December 10th: The Big Ten

The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:2-17

Then God gave the people all these instructions[a]:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

3 “You must not have any other god but me.

4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[b] who love me and obey my commands.

7 “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

12 “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You must not murder.

14 “You must not commit adultery.

15 “You must not steal.

16 “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

17 “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

“Rules, rules, rules! I love rules!” I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that no one in the history of…EVER has said that.  Like Adam and Eve, we like to do things OUR way, make OUR choices and even OUR mistakes.  So is it really any wonder that God’s people would always need rescuing?  Throughout history, when times were bad, God’s people would call his name and beg for rescuing and then when times were good again they would do what they wanted and worship the Gods of their choosing. Their particular favorite was a golden cow statue that represented the pagan (religion of people who don’t believe in the one and only God of Israel) God called Baal. So to help his people to make better choices so that they would honor Him and not  constantly need rescuing, God gave the people “The Ten Commandments” or ten rules to live a holy life.

Would you ever worship a statue of a golden cow or anything or anybody other than God? That sounds crazy, but when we choose anything over God we are making that thing our god. Do you worship TV God or Xbox God?  How about iPad or iPod God or the God of Sports ?  When you say it like that, of course you would never worship anything like that, it just sounds silly!  But do your actions tell another story?  How you spend your time says pretty much everything about where your heart is.

God gave us these rules so that we might live lives that show that God is at the center of everything we say, everything we do, and the choices we make.  They are our ten rules for living.  Look back over that list.  Have you broken any of them this week?  Probably so.  But here’s the beautiful part, God knew His people were going to break these rules even before Moses could get down the mountain with them, and that’s why we give God names like Merciful God, Forgiving God, and Loving God, because even in our sin, even when we don’t choose God, God still chooses to love us more than anything in the world and still rescues us even when we really, really don’t deserve it.

Discussion Questions:

1.     Why do you think we need rules from God?   Do you think it           is easy or hard to follow the rules?

2.     What happens to our relationship with God when we don’t               follow the rules?

3.     When we have broken God’s rules, what can we do to make             things right with God once more? 

Family Activity:  You will need paper and a pencil.  Take a look at God’s Ten Commandments, and using them as your example, write ten commandments for living in peace and love with the people in your house.

Prayer for the World: Pray for our teammates, the Trouts.  They have two sons at home and a married daughter in Virginia.  They’re originally from Ohio.  Pray for the development of the boys as they study and for their parents as they lead our team.