The Ten Commandments - One

Exodus 20: 1 - 3 (NIV): And God spoke all these words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

   Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today? Must we still follow them? God is so good to us. He gives us our very lives. He holds our next breath in his hands. He takes care of us and answers our prayers. He offers paradise for all eternity if we will only put our trust in him. But, in return, he makes specific demands on us. These are not suggestions; God was not kidding when he gave these commands. Remember, God has every right to do this.

But, as we will see, our lives are so much better, so much richer if we follow these Commandments. They are not random rules that keep us from enjoying our lives. Quite the contrary, all of our relationships will be better and our lives will be richer if we will follow them.

I believe we must know the Ten Commandments. We must know them and understand them. Then we can follow them and please God with our lives. Then we can live the abundant life he offers.

This first Commandment begins it all. It must begin here or we will never follow the others. God told Israel that he and only he is to be their God. Back then, there were named gods all around and it was a temptation to run after and worship them for whatever reason. Today, it is still a temptation, but the gods we run after may have different names, like money or fame or popularity or power or pleasure or comfort or even family.

God says we must not put anything above him. We must not love anything or anyone more than we love him. We must not worship anything or anyone other than him. Instead of giving God our left-overs, we give him first place in our lives. Jesus said it like this, “To love God with all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength.” God demands that he be our one and only god.  Why does God want this from us? The Bible says God created us for his pleasure. He wants a relationship with us. He wants to be our god and he wants us to love him with all of our hearts. When we obey this first Commandment, we are simply fulfilling why we are here in the first place.

Memorial Day

John 15: 12 – 15 (NIV) My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Have you ever heard of Behnam Irani? As you read this, he is in prison in Iran. His family is concerned about his health at the moment because he is reported to have an intestinal disorder. He was arrested in his home and sentenced to six years in prison without a trial. His crime? He became a Christian and a pastor. You might be arrested just for reading this column in Iran. Or in China, or Myanmar, or Thailand, or hundreds of other places in the world where the government is elevated above the individual.

The freedom we are blessed with in America came at a terrible cost. Freedom is never free. It is always paid for in blood. I am thankful today for those who sacrificed their lives so that I could live in freedom.

My challenge is to take full advantage of the freedom that has been purchased for me. How sad to live in America today and still be a slave. But Jesus said if we sin we are a slave to sin. Sin may be fun for a time, but it always takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you want to pay. Jesus set us free from the slavery of sin. He paid for our salvation so we could be truly free now and for all eternity. It's not a coincidence that America promotes freedom and is great because of it; God himself knows the value of freedom. Paul said it is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

I am doubly-blessed. I live in a land where rights are protected and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed. I've been set free by the blood of more than a million men and women who died for this country. But I've also been set free by the blood of the creator himself. It staggers the mind.

My desire is to live my life worthy of the price that was paid. My desire is to live my life in a way that honors those who shed their blood for me.

Jesus' First Miracle

John 2: 1 – 10 (NIV): On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

I don't think it's an coincidence that Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding. By doing so, he put his stamp of approval on the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman. It wasn't time yet for him to reveal that he was the Christ, but he knew this story would be told through the ages as his first sign of power, and he knew it would be associated with a wedding.
We are wise to invite Jesus to our weddings, but even more wise to invite him into our homes. The family is by far the most important unit of society. God invented the family. God gave man the woman as a gift, a helper. I realize that David broke God's design and had more than one wife and yet God said David was “a man after his own heart.” So we know God still loves us, even if we do not follow his ideal, but God's plan from the very beginning was one man and one woman, bonded together for life and creating a godly family. By performing his first miracle at a wedding, Jesus reminded us of this.
But did Jesus also show his approval for drinking alcohol by creating wine from water? Keep in mind the wine in that culture was very weak. Fermentation was the only way they had to purify their water. Paul even told Timothy to drink a little wine to help his stomach. The Bible never speaks against drinking wine in moderation, but it is clear that we should not abuse it. The larger picture is that wine is symbolic of joy in this story and Jesus brings joy to our lives, our families and our faith.

The Widow's Oil - Mother's Day

2 Kings 4: 1 – 7 (NIV): The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves." Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?" "Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil." Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one." But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing. She went and told the man of God, and he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left."

