The Big Ten: What's the Big Deal


The Ten Commandments: Exodus 20:1-17
20 And God spoke all these words, saying, 
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 
3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 
13 “You shall not murder. 
14 “You shall not commit adultery. 
15 “You shall not steal. 
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” 

As I start a new sermon series, I want to set the stage. The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt for generations. They cried out to God, and God rose up Moses to deliver them from slavery. God showed his power through the ten plagues and led Israel with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. God parted the Red Sea and all of Israel walked through on dry ground, but the mighty Egyptian army was drowned. Now we find the Israelite people gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai.

Exodus 19:16-20 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Imagine the situation. God has miraculously led you out of slavery. Now you’re at the base of the mountain, covered by a thick cloud full of thunder and lightning. Smoke is everywhere. And Moses goes up to the top of the mountain, into the smoke, into the fire. You hear the tremendous thunder, so great that the entire mountain trembles. 

When Moses comes back, he brings the word of God. “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Before we get to the Ten Commandments themselves, we have to deal with this. The Ten Commandments are unlike any other laws; they are not man-made. They are laws given by God. Now, we sometimes do not like the laws. Sometimes it seems that human laws are arbitrary or even random. There are times when laws are even unfair. I’m sure there were unfair laws when Zambia was a British colony. The United States has its share of unfair laws as well, laws written and enforced by sinful humans.

But we see that the Ten Commandments come from Yahweh. Why is this important? Well, we can see that it means that the laws are not coming from some other god. And what do we know about God? God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth. God is omnipotent, which means all-powerful. God is omniscient, which means all-knowing. But there is more. God says, “I am Yahweh, your God.” This is a reminder that God is not some impersonal god “out there,” but Yahweh is a personal God. Yahweh is not merely the God of our forefathers or “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” but He is “your God.” Do you see the difference? We have a God who is not only all powerful and all knowing, but also personal. So we must trust that God has our best interest in mind. 

Think of a child. By nature, most children are very curious. Imagine your baby is crawling toward the cooking fire. She is curious about it; it’s bright, it’s warm, and she sees you near it. Will you tell the baby “NO!” or will you just let the baby get burned? Of course you will tell her “No!” We will do that because, as parents, we love our children. Listen to what Jesus said about that: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? if you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:9-11)

The Ten Commandments are actually some of God’s good gifts to his children! In love, God is showing his children how to live in harmony with one another. We can see this in how God introduces the Ten Commandments. “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Yahweh is the God who brought his people out of Egyptian slavery. This is how much God loves us. God loves us enough to deliver his children from the hand of mighty Pharaoh. In this context, we can see how God has already worked, but we can also see that God will use his righteous laws to begin to deliver his people from another kind of slavery… slavery to sin.

So next week we will begin to look at the Ten Commandments — how God has made rules to protect us and to deliver us from slavery to sin.

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