JCL (xii) The Tenth Commandment

10 Commandments / The Tenth Commandment

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”                     

  (Lk.12:15)

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 

(Eph.5:5)

…each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

(Jas.1:14-15)

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

(Ps.73:25)

One aspect of the Ten Commandments we haven’t really explored in this series is how our violation of them inevitably results from our failure to believe something about God.  In the case of coveting, it is His wisdom and providence that underpins His provision – for ourselves, and for others.  We think He is unjust and as such we are stirred to illegitimate desire.  This might feel like a bit of anti-climax…  a post-script to the Decalogue.  But covetousness is the foundation on which so many other sins are built.  As we finish the Decalogue, what has been implicit all along is brought out in to the open and made explicit.  This one promises that God judges the heart.  He isn’t simply concerned with what we do, but with what we want to do.  It turns out that we don’t have to have stolen, or murdered, had an affair, or lied about someone – the fact that we wanted to has already constituted sin.  In a final pass, we are reminded that Christianity is not simply about externals.  And that makes this last Law the most damning of all.  Christianity is not about behaviour modification!  It is about being a New Creation, having a new heart.

The Tenth Commandment teaches us not to desire anything contrary to, or indeed outside of, God’s will.  Sinful desire is itself sinful.  It alerts us to the fact that all sin begins in the ‘evil desires’ of our heart (Jas.1:14).  Our Catechism speaks of ‘disordered desire’ (see Qu.350 below).  Not all desires are ‘disordered’; as we grow in godliness we find we are more consistently conceiving healthy and holy desires too.  But when we desire the wrong thing in the wrong way at the wrong time and for the wrong reason, we can be confident we have transgressed the limits of this last command.  We can perhaps recognise coveting more quickly than we can describe or analyse it.  Watch a child take sudden interest in a toy simply because another child has begun to play with it.  Adults are of course subtler and more sophisticated, but it is the same sin for all that.  And we are particularly susceptible to it in the West.  By default we are caught up in the ‘Cult of the Next Thing’, dangerously prone to following the empty promise that one more experience, one more purchase, one more indulgence will finally deliver the promises satisfaction.  One of the most successful industries in our culture is dedicated to stirring up covetousness.  As Christians we find ourselves standing against the cultural tide, every unlawful desire prohibited.

We are called rather to contentment: wanting God, and what He has for us, rather than what we want for us.  It is not wealth (still less, more wealth) that leads to contentment, but a Spirit-given meekness that allows us to be satisfied in God and in His provision for us (Phil.4:11-13).  If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, then He will ensure that all else we need is provided (Matt.6:33).  We will always desire.  It is part of what it means to be human.  The question left lingering at the end of this series is: What shall I desire? Or Who?  ‘Desire is the combustible power that moves human life’ (Leithart).  It was Augustine who captured this most brilliantly when he taught that we should love God and do as we please.  In that sense, Christianity is the fulfilling of all we should truly desire.  Imagine if our desires were rightly ordered… and fully fulfilled.  Now we are getting closer to God’s vision for our life.  Our vision of the New Creation is a liberation from the tyrannical idols and the slavery they impose.  Our hearts set on ‘the Desire of Nations’, and our desire for Him and His ways satisfied.  Only when our desire for Him eclipses all other desire shall we find ourselves finally in the way that leads to life.  In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality (Prov.12:28).

Questions

What is the difference between temptation and sinful desire?  Is all desire for sin itself sinful?

How would you diagnose covetousness in your own heart?

How can we fight against something that is a ‘sin of our nature’ (Thomas Watson)?

How has your view of the Law, and of its place in the Christian life changed over this last term?

Read I Tim.1:8-11.  How do we use the Law ‘properly’?  In the light of this passage, should Christians use the Law at all with reference to the themselves?

Read Deut.5:21 & Rom.7:7-13

Why would Paul (who was quite spiritually self-aware!) not have known what sin or coveting was if the Law had not said ‘Do not covet’ (v.7)?  Do you think this is the case for all of us?  If it is, how can we use the Law to teach us about our own sin?

If sin is dead apart from the Law, why does God give the Law at all?  Wouldn’t it have been better to leave sin as ‘dead’ and Paul ‘alive’ (vv.8-9)?  When does Paul think he was ‘alive’?  What does ‘apart from the Law’ mean here?

How was the Law intended to bring life?  And if it ‘holy, righteous and good’, then why did it actually bring death?  What is the relationship between sin and the Law (v.10-12)?    

If, when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and [Paul] died (v.9), then why does Paul later deny that the Law became death to him (v.13)?

Why does any of this matter to us?  How would you respond to someone who said they really didn’t care what was going on in Rom.7:7-13, and that they were doing quite well as a Christian without having to think all this through?

Catechism

350. What does it mean to covet?

Coveting is the disordered desire for what belongs to another or what I am unable to have by law, by gift, or by right.  (Josh.7:1, 10–26)

351. What does the tenth commandment forbid you to covet?

It forbids me to covet my neighbour’s property, possessions, relationships, or status, or anything else that is my neighbour’s. (Ex.20:17; Dt.5:21; Job 31:7–12, 24–28)

352. Why does God forbid coveting?

God forbids coveting because it breeds enmity with my neighbour, makes me captive to ungodly desire, and leads me into further sins. (Deut.7:25; Prov.12:12; Eph.5:5; James 4:2)

353. Why do you covet?

I covet because I do not trust God to provide what I need, and I do not remain content with what I have; rather, I persist in envy and desire. (Prov.14:30; 23:17–18; Luke 12:13–21; Gal.5:17–21)

354. How can covetousness lead to other sins?

Covetousness begins with discontent and, as it grows in the heart, can lead to sins such as idolatry, adultery, and theft. (2 Sam.11; 1 Kgs.21:1–19; Jas. 1:14–15)

355. What did Jesus teach about this commandment?

Jesus taught us not to seek anxiously after possessions, but to put our trust in God; and he showed us how to live by taking the form of a servant, and loving and trusting his Father in all things. (Matt.6:19–34; Acts 8:9–24; Phil.2:3–11)

356. How can you keep this commandment?

I can keep this commandment by learning contentment: seeking first the kingdom of God, meditating on God’s provision in creation and in my life, cultivating gratitude for what I have and simplicity in what I want, and practicing joyful generosity toward others. (Ex.35:20–29; 36:2–5; Ps.104; 145:15–21; Eccl.

5:10; 2 Cor.9:6–15; 1 Tim.6:6–10; Heb.13:5)

…

358. Since you cannot perfectly keep God’s Law, what has Jesus done on your behalf?

As the perfect human and unblemished Lamb of God, Jesus lived a wholly obedient and sinless life. He suffered death for my redemption upon the Cross, offering himself once for all as a “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.” (Is.53:4–6; Mk.10:45; Jn.1:29; Rom.8:3–4; Col.2:13–15; Heb.10:10–14)

JCL (xi) The Ninth Commandment

10 Commandments / The Ninth Commandment

…when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.                    

  (Jn.16:13)

Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow is one who gives false testimony against a neighbour. 

(Prov.25:18)

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

(Jn.8:44)

Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body. 

(Eph.4:25)

By now we should be familiar with the idea that the Law is the expression of Christ’s character.   And that in the 10 Commandments we are not simply confronted with a list of prohibitions, but with the call to grow into being those who reflect Christ’s character in our own.  Christ is full of truth (Jn.1:14), the embodiment of truth – the very definition of truth (‘I am…the truth’ John 14:6, see also e.g. Is.53:9).  As such, we are called to be a people of the truth, to grow into being truthful.  Of course we will be those who eschew falsehood and deceit. 

However, this is more easily said than done.  Fallen humanity is systemically false, and given to deceit.  Outside of Christ, we speak falsehood as a native language (Jn.8:44).  Jesus confronts us: How can you who are evil speak anything good’.  In truth, we need a new heart before we are able to speak truthfully.  The tree must be made good before it can bear good fruit (Matt.12:33-37).  And we note in passing that this, like others in the table of the Ten Commandments is a ‘salvation-issue’ (Rev.21:27; 22:15).  Not that by keeping the Law we are saved, but that insofar as we are saved, we grow into those who keep the Law with increasing consistency.  That said, our propensity to dishonesty is so prevalent than when the Lord wants to distinguish Himself from us He simply says: ‘He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie … for he is not a human being…’ (I Sam.15:29).  As the God of truth, He detests dishonesty in any form, and sets Himself against those who practise deceit to destroy them (e.g. Ps.5:5; Acts 5:1-11; Rev.21:8).  He does not & cannot lie (Heb.6:18, Tit.1:2).  By contrast, our sinfulness finds expression in systemic falsehood.  We suppress truth (Rom.1:18), exchange the truth of God for a lie (Rom.1:25).  As the ground of our being is built on a self-imposed deceit, our lives become shaped by this truth.  And in a culture shaped by such foundational falsehood we accept deceit and dishonesty as a simple fact of life, as normal. 

But, as we are redeemed by the Lord and brought into covenant relationship with Him, and as the Spirit of Truth takes up residence in our life (I Jn.4:6), this way of being must be dismantled: ‘…you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour’ (Dt.5:20).  As with other Commandments it would be a serious misunderstanding to limit the scope of these words to a legal or formal context.  It clearly applies in such contexts (e.g. Dt.19:18-19).  But equally clearly, it applies far beyond such a specific environment.  Gossip, slander, slur, libel and defamation, parody and distortion have no place in a Christian’s speech, online or off (e.g. II Cor.12:20; Eph.4:31 etc.).  Assuming the worst, and attributing the most base of motives to each other, are likewise off limits.  And as ‘bearing false witness’ to others about a third party is prohibited, so also is such dishonesty to be excised from all our dealings with others, especially when the outcome is their harm.  But the Commandment has a ‘vertical’ dynamic as well.  Misrepresenting the LORD, by speaking of Him in ways not warranted by Scripture, or that fail to take into account the fullness of the Bible’s witness, lands us on the wrong side of the Ninth Commandment (Is.43:10-12; Hos.7:13).

Far from thinking and speaking about people in ways characterised by falsehood, that result in other’s loss or harm, those who know the God of truth must be characterised by truth in our dealings with others (Zech.8:16; Ps.15:1-3; II Cor.13:8; Eph.4:15, speaking the truth in love).  God’s Word is truth (Jn.17:17), and through it, the Spirit of truth will be at work to conform us to the image of the Christ who is truth.  By knowing the truth, we are liberated from falsehood, and can grow into those who are truthful.  If we abide in His word, we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (Jn.8:31-33).  May this be the longing of our hearts.

