Commands or Suggestions?

Exodus 20:1-21

¹And God spoke all these words, saying,

²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³“You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³“You shall not murder.

¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You shall not steal.

¹⁶“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

¹⁸Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ²⁰Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you that the fear of him may be before you that you may not sin.” ²¹The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Almost 30 years ago now, I was in a ladies Bible study and we were studying the 10 Commandments. This was a group of wonderful women who loved God and wanted to know Him in a deeper way. They were also most young moms with children at their feet even as we studied. It was a great group. There was one woman who was slightly older than the rest of us who fashioned herself as the “wise leader” of the group. On one particular day, she proved to less than that. She began her comments with this sentence; “The 10 Commandments are just God’s gentle suggestions as to how to best live your life.” Even back then, I knew a wrong idea when I heard one. I hated to disagree with her in public. That was never really a good idea. But what rose up in me was an immediate, “No, that’s not true. These are far more than gentle suggestions. They are commands.” As you read through the passage for today, do they sound like gentle suggestions to you? They most certainly are not. I also had a guy tell me one day that the 10 Commandments were proof that God was a “buzz-kill” because if you look closely you will see that all the “fun stuff” is prohibited. As you can see, not all of my conversations about the 10 Commandments in the past have been positive!

Even though attempts to keep the 10 Commandments cannot save us, they are most certainly a gift to us. They keep the entire population of the planet in check, for they are written onto our hearts. We come out of the womb knowing that some things are just inherently wrong. (Romans 1:18-20) They serve to tell us how to live as God’s people. And they are responsible for showing us our sin. (Romans 7:7) Because of the 10 Commandments, I know that I am in desperate need of a Savior. And here is where they serve their most valuable function for my deepest need is for Jesus.

Of course the culture daily assaults those rules set forth by God. We live in a place where the murder of unborn children is the norm rather than the abhorrent. We live in a place where marriage no longer carries the imprint of God’s love for His Bride, the Church, but instead has become a construct of our own making. Sunday, the day set aside as a tribute unto God, is now a day to catch up on all the things we let slide during the week because we are simply too busy. Saying “Oh my God!” as an exclamation of shock or disgust rather than praise is ubiquitous in our language. As you can see, we fall short of what God set forth in these Commandments all day, every day. We need a Savior.

Because God knew that keeping these Commandments was simply outside of our ability, He took care of our need. He sent Jesus who did keep all of the Commandments all day, every day. Since Adam and Eve we have been unable and really unwilling to submit ourselves to God’s holiness. I am grateful every single moment of my life that He also had a plan to take care of my lawlessness. All praise and honor belongs to our Father who loves us so much He surrendered His own Son because I cannot keep His Commandments.