Please read the sections of scripture highlighted in bold before reading my notes, thank you.
The basis of the Law. The Ten Commandments, given by God to the Israelites from the mountain. Shrouded in smoke and thunder and lightening, God spoke.
So, before listing these foundational rules, the Lord takes the time to remind Israel that He had just saved them from slavery in Egypt, and they owed it to Him to follow His rules, especially since they agreed to obey His every command in the previous chapter. (Exodus 19:8)
Now, of course, we as humans all owe it to God to obey Him, simply because He is God. But, because of our sin nature, we often fail to see that until He shows His power, as He did in Israel with salvation from Egypt. For us to be able to obey Him at all, He needs to work in our hearts and show us who we really are, and who He really is, as our mind’s eye is impaired, and we see ourselves as great, and God as an, essentially, “all powerful genie” who bends to our every whim. Which He is not, of course. But in our pride we lower our view of Him, so He must humble us.
The first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
This includes ourselves. The natural state of man is to serve himself, but that is not how we were intended to be. We are created to serve Him, and Him alone. And, yes, seeking your needs before others’ is putting yourself in God’s rightful place in your life, as King.
God wants loyal servants, as is demonstrated in the second commandment, which, summed up, is “You shall not make any idols.” Making idols isn’t, in this day, almost ever a graven image, but a mental image. You don’t have to have a little Buddha sitting on your desk to have an idol. Idolatry is a state of the heart. A state of, for one, confusion, that anyone would worship anything but God. We were made by Him to serve Him and nothing else. Nothing in the “form of anything in heaven above or in the waters below.” That covers literally everything. We are to worship nothing but Him.
And His value for loyalty is great indeed, both punishing for lack thereof, and rewarding greatly for continuation of it. (Exodus 20:5-6)
Loyalty and respect. (Exodus 20:7)
If you respect God, you will not use His name in a crass or offensive manner. To make use of His name in an exclamation is to drag the name of the Holy One, the Savior, the Creator, through the dirt as though it is not worthy of all praise.
We are unworthy to even speak His name, let alone misuse it in such a fashion.
And how can we be truly loyal to the Lord if we are abusing His Name like so?
The Sabbath, the fourth commandment, though we may learn much from it, is not a law still held upon us as Believers, members of the new covenant. (Colossians 2:16)
God wants us to set aside time to focus on Him, and that was the purpose of the Sabbath, as it says “…But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.” (Exodus 20:10, emphasis added) The point of the Sabbath is to focus on the Lord, and to rest in Him, not just to have a day off.
We, of course, can learn from this by the fact that the Lord wants His servants to spend time dedicated to Him, and to focus on Him. We, as His servants, should do so, in order to grow in faith and love for Him.
“Honor your father and mother.”
This, again, shows God’s value for loyalty and respect. We ought to honor our parents as we would honor Him. Not in a worshipful manner, of course, but with respect and acknowledgement of what they have done for us, raising us and caring for us.
Not only should we honor them because they have done good for us, (and because God said so,) but because it is honoring to Him to do so. He placed them with us for a reason, as an authority in our life. To disrespect them is to disrespect Him.
Murder is a disrespect towards life, and a disrespect to God’s authority over it. Vengeance is the Lord’s, and we are not to take matters into our own hands. His will is above ours, and we must respect that, not even willing evil upon another. (Matthew 5:22)
Adultery is disrespect to God’s will for marriage (Genesis 2:24), and disrespect for yourself and the other person. And, again, God’s will is more than our own, and if we even desire to ignore His will, He counts it against us. (Matthew 5:28)
Stealing is saying, “God, you’re not providing enough for me, so I’ll take it into my own hands.”, and so disrespecting His provision, as well as it being incredibly rude to the owner, and coveting is the will to steal, the equivalent of adultery and murder of the heart.
And lying is disrespect to God because, of course, He is truth, and all truth belongs to Him, and you are distorting that which belongs to Him, and keeping others from Him.
And the Lord finishes the chapter with a short paragraph after the Ten Commandments, emphasizing intolerance of idolatry, and how He wanted to be worshiped, such as details of the altar and how to approach it.
God demands loyalty and respect, and deserves it. We are to live to please Him, loyally and respectfully. If we are rampant in sin, disobeying His commands in favor of following our own ways, we will receive nothing but hellfire. But in Christ, we have the strength to follow His ways, and to keep His commands, and to be loyal to Him.
We are called to give up everything we have unto the Lord. He is worth it, and He will provide for those loyal to Him. We must have the faith to give up all and follow Him. To give up our selfishness and be truly loyal to Him.
We must build our loyalty and trust in Him, because times will come where it will be tested.
Fear tries to tear apart our trust in the Lord, and our loyalty to Him. From fear of war, to fear of disaster. Disease, terror attacks, and many other assortment of events can cause us to fear for ourselves, and in those times we look at ourselves and are afraid for our own lives, losing grip of the knowledge of God’s grace and trustworthiness.
Yet still, even with all those stumbling stones of fear, there are more and worse still. Persecution is coming, and it seems to be doing so faster, even in the (relative) safety of the United States. We will be “…brought before kings and governors, and all on account of My name.” That’s already happening.
And yet worse still. We will be betrayed, hated, and even killed.
And, as awful as that may sound to an unbeliever, or even to some young in the faith, it is an honor to suffer for Christ in such a manner.
And even, in comparison, little sufferings and distractions can try and hinder our loyalty to the Lord.
“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will come close on you suddenly like a trap.” Luke 21:34
This life, the world we live in, is trying to distract us from the Lord, and to break our loyalty to Him. To turn us from Him. But we must… fight it?
No, instead we must seek Him in all things. He does the fighting if we are looking to Him. Keep your eyes on Him, and seek His will, and His Word.
“‘When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.'”
“‘But make up your mind not to worry beforehand about how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.'”
“‘Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.'”
Luke 21:9, 14-15, 36
The key to making it through all challenges in life is trust in Him.
“‘Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair on your head will perish. Stand firm and you will win life.'”
Luke 21:17-19
Firstly, this does not mean that we will be prosperous because we follow the Lord in this life. Our riches are in Heaven, and the Lord will reward us with them there. And, as followers of Christ, even if we do gain some prosperity on earth, we are to be generous with it, giving it away to the poor. Not living luxurious lifestyles.
But, with that in mind, whatever we do have in this life may be ripped from us at any time, and we will have two options at that moment: trust in the Lord and wait on Him, or turn to worldly, dishonest sources in order to gain back that which we lost.
Never compromise, even if it means losing something of this world. Losing any worldly possession is nothing to losing a relationship with Christ.
Stay loyal to Him, trusting in Him, through any and all circumstances.
We should suffer for the Lord, and for the furtherance of His gospel. It is a mission worth dying for. And we may go through anything to do so. All kinds of suffering.
But we must not abandon the task at hand, falling away to the darkness, compromising.
It can be so easy to turn back to ourselves. To turn from the Lord, to abandon His ways, to dishonor Him and disrespect Him. We ought to follow His path, and no one else’s. We ought to have no other gods before Him. We ought to walk in righteousness and suffering as He has called us to do. As He did.
Now is the time of His favor. He is loyal to those who are loyal to Him. His favor comes through repentance. (Job 36:11)
Follow Him and Him alone. Through Him comes the fruit of righteousness and the eternal glory in Heaven. But only when you stand firm in Him, holding fast to His ways with a loyal heart.
“Do no be decieved: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh , from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Galatians 6:7-10
A Grain of Salt 