Questions

Where in life do you simply expect to be lied to?  How do you guard yourself against being taken advantage of? 

Is it always wrong to lie? …or to misrepresent truth?  Can you think of examples in the Bible where dishonesty is seen as a virtue?

What do you make of the fact that the Bible attributes deceit to the action of God (see e.g. I Kings 22:19-23; II Thess.2:9-12)?

Read James 3:2-10.  If this is true, how can we ever hope to control our tongues?  Why do you think James equates controlling our tongues with ‘perfection’?  How would you counsel a young Christian who struggled to ‘tame their tongue’?

Read Deut.5:20 & Prov.6:16-19

Of seven things that are detestable to the Lord, two, possibly three, are related to the use of our tongue, and questions of honesty.  Does this surprise you?  Do you think we should have the same emotional reaction (hate, detest) that the Lord has to such matters?  If you do, what would that look like?

How comfortable are you talking about the Lord’s hating of behaviours, and of people characterised by them (note v.19)? 

Further examples of this kind of language in relation to deceitfulness is found in Ps.5:4-6, and more generally relating to the wicked in Ps.11:5.  How do you reconcile this sort of language with the idea of a God who is love (I Jn.4:8)?  How does this shape our worship? …and our discipleship? 

How does the Lord’s hatred of such things find expression?

Does speaking of the Lord’s hatred of sin create a sense of urgency in your pursuit of holiness?  Do you think it should?   Is this a helpful way to inspire our fight against sin? 

Catechism:

340. What is bearing false witness against your neighbour?

It is to wilfully communicate a falsehood about my neighbour, either in legal or in other matters, in order to misrepresent them. (Deut.19:16–19; Matt.26:57–61)

341. Why does God forbid such false witness?

Because it defames and wounds my neighbour, erodes my love of truth, disobeys my Lord Jesus, and aligns me with Satan, the father of lies. (Ps.52:1–5; Prov.25:18; Jer.9:3–9; John 8:42–47)

342. How is false witness given in public life?

Any wilful misrepresentation of the truth in legal, civic, or business affairs bears false witness, rebels against God’s will, and subverts God’s justice. (Ex.23:1–3; Lev.6:1–7; Prov.11:1; 24:23–26, 28–29; Acts 6:8–15)

343. How is false witness given in respect to the teaching of the Church?

All false or misleading teaching concerning the Christian faith bears false witness against the truth of God’s Word and abuses the authority given by Christ to his Body. (Deut. 13; Matt.24:3–14; 2 Pet.2:1–3; 1 Jn 2:18–27)

344. What other acts are forbidden by this commandment?

This commandment forbids all lying, slander, or gossip; all manipulative, deceitful, or insulting speech; and testifying falsely about myself for personal gain. (Lev.19:15–17; Ps.12:2–3; Prov.10:18; 11:12; Matt.5:21–22; Rom.16:17–18; 1 Pet.2:1)

345. What sort of speech should you practice instead?

I should speak at all times with love, wisdom, and truth, so that my words may honour God, and comfort and encourage my neighbour. (Ps.32:2; Prov.12:17–20; 14:25; 15:1–4; Zech.8:16–17; Matt.5:33–37; Eph.4:25)

346. When is it right to speak of your neighbour’s sins?

I am forbidden to gossip or slander, but I must speak the truth in love, reporting crime, speaking against injustice, and advocating for the helpless. (Lev.19:17–18; Prov.28:23; 31:8–9; Matt.18:15–17; Eph.4:15–16; James 5:19–20)

347. Must you always speak the whole truth?

To keep a confidence or to protect the innocent, I may at times need to withhold the whole truth; and I should always exercise discretion, that my candour may not needlessly cause harm. (Ex.1:15–21; Josh.2:1–14; Prov.11:13)

348. How does keeping this commandment help you to become like Christ?

By practicing love and truthfulness in speech, I grow in self-restraint, kindness, and honesty, so that I may know God with a mind free of deception, praise him with an undefiled tongue, and more truly love my neighbour. (Prov.8:1–17; Matt.15:10–20; Eph.5:1–4; James 3:1–12)

JCL (x) The Eighth Commandment

10 Commandments / The Eighth Commandment

(yes, I know the Roman Numerals are wrong… but the mistake is in the image acquired…)

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.                     

  (Eph.4:28)

But godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.  But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 

(I Tim.6:6-10)

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

(Heb.13:5)

Most of us would resent being called a thief, and likely we are quietly confident as we come into this study!   UK stats on theft are difficult to ascertain because of under-reporting, but also because theft, burglary, robbery, vehicle and bike theft, shoplifting, theft from the person etc. are all distinct categories.  But ‘stealing’ seems to constitute about 30% of all criminal activity.  That jumps massively when online theft, identity theft, fraud and so on are taken into account.  Much ‘stealing’ is below the threshold that constitutes criminal activity, or occurs in the ‘weasel zone’, the ‘gigantic grey area between good, moral behaviour, and outright felonious activity’ (Scott Adams).  Most of us have been victims of theft at some level, and tend to think of it as just a part of life.  We might even blame the victim for being careless, or insufficiently vigilant!  Massive industries help protect people from theft, or recompense them in the event of it.  Stealing, it seems, is endemic.  And of course, there are a myriad of socially acceptable ways to steal.  Not working the hours we’re paid to… or employers expecting their staff to work overtime without paying for it; ‘perks’ or ‘beating the system’; or ways of benefitting inappropriately from transactions (e.g. Amos 8:5; Hos.12:7 etc.).  And once we think past finance, the list of options becomes disturbingly long and complex.  We already sense why Scripture underlines respect for the property of others (e.g. Ex.22:7-14).  Such respect is part of what it means to love our neighbour.  The relentless honesty and transparency required by the Eighth Commandment can already be leaving us feeling exposed.

But to truly feel the force of this Eighth Commandment we likely need to rethink our understanding of property.  Property is a sacred trust from God.  The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Ps.24:1).  That includes what we ‘own’.  Our money and possessions have a double-ownership.  Beneath our ownership is the Lord’s.  Hence, property rights are not absolute, and what we own is not fully ours to do with as choose.  We see this expressed in a unique way in the Book of Leviticus.  During the Year of Jubilee, property is returned to the family who originally received it from the Lord.  As such, land prices were calculated on the basis of the number of years for harvesting crops until the next Jubilee (25:13-17).  But further, Moses taught that part of the reason Christians are given property is so that they can provide for the poor in their midst (Dt.14:28-29; Eph.4:28); and for the work of the Gospel (Num.18:21-28; Mal.3:8f.).  In this sense we are guardians of what God has given us – and if we misuse them, or if we waste them then we are robbing God (Lev.27:30, where tithes belong to the Lord). 

This Eighth Commandment – like all of God’s Law – is rooted in the character of God Himself.  He is generous and self-giving.   Like much of God’s self-revelation, it is demonstrated most powerfully in the cross of Christ. ‘You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich’ (II Cor.8:9).  The response to the Gospel travels in precisely the opposite direction to that of stealing:  Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (II Cor.9:7-8).  To violate the Eighth Commandment, it turns out, is to deny the Gospel.  It born not so much out of greed, but out of a rejection of His will, and lack of faith in the goodness and providence of God.

Questions

In the light of Acts 2:45 and 4:32-35, is it legitimate for Christians to own ‘private’ property at all?  Does the Bible see property, or the ownership of property as sinful? 

It is often said that the Bible endorses slavery.  Do you agree?  How would you respond to someone who said they couldn’t believe the Bible was God’s Word, because of passages that seem to sanction or even approve slavery?

Why does Zacchaeus coming to faith in Christ have financial implications (Lk.19:8)?  What does this teach us about the nature of repentance?

Read Deut.5:19 & II Cor.8:1-9

In what sense is stealing born out of ‘a rejection of His will, and lack of faith in the goodness and providence of God’?  What other patterns of sin are usually associated with stealing (you might find it helpful to think of specific Biblical examples such as Judas, Jn.12:6, or Achan in Joshua 7.  While you are in Josh.7, have a think about the corporate implications of Achan’s personal sin)?

Do you see generosity / sacrificial giving as a ‘grace’ (see II Cor.8:1 & 7)?  Do you think the Macedonian Churches are behaving in a way that is reckless and irresponsible? 

Read I Cor.6:19-20.  How does the 8th Commandment connect with this verse?  In the light of your answer, what is the significance of II Cor.8:5 for your vision of discipleship, and living by God’s Law?   

Is Paul being spiritually manipulative in II Cor.8:8?  What do you think is going on I this verse?  How is the question of ‘giving’ a way of testing the sincerity of a Church’s love?  Do you think it would be appropriate to apply this test to Churches today?  Do you think MIE would pass the test?

How does Paul’s description of the Incarnation in II Cor.8:9 shape our thinking about the Eighth Commandment…  and our obeying of it?

Catechism:

331. What is stealing?

Stealing is the unauthorized and willful taking of what rightly belongs to another. (Josh.7:10–26; Prov.1:10–19; Luke 19:1–10; Acts 5:1–11)

332. Why does God forbid stealing?

God is Creator and Lord of this world, and all things come from him. Therefore, I must never take what God has not entrusted to me.

(Ex.23:19a; Lev.19:10–11a, 23–25; 1 Chron.29:14; Ps.24:1–2; 50:7–12; Rom.13:9; Eph.4:28)

333. How did God teach Israel to respect the property of others?

God required restitution when property was stolen or destroyed; and he forbade unjust loans and oppression of the poor. (Ex.21:33–22:15; Lev.25:35–37; Ps.37:21–22)

334. What things besides property can you steal?

I can steal or defraud others of wages, identity, credit, or intellectual property; cheat in school or on my taxes; or fail to pay my debts. I must repay and, to the best of my ability, restore what I have stolen. (Ex.23:8; Deut.24:10–15, 17–22; Prov.20:23; Jer.22:13; Micah 6:11; James 5:4)

335. What did Jesus teach about this commandment?

Jesus taught that I cannot serve God and be a slave to greed. I should seek first his will and rule, and trust that he will provide for my needs. (Matt.6:19–24; Luke 12:13–34)

336. How does this commandment teach you to view your possessions?

God desires that I be content, responsible, and generous with what he has given me. Everything I own I hold in trust as God’s steward, to cultivate and use for his glory and my neighbour’s good.

