“You Shall Not Murder” (Exodus 20:13)
The Sixth Commandment: You Shall Not Murder In such polarizing times it is difficult to maintain a godly posture towards those we disagree with. We are quick to allow our political allegiances to determine how we think about and treat others. If we follow the attitudes of many of our favorite radio and cable tv pundits, we may find ourselves not only in fundamental disagreement with our opponents, but we will begin to despise everything about them. What is most…
“Honor the Authorities” (Exodus 20:12)
The Fifth Commandment: Honor the Authorities Several values have shaped American culture since our founding. Those who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower were mostly Puritans with an appreciation for Reformed theology. They sought freedom of religion and took extreme measures in order to find that freedom. Half of the pilgrims died during their first winter in Plymouth. November 11, this year marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing at Cape Cod. Although there was a strong Christian influence…
The Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Parents
The first four commandments focused on our relationship with God. Beginning with the fifth commandment we transition to our relationship with one another. We summarize the whole law with one word, “love”. We are called to love God in commandments one through four. Then we are called to love one another in commandments five through ten. This is the commandment all the parents have been waiting for! Children, listen up! Actually, this command is important instruction for all of us…
“The Christian Sabbath”
The Fourth Commandment: The Christian Sabbath There have been significant figures in church history who argued that Christ abolished the Sabbath in the same way that he fulfills the shadows of the ceremonial law. Augustine and Calvin are two of the more significant figures that give me pause for holding to a view that differs. For them, gathering on Sunday is not a command from God, but a tradition from man. We will consider several challenges to the notion of…
“Jesus and the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:1-14)
In high school and college I learned to do the bare minimum to get the grade I was seeking. If I knew I could get an “A” by skipping the reading and focusing on the writing, I didn’t bother reading. I like to think I was being efficient, but laziness is a better word for it. The Sabbath was not instituted so that men would have an excuse to be lazy. As much as that sounds like a great way…
The Purpose of the Sabbath
The Fourth Commandment: The Purpose of the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11) The first four commandments reflect our instruction to love God. Commandments five through ten reflect our instruction to love our neighbor. There is only One true God and He is worthy to be worshiped in the way that He has revealed. We are to honor Him in thought, word, and deed. This final commandment in the first section that deals with our love for God meets the greatest amount of…
Remember the Sabbath
The Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11) There are plenty of ceremonial laws that were not inherently right or wrong in and of themselves. They were temporary laws meant for a specific people in a specific time and place. An example would be how certain food was forbidden under the Mosaic dietary laws, but are now permitted (1 Cor. 10:31; 1 Tim. 4:3-5). Ceremonial laws have been fulfilled, moral laws are permanently binding on all people. A summary of…
The Third Commandment: Don’t Dishonor God’s Name!
You might think a reflection upon God’s name is irrelevant to the current state of our nation. We are living in strange times. Fears of the coronavirus are still among us, but they have been largely displaced by the riots in response to the murder of George Floyd. In fact, more than a thousand medical professionals, infectious disease specialists, and community stakeholders wrote an open letter that got a lot of press. Essentially, they argued that the systemic threat of…