The Ten Commandments-Part 3

“Honour thy father and thy mother;…Thou shalt not kill…(or) commit adultery…(or) steal… (or) bear false witness against thy neighbor…(or) covet they neighbor’s house,..wife,..manservant,..maidservant,..his ox,..his ass nor anything that is thy neighbor’s”.  Exodus 20:12-17

The first four commandments focus upon God and how He should be honored as above all others, not making any sort of idol or image to represent Him, nor taking His name in vain, and always honoring the sabbath, to keep it holy.  The remaining six commandments focus on humans and their relationship to each other as set forth by God’s standard of living in this sin-cursed world.

We are to honor our parents.  In Mark 7:9-13, Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for not obeying the fifth commandment.  He even embellished it by saying that “whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death”.  The reason for His rebuke was that these unscrupulous men were not supporting their parents, but instead, had made up a law, called Corban, that excused them from using their money to help their parents by giving it supposedly in the service of the LORD.  But what do you want to bet that they were spending that money on themselves?  Even worse that than, their rule that benefited them financially was actually making God’s word of “none effect”, as Jesus pointed out to them.  In other words, they were making up stuff that wasn’t in scripture and violating the word that was in scripture.  In this day and age with folks living longer into their 80’s and 90’s, it can be quite challenging for their children to take care of them and all their own family responsibilities.  Even so, that doesn’t excuse adult children to neglect their parents, which will likely lead to regrets after their parents have passed on.

No one has any right to murder another.  On the news, we hear of murders taking place all across the nation on a daily basis.  People kill other people for a few bucks.  Babies are murdered by the millions through abortion.  Criminals are not being punished for their crimes.  Why would anyone in their right mind think that is a good idea?  There is another form of killing in war and self-defense which is not the same as murder, but sometimes can’t be avoided.  People can also kill the reputations of others through gossip and deceit.  Suicide is self-murder committed by folks who think they have nothing to live for.  Just imagine how many murders that we have seen on television and in the movies in our lifetime.  As horrible as killing is, we sure see plenty of it.

Adultery is being unfaithful to one’s spouse by having sexual relations with another person.  Hollywood would have us to believe that adultery is no big deal, but it is to God.  Israel committed spiritual adultery when the people turned their backs on God and became idolators.  The marriage vows that a couple make when they are being joined together as husband and wife are serious vows.  Of course, these days, folks don’t bother with the vows, but instead just move in together without the promise of commitment.  Statistics don’t lie.  It is said that fifty percent of marriages end in divorce even for Christian couples, and for those who live together before marriage, the statistics show that 85 percent of those unions dissolve eventually.  To me, the greatest hero and heroine are the man and woman who stay together for life through thick and thin, sickness and health, and all sorts of hardships.  After all, that’s the way God meant for marriage to be, a commitment for life just like believers are to be committed to Christ.

Stealing, taking something that doesn’t belong to us, is wrong.  Even taking office supplies home from work is stealing.  I think that consistently being late to appointments, dinners, meetings, etc. is stealing valuable time from those with whom one is meeting.  The world doesn’t revolve around any one person on earth.  We are to be responsible to other people and treat them as we want to be treated.  Cheating on income taxes is stealing, too, even though we don’t like paying taxes to a government which wastes so much of our money, it is still the law.  We are not to lie.  How does it make us feel when we find out that we have been lied to?  Not very good.  It is hard to trust someone who has lied to us.  There is an old saying that goes like this: always tell the truth, and you won’t have to remember what you say.  Let me add: if you lie, you had better remember every single thing that you have said.  A lie can go for a while, but the truth will eventually come out.  We know that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44).  The devil has never said a truthful thing in his life.  Sometimes the truth hurts, but a lie can be disastrous.  God doesn’t lie and expects His children to always speak the truth.

The Tenth Commandment touches just about everybody, because almost everybody has wanted something that they didn’t have to the point that they became obsessive about it.  It doesn’t have to be something sinful or expensive or something that we really do not need.  Scripture refers to the act of coveting as desiring someone else’s spouse, property, or servants, but coveting is also wanting some material item or another person so badly that the desire overrides common sense and loyalty to the Lord.  We hear stories of women being stalked by some crazed man who can’t go on without her.  That’s not normal.  Focusing on material items takes our minds off what is proper and right, that is, serving the Lord and caring for each other.  In the final analysis, it is not the possessions that one has that is remembered, but rather the people and the times spent together that produces happy memories and contentment.  Besides, I don’t want anyone else’s junk.  I have enough of my own!