(Gen.1:28–31; Lev.25; Ps.37:16; Prov.16:8; Luke 12:32–34; 1 Tim.6:6–10; Heb.13:5)

337. As God’s steward, how are you commanded to use your possessions?

As I am able, I should earn my own living, care for my dependents, and give to the poor. I should use all my possessions to the glory of God and the good of creation. (Deut.15:11; Ps.41:1; Prov.30:8–9; Is.58:6–7; Matt.25:14–30; Luke 14:13; Eph.4:28; 2 Thess.3:6–12; 1 Tim.6:17–19)

338. What is an appropriate standard of giving for you as a Christian?

A “tithe,” which is 10 percent of my income, is the minimum standard of giving for the work of God’s Church and the spread of his kingdom; yet I should generously give of all that God has entrusted to me. (Gen.14:17–20; Lev.27:30–33; Deut.14:22–29; Mal.3:6–12; Matt.23:23; Luke 21:1–4; 2 Cor. 9:6–7)

JCL (ix) The Seventh Commandment

10 Commandments / The Seventh Commandment

Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

                       (Heb.13:4)

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.

(Eph.5:3)

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

(I Thess.4:3-8)

Few of the Ten Commandments struggle to get a hearing like the Seventh.  We’ve seen recently (in our Living in Love and Faith series) that we’re immersed in a culture that sees sexual autonomy as a ‘right’.  To challenge my right is to attack my identity.  It is considered simply inappropriate for anyone else (even God!) to be concerned about what I do in the privacy of my own bedroom, with my own body… and with the body of another consenting adult.  From our culture’s perspective, nowhere is the Bible seen as more repressive, dangerous and hateful, than in its sexual ethics.  Christians in the UK are living through times in which sexual aberrations are normalised, marketed and championed, whilst God’s vision for human flourishing is made to look puerile, obscene and cruel. 

Quite apart from the odd inconsistency of those who demand as a right their own sexual freedom and fulfilment whilst still denying others theirs (paedophilia, bestiality, rape and incest are amongst those sexual identities still deemed inappropriate), we are left asking profound questions about the reality of adultery.  In spite of its being glamourized by the likes of Ashley-Maddison.com (with tagline: Life is short, have an affair; and in excess of 30 million subscribers), anyone who has witnessed the devastating effects of an affair up close are unlikely to believe the hype.  It destroys people, families and societies.  Indeed, they might wonder if God knew what He was talking about after all!

We are likely familiar with the realisation that marriage reflects the covenant fealty of Christ for His people, the Church.  His faithfulness is the most fundamental reason for His prohibition on unfaithfulness in marriage.   His love for His bride and His jealousy over her heart’s affections calls us to sexual purity as much as spiritual purity.  The link between sexual and spiritual fidelity is replete in Scripture, as is the imagery linking adultery and idolatry (Ezek.6:9).  Even the most cursory reading of Scripture alerts us to the fact that God treats our sexual behaviour – as He does all aspects of our discipleship - as a matter of public concern.   Our sexuality is a gift from God (e.g. Song 1:2-4).  There is little disputing its power for good and for ill.  Christ knows our vulnerability and calls for a purity of heart that resists unfaithfulness in heart and mind, as well as in body. Wisdom cautions against it (Prov.6:20-35); the Law dictates against it (Lev.20:10 etc.); the Prophets rail against it (Jer.5:7; Mal.2:14 etc.); example warns us to flee it (II Sam.11).  Sexual unfaithfulness – at whatever level of our being it is committed - is a spiritual desecration (I Cor.6:13); an abuse of an image-bearer, a treason against the family.  We are all mandated to honour marriage and those who are married, to nurture them and find joy in their sexual union.

In fewer areas of life is the destructive reality of sin more evident (or more strenuously denied) than in the arena of sexual infidelity.  And in fewer areas can it be more of a struggle to believe the claim of the Lord our God to teach what is best for us (Is.48:17).  In fewer areas will we feel more acutely out of step with our culture.  In fewer areas will the battle for faith rage more fiercely: Are the laws of God ‘good’ (Ps.119:39; Rom.7:12)?  Do I delight in those laws (Ps.119:77)?  Do I lie awake at night thinking about how grateful I am that in His wisdom and grace He has revealed to us His vision for our life (Ps.119:62)?  In the final analysis, we fight sinful desire with more than the attempt to subdue it.  We need a greater desire, and purer desire, and more compelling desire.  Only as our delight in our vision of God becomes all-consuming will it eclipse and drive out the desires of our fallen hearts for pale imitations of intimacy and acceptance.

Questions

Why is polygamy tolerated in the Bible in a way that adultery isn’t?

Why are people willing to disregard other areas of the Bible’s sexual ethics, but still seek to uphold its prohibition on adultery?

After his adultery with Bathsheba, and the subsequent murder of Uriah, why does David then say: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight (Ps.51:4)?

Read Deut.5:18 & Matt.5:27-30

In what ways are the covenants between Christ and the Church, and between a husband and a wife similar… and dissimilar?  In such an analogy, what does sex represent?

Do you think God can forgive someone who commits adultery?  What does forgiveness mean / not mean in this context?  Why does Jesus warn of hell (lit: gehenna) in this passage?

How would you pastorally support someone who addicted to pornography, or who habitually read erotic literature?   Do you think such practises are a violation of Jesus’ teaching, and of the Seventh Commandment?

In what ways are ungodly sexual practises normalised in our culture?  How, as Christians, can we guard ourselves against being seduced by our culture’s view of sexual behaviour?   Where does cultural influence stop, and personal responsibility begin?

Is Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount realistic?  In what sense is it to be taken literally? …and in what sense is it to be taken metaphorically?  How should it be applied by us today?

Catechism:

318. What is adultery?

Adultery is any sexual intimacy between persons not married to each other, at least one of whom is married to another. (Lev.20:10; Rom.7:2–3)

319. What did Jesus teach about adultery?

Jesus taught that even to look at another person with lust violates this commandment. Adultery begins with a lustful heart, but the Lord calls us to be chaste. (Matt.5:27–30)

320. What does it mean for you to be chaste?

Whether I am married or single, it means I will love and honour others as image bearers of God, not as objects of lust and sexual gratification, and I will refrain from all sexual acts outside of marriage. (Prov.6:25–28; Phil.4:8; 1 Thess.4:3–7)

321. How do you benefit from chastity?

Chastity establishes wise and godly boundaries that enable me to give freely of myself in friendship, avoid difficulty in marriage, and experience the freedom of integrity before God. (Gen.39:19–23; Prov.11:5–6; Matt.5:8; 1 Cor.7:25–40)

322. What is marriage?

Marriage is the exclusive, lifelong, covenantal union of love between one man and one woman, and a reflection of the faithful love that unites God and his people. Marriage is therefore holy and should “be held in honour among all.” (Heb.13:4; see also Gen.2:18–24; Matt.19:4–6; Eph.5:21–33)

323. Why did God ordain marriage?

God ordained marriage for the procreation of children to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; for a remedy against sin and to avoid sexual immorality; for mutual friendship, help, and comfort, both in prosperity and in adversity; and for the benefit of family, church, and society. (Gen.1:28; 2:18; Deut.6:4–9; 24:5; Ps.127:3–5; Prov.31:10–12; 1 Cor.7:2–5)

324. Why does God forbid adultery?

Adultery is a sin against one’s spouse or spouse-to-be; against the sexual partners with whom it is committed; against their children, family, and friends; against human society by undermining the institution of marriage; and against God, in whose Name marriage vows are made. (Prov.5; Mal.2:13–16)

329. How else is the seventh commandment broken?

Violations of this law include sexual harassment and abuse, rape, incest, paedophilia, bestiality, same-sex sexual acts, prostitution, pornography, and any other form of lust in thought, word, or deed. (Lev.18:6–30; Rom.1:24–28)

JCL (viii) The Sixth Commandment

10 Commandments / The Sixth Commandment

And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind…”.

                       (Gen.9:5-6)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

(John 10:10)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

(I John 3:14-15)

In the beginning, God spoke and there was Light.  As Christ came into the experience of creation, God’s Word was against the chaos and darkness, the lifelessness of the abyss.  Through the Light, and by the Spirit, the Father brings order, structure, beauty… life.  All life flows from Him, and is dependent on Him (Gen.1:30; 2:7-9; Acts 3:15; Satan being the archetypal death-giver, Jn.8:44).  At Sinai we are witnessing the ordering of a ‘new’ creation.  The people of God have been redeemed, and are being taught again what life in the ‘new’ creation of the Promised Land will look like.  Again the Father speaks words of life.  We call them the 10 Commandments. 

The LORD remains sovereign over life and death.  As we say in the funeral service: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away (Job.1:21).  At its most basic, the Sixth Commandment prohibits us taking this prerogative to ourselves.  God’s people cannot be engaged in unlawful killing (i.e. that which is unauthorised by God).  The Hebrew word here is more broad that ‘murder’, but is narrower in scope than simply ‘killing’.  Taking life as a result of capital punishment, or lawful and just military action is not covered.  Nor seemingly is death resulting (in certain circumstances) from acting in self-defence (Ex.22:2-3).  But premeditated murder, homicide, manslaughter, and negligence that leads to death all are.

Jesus famously reminds us that the Law was always meant to be written on our hearts.  From its place embedded in the core of our being (Prov.4:23), it is designed to shape all we are and all we do at every level of our behaviour.  Hence, in the Sermon on the Mount, He shows us that the application of the Commandment is not exhausted by the question of literal ‘man-slaying’.  Rather it indicates a whole way of life that is shaped by our living in relationship with the Lord of Life, and by our repudiation of the ways of sin and death.   Under the ministrations of the Holy Spirit, there would be nothing in us that would tend towards the violation of this, or any other, Commandment.  If our hearts were framed with the Commandment: you shall not murder, there would be no murderous intent, no emotional or verbal, or psychological violence.  There would be no hatred, contempt, bitterness or anger. 

God’s anger against us is propitiated at the altar; we could not allow our anger to determine the way we relate to our bothers and sisters in Christ (Matt.5:23-24, see also I Jn.3:11-14).  Rather, as His Law is written on a heart, everything that came out of that heart, all feelings, thoughts, speech would be shaped by a valuing and preservation of life, and recognition of its sanctity.  The mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Matt.12:34).  If the heart is full of love for the God of life (Lk.10:27) then not even our internal rhetoric will be shaped by hatred.  The two are fundamentally incompatible (I Jn.4:19-21).

