God gave ten to Moses. Jesus told a lawyer that there were two. So who’s right? And why do we have to follow any of them anyway since we’re born again believers in Christ? Even the word “command” is an imperative. It says forcefully, “You have to do it (or not do it) — OR ELSE! In our modern-day, sensitivity-focused society, commands are still often required to get the job done, be it the military or the workplace.
Aside from our daily dose of functional commands, God’s commands are centered on our relationships. Jesus takes God’s ten and sums them up into two categories: Love God; and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). The first four of The Ten (Exodus 20) refer to your relationship to God: 1. no other gods; 2. no idolic images; 3. no swearing (in God’s name); and 4. rest once a week, just like God rested.
The last six are people points: 5. honor your parents; 6. don’t kill; 7. don’t have illicit sex; 8. don’t steal; 9. don’t lie; 10. don’t desire what everybody else has. Jesus said that if you truly love God, you’ve got the first four covered, and if you truly love your neighbor, you’re home free with the other six.
And, so that it’s not misunderstood, he gives a great example of a neighbor — actually a worst case scenario for a Jew. A Jewish guy encounters a Samaritan (hated by the Jews, by the way) who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead. Others avoid the victim, or avoid getting involved, but the Jewish guy not only saves the injured Samaritan’s life, but provides for him until his health is restored.
But Jesus, over the period of his ministry, went way beyond just talking about the rules. He taught that a true child of the kingdom wouldn’t have to remember the rules, that God was already at work in our own common sense to do that which is right and reject the wrong. He prepared the disciples (and us) for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that we might always know God’s will, feel God’s love, and recognize God’s discipline.
While it appeared that Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments, if you consider his whole teaching, he was actually showing us that loving our neighbor IS loving God. It is, in fact, the highest form of love. The good Jew in the parable wasn’t going around looking for someone to show love to; the opportunity was right in his path. How many wounded souls have we bypassed because we were on our way to “do the Lord’s work?”
And now a word about repentance. I was asked by a teenager recently if God would forgive her if she did this bad thing or that bad thing. I told her that God was always ready to forgive, but what he desired more for her was that she stopped doing the bad things, and, more importantly, that she would want to stop doing them. To this she replied, “But I can’t help it; I’m a teenager.”
She vocalized what many have silently used as their reason for not living right, that they should get a pass in this or that phase of their life because everybody knows that they’re expected to fail. This thinking is what makes the ever-popular plan of salvation, at best strained, and at worst, dangerous. God wants us to be good. He commands us to be good. A perfect child of the kingdom can do no less.
Are we God’s children now? Yes. Are we children of the kingdom? Not yet, but we’re working on it. We do fail. But we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over it. Neither should we be apathetic about it. That makes us pathetic. We’re God’s children, remember? We can do better. We will do better. As we yield to his Spirit for direction, as we turn forcefully from the evil that desires us, as many times as it takes, then we shall begin to know God’s love and will feel at home with the good. We will also recognize our neighbor, a weary traveler on the same journey. And we will strengthen one another as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
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