THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, A WINNING STRATEGY FROM A LOVING GOD

By Steve Henry

Burke County

Freedom comes from Who we choose to focus on, bondage comes from what we choose to focus on. Many Christians look at the 10 Commandments as a list of rules and regulations that they must adhere to to have an intimate relationship with God, however, if we focus on trying to keep them we will live a life of frustration and failure as we try to please Him by our own effort, but according to Ephesians 2:8-9 our salvation comes not by our own works but by grace through faith in Him and what He accomplished for us.

It’s interesting to note that immediately before giving the 10 Commandments God emphasizes that “I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage,” (Deuteronomy 5:6 and Exodus 20:2), then He shares the Commandments. Indeed He is the ultimate and final authority we will all stand before someday, and we should respect Him for that, but He is not some celestial authoritarian barking orders for us to follow. It is a picture of a loving gracious Father who wants us to focus on the only One who can deliver us from bondage and set us free to walk in the newness of His life.
A New Testament parallel is found in Colossians 1:13-14; “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” If we will focus on the God that gave the commandments we will discover that He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20) —He is that power!

He desires that we find our rest in Him.
Exodus 33:14 “And he said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” His presence is always with us, He has promised He will never leave nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5) but to realize His presence in a practical sense and the subsequent rest that accompanies it we would do well to learn a lesson from Mary who “sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His Word” (Luke 10:39). We’ve all heard “don’t just sit there, do something” (the Martha syndrome). Maybe we should invert that to say “don’t just do something, sit there.” Indeed there is plenty to be done in our Kingdom’s work but even Jesus made time to be in the presence of His Father.
Jesus didn’t say work harder for Me, pray harder, study harder, although those are worthy attributes to have, He simply said “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

What are some of the things He wants us to learn from Him?
Among many other wonderful things, we will discover His unfathomable grace to us.
Matthew 5:48 states, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” This command is given in the context of loving our enemies. How can we ever possibly be this perfect? Do we follow the 10 Commandments, hoping somehow we will reach perfection? James spoke to how frustrating that type of mindset can be when he says “For whoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10).” Reaching this level of perfection is really very simple, and it’s actually not a level we reach but a free gift that is granted to us the moment we receive His Son as our Savior; “For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:14). He gives the command and then fulfills it for us when we repent and call on Him in simple childlike faith.

The word “perfect” means “complete.” Jesus and the Father want us to be “one” with them and you just can’t get any more perfect than God.
John 17:11; “And now I am in the world no longer, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father. Keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are.”
John 17:20-23 “And I do not pray for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And I have given them the glory which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one, I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

Why is it so important that we find our rest in Him?
I hope I have depicted Him as the loving, gracious, merciful Father that He truly is, but we have a triune enemy, the world, the flesh, and the Devil, that is constantly trying to tell us otherwise.
The world pulls at us all the time. That’s the reason businesses spend billions on advertising every year.
The flesh continually screams for satisfaction but in this flesh dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18).
The devil and his forces are anywhere and everywhere we are; Eph 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” It all comes down to the matter of who we are going to believe.

Now to the 10 Commandments. The first four of the 10 Commandments deal with our relationship with God. When the religious leaders questioned Jesus about the greatest commandment He told them to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27). Unfortunately for them and those that followed them they didn’t see the Lord God as the one that delivered them from the house of bondage but a God that kept people in the bondage of trying to keep the law. When we keep our focus on the One that wants to set us free from any bondage (Commandments 1-4)  we can live the blessed life He has in store for us and the remainder of the commandments won’t be any problem to keep because we will live a life of service to others that says, even to our enemies, “Don’t you want to get in on this good thing that we have?”

Please keep in mind that we serve a God who wants to deliver us, not a God who is looking for opportunities to rain down His wrath on us when we fail to keep His rules. As Pastor Gregory Dickow has said, “He’s not mad at you, He’s mad about you.”

My hope and prayer is that you can say to Him “You are the Lord my God, who has brought me out of darkness, forgave me of all my sin, and set me free to dwell in Your house forever.”

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Steve Henry has been a lifelong resident of Burke County. God blessed him with an incredible lady that he has been married to for 43 years. He has also blessed Steve with two wonderful children and two beautiful granddaughters.

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