Jesus is not talking here about anger management.  Simply keeping our anger under wraps is still to live in violation of the Sixth Commandment.  Jesus is pushing us towards overcoming evil with good (see Rom.12:21).  We are so immersed in a network of violence and hatred that it can be tempting to dismiss Jesus’ teaching as an impossible ideal.  Our world of fallen humanity is characterised by hatred and death (Eph.2:1-5; Titus 3:3).  It glorifies violence and vengeance as entertainment.  We are desensitised even to murder, let alone the seething mass of emotion and thought that underlies it.  This we simply accept as ‘normal’.  In England there are an average of 2 murder victims a day, most of which never even make the news.  In such a world we are called to a consuming righteousness that reflects the God of life.  This might seem an impossible ideal, but that is to forget what might be possible when Jesus liberates us him who holds the power of death (Heb.2:14).

Questions

Why do you think there are no prisons in the penal codes of the Old Testament?  Should that impact our thinking about how a society deals with criminal activity?

Read Eph.4:26-27.  Paul never teaches that any other specific sin gives the devil a foothold.  What is it about anger that makes it so spiritually dangerous?

Is Paul overstating his case in Titus 3:3, when he says that before we became Christians ‘[w]e lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another’?

Read Deut.5:17 & Matt.5:21-26

Do you agree that taking life as a result of capital punishment, lawful (just?) military action, or self-defence is not prohibited by the Sixth Commandment?

What actions could we take to help protect other people’s lives?

How does the Sixth Commandment affect a Christian’s thinking on issues of medical ethics such as abortion, euthanasia, or assisted suicide?   

Why is this the first thing Jesus deals with in the Sermon on the Mount?  Does it surprise you that the issue of anger and contempt has such priority in Christian discipleship?  Why do you think this is?

What do you think is the error in thinking Jesus is addressing as He deals with the Sixth Commandment?  How are we susceptible to making the same mistake in our own discipleship?

In what ways is ‘anger’ and ‘contempt’ normalised in human experience?  How can we become those who embody Jesus’ teaching about anger and contempt?

How can we take Jesus’ teaching about reconciliation more seriously?  Do you think that repairing damaged human relationships really should take priority over worship?  Why / why not?

Catechism:

310. What other actions are considered murder?

Genocide, infanticide, abortion, suicide, and euthanasia are all forms of murder. Sins of murderous intent include physical and emotional abuse, abandonment, willful negligence, and wanton recklessness. (Ex.1:15–22; 21:28–30; 2 Kings 17:16–18; Ps. 139:13–16; Amos 1:13–15; Acts 9:1–2)

311. How did Jesus extend the law against murder?

Jesus taught that this commandment also forbids the vice of ungodly anger. A murderous heart can lead to hatred, threatening words, violent acts, and murder itself, and is counter to God’s life-affirming love. (Lev.19:17–18; Matt.5:21–22, 43–45; 15:18–20; 1 Jn.3:15)

…

313. Is it always wrong to harm or kill another?

There are circumstances in which justice, the protection of the weak and defenceless, and the preservation of life may require acts of violence. It is the particular task of government to uphold these principles in society. However, our Lord calls us to show mercy and to return evil with good. (Num.35:9–34; Matt.5:43–45; Rom.12:17–21; 13:1–4)

314. How should Christians understand the value of life?

All life belongs to God. Human life is especially sacred because we are created in God’s image, and because Jesus came to give us new and abundant life in him. Christians, therefore, should act with reverence toward all living things, and with special regard for the sanctity of human life. (Gen.1:26–27; 2:5–8; Ps.104:24–30; Matt.6:26; Jn.10:10; Acts 17:24–29; Col.1:15–20)

315. How did Christ cause life to flourish?

Jesus sought the well-being of all who came to him: he healed the sick, fed the hungry, cast out demons, raised the dead, preached good news, forgave his enemies, and offered his life to redeem ours. (Is.53:4–5; Matt.4:13–17; Luke 4:17–21; 7:20–22; 23:32–34; Acts 10:34–42)

316. How else can you obey this commandment?

As a witness to the Gospel and a follower of Christ, I can also keep this commandment by forgiving those who wrong me, patiently refraining from ungodly anger and hateful words; defending the unborn, vulnerable, and oppressed; rescuing those who harm themselves; and seeking the well-being of all. (Ps.37:5–11; Zech.7:8–14; Matt.5:38–48; Eph.4:25–5:2; Jas.1:27)

JCL (vii) The Fifth Commandment

10 Commandments / The Fifth Commandment

See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.

                       (Mal.4:5-6)

Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.

(Luke 2:51)

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.  Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

(Col.3:20-21)

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be … disobedient to their parents … having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

(…taken from II Tim.3:1-5)

Each week I start each Bible study thinking: There could hardly be a more counter-cultural command!  Again and again, these short declarations of the will of God seem so self-evident, and yet to cut across the structures of contemporary society in ways so absolute that it can be hard to believe they are meant to be taken at face value.  So it is with this Fifth Commandment.  In a world in which ‘rebelling’ against your parents is seen as healthy and normal, perhaps even a rite of passage; in which parents so often feel they have no authority; in which the nuclear family is under siege; in this world, what could be more explosive than the devastatingly straightforward injunction to ‘honour your father and mother…’.  And failure to honour is after all, to dishonour.

This is not some naïve nostalgia for an image of family life of a bygone age.  The Bible is hardly inspiring a longing for the 1950s…  It is rather alerting us to deep spiritual dynamics that are rooted in human experience.  It is recalling us to God’s good and gracious design for family life.  Parents are supposed to grow wise with age, learned in the things of God, spiritually compelling examples of Christlikeness.  They become reservoirs of understanding and insight to be tapped.  They have a lifetime of experience to bestow.  And their children are to honour them, and in so doing learn from them.  They will be raised in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph.6:4).  They will be taught what it means to walk with Christ.  This is the fundamental responsibility of parenting (Dt.6, esp.vv.7-9 & Dt.11:19 etc.).  Nothing exempts children from so honouring their parents, not even that which is ostensibly for religious purposes (Mk.7:9-13).  Only if your parents seek to lead you into actual sin are you freed from this all-encompassing obligation (Matt.10:37; Acts 5:29).  Only Christ Himself takes precedence (which given this commandment, is quite a statement, Matt.10:35-37; Lk.9:59-60; 14:26); and Christ Himself was bound by it (Lk.2:51; Jn.19:26-27).

Why is this so central as to be included in the Ten Commandments.  As a Commandment it is without parallel or precedent in the ancient world (and indeed, in the modern one!).  Is it simply a way of ordering society, or perhaps even ensuring our own future care at the hands of our children (it is worth pondering whether we would be happy if our children treated us as we treat our parents)?  In part it is because our relationship with our parents is an echo of Israel’s relationship with the Lord (Ex.4:22, hence Moses’ lament in Num.11:12), a relationship that in turn points beyond itself to the inner life of the Trinity.  Christ is the Son who honours the Father.  In part it is because our honouring of our parents is how we honour and obey the Lord (Dt.5:16).  It’s part of our discipleship.  But more deeply it is because parents ‘play the part’ of God to their children; and can become the means through which God meets with and deals with their children.  The very vocabulary used in the Fifth Commandment points us to this extraordinary arrangement: ‘honour’.  It is language that is used to describe the relationship we have with God (Ex.12:42; Ps.22:23, etc.).  We see a similar overlap in other language used to describe the role responsibilities of parents to their children (e.g. Prov.6:20, Ps.119:105).  As children learn to honour their parents, so they learn the necessary dynamics of relating appropriately to the Lord (Mal.1:6).  Parents are to seek therefore reflect as fully as possible the characteristics of the Lord, and to structure their relationship with their children as closely as possible to that of the Lord’s relationship with us.  Children are then able to transfer what they learn from their relationship with their parents, to their relationship with God.  They understand the Lord, because they have learned to understand their relationship with their father and mother.  Parents make great visual aids!

Questions

In the light of thinking about the Fifth Commandment, why is the Lord’s cursing of Eli so catastrophic (see esp. I Sam.2:27-36 & 3:11-14)?

What is the relationship between the family and the state?  Who should get to say what happens to children in any given society?

What is the relationship between the family and the Church?  How should children / youth work connect with the devotional life of a family?

Read Deut.5:16 & Prov.23:22-25

What does the Fifth Commandment assume about a ‘family’?  Are such assumptions legitimate in today’s world?   Can you apply this Commandment in a society where the concept of ‘family’ is so far removed from this?

The Church has a long history of thinking that this Commandment should be extrapolated so as to include an ‘honouring’ of all those in positions of authority within human society.  Do you think it should be enlarged in this way?

What does it mean to honour our parents?  How do the dynamics of such honouring change as we (& they) grow older?  What about if our parents aren’t Christians?

What does it mean to say ‘that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you’?  How does this act as a motivation to keep this Commandment?

What is it about a Biblical view of parenting that means it can be set so firmly within a context of joy (Prov.23:24-25)? 

How can MIE better support parents as they fulfil their God-given responsibilities and mandates in bringing up their children?  …and children in fulfilling their God-given responsibilities?  How can families better engage with and benefit from the structures of Church ministry and mission?

Catechism:

300. What is the Fifth commandment?

The fifth commandment is “Honour your father and your mother.”

(Ex.20:12; Deut.5:16)

301. What does it mean to honour your father and mother?

I should love, serve, respect, and care for my parents all their lives, and should obey them in all things that are reasonable and conform to God’s Law.

(Gen.45:7–13; Prov.6:20–22; 20:20; 23:22;  Eph.6:1–3; Col.3:20)

302. How should parents treat their children?

Earthly fathers and mothers should represent to their children the loving care of our heavenly Father by nurturing and protecting them, teaching and modelling to them the Christian faith and life, guiding and assisting them in education, and encouraging them in their lives and vocations.

(Gen.48:8–16; Deut.6:4–7; Prov.19:18; 22:6; Eph.6:4; Col.3:21; 1 Tim.5:8)

303. How did Jesus keep the fifth commandment?

As a child, Jesus obeyed Joseph and Mary; on the Cross, he provided for his mother by entrusting her to his disciple’s care; in his life, he obeyed the lawful requirements of the civil and religious authorities; and in all things he sought to do his Father’s will.

(Luke 2:39–52; John 10:22–39; 19:25–27)

304. How else do you love God in light of the fifth commandment?

I also keep the fifth commandment by showing respect for teachers and elders; by obeying, as far as is lawful, those who hold authority in the Church, my employment, and civil government; and by conducting myself in all things with reverent humility before God and my neighbour.

(Ex.22:28; Matt.22:15–22; Rom.13:1–7; 1 Tim.2:1–2; 5:1–4; Heb.13:7; 1 Pet.2:13–15)

305. What blessings result from obeying the fifth commandment?

Submission to God’s appointed earthly authorities helps me to resist pride and grow in humility, and promotes the justice and peace (shalom) of society in which human life flourishes.

