Read Exodus 20:16

“How do you know a [insert profession with bad reputation] is lying? Their lips are moving”. This joke plays on the cultural reputation of certain industries and certain people within them to lie, exaggerate, or make false claims to further their interests. Not like us. Honest as the day is long, right?

Wrong. We all lie, deceive, gossip and slander, and fail to stand up for the truth. The Ninth Commandment condemns us. Deceitful words destroy trust in society, in relationships, and offend God.  Using the capstone of truthfulness in court, the Ninth Commandment commands us not to lie and deceive, and to stand for the truth.

The Ninth Commandment forbids bearing “false witness against your neighbour” (Exodus 20:16). In other words, lying, deceiving, or omitting facts and the truth in a legal setting against any person who was on trial.

In New Zealand, lying in Court is taken seriously. The Crimes Act offers penalties for perjury of up to seven years, or fourteen for certain cases (eg, murder). This is with a legal system where we are “innocent until proven guilty” and with forensic evidence, DNA profiling, and at least in criminal cases, guilt beyond “reasonable doubt”. When justice miscarries, there are safeguards and prison is not always forever (though the stain of conviction usually lingers long after the sentence).

In Moses’ day, the stakes were higher. Many crimes were met with death. You were assumed guilty unless proven otherwise (why else would you be in front of the judge?), and conviction or otherwise relied entirely on witnesses… sometimes only one. A false accusation, and false witness could literally condemn someone to death.

This is why the Ninth Commandment singles out false witness in Court as the example of lying and deceit which is forbidden by God. Deceitful words destroy trust in society and destroy justice. False witness was forbidden; further, more than one witness was required in Israel to convict (Deut. 19:15), and failing to speak the truth was equally as wrong as lying (Lev. 5:1).

If this is true of the legal system, how also of everyday life. Lying and deceit ruin friendships, hurt relationships, destroy careers and livelihoods. Spreading gossip and rumours, either false or true (but to ears who do not need to hear), starts a forest fire of destruction (James 3). 

Taking words out of context is just as destructive; it bears false witness about what someone believes, and thinks the worst of them rather than the best. Omitting all the facts misleads and leads people astray. It causes hurt and harm, affecting reputations and relationships, destroying trust in and amongst society. 

Sadly in our society, fighting back against slander and libel takes deep pockets for lawyers expenses and time. False statements in the media can be challenged, but the retraction and apology gets buried far deeper than the original harmful statement. Offensive and demeaning comments flow easily onto social media feeds to reach millions, but the retractions and apologies struggle to reach hundreds.

While the world as a whole might treat the truth casually and relative to the individual (unless they are affected), God does not treat it casually. The Ninth Commandment forbids lies and deceptions that harm others. 

God condemned those who lied and cheated (eg, Hosea 4:2). He demonstrated how seriously he takes lying to him by killing Ananias and Sapphira for attempting to deceive the Church and the Holy Spirit (God himself) of their degree of generosity (Acts 5).

The Apostles single out lying, gossip, and slander as examples of conduct which Christians should not engage in (eg, Romans 3, James 3, 2 Cor. 12, Eph. 4). They did so not just for practical reasons, but because it violates God’s Law and offends his standard of holiness to which we should strive.

In a world which treats the truth as an internal matter, we are called to a harder task. To mirror the author of truth, and speak the truth… in love (Eph. 4:15). Not using the truth as a blunt weapon which can sometimes wound just like a lie, but lovingly and in a manner which seeks to draw people to Christ.

When others seek to gossip, we should close the conversation down; chances are, we do not need to hear it. When others seek to cut people down, we should seek to lift their reputations up. When others hide the truth to condemn, we should reveal it lovingly to condemn the guilty and free the innocent. When the temptation comes to lash out with untruthful words, we should hold our tongue.

Most of all, we should be truthful when we come in prayer to God, acknowledging our sins and shortcomings, our iniquities and transgressions. Not hiding or sliding, but trustingly confiding.

It was false witnesses, whose testimony did not even agree, that condemned the righteous Jesus to the Cross. There he suffered the ultimate penalty, so that our lies and deceit which just as surely sent him there might be forgiven by God. And then in knowing that truth, we are set free.

