Foundations
Adult study
The Big Ten
Another Look At The Ten Commandments
An expert on the Jewish Law once tried to challenge Jesus and trick him. He asked a question: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered his question with a question: "What is written in the Law?"
The lawyer answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus told him that this is the correct answer but added, "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:25-28).
The law of loving God and neighbors is the summary of the Ten Commandments. The two invitations in this summary are reverence for God and respect for our neighbors. The first three commandments about idolatry, God's name, and God's Sabbath day, are called the first table of the Law. The last seven commandments deal with our relationships with one another. We are called to respect other people's lives and property. Loving the Lord God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves are the foundation of life. Knowing this summary of the Ten Commandments is not enough; we must practice what we know.
The command to love God and our neighbors is not a foundation for our lives just because we can repeat this formula. The command to love the Lord and neighbors as we love ourselves must be put into action if it is to be the real foundation of our lives.
These words from the Old and New Testaments are not only the foundation of Judaism and Christianity. These words are the foundation of life. The Lord God is not one God among many; not the best God of a variety of gods, but the one and only God. All other gods are false gods. That's what the Bible means by saying "the Lord is one."
In one sense, these words about loving God and following his Law are commands. The Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions. They are commands from the Lord, the absolute authority for our lives. There are serious consequences to not obeying these commands. The Ten Commandments are prohibitions.
In another sense, these words are invitations. If you follow these invitations to love the Lord your God, and your neighbors, your life will be integrated, full, and whole. To the extent that you do not follow these invitations, your life will be disintegrated, divided, and fragmented. That is what we mean by saying that the call to love the Lord and your neighbor is foundational. You can only build a meaningful life if you embrace the love of the Lord and pass that love on to your neighbors.
You cannot build a house that will last unless you build on a firm foundation. Jesus put it this way:
... Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
-- Matthew 7:24-27
God wants us to build our lives on a firm foundation. That's why he speaks of putting these words into action, not just repeating them. That's why he speaks of putting these words in our hearts, not just on our lips. That's why he speaks of impressing his Law upon children, and talking about them in the home. That's why he speaks of taking these words along on our journey through life ("when you walk along the road") and to bed with us at night ("when you lie down"). That's why he speaks of repeating them early in the morning ("when you get up"), tying them to our wrists, wearing them on our foreheads, and writing them on the doorframes of our houses. Keeping these words about God being one and loving him with all of our hearts, souls, and strength gives us a foundation for the abundant life.
Does this sound like God wants us to follow his Law because he loves us? Of course it does. Let me put it another way. It is only possible for us to believe in the one and only God and love him because he first loved us. The command to love the Lord God is an invitation to love him back. God loves us. More importantly, God is love.
1 John 4:7-10 puts it this way:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The love of God for us precedes the Law of God. God gives us the Ten Commandments as an expression of his love for us. What is the motivation of a mother who tells her child not to put his hand into the fire on the stove because he will get burned? Isn't it love? What is the motivation of a father who tells his young daughter not to run out onto a busy highway? Isn't it love? In like manner, God tells us not to break his laws because if we do, we will get hurt or even killed. Like the parent of a young child, God knows what is best for us. Often we do not know. We think that we can play with fire or dodge cars on a busy highway, but we are wrong. When we realize that God forbids certain things because he loves us, we can embrace his commands.
The reason we are called to love God and his commands is that God loves us and wants only the best for us. We are blessed (happy) when we come to this realization. Psalm 112:1 puts it this way: "Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD, who greatly delight in his commandments."
To fear the Lord does not mean being afraid of him, but having awe before him. Think of yourself standing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Now look up. What you feel is awe. What is around you is great and majestic. That is what the Bible means by fear. In the Bible, the fear of God doesn't mean being afraid of God. It means utter reverence and awe. Those who have this reverence delight in God's commands. That is why the Bible says that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10).
Psalm 119:97 says, "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long." Why do so many people resist God's laws today in contrast to the psalmist who loved God's ways? The answer lies in the lack of understanding of reverence for the Lord. You can only love the ways of God if you love the Lord God first.
Psalm 119:118 teaches that the Law of God is light for the dark paths ahead of us in life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Why do so many people resist God's word? Many are afraid that embracing the word of God means that their lives will be limited and circumscribed instead of free. The exact opposite is the case. Only as we love the Lord and his ways can we have a sure future and be the free children of God we were intended to be.
