Ten Commandments (first 4)

Hello all, and here is the second post for today.  God is good all the time, all the time God is good.  We are going to talk about Exodus 20 and verses 1-11. So, here we go!

   First of all in the days of the Bible the numbers three, seven and ten indicated completion.  And..........how many commandments do we have? Awww, 10!!!!

   The first 4 commandments relate to our relationship with God.  The last six commandments relate to how we get along with other people.  If we understand the first 4, this will aid in our being able to relate better to other people.

   By looking at the Ten Commandments we realize that those commandment provide a high quality of human relationships because GOD is involved with us.

     Here is a diagram that may help:    GOD
                                                                            

                             OTHERS                                          YOU

In this diagram as peoples relationship with God draws closer, then a person's relationship to another person becomes closer also.

    Verse 2 tells us the LORD is GOD! Then verse 3 leaves no doubt -we shall not have any other gods before GOD!

   Verse 4-6 we shall not have graven images. The Bible says: ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
This includes images, money, material items of all sorts. God is spirit and cannot be represented by things in the material world.  Engraved images create God in our image. We control what we create; but God created us.  No image can adequately represent God.

                Can you say you have no other gods before you?

  Verse 7  ⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

   This is anything that is offensive to God - profanity, taking God's name in vain, anything that will defame the character of God. Wow! Reflect on your behavior now and see!

    Verses 8-11 ---

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

  The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and continues until sunset on Saturday.  Jewish Christians once worshiped in the synagogue on the Sabbath and then gathered again on Sunday to worship and celebrate Christ's resurrection.  When Jewish Christians were later excluded from the synagogue, they worshiped exclusively on Sunday.  Therefore, we continue this practice today.

   Exactly how we are to observe the LORD's day is not laid out in the Bible.  We can look back to the Old Testament and be guided by those guidelines.  However, in the Old Testament times along came a man named Jesus, which in turn, created the New Testament.  However, let us look at Jesus on the Sabbath.

  In Matthew 12: Jesus rebukes the priests about the disciples walking through a field, were hungry and eating heads of grain on the Sabbath;  Jesus healed on the Sabbath Day.  Read Matthew 12.

   Note John 5:1-17  Jesus healed on the Sabbath - a man on a mat. Was this good?  Not according to the priests. Click to read.

  Jesus went out of His way to do good works.  We should look at Jesus' teaching and practice as He did on the Sabbath.  Jesus worshiped on the Sabbath, so should we!  Jesus cared for the needs of people, so should we!  The LORD's Day is special and we should celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ each Sunday as an Easter Sunday mini-celebration.  All our works and activities on each day, specially Sunday, should be a pleasing aroma to God.  Thanks for reading.  Love you all.

In Christ's Love and Grace

Johnny