these are commandments that deal with us and God. The first four of them are going to be connected to. Love your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
First one, you shall have no other gods before me. Well, how is this connected to loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Well, if you're loving something else, then you're not loving God with everything.
So all your heart, soul, mind and strength would. Would be inclusive of all of it, not 90% of it. And then I keep this little bit. No, that you would love him with everything you have. The whole narrative of Exodus up to this point has been that the people would know God, that He would be known.
And how is God known? He's known as the one with the strong arm who rescued his people. He's known as the one who inclines to the cries of his people. He's known as the one who is gracious and patient and slow to anger, whose forgiving and steadfast love, that's who he's known for.
And so if that's who he is, then what other God is worthy of worship?
See, the principle here is that no other God can receive worship because no other God is worthy of worship. What other God has saved his people? What other God has saved and provided for his people? What other God has broke the bondage of slavery? What other God has parted the sea? That there is no one worthy of praise because Yahweh has made himself known.
What does the application of this look like? What are the gods in our life? Well, many people would say, if you show me your bank account and your calendar, I can show you your gods.
I might add in there. If you. If you tell me your fears, I could probably tell you your gods.
If you tell me what controls your emotions, I could probably tell you your gods.
That the things which we spend our time fretting about, the things which we spend our emotional energy on, the things which we spend our money and our time on, often reflect the gods that we serve, the ones that we worship, the ones that we say, well, it's more important for me to do this than to spend time in God's word. Well, I just didn't have time to pray because I was too busy doing that.
That we might could ask, have those things rescued you from your sin have those things, in all of the toil which you spend on them, delivered you from the bondage of sin and shame and guilt.
No.
There's only one who has rescued us, and he is the only one worthy of our praise. You shall have no other gods before me. The second commandment that we see here is that you shall make no idols. I love this one. I think that there's some really neat aspects to this. Look at verse four through six.
He says, you shall not make for yourself a carved image.
This word carved would be an object which would be fashioned out of wood or stone or metal. And so it would be something that is made. And so you shall not make any images or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. Okay? So he says, don't make any graven images to worship or anything that I created. Don't worship anything that I created. Worship the Creator. And so you shouldn't make those things, but you shall not bow down to them or serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. That word jealousy there is because of this covenant relationship that. That the people has told God that you will be our God and I will be your people. We get almost this picture of, like, this marriage where two people stand there and make vows to each other. And then it's like, yeah, except this one little bit. Like, that's not yours. We're like, what? That doesn't even make sense. Like, God's a jealous God. Like, he's entered into a covenant and he said, I will be your God and you will be my people. You're my treasured possessions.
So he says, so to worship anything else would be less than.
So he says, you shouldn't bow down to them or serve them because he's a jealous God.
But I also think that there's something to this, that when you look throughout archeology, then throughout Jewish tradition and Christian tradition, there you don't find graven images of Yahweh because this command tells them not to.
But God in creation set his image in order that people might see it in mankind.
He said, I'm going to create you in my image.
That we would image forth God in creation, in speaking, in movement, in all of these ways that he's put his image upon us, that we would image that.
So he can't be defined in some statue that doesn't speak and doesn't move and doesn't love, doesn't forgive because he's put his image in his people in order that they might image it forth to the world not to worship mankind, but to point beyond ourselves to the Creator, that we shouldn't make any graven images, but look at what comes next.
He's a jealous God and he visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Let's just see if we can understand this a little bit, that God is not saying here that he punishes children because of what their parents do. The understanding of this is that this is commands given to a people. And you think of Israel, that they're living in these tents and you've got multiple generations, really. If you look around the world, then most of the world lives like this. That you might have two or three or four possibly generations living under one roof together.
And when you think about the leadership of those generations, that if you have some grandparents who say we don't believe in God and we don't follow after God, and every day the children and grandchildren wake up and hear that and see that, then there's a high likelihood that they learn that path to not trust in God, to not believe in God, to not depend on God.
And so you see this trickle down effect of the curse of not trusting and living according to God's will and God's ways trickle down from generation to generation.
But we also see it the other way, but that God shows steadfast love to thousands of generations, to those who love me and keep my commandments.