(Ex.20:12; 1 Chron.29:23; Prov.10:17; Rom.13:1–4; Heb.13:17)

306. Does earthly authority have limits?

Yes. All authority comes from God, the King of kings, who expects me to love, honour, and obey him above all earthly authorities whenever they command me to sin.

(Ex.1:15–21; Dan.3:4–6, 16–18; Matt.23:1–4; Acts 5:27–29; Rev.18:1–4)

JCL (vi) The Fourth Commandment

10 Commandments / The Fourth Commandment

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

                       (Gen.2:3)

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath”.

(Mark 2:27-28)

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

(Heb.4:9-11)

Some of the commands we expect to be counter-cultural.  The commands to worship only the living God revealed in Christ, and to do so only in the ways that He sanctions, don’t sit comfortably in a relativistic world that prizes spiritual autonomy.  We anticipate that, and are familiar with the pressure it brings.  But we may be blindsided by the colossal tensions presented by the Fourth Commandment.  To live by the principles embedded in this Commandment is to feel acutely marginalised in our world.  Significant arenas of societal life are closed to us.  Few of the Commandments bring home the sense of sacrifice needed to live in a way that is obedient to and that honours God’s vision for life.

And yet many Christians feel exempt from the claims of this Commandment.  It is a disregard born not out of the diligent study of the Scriptures, nor is it consonant with our attitude to the other Commandments.  The Church’s surrendering of the Seventh Day followed the restructuring of our society.  We have sought to justify our capitulation retrospectively, but increasingly the sense is that the arguments don’t work.  Perhaps no single move has contributed more to the decline of the Church, and of our own spiritual maturity in this country, than the Church’s surrendering of the Lord’s Day. Of course we expect a secular society to disregard it, but for the Church to follow suit is … problematic. 

The Sabbath is embedded in Creation.  Adam, created on the 6th Day (Gen.1:26-27), wakens to his first full day of existence on the Sabbath.  He is designed to work from rest.  This is foundational to our createdness.  It is true that the Sabbath is structured in a particular way during the days of the Mosaic Covenant (and that like the rest of the situation-specific aspects of that Covenant, it is dismantled after Christ’s Ascension), but the principle of every 7th Day being set apart as the opportunity to focus on the things of God in a way that the other 6 days don’t allow for is both more ancient and more contemporary than Moses.  In shifting New Covenant observance to the 1st Day of the (New Creation) week, we are not only navigating the implications of the Resurrection, we are also celebrating the Church’s own New Creation identity.  We witness this transition within the NT itself (Lk.24; Jn.20:19; Acts 20:7; I Cor.16:2), and immediately after the age of the Apostles we find the Church re-iterating this restructuring of her corporate life.  Ignatius (end of the First Century) writes that Christians ‘no longer observe the Sabbath, but direct their lives towards the Lord’s Day, on which our life is refreshed by Him’.  For centuries the Church observed, as a matter of priority, this ‘festive day of rest’ (Heidl. Cat.).  The Church of England included all 10 Commandments in her liturgy, and considered the matter sufficiently important to address in the Book of Homilies (XX, Of the Place and Time of Prayer). 

Colossal damage has been done by our failure to keep the Lord’s Day ‘wholly’.  We have marginalised worship, undermined our evangelistic witness, lost our Christian sense of ‘time’, denied ourselves untold blessing, and exposed ourselves to extraordinary damage done to our humanity by our refusal to accept our dependence on God as created beings.  Our generation’s habitual violating of this Commandment is all the stranger in an age when the Church pursues social justice so passionately.  In the Ancient Church the Sabbath was deeply embedded in such pursuit (Is.58, esp.v.13-14).  But underneath it all, the glory of God is impugned.  And this above all must break our heart.  It seems we live in a time when not even a Divine Command proves sufficient to break the cycle of business, or to call us aside for ‘the time which Almighty God hath appointed [for] His people to assemble together… whatsoever is found in the Commandment appertaining to the Law of nature, as a thing most godly, most just, and needful for the setting forth of God’s glory, it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people’ (Hom.XX).  Such wisdom is lost at great peril to the cause of Christ.

Questions

The Biblical arguments against keeping this Commandment (or at least for adopting an ambivalent approach) are rooted in passages such as Matt.12:1-8; Heb.4:1-11; Rom.14:5-6; Gal.4:9-10 and Col.2:16-17.  Do you think these passages teach the abolishing of the Fourth Commandment? 

What other arguments have you heard to justify Christians not keeping the Fourth Commandment?   Do you think they work?  Do you think it is appropriate to take a different attitude to the Fourth Commandment?  Why / why not?

Do you think the ministry and the mission of the Church is damaged by our irregularity in keeping the Fourth Commandment?  Do you think people are damaged by our irregularity in keeping the Fourth Commandment?

Read Deut.5:12-15 & Ps.92:1-15

Why do you think the motivation for keeping the Fourth Commandment changes between Ex.20:11 and Deut.5:15?

What does this Commandment teach us about a Christian view of time, and how we relate to time (don’t forget to think about the other 6 days as well!)?  How has the fall impacted our relationship with time?  How does the Fourth Commandment mitigate this?

What does it mean to keep a day ‘holy’?  Does the idea of reserving one day in seven as a day to focus on the things of God excite you or fill you with dread?  Can you identify why you feel the way you do?

What about those whose job requires them to work on the Lord’s Day?  Or who have a hobby / interest (or whose children have a hobby / interest) that requires engaging with on a Sunday? 

Experience shows how easy it is to fall into legalism in keeping the Fourth Commandment.  How could we guard against this?  How would you judge between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ways of keeping the Lord’s Day holy?

Catechism:

292. Why was Israel to rest on the Sabbath?

Israel was called to rest in remembrance that God had freed them from slavery and that God rested from his work of creation, bringing joyful balance and rhythm to life, work, and worship.  (Gen.2:1–2; Ex.20:11; 23:12; Deut.5:12–15)

293. How did Jesus teach us to keep the Sabbath?

As Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus taught us to keep it not merely as a duty, but as a gift of God to be received with joy and extended to others through acts of love and hospitality.  (Mk.2:23–3:6; Lk.13:10–16)

294. How does the Sabbath serve as a promise for the future of God’s people?

When the Church is perfected in Christ, all believers will dwell in God’s new creation, free from sin and its curse, and eternally united to God in love, adoration, and joy. This will be our unending Sabbath rest. (Ps.132; Is.66:22–23; Col.2:16–19; Heb.4:1–13)

295. How do you keep the Sabbath?

I cease from all unnecessary work; rest physically, mentally, and spiritually; and join with my family and church in worship, fellowship, and works of love.  (Ps.92; Is.58:13–14; Matt.12:12; Col.2:16–23)

296. What does this commandment teach you about work?

My work is a gift of God that can grant me provision and satisfaction, and serve the common good, but it neither defines my life nor rules over it. I am thereby freed from resentment and sloth to work diligently and with joy for God’s glory.  (Gen.2:15; Ex.20:9–11; Ps.128; Prov.6:6–11; 12:11–14; 16:3; Eph.4:28; Col.3:23–24)

297. Why does the Church worship on the first day of the week ..?

The earliest Christians came to observe Sunday as “the Lord’s Day” (Rev.1:10) for their primary day of worship in remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection on the first day of the week. (Lk.24:1–7; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor.16:2)

298. What does the Sabbath teach you about time?

Through an ordered life of weekly worship and rest throughout the Christian year, and by a regular pattern of daily prayer, I learn that time belongs to God and is ordered by him. (Gen.1:14–15; Lev.23; Ps.92:1–4; 119:164; Acts 3:1; Heb.10:25)

299. How does keeping the Sabbath help you to grow in Christ?

As I keep a weekly day of rest and worship, my faith in God my Creator is strengthened, my hope in God my Provider is renewed, and my love for God my Redeemer is deepened. (Ex.16:1–30; Ps.127:1–2; Heb.10:19–25)

JCL (v) The Third Commandment

10 Commandments / The Third Commandment

Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known.

(Ps.106:8)

And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

(I Cor.6:11)

This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...’.

                       (Matt.6:9-10)

However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

                       (I Pet.4:16)

His Name is majestic in all the earth (Ps.8:1).  We are called to ‘ascribe to the Lord, the glory due His Name … to worship the LORD in the splendour of His holiness’ (Ps.29:2; I Chron.16:29).  All our inmost being is to praise His holy Name (Ps.103:1).  This is so close to the heart of the True Worshipper, Christ, that when He teaches us to pray, the first petition on our lips is simply that the Father’s Name is ‘hallowed’. This is the highest priority in our approach to God.   This Third Commandment warns us against neglecting this sense of priority in any aspect of our life, especially in worship.

The first thing we need to do is get a clear sense of what the Commandment is saying.  The Hebrew is richer than English translations allow.  If you compare a few modern versions, you’ll get a sense of the struggle to capture everything this Commandment is teaching.  The prohibition is variously rendered: take in vain; take up lightly; misuse; use carelessly; use thoughtlessly, etc.  A strict translation might be ‘You shall not bear the Name of the Lord your God in vain / lightly’.  We are used to the idea of the ‘glory’ of God having connotations of His ‘weightiness’.  We are here warned against dealing with God as if He were not glorious.  To bear His Name as vain is to take it up as a thing of no consequence; it is to speak of and to, the Lord as if He were insubstantial, trivial, meaningless (or futile as the same word is translated in Job.7:3.  It is also a word used repeatedly of idols).  It is this kind of thinking that lies behind the exhortation to worship acceptably, ‘with reverence and awe’ (Heb.12:28).

But worship doesn’t end when we are dismissed from our services.  Christianity is a public faith, and we bear His Name into the world.  We take up His Name in our baptism, and bear it constantly (Matt.28:19, and in Blessing, so Num.6:27).  There is no trivialising the privilege of calling on His Name (Rom.10:13); trusting in His Name (Ps.33:21); indeed, doing everything in His Name (Col.3:17), and being known by His Name (Dt.28:10).  The Apostle Paul prays for the Church, that the Lord would us worthy of His calling, ‘so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you’ (II Thess.1:11-12).  When this is not the case, when in life and worship we are not worthy of His calling, His Name is not glorified in us.  To this extent we have born / taken His Name vain, thoughtlessly.  We have considered Him to be a light thing, not weighty enough to shape us.  That is hardly appropriate given that His Name is above every name, and that at His Name, every knee shall bow (Is.45:21-23, cf. Phil.2:9-10).  The Lord acts to exalt and preserve the honour of His Name (Ps.106:8; Is.48:9; Acts 19:11-17).  When we take His Name in vain, we are working against His purposes.  This truly is the epitome of folly (Ps.74:18), and incurs His wrath (see the destiny of those who don’t call on His Name at all, Ps.79:6; Jer.10:25).   Indeed, one of the criteria against which we will be judged is precisely the question of whether we ‘revere your name’ (Rev.11:18).