Psalm 119:152 shows us that to break the Law of God means being broken by that Law. "Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever," the wise psalmist wrote. The Ten Commandments are eternal. They will last until the end of time.
Contrary to modern belief, the Ten Commandments are not principles that were appropriate only for people long ago and far away. Contrary to the popular philosophy of ethical relativism, the Ten Commandments are established forever. Contrary to Joe Fletcher and his book Situational Ethics, the summary of the Ten Commandments to love the Lord and neighbor does not place the Ten Commandments on the shelf. Remember that Jesus himself said that he did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).
We need both the Law and the gospel of love. The main purpose of the Law is to show us how we have sinned, leading to repentance. The clear purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is tell us that God hates our sins, but continues to love the sinner. The gospel does not replace the Law, but provides a way to overcome the guilt that comes when we realize that the Law condemns us.
Contrary to what most people seem to believe today, real guilt is good, not bad. Actually, there are two kinds of guilt. False guilt is not good. False guilt means feeling guilty when you have not done something wrong. False guilt feels like real guilt, but it comes from inferiority feelings, not sin. We all have some false guilt; some people are seriously inhibited by it. The resolution for false guilt is not repentance, but acceptance from God and people.
On the other hand, real guilt comes because we have hurt God by breaking his Law. Karl Menninger, the founder of the famous Menninger Institute, wrote Whatever Became Of Sin? This book raises the important question about the tendency in America to marginalize or eliminate sin from our vocabulary and our life by removing the category of sin altogether.
Both those who feel inferior and those who do not have an inferiority complex are guilty of sin. Sin is self-centeredness. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," the Bible teaches. Both those who feel inferior and those who do not feel inferior are sinners. Sins come from that basic human tendency of making ourselves the center of life. The Ten Commandments describe specific ways we offend God by our sins. Real guilt is only resolved by repentance by the sinner and forgiveness by God and people we have hurt.
Our generation seeks freedom from despotic domination. That is only as it should be, but in the process of trying to get away from human despots, we too easily forget the authority of God over us. The word "authority" comes from the word "author." An author has rights of ownership over what he or she has created. I have written twenty books. As an author of these books, I can submit them to a publisher or throw them into the trash. That is my right. God is the author of the universe and all the people on the earth. By definition, he has the right of authorship over us.
The basic creed of Christianity is "Jesus is Lord."1 Jesus is no despot. He is a loving Lord. He rules over us for our own good, not because he has some twisted need to be adored. The basic call of Christianity is for people to see that they cannot save themselves and therefore submit their lives to the lordship of Christ. "It is God's nature to make something out of nothing," Martin Luther observed. "If you are not yet nothing, he can't make anything out of you." A recognition that we cannot get ourselves out of our own hands is the first step toward wholeness. The Ten Commandments, properly understood, help us to see our need for a Savior.
No act of the self can lift the self out of the self by the self because the self is the biggest problem we have. Our generation is caught in the extremes of self-determination, self-expression, and self-fulfillment. We need a Savior. We have a Savior in Jesus Christ. The Ten Commandments are invitations to discover our false image of the world and ourselves. Freed from illusions, we can turn to God's answer in his Son.
All people everywhere suffer from the dilemma of trying to save themselves. All fail because we can't save ourselves. All people everywhere are called to obedience to God and his commands. We all fall short because of our sinful nature. All people need Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
The Ten Commandments are found in the Bible. The Ten Commandments are also written in the hearts of all people. "The requirements of the law are written on their hearts" (Romans 2:15). All people everywhere need the Savior, God's own Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine (including my words about the Law and the Prophets) and puts them into practice will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:24).
Before you can build a house from the ground up, you must build a foundation that gives stability to what goes above it. God has provided that stable foundation in the Law and the gospel. We neglect this foundation to our peril. If we pay attention to this foundation, try to follow God's Word, and repent when we fail, we will find that God delights in us. Deuteronomy 30:9b-14 puts it this way:
The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
*��*��*
Note
If you are studying this book in a group, discuss the meaning of these biblical foundations today. Also discuss the quote below.
More people act themselves
into right ways
of thinking
than think
themselves
into right ways of acting.
Therefore the question is not, "How much do you believe?" but
"What are you willing to do about what you believe?"