Read Exodus 20:15

Last year I saw a picture which stated “cattle on 1001st hill, owner unknown.” This joke refers to God describing how the cattle of a thousand hills belong to him (Psalm 50). Ultimately, everything belongs to God because he created it (Psalm 24:1) but he has granted to us the right to possess and enjoy it.

Since ultimately everything belongs to God and he dishes it out as he wills, God requires us to respect his division of material goods. The Eighth Commandment, which forbids stealing, demands that we respect what others have been given. 

While we tend to think about this purely in relation to people taking our stuff, theft goes beyond “liberating” goods and money to the way in which we interact with each other and God, both as individuals and society. 

Exodus 20:15 provides a straightforward statement commandment – “You shall not steal.” The simplest, and to us the most obvious prohibition here, is to take something that does not belong to us, whether it is money or possessions. 

It is fundamentally wrong for me to walk onto your property and steal your car or your laptop, or to steal your wallet from your pocket. Euphemising it as a “five finger discount” might be humorous in abstract, but when it happens to you, it hurts. Most people know it is wrong by “nature;” that’s why we have laws against it. It disrupts the bonds of trust in a community.

However, the Commandment against stealing goes further than actively taking property. The word for steal also refers to taking through a breach of trust, or taking by deceit. The spam caller who deceives a vulnerable person into handing over their credit card details to fix a “Windows problem” is stealing. So too the person who takes a payment to provide a good or service, and then does not deliver. Or the person who receives a service, then refuses to pay.

Fraud is a form of theft. If I use my privileged position with my employer to divert cash to my bank account, I have defrauded my employer. It’s theft, and I can expect serious consequences from the Law, let alone from God. The employer who does not pay his staff’s wages, or pays them far less than agreed, is equally a thief. 

Deliberately not paying your taxes is theft, as is deceiving the government by suggesting you have earnt less than you did. While I can’t agree with the political position that “taxation is theft”, it is certainly true that a government could use the state’s power to unjustly take property for themselves, or for a privileged group. In some times and places this has been and is the case.

Using positions of relative economic strength to steal from others also violates the spirit of the Eighth Commandment. Scripture encourages liberal giving and (interest free) lending to the poor, particularly amongst God’s people (Lev. 25:35-38). When we, or businesses, entrap the poor and vulnerable with lending which they cannot afford, or we take from them the necessities of life, we violate this commandment. 

On the flip side, those taking well-intended gifts of money or possessions by deceit or borrowing without intending to pay back is also theft.

We can even steal from God. God complained in Malachi that his people withheld tithes they owed him, and encouraged them to give to him and experience the resulting blessings (whether spiritual or physical, Mal. 3:6-12). Achan (in Joshua 7) stole from God and paid the price. 

Ultimately everything belongs to God, and we as believers ought to give cheerfully and sacrificially for his work and the poor (2 Cor. 9:7), not just of our possessions, but by devoting our lives as living sacrifices to God (Rom. 12:1).

When we deprive God of his due, or we take from others what belongs to them, we are declaring that we, not God, are better placed to determine what is owed to us. That we know better than God how his possessions should be distributed; primarily to us, not others! 

The truth is, we are all in our own individual ways, thieves. We do not have to have a white striped suit on to be a thief, it is the actions and the intent of the heart that betray us. We may not have stolen a million dollars or a television, but we deprive each other of what we could give, in time, gifts, and out of the richness of possessions we have. We have all deceived for our gain and others’ loss. We all hold back from God what we should give to him.

Thankfully, while we all violate this commandment in our own way, Jesus was numbered with the transgressors, dying next to thieves (Matt. 27:38), so that we may be forgiven by God. Instead of bearing the punishment for our theft, we are freed to enjoy and be good stewards of the things God has given us; to help each other, to share generously with those in need, and to bring glory to God.

Read Exodus 20:14

Unfaithfulness to the husband-wife union appears everywhere on our screens and in books today. From its portrayal in fiction to its glorification by elites and their media in real life, faithful marriage between men and women is less important than expressing “love,” or something.

While the world may not care about marital faithfulness, God does. The Seventh Commandment forbids all types of marital unfaithfulness, pointing to the ideal of the one man-one woman union of marriage, and its expression of God’s relationship to his people. This unfaithfulness goes beyond physical unfaithfulness to unfaithfulness of the heart, and calls us to loving devotion to God, to our spouses, and to marriage in a world which neglects all three.