The seriousness with which God’s Name is handled in Scripture is rooted in the realisation that His Name is part of His revelation of Himself.  We see this supremely in His dealing with Moses (Ex.3:13-15; 34:6-7).  Hence the interconnectedness of the first three Commandments.  If we speak of God (i.e. use His Name) and mean by that something less than who He has revealed Himself to be, or indeed mean by that something that is so far removed from who He truly is that it is rendered a false god entirely, then we have transgressed the Third Commandment.   Herein lies too the reason for the repeated warnings against false teaching in the Name of the Lord, and falsely claiming the Lord has spoken to (or through) us when He hasn’t (e.g. Jer.14:14-15; 23:25; Zech.13:3 etc.).  To speak of God, or even to speak on behalf of God is a glorious thing.  It is not to be trifled with.  And the Lord will not hold us guiltless if we do (Dt.5:11).

Questions

Why do you think the 10 Commandments are all stated as ‘negative’ prohibitions (i.e. you shall not…), rather than as ‘positive’ commands?

Has your perception of what it means to speak of God as our Lawgiver (so Is.33:22) changed as we have worked through our studies?  If so, how? 

Do you think it is fair to say that the most basic Christian Creed is ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ (Phil.2:11)?  What do you think it means to speak of Jesus in these terms?  How much do you feel this is reflected in your own experience of Christianity?

Read Deut.5:11 & Ps.105:1-7

Historically, the Third Commandment has been tied up with the question of whether it is appropriate for Christians to swear an oath.  Why do you think this is?  Do you think it is appropriate for a Christian to swear an oath in public, or private life? 

What does it mean to say that ‘the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His Name’ (Dt.5:11)?  What did it mean in ancient Israel?  What does it mean for the Church today?  Why is there discrepancy here?

Why is it not Christian to think that we don’t really need to worry about keeping a Commandment like this one, because Jesus has dealt with our sin at the cross?

Is it possible to be a Christian who isn’t engaged in evangelism?  Can we worship authentically if we don’t ‘make known among the nations what He has done’, or ‘tell of His wonderful acts’ (Ps.105:1-2)?

How do you feel about worshipping the Lord our God because of His judgements (Ps.105:7, read through the rest of the Psalm to see how this is unpacked)?  In the light of our study on the Third Commandment, what would you say to someone who said they didn’t like to think about God acting in judgement?

Catechism:

173. What is God’s Name?

God’s Name reveals who he is—his nature, his character, his power, and his purposes. The Name God reveals to Moses is “I am who I am” or simply “I am” (Exodus 3:6, 14). This Name means that he alone is truly God, he is the source of his own Being, he is holy and just, and he cannot be defined by his creatures. (Ex.3:6, 14; 15:11; Ps.99; Is.5:16; 42:8; 47:4; Jn.8:58; Rev.1:8)

175. What does “hallowed” mean?

“Hallowed” means to be treated as holy—set apart, sacred, and glorified. (Ex.13:1–12; Lev.22:31–33; Deut.6:7–8; Ps.11:4–7; Lk.2:22–35; 2 Tim.2:19–22)

284. Why is God’s Name sacred?

God’s Name reveals who he is—his nature, his character, his power, and his purposes.  All forms of God’s Name are holy.  

(Ex.3:1–15; 34:5–7; Ps.8; 54:1; 79:9; Is.57:15; Luke 1:46–49)

285. What does it mean to take God’s Name “in vain”?

“Vain” means empty, meaningless, and of no account. To take God’s Name in vain is to treat it as such.   (Lev.24:10–16; Rom.2:23–24)

286. How can you avoid taking God’s Name in vain?

Because I love him, I should use God’s Name with reverence, not carelessly or profanely.  (Deut.28:58–59; Ps.86:11–12; 99:1–5; Rev.15:2–4)

287. How might you use God’s Name profanely?

By the unholy use of God’s holy Name, especially through perjury, blasphemy, and attributing to God any falsehood, heresy, or evil deed, as if he had authorized or approved them.  

(Deut.18:20–22; Prov.30:7–9; Jer.34:15–16; Ezek.36:16–23; Am.2:6–7; Jd.5–13)

288. How might you use God’s Name carelessly?

Cursing, magic, broken vows, false piety, manipulation of others, and hypocrisy all cheapen God’s Name. These treat God’s Name as empty of the reality for which it stands.  

(Lev.5:4–6; 19:26b, 31; Ps.10:2–7; Mal.1:6–14; Matt.5:33–37; Jas.3:5–12)

289. How can you honour and love God’s Name?

I honour and love God’s Name, in which I was baptized, by keeping my vows and promises, by worshiping him in truth and holiness, and by invoking his Name reverently and responsibly.

(Num.30:2; Deut.10:20–22; Ps.105:1–5; Matt.15:10–20; Jas.5:12)

JCL (iv) The Second Commandment

10 Commandments / The Second Commandment

The mountains melt like wax before … the Lord of all the earth.  The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all peoples see his glory.  All who worship images are put to shame, those who boast in idols — worship him, all you gods!

                       (Ps.97:5-8)

But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

(I Cor.5:11)

Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

(I Cor.10:14)

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.

                       (Rev.21:8)

Idolatry is clearly a significant issue throughout the Scriptures.  Talk of idolatry covers two different – but often connected - spiritual errors: the worship of an entirely false god (Ps.115:1-8) and, the making of an image to represent the true God and Father of Jesus Christ.  Both are prohibited in the 10 Commandments, but it might be helpful to see the former as forbidden by the first commandment; so that this second commandment is focussing more on the idea of worshipping the true God in a false way, by means of images ostensibly made of Him, but which are in fact based on aspects of creation (so Rom.1:25).  The distinction is perhaps best illustrated in the summary of Jehu’s life (II Kings 10:28-29, where he obeyed the first, but violated the second; see I Kings 12:25-29 for the back story!).    There is some overlap, but this is likely where the centres of gravity lie.

We may think this is fairly innocuous in today’s Christian world – especially the evangelical part of it!  But this Second Commandment may have more to say than we anticipate.  It was Calvin who famously wrote that the human heart is ‘a perpetual factory of idols’.  We create and carry images of God in our hearts and minds and it is crucial to the authenticity of our worship that such images are not false!  Here our relationship with Scripture comes to the fore… 

The Second Commandment is actually not against an image of God per se.  It rather seeks to protect us from false and inadequate images of God.  The point is: God has already provided a true and faithful Image of Himself in Christ.  ‘The Son is the image of the invisible God’ (Col.1:15, also Heb.1:3).  And we encounter Christ and all that He reveals to us about God (Matt.11:27, Jn.1:18) in Scripture, where the Father holds forth the portrait of His Son by the Spirit.  Hence the importance of our relationship with Scripture.  And why it is so dangerous to be selective about what parts of the Image of God revealed in Scripture we accept or reject.  Our tendency to stand over Scripture and to determine what in it consider valid, or relevant, or realistic is an expression of our tendency to idolatry.  We follow our own thinking, and so worship an ‘image’ we have created, or worse, an image created in our own image. We end up worshipping ourselves.  If the end point of such a process is not a false god, it is certainly a distorted vision of the true God, even the living God revealed through Christ.  We carry an image ‘inadequate of His deity and unworthy of His glory’ (Hodge).

Centuries ago Athanasius taught us that ‘where Christ is proclaimed idolatry is destroyed, and the fraud of evil spirits is exposed’ (De Inc.5:30).  This is in both sense of the word ‘idolatry’.  In evangelism the power of false gods is broken as people repent and confess Christ as Lord, but in the ongoing pastoral and preaching ministry of the Church, our misconceptions of Christ are corrected as the full counsel of God is consistently held out to the people of God.  As our vision of the image of God is refined, so our worship becomes more pleasing to God and edifying to the Church.

Thus the pursuit of a faithful vision of Christ is of the highest importance for Christians.  Paul cautions us to ‘flee…’ and John likewise reaches the climax of his First Epistle with the plea: ‘Dear children, keep yourselves from idols’.  This has been the clarion call of the Church throughout the ages.  One of the longest homilies in Church of England’s foundational documents is a ‘Sermon against the perils of Idolatry’, in which we are reminded that ‘images and image-worshipping were … abhorred and detested, as abominable and contrary to true Christian religion’.  We would do well to heed the ancient wisdom of the Church.

Questions

Why is ‘sincerity’ not adequate to legitimise Christian worship?  Do you think we should only include in worship what can be shown from the Scriptures?

Humanity is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen.1:27). How does this fit into our discussion about images and idols?

Ps.115:4-8 & Ps.135:15-18 teach that we become like what we worship.  What do you think this means?  How does it lend urgency to our discussion?

Read Deut.5:8-10 & Is.40:10-26

Do you think the Second Commandment is a prohibition against all use of art / images in worship?  What do you think would constitute a legitimate use?

Why is the issue of God’s ‘jealousy’ brought to the forefront in the Second Commandment?  What is He jealous over?  How do you feel about worshipping a jealous God? 

What does it mean to say that God will punish the children for the sin of the parents (i.e. specifically idolatry) to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me?  How would you reconcile this with e.g. Ezek.18?  Do you think the Lord is just and fair?

Do you feel as uncomfortable with the promise to show love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands?  What do you think this promise means?

How does Deut.5:10 fit with the idea of God’s unconditional love?  How does this verse affect your thinking about God’s love?

Read Is.40:10-26.  What is the Voice’s (see v.6) argument against image-making?  How does it compare and contrast with Deut.5:8-10?