-- Ron Lavin
Jesus answered his question with a question: "What is written in the Law?"
The lawyer answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus told him that this is the correct answer but added, "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:25-28).
The law of loving God and neighbors is the summary of the Ten Commandments. The two invitations in this summary are reverence for God and respect for our neighbors. The first three commandments about idolatry, God's name, and God's Sabbath day, are called the first table of the Law. The last seven commandments deal with our relationships with one another. We are called to respect other people's lives and property. Loving the Lord God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves are the foundation of life. Knowing this summary of the Ten Commandments is not enough; we must practice what we know.
The command to love God and our neighbors is not a foundation for our lives just because we can repeat this formula. The command to love the Lord and neighbors as we love ourselves must be put into action if it is to be the real foundation of our lives.
These words from the Old and New Testaments are not only the foundation of Judaism and Christianity. These words are the foundation of life. The Lord God is not one God among many; not the best God of a variety of gods, but the one and only God. All other gods are false gods. That's what the Bible means by saying "the Lord is one."
In one sense, these words about loving God and following his Law are commands. The Ten Commandments are not the Ten Suggestions. They are commands from the Lord, the absolute authority for our lives. There are serious consequences to not obeying these commands. The Ten Commandments are prohibitions.
In another sense, these words are invitations. If you follow these invitations to love the Lord your God, and your neighbors, your life will be integrated, full, and whole. To the extent that you do not follow these invitations, your life will be disintegrated, divided, and fragmented. That is what we mean by saying that the call to love the Lord and your neighbor is foundational. You can only build a meaningful life if you embrace the love of the Lord and pass that love on to your neighbors.
You cannot build a house that will last unless you build on a firm foundation. Jesus put it this way:
... Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
-- Matthew 7:24-27
God wants us to build our lives on a firm foundation. That's why he speaks of putting these words into action, not just repeating them. That's why he speaks of putting these words in our hearts, not just on our lips. That's why he speaks of impressing his Law upon children, and talking about them in the home. That's why he speaks of taking these words along on our journey through life ("when you walk along the road") and to bed with us at night ("when you lie down"). That's why he speaks of repeating them early in the morning ("when you get up"), tying them to our wrists, wearing them on our foreheads, and writing them on the doorframes of our houses. Keeping these words about God being one and loving him with all of our hearts, souls, and strength gives us a foundation for the abundant life.
Does this sound like God wants us to follow his Law because he loves us? Of course it does. Let me put it another way. It is only possible for us to believe in the one and only God and love him because he first loved us. The command to love the Lord God is an invitation to love him back. God loves us. More importantly, God is love.
1 John 4:7-10 puts it this way:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The love of God for us precedes the Law of God. God gives us the Ten Commandments as an expression of his love for us. What is the motivation of a mother who tells her child not to put his hand into the fire on the stove because he will get burned? Isn't it love? What is the motivation of a father who tells his young daughter not to run out onto a busy highway? Isn't it love? In like manner, God tells us not to break his laws because if we do, we will get hurt or even killed. Like the parent of a young child, God knows what is best for us. Often we do not know. We think that we can play with fire or dodge cars on a busy highway, but we are wrong. When we realize that God forbids certain things because he loves us, we can embrace his commands.
The reason we are called to love God and his commands is that God loves us and wants only the best for us. We are blessed (happy) when we come to this realization. Psalm 112:1 puts it this way: "Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD, who greatly delight in his commandments."
To fear the Lord does not mean being afraid of him, but having awe before him. Think of yourself standing at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Now look up. What you feel is awe. What is around you is great and majestic. That is what the Bible means by fear. In the Bible, the fear of God doesn't mean being afraid of God. It means utter reverence and awe. Those who have this reverence delight in God's commands. That is why the Bible says that "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10).
Psalm 119:97 says, "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long." Why do so many people resist God's laws today in contrast to the psalmist who loved God's ways? The answer lies in the lack of understanding of reverence for the Lord. You can only love the ways of God if you love the Lord God first.
Psalm 119:118 teaches that the Law of God is light for the dark paths ahead of us in life. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Why do so many people resist God's word? Many are afraid that embracing the word of God means that their lives will be limited and circumscribed instead of free. The exact opposite is the case. Only as we love the Lord and his ways can we have a sure future and be the free children of God we were intended to be.
