EXODUS 20:11-17 Lesson # 18
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR
I. Greetings:
II. Introduction:
Note: You know how the old story goes. You are dating someone when in college, or high school and all of a sudden the other person is very cold towards you. (Often when we are young and we are upset with someone we do not know how to express it.) Then the little games would begin: “Why are you upset?” “You should know if you really cared about me.” “I do care about you, but I do not know why are you are upset with me.” “If you really cared, you would know.”
Now some of us have been in such relationships or some of us have caused such difficulties in a relationship and it has not led to wonderful results in the relationship. I have good news for you today. We may be immature in how handle relationships at times, but the Lord is not. The Lord is the best person to be in a relationship with. When He is angry, you can find out why. He does a wonderful thing for His people: He reveals His will! That is what the Bible is all about. It is the revelation of His will!
Note: The ancient world lived in the knowledge of divine powers, but they lived also in the anxiety of how to please the gods. The Jews suffered no such anxiety. Their god had communicated to them and revealed what He wanted. They did not live in the anxiety as to what displeased Him or that they would some how face His wrath but making a unwitting mistake. They knew what God wanted!!
Q So, how do we please this God in the Bible?
Q How do we know what He wants from us?
An = Of course, a lot of what He wants is revealed in the Ten Commandments. We spoke last day about how to love God, now we are going to look at how we are to love our fellow man. What you are going to find missing in the Ten Commandments is how to be religious. You will only find out how to love persons. RELATIONSHIP DOMINATE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
Q Why are so many of the commandments (six out of the ten) about treating your fellow human properly?
An = Because he deeply loves human beings. They mean a lot to Him! If you want to bless Almighty God, then bless what He loves so deeply: other people. Lets see what He has to say….
III. The Commandments Concerning Others. Exodus 20:12-17.
A. The Fifth Commandment. Exodus 20:12
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 20:12.
Q What does this verse mean?
An = Verse 12 says: “Honor your father and your mother…” Let me explain this commandment in another manner. Honor the source of your physical life. Not to honor the people who gave you life and nurtured you when you were young is obviously wrong. It is to against the fundamental order of creation (Fretheim, p. 231).
Two things need to be said in this regard. The first issue concerns what is just. When we were young, defenseless, and in constant need, it was our parents who totally deprived themselves of many things in their lives so that we could grow up safe, secure, fed, etc. They in some senses lost their lives, and gave up part of their lives so that we could live. Is it not fitting that in their waning years that we should give up part of our lives and give back? Is it not a way of showing respect to take care of them despite the effort financially and time wise? But even more, is it not an honor to do so? I know many of you in this room understand that it is, because you have done it.
Second,…
Q What would the parent be like who did not sacrifice for their kids?
An = They would be self-centered, mean, horrible people. Unfit for human society and certainly would be unfit for heaven! We have all met such people and no one wants to be around them.
Q What would the child be like who did not sacrifice for their parents?
An = They would be self-centered, mean, horrible people. Unfit for human society and certainly would be unfit for heaven! God gives parents children to help them learn how to become unselfish, and He gives children aging parents for the same reason.
Some of you are growing greater, purer and it is because you are obeying the Fifth Commandment and help your parents.
Note: This is the first commandment with a promise. The society that does not honor its parents forfeits such a blessing. Look at our cities, they are filled with children who do not honor their parents and these children are almost destroyed before they reach the end of puberty. They do not listen to their parents, or respect them, and they have little hope in securing any goodness in this land.
Q How does one honor their parents? Does it just mean to obey them?
An = In a variety of ways, but surely it means to show respect to your parents!
B. The Sixth Through Ninth Commandments. Exodus 20:13-16.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 20:13-16.
Note: These commandments speak of the very substance that must be in a society for there to be stability and for those in that society to be more human. One scholar calls the Ten Commandments the “Ten Words of Freedom”. When these commandments are obeyed they do indeed breed a freedom that a society must have.
1) Thou shall not murder. Life must be held sacred. Can we live free from fear if we are always afraid some lunatic will kill us for no reason?
>>>> Turn with me to Genesis 9:6 and have someone read.
Q What is it about humans that makes it such a horrible penalty to kill one?
An = Man is made in the image of God and thus his very status, his exalted status, should let us know that human life is sacred.
2) Thou shall not commit adultery. The sanctity of marriage is key to any society. See what the breaking of so many marriages has done to our society. Many times, it is because we do not hold the marriage vows sacred. Can a woman be free if she is always worried about her safety sexually? Is the man free who has broken his vows, or has taken the dignity of a woman? Note: There is some discussion as to what constitutes breaking of this commandment. The greatest emphasis is that of destroying another’s marriage. To get an idea of how seriously the Bible took such action is to look at some of the stories told in the Bible about adultery.