In the second portion of the Ten Commandments, offences against other people have taken a special focus. The Fifth Commandment protects the relationships of superiors and inferiors (eg, parents and children, and more broadly government and citizens), while the Sixth Commandment protects the sanctity of life.

The Seventh Commandment protects the sanctity of the marriage relationship, which is the cornerstone of a functioning family and by extension, society. “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).

Relationships are built on trust. When one party is unfaithful, then trust is broken and affected, sometimes irreparably. This is true in business relationships and friendships; how much more in marriage. When a husband or wife is unfaithful, a bond of trust is broken. This truth was acknowledged by the nations surrounding Israel that they described adultery as “the great sin” and often imposed the death sentence for violators.

The commandment not to commit adultery forbids all forms of unfaithfulness to the marriage covenant. It forbids married couples engaging in relations outside of the relationship between husband and wife. It forbids those who are single from entering into such relations with someone who is married.

Adultery violates the Creation-order standard of marriage, ordained by God as a one-flesh union between a man and a woman (Gen. 2:24). Adultery is like a knife which cuts open this union; it destroys the physical and psychological trust which a man and woman must have to be “one flesh.” When that union is cut open, infections which hurt and destroy families and societies more easily slip in.

There are a number of other sexual sins which God forbids elsewhere (cf Ex. 22, Leviticus 18:6-30, 20:10-21, Deuteronomy). These sins all detract from the order of marriage and expression of love within the man-woman union created by marriage, but none is quite as damaging to marriage as adultery, which serves as the typical example of these sins within the Ten Commandments.

Marriage serves in Scripture as a picture of God’s relationship with his people (eg, Eph. 5:22-33, Rev. 20:6-9, Jer. 3:1-10, Mal. 2:10-16, Hosea 2). An attack on the sanctity of marriage is an attack on an institution which “speaks” to us about God’s love for his Church. Just as we ought to be faithful to our spouses, so too we must be faithful to God. It should not surprise us that unfaithfulness in one area can lead to unfaithfulness in the other.

Jesus goes beyond condemning adulterous acts, but reminds us that the intent of the Seventh Commandment goes to desires as well. Looking with lustful intent is committing adultery in the heart, even if the desire is never followed through (Matt. 5:27-30). 

The standard Jesus reminded us that the Seventh Commandment sets is a standard which we all, if we honestly reflect, cannot meet. Even David explicitly violated this commandment (2 Sam. 11-12). Whether before or during marriage, we all have been unfaithful in our hearts to the standard of purity set and proclaimed by example in this commandment.

Thankfully for us, God is both forgiving and faithful. While we are unfaithful, God is still faithful and forgiving, and promises to “betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD” (Hos. 4:19-20). 

Since Jesus suffered the penalty for adulterers, we are freed from its guilt and power, to “go, and… sin no more” (John 8:11). We must only confess our sin, as David did, and if we do that then we know that God is faithful and just to forgive us of these sins, and cleanse us from unrighteousness.

We can fulfill the Seventh Commandment positively as well. In forbidding unfaithfulness, it reminds us of the importance of faithfulness to our spouses. In a world which glamourises changing partners like changing shirts, loving and faithful devotion to our spouse stands out. By honouring and cherishing our spouses and the various marriages among our friends and family, we demonstrate our commitment to the Seventh Commandment.

And since marriage is a picture of God’s love for his people, it also reminds us all to honour and cherish our relationship with God. Loving devotion to God shows faithfulness to him, just as he has expressed his faithfulness to us, even when we were unfaithful.

Read Exodus 20:13

If you could pick one of the Ten Commandments which is least likely to annoy people, the Sixth Commandment is probably it. With the exception of psychopathic killers, people think murder is a bad thing. If only we thought through the implications of this commandment more.

The Sixth Commandment does not just forbid murder, but all forms of unlawful killing. More than that, it forbids the attitude of hate which is a type of murder in the heart. Sadly today in our country, too many unlawful forms of killing have been given the tick of approval, and we are all prone to hating someone enough to wish them dead. Thankfully, even murderers find forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

The Sixth Commandment is relatively short and simple to remember: “you shall not murder” (v.13). If you grew up memorising the commandments from the KJV, you probably learnt it as “thou shalt not kill.”

