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Exodus 20:14
The Seventh Commandment
May 18, 2008
Exordium: Last week we saw how God had flung a fiery ring around life with the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not kill.” In fact, we derived part of our Church’s vision from a positive look at that commandment of God.
Today as we approach the Seventh Commandment we see that God is safeguarding the source of life in marriage and the family. He puts His protective mantle around the relation between husband and wife and children with these words, “You shall not commit adultery.”
Explication: God being all wise does more than one thing with every action of His. God took this Commandment and expanded it through the lips of His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ in His earthly ministry.
Listen to His words from the Sermon on the Mount. ”You have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it for you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Matthew 5: 27-29)
Jesus was not saying that a look is the same as the act. But rather the look is the root or the beginning of the act. It can easily lead to the act but the act is a far more serious and heinous a crime than the look. (ref. James 1:15)
Exodus 20:13
The Sixth Commandment
May 11, 2008
Exordium: A year has passed since you took the courageous step of calling me to work with you for the glory of God and the building of His Kingdom. Now it is time to cast a vision as to where we go from here.
Our goal has been to worship God together rightly. We are still learning that and that commitment does not change. What I am proposing this morning is not a replacement but an extension of the worship into the world.
After Isaiah’s great experience of worship recorded in chapter six of his prophecy when the presence of God filled the temple and humbled and overwhelmed him, there was a question from God, “Whom shall I send and who will go for me?” Whereupon Isaiah answered “Here am I, send me.” He was being called out of the temple worship experience into a place where people in need were waiting. That is what happened on the Day of Pentecost. They were worshipping Christ and prying to Him, when the Holy Spirit sent them into the streets to meet human need.
That is the direction of the vision…out of the “Upper Room” into the streets of the City. This is even so in the life of the Lord Jesus. He and Peter, James and John were with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration along with Moses and Elijah. It was a glorious moment and Peter would have stayed there if he could, but the Master took them back down into the valley where a boy was in desperate need of Christ’s healing power.
Explication: Why the Sixth Commandment as the occasion? Because this word from God centers on life–our life and the life of others. “You shall not kill”. “You shall do no murder”, as some translations have it.
The Reformers taught on the Commandments too, and when they did they were careful to point out the positive as well as the negative aspects of the Commandment. Not only “don’t do this”, but instead “do this”. I want to do that too. So today we will major on the positive aspects of this great word from God.
Negatively, the command calls us not to murder others or ourselves, and not to indulge in hidden murder, which is a built upon anger, envy, hatred, or desire for revenge. The Lord Jesus brought us back to these dangerous emotions as preludes to murder itself. They are dangerous in the life of the church or in society, wherever they are. James tells us that this is where wars come from.
Normally one would expound all these negative acts with severe warnings, but today I want to play side B, which is the positive meaning of the Sixth Commandment. I want to take a fresh look at this command with you. Read the rest of this entry »
Exodus 20:12
The Fifth Commandment
May 4, 2008
Exordium: I have suggested to some of you that you sit down together with ice cream or a favorite dessert and let the Dad ask the question, “Who are we as a family? What is important to us?” That is another way of asking, “What are the core values of our family?”
Then if you list the qualities that define your family, I am sure that respect would be high on the list, along with words like safety, fun, no abuse verbal or physical, and hospitality. But that word respect would be uppermost. Where does it come from?
Explication: The Fifth Commandment, the beginning of the second half of the ten, is sometimes called the second table of the Law. The first table had to do with our duties toward God, and now the second half sets forth our duties to each other.
That is how Jesus summed up the commandments. “Love the Lord thy God with all they heart, mind, soul and strength and” (now comes the second table) “and thy neighbor as thyself.”
The starting place for loving others is our own family. That’s why God gives us this commandment. “Honor your father and mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.”
Number five is the heart of the commandments, because it is at the heart of life.
LET ME SEE IF I CAN ILLUSTRATE THIS COMMANDMENT
First Illustration: A Medical Student
This young man in another city was a student in the Medical College. He came to me one day with the desire to join the Church. After we talked a while and I could see his real love for Christ and the Scriptures, I asked him if he had his father’s permission to do so. He explained to me that there was a rift between them and it would be very hard for him to do so. I pressed the matter with him and he agreed to try. In going to his father, he did not receive permission but he did apologize for his distance and there was a beginning of healing. About 6 months later, his father gave him permission to join the church, explaining that he wanted to rotate off the church’s board before his son’s name came up requesting transfer. Read the rest of this entry »
Exodus 8-12
April 27, 2008
Exordium: The Fourth Commandment has been given bad press. The Adversary wants you to resent it, perhaps despise it as negative, to ignore it, to forget it as obsolete and irrelevant to modern life.
But the commandment remains in spite of all the attacks made upon it. And when the prophet Isaiah sings about it, he gives us by the spirit a proper attitude towards it. Call the Sabbath a delight.
Explication: The Command is both positive and negative. The positive is the most important and God puts it first. “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” The word “remember” does not mean merely memory, but to celebrate it–commemorate God’s goodness in giving it to us.
God has hallowed it, that is, He has set it apart from the other days. It is unique, not ordinary, not just another day. God has put a holy luster on it–a kind of halo around it as His prized possession. It is to be cherished and made sparkling each week as it returns.
There are prohibitions in the Command of course, because God wants practical signs of our keeping it holy to Him, that is, a difference in our lives because we are His people, from others in the way we keep His day. He wants to be able to see how we actually carry out His will on this day He made.
Isaiah wants us to see the day as a delight to our eyes. Think of the delight of a child in Christmas morning or in a birthday party with gifts and cake. Or family dinner that honors that child. Think of Sunday in that way and it will not be hard to keep it.
How do we delight in the Lord’s Day?
I. DELIGHT IN HIS CREATION
The Mediaeval Christians knew how to live. They celebrated what God had made as the seasons turned round and round. God is good, life is good because God has made it and they rejoiced in the returning of the Lord’s Day each week. Their rejoicing found its culmination in the feast of the Corpus Christ – the body and blood of the Saviour because He had become man and entered into their daily lives and given Himself for them and their salvation. God has filled life with hope, songs and joy. Let us also delight in God’s ways with us. Read the rest of this entry »
