Exodus chapter 20 begins with God giving Moses His ten commandments; but first He makes the statement, “I am the Lord your God“. Those that reject the Ten Commandments being displayed have already rejected the God that spoke them. They cannot accept any absolutes without accepting the One who created them. “Though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God” (Romans 1:21). As believers, we not only accept the existence of God, but the position of God as Lord of all. The purpose of the Law is not to make us righteous enough to be accepted by God, but the exact opposite; to prove our need for a Savior. “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10). The apostle Paul explains, “Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:18). Once we understand how far we are from God’s standard of perfection, we accept our only hope comes through Christ. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The first four commandments deal with our relationship with God.
The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before Me“. We are not to just add God to our busy life, but put God before everything; our family, our career, our possessions even our pride. And not just for an hour on Sunday, but every day. Next, God declares, “You shall not make for yourself an idol…you should not bow down and worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a Jealous God“. Jealousy is a very intimate feeling; God loves us so passionately that He is enraged when we put other “idols” before Him. Even things that are good can become idols; our hobbies, our profession, our success can all be idols that we “bow down to” by putting them ahead of God. The third command is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain“. Not only does God not damn anyone, but anytime we misrepresent God we are abusing His name. As I tell my son, “Because you have my name you represent me in everything you do and say”. If we call ourselves Christians, we represent Christ in word and deed to everyone around us (even in traffic). The fourth commandment reads, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy“, God even explains the pattern was set in creation, “For in six days God created the heavens and earth… but He rested on the seventh“. I believe we are hard-wired for needing a day of rest to change our focus from every day needs and make it holy. But the book of Hebrews declared for believers, every day is a day to keep holy; “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts“. The early church changed the day of fellowship to Sunday because that is the day Jesus rose from the dead. But symbolically it is also a wonderful expression of the free gift of grace. The Jews work six days to earn a day of rest, while as recipients of God’s grace, we acknowledge that the work of salvation is complete. We rest on the first day of the week and work with thanksgiving the following six.
How are you doing so far in living according to the standard of perfection? Trying to live error-free is exhausting, condemning and impossible to achieve. Romans chapter 3 and 4 convinced us that the only way to be restored to God is by faith. “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (3:28). Paul asks, “Do we nullify the Law by faith? On the contrary, we establish the Law“. Because we cannot keep the Law, we prove it’s value in drawing us to our need for the Savior, “For I would not have come to know sin except through the Law“. By accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by faith we are made spiritually perfect. And that is why Romans 8:1 can declare, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus“. May you find rest today in the security of the completed work of Jesus.