No, I am not referring to the epic movie starring Charlton
Hesston. I am referring to the list of 10
principles outlined in the book of Exodus 20, then again in Deuteronomy 5, and
referenced again by Christ when He says “if you love me, keep my commandments”,
and again by John when he foresaw the last servants of Christ who lived in the
end of days who had “the testimony of Jesus and kept his Commandments”. You see these ‘laws’ if you want to call them
that are more of a definition of
what it means to love, than absolute legal declarations. Christ Himself referred to this when He said
“you keep the letter of the law, but not its spirit”. The law states “thou shalt not kill”, but to
Christ “hate” of another person in your mind and thoughts, was equally guilty
of “killing”. The same was true of
“Lust” and “Adultery”. The thought, even
without the consummated action, was enough to break down the laws of love.
So why is this even important? There is a school of thought among Christians
that everything in the Old Testament of the Bible outlines God as a more or
less cruel dictator, and was therefore revised by Christ. That Christ somehow did away with all the
Mosaic laws which include the 10 we are discussing today. But this thinking in only another attempt at
undermining the character of God. After
all, if God is some sort of raging dictator in the Old Testament, why is his
human personification so gentle and loving in the form of Christ. We have already discussed the fact that God
has nothing at all to do with evil. So
defining God in the Old Testament in a different way than the New Testament is
a logical inconsistency
that cannot be reconciled with what we know to be true. God must be the same always. He does not change. So if He is love in the New Testament, He
must have been love in the Old.
The original 10 Commandments were broken down into the first
4 which gave us a basic definition of how to love God, and the last 6 which
gave us the fundamentals for how to love each other. The first 4 commandments call for us to … 1.)
Recognize there is a God, and who He is 2.) Serve only the real God 3.) Do not
worship idols or things made with your hands 4.) Remember to rest on Sabbath
and think of God. These basic commandments
are the fundamentals for having a relationship with God. We recognize He exists. We choose to serve Him alone. We do not follow after the things we make, or
own, but after God. And finally we
recognize that we need time with God to build a relationship with God. We
need to break away from our daily routines of work and self, and
focus our attention back on God. That is
why He created the Sabbath in the first place.
In our discussions we have already covered all 4 of these ideas without
ever thinking of them as ‘commandments’.
In fact they seem rather self-evident, and relatively ‘easy’ to
understand. The reason these concepts
were outlined was for a generation of people who had become so enslaved by evil
thinking, they had forgotten them altogether.
The same could be said for folks all throughout history, even in our own
day, but ideally not for readers of this blog. J
The second 6 Commandments outline the basics of how to love each other. 5.) Respect your parents 6.) Do not kill /
murder 7.) Do not commit adultery 8.) Do not steal 9.) Do not lie and 10.) Do
not covet. These basic tenants have
become actual laws in most modern societies as they outline a boundary of
respect between peoples. But the
intentions here were for far more than simple boundary definitions, this was
intended to begin to show us how to love.
You cannot claim to love someone, yet continue to treat them with
disrespect, violence, lust, theft, lies, and jealousy. It does not work. More the definition of dysfunction than of
love. But unfortunately in our world
today, we think it is OK to show one or more of these traits when involved in a
loving relationship with another. The
idea that any of these, are at any time acceptable, is a product of evil design
and intent. To love each other, we must
learn to treat each without any of these evil thoughts, intentions, or worse
actions. For more on the topic of how to
love each other, there is a wonderful addendum to these principles in 1
Corinthians 13.
So why refer to a definition of how to love as
“Commandments?” Turns out the entire
government of Heaven and the Universe is based on the simple principle of loving each other. More to the point, loving others more than
loving yourself. This is exemplified in
the very character and person of Jesus Christ in his life on our earth. It is also seen in God the Father as He was
willing to give up His only Son for us.
God Himself demonstrated the very principles He asks us to discover and
embrace. When Christ was here, He
summarized the 10 Commandments into 2 that would also highlight our thoughts
and motives – Love God with all your HEART, mind, and soul; and Love man more
than you love Yourself. Note Christ did
not say, “forget about Moses, the law, and the prophets”. He said He was here to “fulfill” the law –
NOT – do away with the law.
When a law is broken, there is a penalty assigned. When man broke the laws of God by embracing
evil we incurred the penalty of the law which like all evil is death. Christ came to “fulfill” the penalty of the
law on our behalf. We could not be saved
if He had not come. Note that the laws
of love existed before the 10 commandments gave them an outline, and will exist
long after all have chosen to forsake evil eternally. The laws, like the love they define, do not
ever go away nor does the penalty for breaking them. What changes is our desire to keep them. What
changes is us. We learn
not to embrace evil ever again. We learn
to trust God and not ever break trust with Him again. We come into conformity with the law, based
on our own decisions to follow a God of love.
We are ever learning what it means to love. This is the nature of the gift that has been
given to us. God is writing his “laws”
in our hearts and our minds through the process of following Him.
So was there anything that passed-away with Christ on the
cross? Yes. An entire method of worship and sacrifice
ended at the cross. The curtain that
divided the Holy place from the Most Holy place in the Jewish temple was torn
in half without seen hands when Christ died.
No more were we to bring spotless sheep to kill as a symbol of the
coming Messiah. The symbols had been fulfilled
in the actual body of Christ. No more
would there be a symbolic day of atonement.
The real day was here. No more
would we sprinkle blood on the altar.
The most precious of all Blood had been shed. An entire system of worship designed to look
forward to the coming Messiah was ended at the cross. This entire system went away. But NOT the definitions of marriage, or justice,
or love, or of how to eat healthfully, or of how to avoid evil. These tenants survived the cross as they are
eternal in nature. We need no symbols in
our worship of today (post Messiah). But
we do need more than ever to learn how to love each other.
After all the last command Christ gave us was “to Love each
other”. In doing this the world would
know we belong to Him. Think of it. The simple act of men and women who love each
other would be enough to distinguish us from the rest of the world. We were not to judge each other. We were not
to condemn each other. We
were simply to love each other. Loving
each other would turn out to be more than enough ‘work’ for most of us. You mean I gotta love ‘that guy’? He smells.
He’s dirty. Worse yet He is
Republican, you know how hard it is to love THOSE people … Yup, we are told to love them all. More so, we are told to love those who hate
us. Love Osama. Love those who would kill us. Love them all, just like God loves them
all. This turns out to be very hard
sometimes. But it is the basis of
Heaven’s government. It is the founding
characteristic of God Himself. And it is
an eternal learning lesson we will never tire of learning from. Love is power. God is Love.
Defining love is defining God…
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