And yet the other is true, that if you see a family where you see grandparents walking after the Lord and passing that on in the way that they live to their children and their grandchildren. We actually see it in the New Testament where Paul talks about Timothy seeing it in his grandmother, the faith that was passed down to him from generation after generation after generation, that there was a blessing to passing down the faith that we see.
Maybe if we could distill a principle out of this, it's that there is no private sin and that sin touches more than just you.
That if you think about the way that you live your life and the effect of that, of walking according to God's ways, worshiping him or worshiping something else. If you teach dads, if you teach your children that work is your God and that you should get up every day to serve money and man, then you're passing on an identity.
But if you wake up and you wake up every day going, we serve God, then you will pass on A generation of following after Jesus.
It's one of the cool things that you actually look in secular psychology and they can recognize this, that where the dad goes, the family follows.
This isn't exactly a Father's Day message, but dads, if you want to lead your family to the path of blessing, wake up every day and pursue Jesus, and your family will follow.
We shall not have any graven images because nothing else is worthy of worship. Number three, you shall not take the Lord's name in vain.
This isn't just talking about cuss words and swearing in the Lord's name. I think what is actually at play in this is that there's something even greater, which we pick up later as we read the Old Testament, that as priests. And so we've been identified as the people of God, as a kingdom of priests. As priests, the priests would literally wear the name of God on them.
Maybe you could think about it like this. When you put a jersey on that on your jersey, it's the team you represent.
Like, who do you play for that you wear his name? And so if you take the Lord's name in vain, it's that I'm on His team, and yet I don't act like I'm on His team.
That would be taking the Lord's name in vain.
Maybe we can understand it like this. We've all been at a restaurant or maybe at a store or something. You're like, whose kid is that?
We get it.
But what if God is looking at you going like, that's not how my. That's not how my people act.
And the watching world goes, whose kid is that?
See, it's confusing.
It confuses a watching world to claim that we're his and that we serve him and worship him, and yet our life not look like it.
To take the Lord's name in vain that I say I'm his and yet I don't live like I'm His.
We shouldn't take the Lord's name in vain. There's a watching world that how we live matters because we are the picture of God to a watching world.
We bear his name that they should go, I know who God is because I've seen Him in you.
Don't bear his name in vain.
Number four, we should remember the Sabbath.
We see this in verse 8 through 11.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, you or your Son or Your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, your livestock, your sojourner within your gates. So this is comprehensive that he covers all these people. You think of a. A people group who had just been in slavery, who never had any breaks. And now God is protecting even the most vulnerable in this protection that he provides for them that they shall have rest.
And he anchors it. Look at this in verse 11. He anchors it in creation. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. And he rested on the seventh day.
Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy that he that God made the Sabbath in order that we might rest. Why?
Because we have a tendency to think that the world depends on us.
We have a tendency to think that if I just grind more, I can accomplish what I want.
Cemeteries are filled with irreplaceable people.
That the Sabbath reminds us that God runs the universe, not you and me.
The Sabbath reminds us that as much as we spin and toil, God can meet our needs. Remember the stories that we've seen.
The people cried out to God they couldn't free themselves. They cried out to God. They worked harder and harder and harder and tried to provide bricks and all the things. They tried to appease everybody in order that they could get some rest. And you know what happened?
They never got any rest. It just got worse.
God provided rest.
He rescued them.
They get out of Egypt and they go into the wilderness and they're like, working, working, working, trying to provide food for themselves. They're like, God, we don't have any food.
You know what God did?
He made food come down from heaven.
He knew their needs and met their needs even when they didn't toil.
Then they got confused again. They started grumbling and complaining that they were out in the desert and they needed water.
And as much as they tried to work to find water, they couldn't do it. They come upon this bitter pond.
They grumble and complain that we can't even drink this water that we found.
God says, well, I can make it sweet.
He provides sweet water for them.
They forget that and grumble and complain a little bit more and go, see, we're out here in the desert again. We're going to die of thirst. God says, hey, just take that stick and tap that rock. It'll provide water for all your needs.
See, the Sabbath reminds us that God knows our needs and meets our needs and that it's not because of our striving.
Yes, we are to work hard. It Says that six days you're to work, but you're also to be reminded that you're to rest.
Because you have a God in heaven who knows your needs and who meets your needs.
You shall remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. How do we apply that?
We need to remember that it's God who meets our needs.
