THE 10 Commandments in Today’s World (from the Book of Exodus 20) from Pastor Stefan Tiran’s (WIN-UK) Sunday WORD
6 March, 2011, Chapelizod Dublin Church WIN Ireland`
WE have learned a different perspective of God’s Word from the Old Testament and that it very well applies on how we live today in the Post Modern World. Pastor Stefan Tiran exhorted on the book of Exodus (on the first 4 of the 10 Commantments) when the Israelites left Egypt and when Moses received the 10 Commandments.
1. Why did God save Israel from Egypt? According to Exodus 3:18 and 12:31, we are to worship God.
2. How are we to worship God? God wants a holy people more than formalities or liturgies of worship that we currently do today. Worship starts with obedience. We should all live a life in accordance with the way the Lord wants us to live.
1st Commandment: We must not have any other God but me. Yahweh requires exclusive allegiance. The Lord took the initiative to give us the commandments. He too the first step. God saved us first before he gave the Ccommandments. Nothing we would have done to merit this. There would be no church if God did not take the first move to save us.
But what is freedom?
– something that is received as a gift.
– something to be maintained, but
Yet freedom is something we can lose…
Commandments are given us to keep us from slavery. These are moral boundaries of our behaviour within God’s freedom can be enjoyed. Freedom in the Bible is freedom to obey God.
What is the problem in the world today? The problem today is not atheism but indifference. People have this attitude that for them it does not matter if they believe God because in comparison with Christians we are living the same life???
Christianity is a task. We must worship God in everything that we are and everything that we have. Deut 6:4-5
2nd Commandment : We must not make ourselves an Idol.
Why did God prohibits idols? The only acceptable image of God is Humanity. An Idol is anything that takes the rightful place of God in our lives. God must be our security in life. An idol is anything that detracts us from being loyal to God. As God is a loyal God, we must be loyal to Him. As God is a faithful God, we must be faithful to Him.
3rd Commandment: We must not misuse the name of Yahweh
– God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. It’s a privilege to know Gods name. See Psalm 20
– The name of God brings blessing. By reducing the name of God to a “genie in a bottle”. Its like making God answer to all our whims. He will not answer for we have the misplaced motives of using His name. Another misuse of God’s name is using the name of God to manipulate people – to get something for own personal motives. We should be be careful on what we teach others or someday we will be held accountable to it. As Christians, we carry the name of God everywhere we go. If we misbehave we bring God’s name in disrepute.
4th Commandment: Remember to observe Sabbath Day by keeping it Holy.
Sabbath in Hebrew means to STOP!
Reasons for this Commandment:
1. God himself stopped working on the 7th day. We should not be workaholic – God doesn’t want us to work without rest. Going to Church on a Sunday is an expression of faith. We need to rest. We need our body to regenerate or we will become sick.
2. It’s our covenant with God- Ex 31:12-17
3. Gift of Redemption – deut 5:15- Remember the slavery in Egypt. We must Rest in the presence of God.
What does it mean to us? In the modern era, we now have monthly salaries compared to daily wages that Old Testament laborers receive. If Israelites stop work for one day they would not have wage for that day. So its an act of faith that work they have rendered during the 6 days would have given them enough wages to feed their families even on a Sabbath. If we are to work on a Sunday, we must allocate another day in the week that we are off work to dedicate to the Lord.
According to Exodus 19:3-6 We are Gods special treasure. God’s kingdom of priest and a holy nation.
In conclusion: Above all we must worshipping God and live a life of obedience and dedication to Him and only Him.
A Sunday WORD Reflection Contributed by Bro. Ian Ramirez