The word translated murder by most modern translations covers a broad range of killings, which is why it is sometimes translated as “kill”. More than murder is meant by the passage; the word translated murder in Hebrew includes also accidental manslaughter, manslaughter where you are partly at fault due to some foolish or deliberate act, and crimes of passion.

Not all forms of killing are forbidden though. Self-defence is not a violation of this commandment, nor is capital punishment by the Government for murder (given approval by God in Genesis 9, cf. Romans 13:4). Likewise, killing in war is not forbidden by this commandment, or God’s command to the Israelites to put the inhabitants of Canaan to death for their sins would have been sinful! And no, you do not need to give up bacon and steak because the killing of animals does not fall under this commandment.

More than just forbidding murder, but less than forbidding all killing, this commandment forbids all forms of unlawful killing of innocent people.

The basis for this Commandment is two-fold. Firstly, we are made in God’s Image (Genesis 1:26-7; 9:6). When we unlawfully kill someone, we are depriving them of their fellow image-bearing nature, which is an offense against the God who made us all.

Secondly, only God has the right to determine who lives and dies (or who may exercise that right under delegated authority from him), because he is the author of life and sovereign of everything (Job 14:5). If we take to ourselves the right to determine the end of someone’s days, we are seizing a privilege which belongs to God and putting himself in our place.

But the command not to unlawfully kill covers more than just committing the act, but the inner thoughts that motivate them. Jesus teaches us that murder comes from the heart (Matt. 15:19), and that anyone who is angry is liable to judgement (Matt. 5:21-26). The Apostle John tells us that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15).

Outward acts reflect inward nature. The anger in Cain’s heart led him to murder his brother (Gen. 4:8), and even more so Lamech (Gen. 4:19-24). So too, murder springs from anger in our hearts. To be angry enough to effectively wish someone’s death is just as wrong as following through.

Sadly we live in a culture where unlawful killings occur freely, and are even sanctioned by the State. Unwanted children are killed and disposed of as if this is the height of civilised freedom instead of evil barbarism. In recent times, so-called euthenasia and assisted suicide has been approved, throwing the elderly and infirm with their inconvenient cost on family and society on the scrapheap under the guise of “mercy”.

As believers we must do more than decline to exercise the legally-sanctioned options given to us, but actively seek its end. This could take political form, whether through petitions or marches, but also through “small rebellions” against the culture which enables it. Every time we step into someone’s life and help them value a life (theirs or another’s), whether very young or very old, healthy or sick, we take a stand against the culture of death.

We must also put to death hatred and envy in our own hearts. Instead of hating those who mean us harm, we should bless them. Murder in our hearts is just as bad, just as deserving of punishment, as putting our thoughts into action. In a world around where the main restraint on more death is the threat of the sword (Rom. 13:4), how amazing would be the example of people who are motivated by love rather than fear of retribution?

That we have to seek to put the anger of our hearts to death shows that we cannot, and have not, kept the Sixth Commandment. We are all, in our own ways, guilty of murder, if not by deed then by our thoughts. Thankfully, Christ never murdered, in his heart or otherwise. Instead, Jesus offered himself as an innocent sacrifice together with thieves and murderers, so that our murderous sin can be forgiven.

Read Exodus 20

New Years often bring new resolutions, or plans for changes in our lives. Even though 2020 was comparatively blessed for us in New Zealand compared to most parts of the world, many of us were still happy to see the back of it, and hope especially for something better in 2021; both in terms of the pandemic or personal circumstances and trials we endured.

But whether we are facing a new year in these “unprecedented times,” or a new year in “precedented times”, it is still important to look back before moving forward. By looking back, I mean looking back at God’s goodness and mercy over more than the previous twelve months, but our whole lives and through time. When we look back and see God’s goodness, it helps us move forward and puts resolutions and plans in perspective.

Before we move forward through the remainder of the Ten Commandments and the Book of Exodus, we should look back and see what God did for the Israelites. After all, the Ten Commandments begin with God reminding them that he is “the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). 

The God who is setting the terms of their relationship is the God who freed them from slavery. The Israelites were not resolving to meet a standard in order to gain admission to God’s presence, but were already in a privileged position of relationship. The Ten Commandments were not the standard of admission, but revelation to help the Israelites show heartfelt thanks to God for the grace they had received.