Catechism:

275. What does the second commandment mean?

God’s people are neither to worship man-made images of God or of other gods nor to make such images for the purpose of worshiping them.  (Ex.20:23; 34:17; Lev.26:1; Deut.4:15–20; 27:15; Ps.97:6–9; Acts 17:22–29; 2 Cor.6:16–18)

276. How did Israel break the first two commandments?

Israel neglected God’s Law, worshiped the gods of the nations around them, and brought images of these gods (idols) into God’s temple, thus corrupting his worship. (Ex.32; Jdg.10:6; 1 Kgs.12:28–33; 2 Kgs.21:1–9; Ps.106:19–43; 1 Cor.10:1–14)

277. Why did the nations make such images?

Israel’s neighbours worshiped and served false gods by means of idols, believing they could manipulate these counterfeit gods for their own benefit.  (Ps.115:2–8; Is.44:9–20; Jer.10:2–15; Hab.2:18–19; Rev.2:18–29)

278. Are all images wrong?

No. God forbade the making of idols and the worship of images, yet commanded carvings and pictures for the tabernacle depicting creation. Christians are free to make images—including images of Jesus and the saints—as long as they do not worship them or use them superstitiously. (Ex.37:1–9; Num.21:4–9; 1 Kgs.6:23–35; 7:23–26; Jn.3:9–15)

279. Are idols always images?

No. Anything can become an idol if I look to it for salvation from my sin or comfort amid my circumstances. If I place my ultimate hope in anything but God, it is an idol.  (1 Sam.15:23; Ezek.14:3–5; Eph.5:5; Col.3:5)

280. What does the second commandment teach you about hope?

It teaches me that my ultimate hope is in God alone, for he alone is God and he made me. I must not look for salvation and fulfilment in myself, another person, my wealth or occupation or status, or any created thing. Only in God will I find perfect love and fulfilment.  (Ps.62; Is.45:20–25; Matt.6:19–24; 1 Thess.1:9–10)

281. How was Jesus tempted to break the first two commandments?

Satan tempted Jesus to bow down and worship him, promising him an earthly kingdom without the pain of the Cross. Instead, Jesus served and worshiped God faithfully and perfectly all his life, and calls us to do the same.  (Matt.4:1–11; 16:24; Luke 22:41–44; Phil.2:8)

282. How will idolatry affect you?

If I worship and serve idols, I will become like them, empty and alienated from God, who alone can make me whole. (Ps.115:4–8; Jer.2:11–19; Jon.2:7–9; Rom.1:18–25)

JCL (iii) The First Commandment

10 Commandments / The First Commandment

This is what the Lord says - Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it.  Let him declare and lay out before me what has happened since I established my ancient people, and what is yet to come - yes, let them foretell what will come.  Do not tremble, do not be afraid.  Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?  You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?  No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”  All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless.  Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame.  Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings.  Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame.”

                       (Is.44:6-11…  worth reading 6-23)

We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.”  For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

(I Cor.8:4-6)

The Exodus is the deep theological foundation that maps out the shape of the Christian faith for all generations.  We never get past the dynamics captured and played out for us on the stage of human history.  Christ redeems His people from slavery to sin, from under the tyranny of the devil, from the deep shadow of the fear of death.  He leads them through the waters of baptism (I Cor.10:2), and to the Father (Dt.4:12).  Here they enter into Covenant, the terms of which are introduced at Sinai.  They are liberated to be the people of God, to live a New Creation life before the world.  The nations will see and be amazed.  Their relationship to the nations is primarily evangelistic.  Their life together before God recaptures and exhibits God’s vision for human society and culture.  Such a life is rooted in their Gospel-centred worship that brings them back again and again to all that the Father does through the mediation of Christ.  Only here is the Spirit’s empowering released in such a way that will allow the Church to bear such a mandate before the world.

Everything stands or falls on this foundation.   We are saved for a way of living.  And that way of living depends for its very sustenance on the power that flows out of our relationship with the one, true, living God.  This is precisely what the first commandment seeks to safeguard.  The glory of God is deeply interconnected with the faithfulness of the Church.  At this intersection comes the prohibition against bringing any other god before the face of YHWH.  He is a jealous Divine Husband who will brook no rival for the affections of His bride.  It’s critical to note the link between idolatry and adultery that runs especially through the Old Testament.  To violate this command is to violate the covenant (Dt.9:17).  No other commands can be obeyed if this first command isn’t.  It’s a similar dynamic to a cheating spouse bringing home a gift.  There is no value attached to it…  As the old Puritan Thomas Watson put it: ‘it is the foundation of all true religion to give Him precedence’.  All else of legitimate and authentic Christianity flows out of our exclusive faithfulness to our God.  To the extent that we embrace any other ‘god’ (or indeed anything hat functions as a god) we forsake, and prove faithless to, our Redeemer (Jdgs 2:12).  And to that extent all we do is stamped with sin.  And to that extent we will find ourselves deceived, disappointed and damaged.  

As all righteousness is rooted in and sustained through true worship, so all sin (read: ‘covenant disloyalty’) is rooted in idolatry.  Hence the battle for faith, and for faithfulness, is first and foremost a battle for the heart.  Who, or what, will we love? … will we give first allegiance to? …will we trust to give us greatest joy?  Who or what will we desire above all else?  These are the questions that we must settle as we stand before this first commandment.  He is the God who has redeemed us, who has liberated us, called us to Himself.  If our Creator needed any further justification before laying down His Law for us to follow, this is it!   But as we know, mere externalised obedience is profoundly inadequate.  As we’ve seen in a previous study, it is love for Him that must drive our obedience.   We are to guard our hearts, and ensure that they remain captivated by the LORD.  ‘Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them’ (Dt.11:16). 

Questions

What do you think Jesus means when He says that He will fulfil the Law (Matt.5:17)?  How does that change our relationship to the Law?

Do you think some sins are more serious than others?  What do you think this will mean at judgement?

Can people who are not Christians keep the Law?

Read Deut.5:6-7 & Jer.10:1-16

How do you think this first commandment relates to our secular cultural context?  What are our ‘modern’ gods?  How modern are they? 

How do contemporary gods rival Christ for our affections?  How can we keep our hearts captivated by the LORD?

Where is the line between worshipping a false god, and worshipping a false view of the true God? 

What difference does it make that the LORD begins the Decalogue by identifying Himself in the way He does?   What does this add… or perhaps easier to answer: what would we love if it wasn’t there?

Is it true that false gods can do us no harm, or any good (Jer.10:5)? 

What does it mean to fear the Lord (Jer.10:7)?  How does recognising that this is His ‘due’ change the way we think about people who aren’t Christians?  Is it appropriate to call those who worship others gods ‘foolish and senseless’ (10:8)?

How could you help someone identify their idols? How could you present the Gospel to someone in terms of the shift between their idols and the True God? 

Catechism:

268. What is the first commandment?

The first commandment is “I am the Lord your God … You shall have no other gods before me.”

(Ex.20:2–3; Deut.5:6–7; see also Psalm 97; Luke 4:5–8; 1 Cor.8:1–6)

269. What does it mean that the Lord is your God?

It means that I have faith that the God of the Bible is the only true God and that I entrust myself to him wholly.

(Ex.3:1–15; Deut.6:4–5; Psalm 86:8–13; Mark 12:29–34; Rev.15:3–4)

270. What does it mean to have no other gods?

It means that there should be nothing in my life more important than God and obeying his will. I should worship him only and love, revere, and trust him above all else.

(Psalm 95; Jer.10:6–10; Luke 16:10–15; 1 John 2:15–17)

271. Why are you tempted to worship other things instead of God?

I am tempted because my sinful heart seeks my own desires above all else and pursues those things which falsely promise to fulfil them.

(Deut.29:16–19; Psalm 10:2–7; Acts 19:23–27; James 4:1–10)

272. How are you tempted to worship other gods?

I am tempted to trust in myself, my pleasures, my possessions, my relationships, and my success, wrongly believing that they will bring me happiness, security, and meaning. I am also tempted to believe superstitions and false religious claims, and to reject God’s call to worship him alone.

(1 Kings 11:1–8; Psalm 73:1–17; Matt.26:14–16; 27:1–5; Rom.1:18–32)

273. Can you worship and serve God perfectly?

No. Only our Lord Jesus Christ worshiped and served God perfectly; but I can seek to imitate Christ, knowing that my worship and service are acceptable to God through him.

(1 Kings 15:9–14; Psalm 53:1–3; Luke 4:1–13; Eph.5:1–2; Heb.7:23–28)

JCL (ii)... Loving the Law of the God of love.

The Law of Love

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.

                       (I Jn.5:2-4)

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

(Deut.7:9)

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

(Deut.10:12-13)

As we work through this birth we will touch again and again on the idea that the Law of God is a law of love.  God gives the Law because of His love for His Church.  The Law is for our good.  The Lord speaks through the mighty prophet Isaiah to remind us that what He commands is what is best for us.  ‘If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river’ (see Is.48:17-19).  It is the expression of the character of the God who is love (I Jn.4:16).  It is the expression of His love.  It is literally satanic to think of the Law of God has something designed to impoverish us, limit us, restrict us, or abuse us (Gen.3:1-7).  The Law is for our nurture, our protection, our good, and when we disregard it or disobey it, we not only impugn the Lord’s glory, we injure ourselves.

And the Law is the articulation of our love for God.  We are so very familiar with Jesus’ immense summary of Law, bringing together two OT passages: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt.22:37-40).  It is love for God and neighbour that gives takes us to the heart of our obedience to the Law.  It is love for God and neighbour that gives the Law its shape and structure, content and coherence.  Without love, the Law is at best an empty and hollow parody, at worst it is downright dangerous.   Without the Law, love is powerless to find authentic expression.  

Strange though it may sound to us, as fallen creatures we don’t know how to love in a way that reflects the heart of the living God.  We don’t know how to love each other, and we don’t know how to love Him.  And even if we did, we wouldn’t be able to without His having first loved us.  We may find this disturbing, and difficult.  We may feel confident that we do know what love is, and that it is simply untenable to suggest that those who aren’t Christians don’t know how to love.  Yet this is the burden of passages such as I John 4:13-5:2. John’s contention is that we can only love our brothers and sisters in Christ as we are loved by God, and in turn love God and carry out His commands.  The Law is what gives our love shape and integrity.  The two commandments are divisible.  You cannot love your neighbour without loving God.  And you cannot love God with loving your neighbour.

We’ll have a chance to revisit this in the questions below, but we have to appreciate that much of what passes for love falls far short of God’s vision and character.  It is not too much to say that before we have (been) encountered (by) the love of Christ we have never encountered love (I Jn.3:16).  Pale reflections and faint echoes perhaps, but nothing more.  And our protests to the contrary simply suggests that we have experienced too little of Christ’s love to be able to tell the difference!?  Meditation on John’s Epistle leaves us little room for manoeuvre (see e.g. I Jn.4:7-8).  The difference between the Church hand the world should be far greater than we generally conceive (I Jn.3:14-15). 

What John teaches is simply another way of saying that we cannot obey the Law without first knowing God.  Only in this primal encounter of the love of God in Christ are we able to obey His commands, and only by obeying His commands are we able to love Him (John 14:15-31, mirroring the dynamics of Christ’s love for His Father).  To set up ‘love’ and Law’ as if they were in any sense incompatible, or even as if they were opposed to each other, is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of Biblical Christianity.  To disregard the Law is to disregard love.  To disregard love is to disregard God.

