The Ten Commandments E-book study by Trent Brandt, writer of the Christian Letter found at www.christianezine.org |
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The Ten Commandments E-book study by Trent Brandt, writer of the Christian Letter found at www.christianezine.org |
The Ten Commandments Introduction God's commandments have come to be viewed as stone tablets filled with restrictions on our fun. In truth, they were given to protect, rather than prohibit, our happiness. God wants you to be truly safe to enjoy a happy and fulfilled life by knowing Him. "The man who says, "I know Him," but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:4) The Biblical holiday Shavuot occurs fifty days after Passover, and is sometimes known as Pentecost, which is a Greek word meaning 'the holiday of fifty days.' It lays on the eve of May sixteenth this the year 2002, or the fifth of Sivan 5762, which is that same day on the Hebraic calendar. Christ's disciples did celebrate Shavuot, which commemorates the anniversary of the giving of the Ten Commandments, the Torah/Law, to Moses on Mount Sinai. Celebrating Shavuot has but one custom and that is to stay up the entire night studying the Torah. However, Paul quoted his teacher Gamaliel, who spoke the same words in the Talmud (not really worth reading) about what day we should celebrate the Sabbath of Shavuot in Romans 14:5 saying, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind." I, however, celebrate all days the same. We need to honor the Shavuot, or the day of the giving of the Law, by studying and living God's Word daily. Exodus 3 tells us that Moses had to take off his sandals when he saw God because he was standing on holy ground. I believe this is because when in the presence of God even a thin piece of leather is too much of an elevation. We need to humble ourselves so that there is no elevation of self in our hearts when God shows us how He desires to be loved and how to love others. The Ten Commandments are indeed a wonderful blessing that we should thank Him for daily in observance! God doesn't like the habit of always coming forward in a church and 're-giving' your life to Christ every week...God loves the habit of following through that commitment for a lifetime, like a marriage. The same is true with Law and forgiveness. God will forgive, but He prefers us to be faithful to Him as a lasting marriage. So many times as Christians, we just pick and choose the commands that are convenient to us and obey those only. That's not the way that it works. Total obedience is what God wants. No, I am not saying that once you disobey, it's all over for you. The Messiah certainly forgives. It just seems there's always an excuse for doing what we're not supposed to do and not doing what we're supposed to do. Our goal should not be to master repentance, but rather to master obedience! We need to constantly be striving for one hundred percent obedience in praise and honor to our King Yehoshuah (Jesus). Some say that since the Law was fulfilled by Christ we no longer need the Law but Christ said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20) Until everything is accomplished, until heaven and earth disappear, it all remains. "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." (Matthew 19:17) When Jesus answered the man who was seeking eternal life, He gave a few of the Ten Commandments, but not all of them because no one seeking would ever dare break the first four, which were honoring God. Jesus told him to follow the commandments of God! Once the man told Jesus that he did then Christ replied saying, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." So indeed there is more than just the Law...there is sacrificing the desires of this life and following Christ. But oh the reward! Not the beauty of heaven but the beauty of God to be seen! "For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful." (Romans 7:11-13) Many take Galatians 5:18 which says, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law" to mean that we no longer have to follow the Commandments. This is a twisting of scripture. If we look a few verses beforehand, we see that if we live by the Spirit then we do not gratify sin. Verse 19-20 shows us the world of sin and its price. When we are not under the law it means that we are doomed for death. Thankfully it says, 'Spirit' and not, 'we' because we alone cannot succeed in following the Law perfectly. The Spirit guides us away from the sin of breaking the Law! In verse 22-23 it says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." The Law shows us how to live in this manner. If we are not under the Law, should we break it? "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2) Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, the righteous live by faith. I do have faith in the Law but not in myself to fulfill it as Christ did. It is for that reason I have faith in Yehoshuah the Messiah because He fulfilled the Law. However, I still long to be like Christ and so, not for righteousness or to be justified, but for the betterment of His servant, I will allow the Spirit of Truth to guide me in keeping the Law...as Christ did. "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." (Galatians 5:15) It's not a burden to drive the speed limit, but there is a burden in not observing it, such as fines and possibly even death. The same goes for the laws in the Bible. We don't 'have to' follow them, but we should not weep when we reap what we have sown. Again, if we drop a glass, then the law of gravity carries with it a severe penalty. We do not doubt its existence even though we cannot see gravity. We only see its results. The Law of God, the Ten Commandments, acts in the same way. We only see the immediate results when we break it. However, in observing these laws, the results are usually not seen until further down the road of life. For an example, I would never have learned the Hebrew names of our Lord from, nor done many other studies with, the Lindstadt family if I had not met Mat. I would have never met my friend Mat if I had not gone to a certain youth group that Val invited me to. I would have never met her if I had not gone to a graduation with my soon-to-be wife, Laura. I would have never met her had I not met her family. I would have never started writing and working in ministry for the Lord had I not met her family, whom I met through Laura's sister. I had no desire to meet her sister, Joilene, whom my mom taught music to, but my mother wanted me to and reminded me that I was to honor her, and so I did. I have been blessed like crazy ever since. Not only myself either, for my brother is now married to Joilene and has child. A life would not exist. By following one commandment, I now have an amazingly closer relationship with God, a large ministry that I love, a caring woman wanting to be my wife, a bigger family, and a slew of friends who seek the Father daily. All because I put myself aside and followed one of God's commandments. We need to realize that what God gave Moses at Mount Sinai needs to be a part of our lives, Christ the Cornerstone, and the Holy Spirit our guide for us who are willing to be obedient to Them. "that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and so might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." (Psalm 78:7-8) "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes 12:13) Here are but a few verses that go along with this introduction: Leviticus 23:15, Deuteronomy 28:3-13, Matthew 10:28, Acts 22:3, Romans 2:21-24, Galatians 2:16, 3:18, and 5:4-6, and Colossians 3:1-2. "Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." (Exodus 20:20) May you be as blessed as I have been! © trent@kci.net "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates" (Deuteronomy 11:18-20) |