A wise mother goes to God for help. This woman found herself in a desperate situation and went to Elisha, a man of God. If her sons had been taken as slaves to pay off the debt, there would have been no one to provide for her in that culture.
What Elisha told her to do probably made little sense to her, but a wise mother demonstrates faith in good times and bad. We see in this story that God's blessings are measured out to us, in part, by our measure of faith. If she had collected only a couple of jars from her neighbors, she would have come up too short to pay off the debt and provide for her family until her sons were old enough to begin to help. But she obeyed Elisha and collected many jars from the whole neighborhood. Clearly this was a witness to the town of God's mercy and power.
A wise mother obeys God even if it doesn't make sense to her. Trust, obey, and leave the results to God.
Why did Elisha tell her to shut the door behind her when the miracle of the oil began? I believe it was because he didn't want any more jars to be brought in once the oil began to flow. God was basing the amount of oil he provided on how many jars she had collected before the miracle began. In other words, we generally show faith before we see God's miracles.
We take our troubles and emptiness to God and he fills our lives with joy and with blessings.

The First Conflict

Genesis 2: 8 - 9, 15 - 18 (NIV): Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ... The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

It is interesting that the first time God said something was not good, he was referring to the aloneness of man, before sin entered the picture. He placed Adam in the garden and set fruit trees around him to enjoy. But Adam was alone and that was not good.
Seven times during the account of creation, God said “it is good,” but here, for the first time, he knew something wasn't right. He knew Adam needed a suitable helper, a partner. Someone to love. Someone to encourage him and to help him. Someone to keep him from being lonely.
God knew we needed that. After all, he created us and knows what we need. He knew he had hard-wired us to connect to others. He knew we needed physical touch. We need hugs and pats on the back and human contact. God didn't create us to be lonesome creatures or to be creatures who only need fellowship with him. He created us to connect with others.
God's plan is for a woman to partner with a man. I think it's a great plan! Eve didn't come from Adam's feet to be trampled by him, or from his head to lord over him, but from his rib to stand by his side. What a beautiful picture. God instituted the family early in the Bible and he hasn't changed his mind.
God knows he can encourage us through the Word and by his Spirit, but he knows we need physical contact and audible encouragement, and he must use others to provide this. Jesus told us to love each other as he loved us. When we do, we get a taste of paradise. When we do, we will say it is good what God has done.

The Great Commission

Matthew 28: 16 – 20 (NIV): Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This mountainside may have been the same one where he preached the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and where he fed the five thousand people with the five loaves and two fish. It happened after Jesus fed them breakfast on the beach, but before his ascension forty days after his resurrection. Matthew tells us the eleven remaining disciples were there, but there may have been as many as five hundred other people present as well. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that five hundred people saw Jesus at some point after his resurrection. This easily could have been that occasion. The townspeople saw the disciples going to the hillside and, as word spread, everyone joined them to see what was going on.
Another hint to this is that Matthew said “some doubted.” There is no reason to believe he meant any of the eleven disciples, although we cannot be sure.
Jesus gave the crowd their marching orders: to spread the good news and teach believers to obey his word. He earned the right to give this commission when he rose from the dead. Think about it, if the early believers hadn't spread the news, we wouldn't know about Jesus today. But they did. They told and they taught and the church is thriving today because of it, two thousand years later and all over the planet.
Jesus told them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a clear indication of the Trinity. And he told them to teach people to become disciples – learners – after they hear about him. The more we learn, the more we can spread the correct Gospel.
Finally, Jesus encouraged them that they wouldn't have to do this alone. He would be with them and all who believed because of their testimony. He would provide the power needed to build his church. He would provide the courage to follow and obey him. This Great Commission still stands today as our instructions from the Master. Now, it's our turn to obey it.

Breakfast on the Beach

John 21: 7 – 17 (NIV): When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

The disciples had seen Jesus twice since he rose again, but they must have been just beginning to understand what it all meant. Peter undoubtedly felt like a failure. He had denied knowing Jesus when Jesus needed him the most. He simply went home to Galilee and went back to work. He took his buddies and went back to his old job, fishing. It wasn't going well, though – they had fished all night and hadn't caught anything.
Then, at daylight, Jesus appeared again. He was standing on the shore. He told them to cast one more time, and when they did they caught 153 large fish. Next he prepared breakfast for them on the shoreline.
Jesus had told Peter he was going to build the church on him in Matthew 16:18 and he hadn't changed his mind. But he knew Peter needed to be reinstated. Peter denied Jesus three times, so Jesus asked him three times if he loved him. Jesus was letting Peter know that all was forgiven and he still had a job for him to do. In a few days, at Pentecost, Peter would preach a sermon that would kick-start the church and usher in the church age.
Know that when you feel like you have let God down, he can still use you. He will finish the work he began in you even if there are setbacks and roadblocks. He will forgive you when you deny him, and he will reinstate you after you make mistakes and bad choices. Be honest with him and let him forgive you.