Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Why Study the Ten Commandments - Part Two

The trouble with mankind is that, on the one hand, we don't know who gets to set the rules; but, on the other, we all want to set our own rules. We all want to be able to do our own thing. We all want to be able to decide for ourselves what is right and wrong.

The other way people respond is to rely on the shifting sands of public opinion to determine moraltiy. Whatever the majority decides is right must be right. Except that kind of thinking by the majority in Nazi Germany led to the attempt to exterminate the Jewish race in the Holocost. Who could honestly think that was right? A majority can be very, very wrong, and yet we want them to decide moraltiy? How foolish!

When I was little, I knew exactly what was right and wrong. It was whatever my dad said. If I didn't follow his rules, I'd get clobbered; but I knew exactly what was expected of me. Shouldn't we want to know what God expects? Shouldn't we want to know what God's rules are?

When I go for a drive, I really like it when they put those helpful signs along the road that tell me what the speed limit is. I know that if I disobey those signs, the nice policeman may come along and give me a ticket and my insurance will go up. What I hate is when I am on a stretch of roaad where there are no signs, and I have no idea how fast I can get away with going (If you know what I mean). I really want to know what the rules are and who the authority is.

Well, in this universe, God is the authority. He created us, so He can decide. He can set the rules. His rules are summarized in the Ten Commandments. In these commandments we find an all encompassing statement touching virtually every part of our lives. They give us the parameters by which we are to live. They don't cover every detail, rather they summarize God's requirements for life. The first four deal with our relationship with God, and the last six deal with our relationship to our fellow man.

Even these were summarized by Jesus in Matthew 22: 35-40, when one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying,
"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourswelf. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets."
The first commandment, loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind, is a summation of the first four commandments; and loving your neighbor as yourself is a summation of the last six. And they are tied together. You will never be able to love your neighbor as yourself until you first love God with all your heart. So these two summarize the Big Ten, But they themselves are a summary of a Bible full of rules. The Old Testament has a total of 660 separate commands. Combined, they are called the Law.

It's not like you have a Bible full of rules and regulations and the Ten Commandments are another ten added to the others. They are a summary that contain all the commandments. The others explain the Ten, the Ten explain the Two. If you want to know how you can love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, you can look at the first four commands. If you want to know how you can love your neighbor as yourself, you can look at the last six commands. Do you see? If you really loved God most, you wouldn't make any idols to other gods. You wouldn't blaspheme His name. You would take time each week to devote to Him. Do you see? That's what loving God looks like. This is why we need the Ten Commandments.

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