God sent Jacob and his sons to Egypt as shelter from a famine, and there they grew into a mighty nation. But the Egyptians forgot their debt owed to God and his servant Joseph who saved them, and enslaved the Israelites whose numbers they had come to fear (Exodus 1).

The Israelites cried out to God for help, and in time God raised up an Israelite named Moses who would reluctantly agree to act as God’s spokesman, and ultimately lead the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 2-4).

What followed next was God demonstrating his sovereignty over all things, and his supremacy over the so-called gods of Egypt. Plagues swept over the land of Egypt, even as hard-hearted Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. Finally, after one last terrible blow against the firstborn of every Egyptian, the Israelites were set free with the riches of Egypt plundered from their captors (Exodus 5-12).

The deliverance of Israel was not yet complete. God led the Israelites to the shores of the Red Sea, where Pharaoh had pursued them with his army, realising the economic effects of a large portion of the workforce disappearing. There, God led the Israelites through the sea, and finally defeated Pharaoh and his army by drowning them under the waves when they tried to follow (Exodus 14-15).

Then, as if that were not enough, God provided the Israelites with leadership, with directions, with water, and with food to eat in the barren desert terrain (Exodus 16-18). He taught them how to come into his special presence, as they were about to meet with God especially at the foot of Mount Sinai (Exodus 19). Finally, he graciously revealed his holiness and majesty to them in the Ten Commandments, reminding them of their sinfulness and their need for not just a physical redeemer, but a spiritual redeemer as well (Exodus 20).

It is in the context of this great redeeming act which God provided the Ten Commandments to Israel. He had already saved them and claimed them as his. How they moved forward in relationship with him was dependent on their heart response: would they see their sin, trust in God, and move forward seeking to obey God’s commands, or would they move away from him?

We are in a similar position as we look back. God’s story of redemption does not end at Sinai, but continues through hundreds of years, until the arrival of Christ, our redeemer. Through Christ’s sacrifice as our passover, we are redeemed from slavery to sin and the inevitable death that follows. In Christ we are released from the burden of our sin and our inability to keep God’s Holy Law, to relationship with him.

So if our resolutions for this year involve some greater desire or hope to serve God and do his will (a great resolution!), looking back reminds us that we do not do so to try and earn enough credits in God’s books to merit heaven. Instead, God has already merited it for us in Jesus, and freely given it to us despite our unworthiness.

Whatever this year brings, and whatever we manage to achieve in our personal lives or our service to God, it is not to earn God’s favour that we act, but because God has given us his favour.

Looking back, we see God has saved and blessed us richly in Christ. So we can move forward, serving God in thanks and hoping for better things.

Read Exodus 20:12

Summary

We live in an individualistic society, where laws and culture suggest that the individual and their desire is the fundamental unit. But if history tells us anything, it is that societies that last are those built on the family unit – mother, father, and children. When families flourish, societies flourish.

The Fifth Commandment serves as a bridge between the first four commandments, which deal with obligations to God, and the last five commandments, which deal with obligations to each other. The Fifth Commandment instructs us to honour parents, and indeed as a broader principle to all authority relationships. The commandment comes with a promise which encourages us to show respect, knowing that we will experience blessing from God.

Our Passage Explained

The first aspect to note of the Fifth Commandment is that it requires the honour of parents. The word used and translated as honour means to give weight or weigh heavily on. This commandment forbids treating “lightly” your parents; instead giving them the due respect they deserve as long as they are alive.

The way in which honour and respect is paid will depend on the family life-cycle. For young children, this commandment requires obedience to the reasonable demands and authority of parents. 

For young adults, the dynamic changes as parents (should) progressively relinquish control. Instead the relationship involves respecting boundaries set while under their roof, respectful talk of one’s parents, and listening to their advice. For adults, respect involves loving and appreciating them, and ensuring that as parents enter more vulnerable life stages they are cared for.

This respect is due to both mother and father. In different societies and ages, and even within families, one of these figures typically takes unbiblical precedence. While the Bible is caricatured as a manual for patriarchy, this passage clearly points out that mothers are equally important authority figures to fathers, not more or less. Both figures are important to the well-being of families, and society.

As with various commandments, the principle extends beyond those directly stated. Parents are the first and primary authority figure that children relate to; others like the state and the church come later. But learning respect for parents helps with broader respect for wider authority. Where this is neglected, or the duty is abused, the consequences often seep broadly into a society and lead to its hurt.

