Intro: For our Advent season this year, Pastor Mary has chosen to enjoy the Jesse Tree by sharing a 24-day practice to prepare us for the celebration of Christ’s birth; the event we celebrate and honor at Christmas. From the root of Jesse’s stump, we will discover or rediscover the people in the family Tree of Jesus Messiah who were instrumental in bringing the presence of God near to us in order to revive the Spirit-led family of faith. With each day’s reading, we will add a new symbol—an ornament—to our family tree.
Today is day eleven of our journey and our symbol is The Ten Commandments.
As a kid I used to think that some of my parent’s “house rules” were just ridiculous. Then I became a parent and our “house rules” seemed to almost mirror image the rules that I once followed as a kid in my parent’s house.
Now, when I think about God giving Moses the Ten Commandments, it is almost as if God was passing on the “House rules” for His Family, Israel, through Moses. The Commandments were a conditional covenant, like a set of God’s “House rules” for humanity’s relationship with Him and with others. When Moses takes the instructions and regulations of the Ten Commandments down to the foot of Mount Sinai and gives them to the people, they all at once responded, “we will do everything the Lord has commanded” (Exodus 24:3). We know that wasn’t always the case, and if we are being completely honest, you and I are no different than the Israelites because we fall short of following God’s “House rules” from time to time.
We know that the law, the Ten Commandments, was similar to a guardian until Jesus came, it protected God’s people until they could be made right with God through individual salvation and faith in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:24). Remember, when a teacher of the religious law asked Jesus which of the commandments was the most important, Jesus said that we are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength; and equally as important, love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:35-40, Mark 12:28-34, & Luke 10:25-28). Jesus wasn’t telling us to ignore the Ten Commandments, rather since He was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses meaning He lived out the Ten Commandments perfectly, He was simply encapsulating all ten of God’s “House rules” and putting them into two clear commandments known as the Greatest Commandment.
Friends, when it seems difficult to follow God’s “House rules”, pause, and connect with Him in prayer with an open heart. When we seek to love Him the way we are called as His children to love Him, with our whole heart, it makes our relationship with Him closer and deeper and as a result it makes loving our neighbor a little easier because we get a chance to love them like Jesus loves them, perfectly and whole.
Exodus 20:1-17 (NLT)
Ten Commandments for the Covenant Community
1 Then God gave the people all these instructions:
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 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.”
Exodus 24:12 (NLT)
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.”
Matthew 5:17 (NLT)
Teaching about the Law
17 “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)
15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
Galatians 3:21-24 (NLT)
21 Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. 22 But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.
God’s Children through Faith
23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.
24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith.
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for coming and being the perfect example of love and for outlining the way I am called to love with clear instructions. Help me to follow those instructions more closely so that I may grow closer in my relationship with You, as I walk further away from sin, and deeper into a place of pure love with You. I want to love my neighbor more selflessly, like You love them, and to do that I need Your guidance, Holy Spirit, and a heart like Yours, Jesus. I ask all of this in Your Name, Jesus. Amen.