My high school Sunday school teacher: said: I know some of you are not going to like what I am going to teach you. It has to be taught so that you will learn God’s ways and not your own. God will guide you as you learn with me the do’s and don’ts of this world. He had us do plays skits on each commandment. But what made it fun is we got to only do 1 commandment. Each commandment brought out hurt, anger, compassion and forgiveness and the will to not disobey but to work out righteousness and understand why we have to obey the commandments. Being a slave to righteousness is a good thing. This servitude means you let God dictate what you do, what you think, and what you say. You let His love direct your relationships. It is like the default setting on a computer or device. The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, theft, dishonesty, and adultery. The 10 commandments are 10 laws in the Bible that God gave to the nation of Israel after they left Egypt. The 10 commandments summarize the Old Testament Law. The first 4 commandments talk about our relationship with God. The last 6 commandments concern our relationships with other people. God wants His people conquering all of the difficulties and trials of life. He wants His people living full, victorious lives. This was the reason He gave the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel. He wanted His people to have the laws, the commandments that told them how to live, the commandments that would lead them to full, victorious lives. Jesus Christ told us to keep the Commandments because that is the evidence of our salvation, which happens by grace. If we are saved, we have the Holy Spirit which helps us obey God and overcome sin. We are a new creation. In Matthew 19:16, Jesus was asked what must be done to inherit eternal life. His answer: “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Jesus then listed several, including enough of the Ten Commandments to make clear which commandments He meant: “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (Matthew 19:18-19).
The Exodus version ESV Bible: Exodus 20:1-17
“You shall have no other gods before me.”
“You shall not make yourself a carved image, 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. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God are only worthy of worship, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
“You shall not murder.”
“You shall not commit adultery.”
“You shall not steal.”
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LORD. Romans 6:15-23
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Acts 1:3-8
Father God, how I long to be more child-like in my attitude, with the sort of faith that trusts You like a child, and whose heart is ever open towards You. Guide and teach me, Lord Jesus, to live in purity of heart and gentleness of spirit, so that Jesus may be reflected through me, to those with whom I come in contact today. I thank You and praise You that what is impossible for me is possible for You. Please help me to trust You in all things, and not have confidence in my own abilities and resources. I thank You, praise You and give You all the glory in Jesus Precious Name Amen.
“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
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