The Fifth Commandment is so important that it comes with a promise of blessing. The Israelites were instructed to honour their parents “that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (v.12). The continued blessing of God, expressed as a type of his great redemptive love by the gift of the Promised Land, was tied to how they treated their parents.

This should not be interpreted as a blanket promise that all people who respect their parents will live long, financially prosperous lives. Rather, what is expressed is experiencing the fullness of God’s blessing, which is why Paul can quote this verse and apply it to New Testament believers in Ephesus (Eph. 6:2-3).

If God is so willing to bless those who respect their parents, it is no surprise that he also takes a dark view of those who do not. Thus we see in Scripture examples of God condemning those who rebel against parental authority (Lev. 20:9, Deut. 21:18-21, Prov. 30:11-14). Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who attempted to sidestep their God-given societal responsibility to provide for vulnerable, aged parents by “devoting” their wealth to God (Matthew 15:3-9).

Our Passage Applied

As with any commandment where obligations of respect and honour are established, there is the sad reality that both parties fail. Ultimately, respect is due to parents despite the fact that they fail to act in ways which do not exasperate their children (Eph. 6:4). Some parents manipulate or abuse their children, or hurt or affect their relationships with others (such as the other parent).

This commandment does not require children to put up with abuse, but to “respect the office” as we can. Like David (and to a lesser extent, Jonathan), we may need to distance ourselves physically and emotionally from parents who harm, but we should still seek to respect parents who hurt and harm (1 Sam. 19-31).

But just as parents fail their children, so too children fail their parents. We are all guilty of failing to respect our parents, whether through inattention, rebellion, or words. As children, we did not obey our parents as we ought; as adults, we may sometimes struggle and get frustrated by helping bear the burdens that old age brings our parents. 

Unlike us, Christ was a completely dutiful son, both to his earthly parents and to his Heavenly Father. Even as he suffered on the Cross for our sins, Jesus ensured that his mother, Mary, was taken care of (John 19:26-7). His devotion to his family was only exceeded by his devotion to God.

Christ fulfilled the Fifth Commandment on our behalf. Where we failed to give due respect, Jesus succeeded. Through Jesus’ obedience, we enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings.

Read Exodus 20:8-11

Summary

I need a rest. For most of this year it feels like life on every front has been full of pressure, uncertainties, deadlines, and demands. Were it not for each Sunday, when I place aside the demands of work and chores (I cannot place aside the demands of my kids!) and focus on worshiping God, I would have collapsed in a heap. Sound familiar to many of you?

In the Fourth Commandment, the importance of rest and worship is highlighted. God positively reminds us to set aside work and to rest – instead focusing our time on the worship of God. We do so both because it reflects God’s creative pattern, but also because it reflects God’s redemption, when we finally enter into God’s eternal rest.

Our Passage Explained

The Fourth Commandment begins with the instruction to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (v.8). The Israelites were to remember that God had instituted a day of rest, and a pattern of work and rest in their life. They already had some understanding of this through the teaching of Genesis (whether spoken or by now written), and in the pattern of God’s provision of manna.

The day of rest was not theirs alone though, but was set apart for God. They were commanded to keep it holy, not just for rest and relaxation but for divine service and worship. Thus, while all of their life was a time for worship, the Sabbath was a special particular day where they gathered together to worship God.

The Sabbath command importantly does not lower the importance of daily work; it just recognises its ordinariness. “Six days you shall labour, and do all your work” (v.9) indicates that there is not a higher calling of perpetual rest while minions do the drudge work, but the ordinary pattern of life includes six days in which we labour at our various duties.

On the other hand, “the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God” (v.10). It does not belong to us (though it was made for us, not us for the Sabbath – Mark 2:27) but to God. But it does release us from the work of every other day of the week, so we can rest and worship God.

This release extended not just to the heads of the household (the husband and wife), but to children, servants, animals, and even foreigners who were living amongst the religious community (v.10). Everyone, from the household head to the lowliest servant or the pack mule, was released from the obligation to work. 

Non-citizens who came from other lands to live with the people under their protection and rule were also obliged to respect the God-given pattern of life; but also to benefit from it too. The Israelites could not transfer the burden of work onto non-believers (or religious seekers) while they went to services and rested from their labours.