Questions

Do the introductory notes faithfully reflect the teaching of the Bible?  Is it untenable to say that only Christians, who have been loved by God in Christ, know how to love?

Why do you think we should keep some parts of the Law as Christians, but not others?  Is this incoherent?   

Does seeing God’s Law as a ‘Law of love’ change your view on keeping it?  How would you define ‘love’?

Read Mark 12:28-34 & Rom.13:8-10

Why do you think the command to love God and neighbour in this way qualifies as the ‘most important’?

What do you think it means ‘love’ God and neighbour in the context of this ‘most important’ commandment? 

Why is keeping the Law ‘more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices’ (Mk.12:33)?  Does this verse have anything to say to us now that ‘burnt offerings and sacrifices’ are no longer part of the Church’s worship?

What is it about the teacher’s interaction that shows Jesus he is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven? 

Why does Jesus leave him still outside (not far from) the Kingdom of Heaven (Mk.12:34)? What can we learn from Jesus’ example?

Why does Paul style the command to love one other as a ‘debt’?   How should this affect how we see those in our Church?  Is there a specific way I can demonstrate this love over the next few days? 

How does Paul understand the Ten Commandments?  How do you think he would respond to someone who said that Christians weren’t ‘under the Law’?

Catechism:

258. What is God’s Law? God’s Law (Hebrew, torah: “instruction”) is God’s direct pronouncement of his will, both for our good and for his glory.  (Deut.30; Ps. 19:7–11; 119:89–104; Gal.3:15–24)

…

261. How did Jesus fulfill God’s Law?  For our sake, Jesus fulfilled God’s Law by teaching it perfectly, submitting to it wholly, and dying as an atoning sacrifice for our disobedience.  (Ps.119:49–72; Is.53:4–12; Matt.5:17–20; Rom.8:1–4; Heb.10:1–18)

262. How can you obey God’s Law?  As I trust in Jesus’ fulfilment of the Law for me and live in the power of the Holy Spirit, God grants me grace to love and obey his Law.  (2 Kings 18:1–8; Prov.3:1–12; Jn.15:3–11; Rom.6:15–23; 1 Jn.5:2–5)

263. Why are you not able to do this perfectly?  Sin has corrupted human nature, inclining me to resist God, to ignore his will, and to care more for myself than for my neighbours. However, God has begun and will continue his transforming work in me, and will fully conform me to Christ at the end of the age. (Ps.14; Jer.17:1–13; Rom.3:9–23; 7:21–25; Phil.1:3–11)

264. How should you understand the Ten Commandments? I should understand them as God’s righteous rules for life in his kingdom: basic standards for loving God and my neighbour. In upholding them, I bear witness with the Church to God’s righteousness and his will for a just society. (Deut.4:1–8; Ps.119:137–44, 160; Matt.5:17–48; Rom.7:7–12; 13:8–10)

265. How do the Ten Commandments help you to resist evil?  They teach me that God judges the corrupt affections of this fallen world, the cruel strategies of the devil, and the sinful desires of my own heart; and they teach me to renounce them.  (Deut.8; Ps.19:7–14; Jn.16:7–15; Rom.2:1–16)

266. How do the Ten Commandments help you to grow in likeness to Christ?  They reveal my sin in the light of God’s righteousness, guide me to Christ, and teach me what is pleasing to God. (Deut.4:32–40; Ps.19; 119:127–35, 169–76; Gal.3:19–26; James 1:21–25; 2:8–13)

267. How should you keep the Ten Commandments?  Because they both contain God’s prohibitions against evil and direct me toward his good will, I should both repent when I disobey them and seek by his grace to live according to them.  (Ps.25:11–18; Rom.6; Col.3:5–17)

JCL (i)... It's about Jesus!

Jesus, Incarnation & holiness

 

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

                       (Phil.3:8-9)

…if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

(Rom.5:17)

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…

(Is.61:10)

Launching into a term’s teaching reflecting on how we grow as Christians to become more like the people Jesus died to make us is as daunting as it is dangerous.  In the weeks ahead we will face at least two, at times contradictory, temptations.  The culture of British Christianity makes us susceptible to a kind of spiritual brittleness.  We tend to be unsure of the structures of our relationship with God, and have so habituated ourselves to a need for relentless affirmation in our faith, that any challenge that exposes our sinfulness, any call to holiness, or a reference to any part of the Bible that teaches that our trajectory of righteousness is critical, tends to throw us into a kind of tail spin. 

On the other hand, our natural default as redeemed sinners is to reflex into a kind of legalism.  As soon as sense the Scriptural emphasis on transformation and growth into the likeness of Jesus, we invert it so that it becomes the condition of our acceptance with God, rather than the outworking of our loving relationship with Him.  The instinctive religion of a fallen humanity, whatever its cosmetics, comes down to the basic idea that if we are good people God will accept us.  There are ‘christianised’ versions of it (see Galatians), but except for when it is being denigrated there is no thought of this in the Bible. The Gospel thunders against the pride and arrogance of sinful humanity.  It utterly denies the assumption that we could ever be ‘good enough’.  It refutes even the notion that we could contribute some ‘goodness’ to our salvation, as if we do the best we can and then Jesus somehow adds the rest.  The relentless and clarion teaching of the Holy Spirit is that everything in our salvation is gift of God, born out of His love and rooted in His grace.  That we contribute nothing but the sin of which we need to be forgiven is the benchmark of all Biblical spirituality.  Only as we confront our moral bankruptcy, our poverty of spirit, are we in a position to receive the gift of God.  ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’, we are told, ‘for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt.5:3). 

It is all of Christ.  Only as we stand on this solid rock can we be sure that we won’t find ourselves thrown into the depths of despair on the one hand, or lifted up to the heights of human pride on the other.  And it is only as we are united with Christ through faith that we are enveloped in the benefits Christ has won for us.  Paul’s explosive summary of the Gospel captures the dynamic: ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (II Cor.5:21).  The consistent teaching of the Scriptures is that the righteousness in which we stand before God, that allows us to stand before God is the Righteousness that God Himself gives us, through our identification with Christ by our faith in Him (theologians sometimes speak of Christ’s righteousness being ‘imputed’ i.e. credited to us).  This is just one reason why we should delight to witness Christ forging His very human righteousness throughout the Gospels.  This is our righteousness.

But our experience of righteousness is not limited to this.  By virtue of this same union with Christ we are given a new nature, the Spirit of Christ takes up residence in un; we are given a new love and longing for the kind of new creation life God calls us to (Matt.5:6, I Jn5:3-5 etc.)).  As a preacher of a previous generation once said: Love God and do as you please!  We will in our life and character increasingly bear the image of God in which we were created and to which we have been redeemed.  We will become more righteous, growing into the righteousness of Christ that we have been gifted.  Only by holding these two colossal realities together can we navigate the temptations we face ahead.

Questions

How does the prospect of spending the next three months studying the Law of God make you feel?  Are you excited?  …fearful?  …curious?  …anxious?  Can you explain your answer(s)?

How important do you think ‘obedience’ is in the Christian life?  Does it matter if we follow the teaching and example of Jesus?  Why / why not?  How does knowing, understanding and living by God’s Law work out in your life? 

Do you think the Ten Commandments should continue to shape Christian living?  …or were they something confined to the Old Testament?  Can you explain your answer?  What passages from the Bible would shape your thinking about this?

Read Heb.2:5-12

This passage is part of a longer section exploring why Jesus had to be made like us ‘fully human in every way’ (2:17).  Heb.2:13-18 explores more directly His human death, and how it redeems our experience of death; but we’re focussing on the human life of Jesus.  This passage provides a nice transition from Christmas into our series:

The passage quotes from Psalm 8 & 22.  How does the writer of Hebrews understand the Psalms, and use them (see also quotes from Is.817-18 in Heb.2:13, and the 7 quotes from the OT in Heb.1)?   Do you think Hebrews is right to use the Psalms this way, or is it reading into the Psalms a meaning that isn’t in the original understanding of this OT book?

If you were to summarise the argument of Heb.2:5-12, what would you say was the main point?  Having articulated that main point, how does that shape how you think of yourself as a Christian?

One of the big hits in the passages is the idea that Jesus is ‘not ashamed to call [us] brothers and sisters’ (2:11).   How would you use this passage to help someone who was struggling to believe God accepted them? 

How would you use this passage to help someone who was caught in a pattern of ongoing sinfulness? 

Catechism:

As we work our way through this series we’ll be using an ancient method of teaching ourselves to think through all we are being taught.  For over a millennium the Church used set Questions and Answers (called a Catechism, from the Greek word Katekeo, meaning ‘to teach orally’) to help rank and file Christians get a handle on their faith, and to grow in their understanding of how it works.  For centuries, the greatest theologians and pastors of the Church produced such Catechisms, and were often explicit in their expectations that families would use them on a daily basis as part of their worship together.

In our own generation, there has been a welcome re-discovery of the practise, and I’ll be introducing us to a modern Catechism produced by the Anglican Church of North America (written substantively by Jim Packer).  It is somewhat more extensive than the original Anglican Catechism (see Book of Common Prayer, p289 ff); and is called: To Be a Christian.  It is available online as a PDF, or from Crossway Publishing if you would like a full copy.  As part of this series, I’ll be re-producing the section covering the 10 Commandments, entitled ‘Becoming Like Christ’.  That in itself is a revealing title, and sets Law of God in a compelling context of spiritual growth and maturing discipleship.  As we’ll see next week, love and obedience are two sides of the same coin, inexorably linked to the extent that John can say: ‘In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands’ (I Jn.5:3, drawing on passages such as Deut.11:1, Ps.119:88; Jn.14:23-24).  As our Catechism puts it in the introduction to the Questions and Answers covering the Ten Commandments: 

God wants us to have fullness of life in a relationship of loving obedience to Him.  He teaches us His will for our lives through the Law, and most fully through the teaching and example of Jesus (John 12:49-50; Heb.1:1-2).  God’s Law is outlined and distilled for us in the Ten Commandments, and displayed for us in Jesus’ sinless life and atoning death … God’s purpose for our new life in Christ is to make us like Jesus (Rom.8:28-29).  Scripture teaches that our actions are pleasing to God only if the attitudes of our minds and hearts are also godly.  God sees our behaviour as the fruit of our hearts and character, not something external or separate from our inner being.  Thus the goal of our life in Christ is that we become like Christ – not only in our actions but also in our thoughts and attitudes.

We’ll start to see how that works out in practise next week.