INTRODUCTION
Exodus 20:1-4,7-8,12-20
1 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 bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image — 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;
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 the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which 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, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
20 And Moses said to the people,“Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”
Long passage … that should be familiar to most of us.
What is happening? Why is God speaking to the people directly?
- To understand, we need to see what we just read in context of what we’ve been seeing over the past few weeks.
- God has delivered His people … He has revealed Himself to them … He is leading them out of slavery into freedom … He wants to make a people who were slaves into a people who are free and independent.
- God is going to establish a kingdom … and He is giving them laws that will govern how they live in that kingdom.
- Four attributes of a kingdom:
- a king, a people (subjects), territory, laws.
- Four attributes of a kingdom:
God is giving them the basic law that will govern relationships within the kingdom.
Something we need to notice about the Ten Commandments … They are all about relationships.
- 1-4 are about relationship to God …
- 5-10 are about relationships with people.
- A note about the 5th …12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
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- It’s often called a “bridge” commandment … between God and Man
- … where “father and mother” represent God to their children
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- A note about the 4th … 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
The “sabbath” then was about a day of rest … The “sabbath” for us is about the “rest” that is in Jesus Christ.- Matthew 11:28-30 … Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am[f]gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
HOW DOES ALL THIS RELATE TO US?
- Exodus 19:1-6 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I [a]bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
- 1 Peter 2:4-10 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who [b]are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but arenow the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
IF we take a minute to meditate on the ten commands, it sounds like an incredible community to live in … A community where we live in right relationship with God and others … BUT … if we look at Israel’s experience … and if we reflect on our own lived experience … we find that this kind of community is far from our reality. Truthfully, it seems outright impossible.
Thank God for Jesus Christ!
God comes to us, as one of us, in Jesus Christ. It’s an infinitely more intimate encounter than the encounter at Mt. Sinai. Once again, through his life and his teachings, he gives us a vision for what it means to be God’s people.
- Except this time, Jesus fulfills this vision, living in perfect relationship with his Father and others. And he does it on behalf of all humanity. By doing this, he fulfills the Ten Commandments, remaining faithful to humanity’s covenant commitments to God.
- He lives out what it means to be a member of God’s kingdom community. In Jesus Christ, God creates his kingdom community on earth.
Not only does Jesus live as a human member of God’s kingdom community on this earth, but he also dies a human death and is raised to life in a glorified human body. When he rises to life again, he does so on behalf of all of humanity, bringing us into his new and redeemed humanity. He then brings us with him in his ascension to be with God the Father.
In Jesus, we are drawn into his perfect relationship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. We are drawn into experiences of God’s kingdom community, even in this life.
In Jesus, a new special relationship, or covenant, is formed between God and his people. This covenant made the first one obsolete and extends beyond Israel as a representative for humanity. It includes all of humanity in Jesus Christ. This covenant is also made complete in Jesus Christ.
In Jesus, the covenant is fulfilled in both directions — from God to humanity and humanity to God.
God is creating his kingdom community in Jesus through the Spirit even now. And, just as the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, we have the great joy and privilege of participating in God’s creation of his kingdom community. We can be emboldened to move through the world in a way that reflects God’s kingdom community because we are confident that in Jesus all of humanity has been brought into a complete and whole kingdom community. We can do this confidently knowing that the establishment of God’s kingdom community is not dependent upon our capabilities or willpower but is made complete in Jesus. And it’s made real in us by the Spirit.
It is in this confidence that we are free to live as members of God’s kingdom community. We can live as those that worship only God and reject temptations to worship self, leaders, ideology, wealth, accomplishments, praise, and more. We can live as those who value the dignity of every human and make decisions that uphold the dignity of humanity.
We can refuse to take advantage, manipulate, oppress, and use people for our own benefit. We can refuse to treat people like objects. We can refuse to gossip. We can choose to be generous, compassionate, and kind. We can make choices that support our neighbors to have abundant lives. We can refuse to act selfishly, ambitiously, violently, or corruptly in the name of God. We can commit to rhythms of peace and rest for ourselves, our neighbor, creation, and even our enemy.
Living in this way is a reflection of the special relationship that Jesus has createdwith all of humanity. It gives witness to us and all the world about who this God is shaping us to be, and the relationship he wants to have with us. When we participate in God’s works of creating his kingdom community in our very midst, we proclaim the kind of community that God has establish for us to enjoy with him and one another forever.
CONCLUSION
A. God is creating his kingdom community…
- Jesus is our King
- We are the subjects
- The territory is all over the earth … wherever Christians are
- We have the law of love to guide us
B. That law, for us, is summed up in one word … LOVE.
- Matthew 22:3-40 … But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
- Romans 13:10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
- John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
C. God is building a community … a community built on love and by love … and … in Jesus Christ, we belong to that community.
D. Let us rejoice in this beautiful relationship with God and one another.
COMMUNION CEREMONY
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
On the night Jesus said those words, He was going to implement an ordinance that His Church could use to remember (be reminded of) His love for us … a love He demonstrated a few hours later by dying on a cross … for us.
- The Bread: Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and said, “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
- The Cup: He took the cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you” and for many for the forgiveness of sins.