Q Who can tell us the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife?
Q Why didn’t Joseph give into her advances?
An = Turn with me to Genesis 39:8-9. >> Have someone read Genesis 39:8-9. Notice that it would be a sin to have sex with her because it would be massive disloyalty to his master but also adultery was not only a sin against another human being but against “heaven” or God Himself.
Note: In the book of Jeremiah we read that Jeremiah was aware that the judgment of God was going to fall on his people and it deeply distressed him. In the beginning of chapter 9 we see Jeremiah’s reaction.>>>> Turn with me to Jeremiah 9:1-3 and let me read it to you.
Note: Here Jeremiah weeps for his people whom he knows are going to be severely judged. To commit adultery is parallel to being treacherous (9:2), a liar, and tied to going from one evil to another (9:3). Finally, it says he who does such actions is summarized as “not knowing Me”. The proof of our relationship to God is not merely in words or religious attendance at church. By the way this is only a sampling of such biblical texts. There are many more.
3) Thou shall not steal. Our possessions come from the fruit of our labor. They are the product of our work.
Q Is work dignified? Are humans supposed to work?
An = Yes, six days we are to work. Even before the Fall of Adam and Eve God gave Adam work to do in caring for the garden. God dignifies human labor and so to take what a man has earned from hard work is an assault also on God. Theft is a refusal to accept the dignity of someone else’ humanity (Fretheim, p. 236). In addition, how can we conduct a society when no one respects the rights of other’s property. Already when you go to a department store, 10% of what you pay is to cover the costs of theft. The corruption in some countries in the third world is so deep that as a nation they will never prosper. Are we free, if we constantly worry about anyone who will steal?
4) Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Q What does this mean to you?
An = a) The Hebrew in this verse points most clearly to telling the truth at court. God thinks one of the best ways to love your neighbor is to never say anything about someone that is not true and especially so in court. Primarily, this commandment is concerned with the judicial system. In our country it would work if we would hold truth more sacred than winning. Our lawyers talk so much about “people’s rights” and so little about the truth. The one right that we really have is never to lie about someone else. That is right no one can take away from us.
b) In Jewish law there is an interesting way of handling perjury: >> Turn to Deuteronomy 19:18-19. In Jewish law if you lied as a witness you received the penalty from which you tried to frame your neighbor. You could see how dangerous it was to lie in a capital case.
c) This commandment could also be taken to say: Do not steal your neighbor’s reputation!
C. The Tenth Commandment. Exodus 20:17.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 20:17.
Q Can you tell someone is coveting and prove it in court?
Q How do we know?
An = The above four laws are easily made into civil laws than can be used in human law courts. If one steals, commits adultery, murder, or perjury we can physically ascertain these things. If we covet though, which is more an inward emotion, how would someone be able to prove that in court? Do our eyebrows turn green if we covet? Do we get slurred speech when we covet, when we want something someone else wants?
Q Is not this law impossible to enforce with civil laws in a human court? Could you prosecute someone here in this country for coveting?
Q Why is this commandment here? Is it really law?
An = It is the tenth commandment that brings a key factor about these laws into focus. Only God knows when we covet. Ultimately, God’s laws are a matter of the heart. If we obey this law then the others fall right in place. If we did not covet we would not lie in court, murder to get something, steal or want another man’s wife or husband in an act of adultery. If our hearts are right then the outward actions of bodies in society will be right too.
Note: The Bible says else where that as a man thinks so is. If we control our thoughts then our bodies will behave.
Q Are we free to control our thoughts? Can we stop coveting?
An = If we can work to rid ourselves of coveting then we gain a whole new freedom: contentment. It is great freedom to be content with what you have. It is a great freedom to learn to be thankful for what talent, wife, material possessions, etc. you have. In addition it will be pleasing to God. I Timothy 6:6 reminds us: “For godliness with contentment is great gain.” Or as the author of Hebrews says: “Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has aid, `I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.'” Hebrews 13:5.
Q If we are not content with what God has given us what are we doing?
V. Closing/Summary. Exodus 20:18-19.
>>>> Have someone read Exodus 20:18-21.
Q Can you picture what these people must have felt like? How did they respond to the hearing from heaven, the Ten Words?
An = God spoke these words from heaven and the people were so afraid that they wanted Moses to talk to them and not God Himself directly.
Q What was Moses’ response to their fear?
An = They are not to be afraid, but realize God is testing them and trying to persuade them not to sin.