Psalm 119:152 shows us that to break the Law of God means being broken by that Law. "Long ago I learned from your decrees that you have established them forever," the wise psalmist wrote. The Ten Commandments are eternal. They will last until the end of time.
Contrary to modern belief, the Ten Commandments are not principles that were appropriate only for people long ago and far away. Contrary to the popular philosophy of ethical relativism, the Ten Commandments are established forever. Contrary to Joe Fletcher and his book Situational Ethics, the summary of the Ten Commandments to love the Lord and neighbor does not place the Ten Commandments on the shelf. Remember that Jesus himself said that he did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).
We need both the Law and the gospel of love. The main purpose of the Law is to show us how we have sinned, leading to repentance. The clear purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is tell us that God hates our sins, but continues to love the sinner. The gospel does not replace the Law, but provides a way to overcome the guilt that comes when we realize that the Law condemns us.
Contrary to what most people seem to believe today, real guilt is good, not bad. Actually, there are two kinds of guilt. False guilt is not good. False guilt means feeling guilty when you have not done something wrong. False guilt feels like real guilt, but it comes from inferiority feelings, not sin. We all have some false guilt; some people are seriously inhibited by it. The resolution for false guilt is not repentance, but acceptance from God and people.
On the other hand, real guilt comes because we have hurt God by breaking his Law. Karl Menninger, the founder of the famous Menninger Institute, wrote Whatever Became Of Sin? This book raises the important question about the tendency in America to marginalize or eliminate sin from our vocabulary and our life by removing the category of sin altogether.
Both those who feel inferior and those who do not have an inferiority complex are guilty of sin. Sin is self-centeredness. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," the Bible teaches. Both those who feel inferior and those who do not feel inferior are sinners. Sins come from that basic human tendency of making ourselves the center of life. The Ten Commandments describe specific ways we offend God by our sins. Real guilt is only resolved by repentance by the sinner and forgiveness by God and people we have hurt.
Our generation seeks freedom from despotic domination. That is only as it should be, but in the process of trying to get away from human despots, we too easily forget the authority of God over us. The word "authority" comes from the word "author." An author has rights of ownership over what he or she has created. I have written twenty books. As an author of these books, I can submit them to a publisher or throw them into the trash. That is my right. God is the author of the universe and all the people on the earth. By definition, he has the right of authorship over us.
The basic creed of Christianity is "Jesus is Lord."1 Jesus is no despot. He is a loving Lord. He rules over us for our own good, not because he has some twisted need to be adored. The basic call of Christianity is for people to see that they cannot save themselves and therefore submit their lives to the lordship of Christ. "It is God's nature to make something out of nothing," Martin Luther observed. "If you are not yet nothing, he can't make anything out of you." A recognition that we cannot get ourselves out of our own hands is the first step toward wholeness. The Ten Commandments, properly understood, help us to see our need for a Savior.
No act of the self can lift the self out of the self by the self because the self is the biggest problem we have. Our generation is caught in the extremes of self-determination, self-expression, and self-fulfillment. We need a Savior. We have a Savior in Jesus Christ. The Ten Commandments are invitations to discover our false image of the world and ourselves. Freed from illusions, we can turn to God's answer in his Son.
All people everywhere suffer from the dilemma of trying to save themselves. All fail because we can't save ourselves. All people everywhere are called to obedience to God and his commands. We all fall short because of our sinful nature. All people need Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
The Ten Commandments are found in the Bible. The Ten Commandments are also written in the hearts of all people. "The requirements of the law are written on their hearts" (Romans 2:15). All people everywhere need the Savior, God's own Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine (including my words about the Law and the Prophets) and puts them into practice will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:24).
Before you can build a house from the ground up, you must build a foundation that gives stability to what goes above it. God has provided that stable foundation in the Law and the gospel. We neglect this foundation to our peril. If we pay attention to this foundation, try to follow God's Word, and repent when we fail, we will find that God delights in us. Deuteronomy 30:9b-14 puts it this way:
The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
*��*��*
Note
If you are studying this book in a group, discuss the meaning of these biblical foundations today. Also discuss the quote below.
More people act themselves
into right ways
of thinking
than think
themselves
into right ways of acting.
Therefore the question is not, "How much do you believe?" but
"What are you willing to do about what you believe?"
-- Ron Lavin