The Israelites were to follow this pattern not just because God commanded it, but because it reflected God’s creative pattern. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh (v.11; cf. Genesis 1-2). It is the basic pattern of Creation. God intended for Israel to follow his pattern, and to experience the blessing that comes with enjoying the Sabbath which God blessed and made holy in his creative act (v.11).

The other reason for the Sabbath rest was it pointed forward to the greater rest found in Jesus. God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, and gave them rest in him. God would soon send his promised, anointed Messiah to save all those who trusted God from their sins and to bring them into the eternal rest (Hebrews 4, Matthew 11:28).

The death and resurrection of Christ is the reason why for us, the Sabbath has moved from Saturday to Sunday (the first day of seven, aka the “eighth day”). We set aside the Lord’s day (Rev 1:10) for the public worship of God (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2). By doing this, we signal we are entering by faith, in a partial but one day complete manner, the eternal rest of God.

Our Passage Applied

Like the other commandments before, the Fourth Commandment, though in a different time and context, still applies to us today. It reminds us of the importance of resting from our labours and trusting in God to provide. It reminds us of the importance of worshiping God, every day yes by our thoughts and acts but especially publicly one day in seven.

Rather than focusing on the negative of what it stops us doing, we should focus on the positive. The Sabbath was made for us, not us for the Sabbath. God gives us the Sabbath so we can set aside daily worries (as much as possible) and cast our burdens upon Christ.

We should worry less about exhaustive lists of inappropriate acts, and focus on the principle; resting from our daily grind of work and consumerism to rest in God and find delight and enjoyment in him and what he has given us.

Read Exodus 20:7

Summary

Many years ago I was dining with some university acquaintances when one of them uttered a blasphemous phrase in my hearing. Remembering that I was a Christian and perhaps with a vague knowledge of the third commandment, he apologised to me for his words. While I appreciated his respect (at that point) for my faith, it was to God that he truly owed an apology. 

While we tend to think the Third Commandment forbids using God’s names as an expletive, the commandment covers more than that. It reminds us God is holy, and we must always treat him that way in all our acts. We must not misuse God’s name for false worship, speaking blasphemy, or treating God like our cosmic servant. And that respect must extend to all those whom God has made.

Our Passage Explained

The Third Commandment requires that “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” (v.7). Taking God’s name in vain is literally to lift up God’s name to emptiness or falsehood, rather than to the holy standard that is true of everything about God.

Taking God’s name in vain is not a costless exercise but has real, eternal consequences. God warns that if we treat his holy name with disrespect, we cannot expect to escape some form of divine punishment.

The most common way we think of violating this commandment is through using God’s name as an expletive or in an empty way. God’s name is not a curse word, or a swear word. To treat God’s name as something profane is to empty it of its holiness. 

Likewise, there might be times to cry out to God, such as when we cry out in prayer for help to God as we witness something terrible. But finding a new favourite brand of ice cream is not truly an “OMG” moment, and empties God’s name of its holiness.

We must also avoid using God’s name in false worship. False worship is quite broad, but includes any sort of superstition, claiming that God approves of a false teaching (when Scripture clearly states he does not), or using God’s name to approve of worship of which he does not approve.

Thus we must be careful to conform our worship to God’s Word, and to centre our worship on God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not use God’s name or twist his words to suggest that God approves of the latest societal sin, or in connection with deceptive practices under the guise of ministry which part people from their money.

We also cannot treat God like he is our cosmic servant. The Second Commandment forbids the making of images of God, which in the context of Israel at Sinai made God like the deities of the pagan nations around. Those images made the deity in a sense local, and thus controllable.

A name in Scripture, and in the days of Moses, was intimately associated with that person’s character and being. Pagan nations invoked the names of their deities like a special password which unlocked new features – rain, victory in war, or something else desired.

The Third Commandment forbids this type of thinking. God is holy and eternal, transcending all things. Knowing God’s name does not allow us to use it emptily, as if we can ring a bell and demand God comes to grant us our wishes. Instead, we ought to pray to God seeking his will, and that if our prayers align with his will, trust he will grant them.

Our Passage Applied

Our conduct towards other people must also treat them with respect as a consequence of the Third Commandment. Everyone is made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-7). When we treat them with disrespect, we are suggesting that someone beautifully crafted as resembling God’s very nature is of little worth. 