He switches here to this love your neighbor. It begins to shift from a vertical to now a horizontal. How do we live as God's people among other people, and so just simply love your neighbor as yourself? So you might ask with each one of these that how do I love my mother and father? How do I love my neighbor? How do I love the people around me? Here's some test cases. Here's what he says. What does it look like to love your mother and father? You honor them, honor your mother and father.
That there's a built into this. Some commentators would say that this is actually a reflection of another vertical command, that we would honor God, that God is our Father. And so it bridges the gap here that how are you going to love a God who you cannot see if you don't love and honor your father? You can see it's the same that he talks about loving your brother. How will you love a God who you can't see if you can't love your brother whom you do see?
How do you honor a father if you don't honor your earthly father?
See, this is teaching the respect for authority, that respect for authority begins in the home.
That we want our children to obey God.
And so how do we teach them to obey God? We model that by them getting to see us honor our father.
Listen, this command isn't just for young children.
This Command is for 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80 year olds.
Because even if your father is gone, you can still honor your mother and father in the way that you speak about them, in the way that you talk about the legacy that they left.
There's still honor to be had. And it passes from generation to generation to generation that God says you should honor your mother and father. One of the other pieces of this is that we see that the society hinges on a family unit.
That God, in all of his wisdom, he set up societies that they would rise and fall based on family units. Even secular societies, psychology recognizes this, that when there is honor of a mother and a father in a home and a loving relationship, then society thrives, that we should honor our father and mother. And that catch this. This is the path of blessing, that these aren't restrictive laws where you're going. I just have to do this.
No. This is the path to experiencing the blessings of God, the protection of your freedom.
Look at what he says.
That it may be long in the land that the Lord is giving you.
God is still keeping his promise to bring them into a land and for that land to flourish and for that people to be an example and a beacon of light and a beacon of hope. Then they need to have strong family units that are set up the way that God has done, designed them.
Honor your mother and father that it may go well with you.
Number six, he says, you shall not murder. I think this one's pretty self explanatory. That you're not loving someone if you're trying to kill them.
That's fairly simple, fairly straightforward. The word here includes both neglect that you would kill someone in neglect of not being responsible and with intentionality. And so both of those are covered there.
That you shall not murder. Some Bibles would translate that kill. I don't think that that's the best translation of that because I think that then you get some confusing things. That God has given the sword to the government for a reason. But it's to a government institution in order to uphold justice. But as individuals, we shall not murder.
What causes murder? What would cause someone to. To take the life of someone else? Well, we've seen in the scripture that jealousy causes that. Cain and Abel we've seen that lust causes that David.
We've seen that rage causes that David's sons.
We've seen that grudges cause that. We've seen that greed causes that. Jesus would then say even that all of these are, are really kind of a little piece of anger that we allow to reside in our heart. That if we have anger in our heart, leads to murder.
So he says, you shall not murder. And really the bigger thing that goes there as a test case, you shall not murder.
But the goal is that we would love them.
We're not trying to scrape the bottom and just go, well, I'm doing the bare minimum. No, we're trying to do what God's called us to. That we would be the beacon of hope and light to the watching world. And we would go, we love our neighbor.
Number seven, you shall not commit adultery.
That totally runs against loving your neighbor.
To commit adultery. You shall not steal that. If you're taking their stuff, you're not loving them.
We talk about that a lot in my house. Like that's not loving if you're stealing their stuff.
Right.
It's pretty self explanatory in this, that the goal is that we would love one another. How do we love one another? Don't take their stuff. Don't try to kill them. Don't take their wife. Don't covet and don't lie.
The goal is loving.
And yet these are all ways that we creep in to keep us from loving one another. Why? Because our flesh is strong.
And so the goal of all of this is that we would be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation that walks in the path of God's blessing by loving God and loving others.
And that as we do that the watching world goes, wait a minute, who has a God like that?
That the watching world goes, they're different.
How can I get it?
And we go, he gives it freely that he offers salvation before he calls for obedience.
He says, come to me and now live as my people.
That's what we're called to.
It's a pretty incredible calling that we get to be those people that identity, that mission. It's not about following a bunch of rules in order that God would love us.
That's never been it.
It's about, he's loved us, now let's live as his people in the path of blessing he's designed for us. And when we do that, we experience the fullness of his blessing.
Would you pray with me, Lord, this morning? As we look at your word and your commandments, Would your.
