Top Ten

Exodus 20:3-16 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand [ generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
 
THE Ten Commandments are a foundation to our Christian life. Even though God gave these laws to the Jews about 1500 years before Jesus came in grace, the Law remains powerful and sustaining. Jesus taught the Law’s primacy in Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Some will say Jesus broke laws by living differently than the Pharisees approved. But Jesus, the Word of God made flesh (John 1), showed us how to truly live in the Law.
      That true life is the sum of the Law: Love God and love one another. (Mark 12) Love summarizes the Ten Commandments, all of God’s Law, the Prophets’ words and our Lord’s gospel. God loves us and brings us to him with his love. Love is the foundation of God’s character. 1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
      Our sin nature sees God’s laws as restrictive and judgmental. A saved soul knows God’s law is his love to draw us into a deeper living relationship with him and with his church.
 
LIFE Link: Love God and love one another.