When we spread rumours, slander, gossip, and other things which do not treat people with respect, we are treating Image Bearers as not worthy of honour and respect. The Apostle James reminds us that when we do that, we are effectively treating the Lord Jesus with the same disrespect (James 3:1-12).

That goes beyond disrespect to people, but to breaking vows and promises we have made to others. Breaking a vow or a promise not only affects the way we are perceived by others, but suggests that the value of the person whose trust we have breached is less than ours. 

Even more so, when we do so with God as a witness to our vow. When we make that worse by adding in God’s name, we defame God before the world by identifying our character with his.

When we read of how easily we fail to acknowledge God’s holiness in speech and act, we can only acknowledge our sinfulness. Thankfully, Christ never took God’s name in vain, but always honoured God in his speech and his deeds. In Christ, God holds us guiltless because Jesus took the punishment for our guilt in taking God’s name in vain.

Read Exodus 20:4-6

Summary

What does God look like? It’s a question many children ask their parents. Perhaps we mentally think of God as an old man in a white sheet, like the painting on the roof of the Sistine Chapel. But should we think of God in this way?

While the First Commandment requires the exclusive worship of God, the Second Commandment requires us to worship God without creaturely representations of him. The consequences of doing so (or not) will reflect in how we teach our children about God, and have effects on the relationship of God to our descendants. Instead, we should worship and know God in the way in which he has revealed himself to us.

Our Passage Explained

v4

The Second Commandment begins with a command forbidding the making of images. “You shall not make for 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” (v.4).

It is certainly true that this commandment forbids making physical idols of fake gods to worship, but the First Commandment has already forbidden the worship of anyone or anything except God. The main thrust of the Second Commandment is forbidding the making of images which supposedly represent God for worship.

The nations surrounding Israel made idols of wood, stone, or precious metals which represented their deities. Thus, the local deity might be represented by a bull or an eagle. Since there is a physical representation of the deity, there is a sense in which the deity is localised, and thus accessible and potentially controllable by people (eg, see Judges 18 where an idol is “liberated” by the Danites).

God is not local, and certainly cannot be controlled. He is not to be worshiped as we desire, but instead in the way he commands, and worshiped as he has revealed himself. God is spirit, and those who worship him must do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). God is Creator, and cannot (and must not) be confused with his Creation, whether as a person or a lion or a fish.

There is only one legitimate image of God in all Creation – human beings who are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26). Jesus, as the foremost expression of humanity and the very image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) is the greatest legitimate expression of what God is like. Not in our physical characteristics, but in our mental, emotional, and spiritual capacity. To reduce God to a human statue misrepresents God.

v5-6

The seriousness of keeping this command is clear in the statement which God makes. “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God” (v.5). God takes the worship of statues or physical representations of him very seriously: they arouse jealousy.

While we tend to think of jealousy as a negative attribute (confusing it with envy), jealousy is good when it is expressed as a desire for what you are entitled to. God, as Creator, is entitled to worship solely of himself as he is, not as we imagine him, or shared with anything else. Anything other than the relationship God establishes threatens its integrity.

The integrity of the relationship is so important that for those who make false idols, God will punish “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me” (v.5).

False images lead to false and sinful understanding of God and the relationship with him, violating the covenant relationship (“hate”). This is then taught to children and grandchildren. Sin leads to judgement, which comes on the descendants of the first idolators who led their children astray.

For the many “thousands” who love God and keep his commandments, God will instead show “steadfast love” (v.6). God promises to fulfill his covenant promises and blessings to those who worship God as he is, not something else. This blessing flows to the children who learn of and trust in God as he really is.

Our Passage Applied

The commandment for us remains just the same. We must worship God as he has revealed himself and as he has required: in Christ, through his Word and the sacraments, received by faith, in spirit and in truth.

We must avoid any representation of God, whether physical or in our heads, as if God is a part of Creation, or that makes him like an animal or created being.

We must also take care to teach our children how to worship God in the way he desires, and not lead them astray through false ideas about God. How we worship God (or not) is what our children see and learn. If we want our children to love and worship God, we must start in the home.

God is not the subject of our imagination, to represent through some image from creation. We do not need statues or paintings to represent God; he has revealed himself to us through the Bible and in Jesus Christ.