Ten Love Letters

Have you read the ten love letters from God to you in Exodus 20? "Wait," you say, "I thought Exodus 20 was the ten commandments." We have all heard sermons on this passage.

One: worship no other gods. Makes sense, there are no other gods, so worshiping a non-entity seems to be demeaning. Two: Make no images. Of course. God is a spirit and making an image of a spirit would not be representative of Him, but something else. See One.

Three: Do not take God's Name in vain. You do not revere anyone or anything that you curse with. Four: Keep the Sabbath holy. Logical. We do not want to work ourselves to death.

Five: Honor father and mother. After all, they brought you into the world and provide for you. They deserve respect. Six: Do not murder. No question about that or the next three. Seven: Do not commit adultery. This keeps the family (Number five) in order. Eight: Do not steal. My stuff is important to me. Likewise others value their own stuff. Nine: Do not lie. How else can we communicate and cooperate in this world? Ten: Do not covet. This kind of leads back to the others, particularly six, seven, and eight.

The end. These make lots of sense, but how do you get "love letters" out of this? Many sermons I have heard break them down into two sections, Getting along with God and getting along with man. So imagine my surprise when our pastor at my church in college announced that he was preaching on the Ten Commandments. He would take at least one sermon on EACH ONE!

I figured that I had ten weeks of a little extra sleep on Sunday morning. I do not have my notes from that series, but I was surprised at what he found in those commandments. I did not sleep during the messages, and I was disappointed when they were complete.

David Jeremiah reminded me of that when he commented that the Ten Commandments were ten love letters from God. We will not have an entire study on each one, although we could, but will try to just hit the high points.

Number one: The Jealous God. No other gods. Sometimes this is misinterpreted as God stoops to human jealousy. This is both demeaning and distinctly erroneous. God's jealousy is like that of a loving parent. We are jealous of our children's health and well being.

"You better not mess with my kid." This warning rings out from the earliest interaction with a newborn, to the school play ground, to college and job interactions, all the way to the parents' twilight years. This reflects, faintly, the love and care that God has for us.

He does know that there are no other gods, and if we worship anything or anyone but Him we are actually worshiping demons. (Psalm 96:5 and 1 Corinthians 20:10) That is worse than we originally thought. So the options are to worship the True God or to worship and be subjected to demons. I choose Jesus.

The Lord is jealous for our well being, both now and for eternity. The being that we worship will determine where we spend forever. The first letter is His declaration that He wants us with Him. He is like a husband guarding and corralling the affections of His bride. They are channeled in one direction, to Him.

Number two: The Exclusive God. No images. There is only one way to God (John 14:6) and it is clearly portrayed in the Scripture. The Substitute Sacrifice of the Old Testament is realized in the Lamb of God, Jesus. (John 1:36) Any image that can be crafted is a poor substitute for the Real Thing and the Lord wanted to make that clear in the beginning. God is a spirit, and no image can represent a spirit. So it, by default becomes an idol, a substitute.

The Groom again warns against any type of substitute for Him. He does not do this because there is any fault in Him and the bride is attempting to supplement her mate. But the bride does not understand the infinite nuances of the Groom and failing to recognize that, attempts to exchange  an inferior substitute for the real thing. God's love demands only the best for us, and this warning is another illustration of His loving care. It is not a negative restriction meant to deprive us of value or meaning or later on, fun. It is positive and enhancing to our relationship.

Number three: The Respected God. Do not take the Name of the Lord in vain. Just as a bride takes the name of her husband, so we become children of God, Christians. If we use His Name in a demeaning manner, especially by lowering it to a curse word, we are actually talking about ourselves. Notice that any oath or curse uses excrement, or filth, or detritus. Ever hear anyone exclaim, "Oh diamonds?" Or gold, or platinum, or any other valuable object?

I do not have to be more explicit, but shameful and other devalued terms and actions are used in cursing. So taking God's Name, or Jesus Christ reflects the value the speaker places on that item, action, or Person. If we are the ones to do it, we are effectively naming ourselves as despicable. Why do we not hear the Prime Minister, or President, or King used as swear words?

Again, the love of God is displayed in His "fence" around our name. Just as we do not want our kids to share all of the dirty laundry of our extended family, God protects our identity. The analogy breaks down here, in that He has no shameful history. But we do and exposing it, by implication can reflect on Him as well.

Number four and last for this thought: The Restful God. Keep the Sabbath day holy. As kids we chafed under what we considered onerous restrictions on "Sunday activities." Some friends could not even swim on Sunday afternoon. Personally, I considered that a slight misinterpretation and still do. Recreation is re-creation or reviving. That seems to be one purpose of the day of rest.

The real meaning of Sabbath rest is not a relief from the rigors and tiring efforts of work. Labor was not meant to be onerous or repulsive. Look at the description again. As God "worked" for six days and rested, so we are to take a break.

Notice specifically the comparison. God created for six days. Do you think that He was tired or bored or was watching the clock like a hawk to jump out the door at the earliest possible moment? "Evening, I'm outa here."

It would seem, by looking around at the creation, that He took an extreme amount of joy and satisfaction from the creative process. From the most minute organism to the greatest, and even man, we see a level of craftsmanship that we cannot begin to emulate, let alone equal. Astronomers are continually discovering new facets of the solar system that literally has even the non-believers gasping in wonder. It is unbelievably intricate and complex .

God envisioned work as fulfilling and enjoyable. He was finished, so He could "rest." He was not exhausted or bored, and thus needed a break. The "work" was complete, so He ceased to labor. Likewise, our labor is to be fulfilling, challenging, and an enhancement to our well being. In other words, God planned work to be so much fun that we would literally work ourselves to death if we did not stop periodically.

The weekend is a time to reflect on how much He has blessed us with the opportunity to, like Him, create. Recall that Jesus said, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27) Labor, our work, was meant to be a reflection of God's work. He graciously gave us the opportunity and ability to emulate Him. We would do it forever if left to our wishes.

The loving Groom desires to direct our attention to our relationship with Him, and not our mirroring of His work. It is possible that even doing "God's work" can wear us out, or worse distract us from contemplating Him.. So He prescribes a rest to rebuild and rejuvenate our lives. And how better to do that than spend it in His presence.

And subsequent to the fall, and the curse of "meaningless" work, man is even more in need of a respite. (The curse was not to have to work. It was to have to do meaningless work. Adam had to fight weeds in order to produce enough to survive and support his family. Adam had to sweat to eat, whereas before the fall, there was "work" but it was tending and harvesting the garden. Now he has to control weeds that sap the nutrients and diminish the yield. This "wasted labor" that produces no value was the curse.)

The temptation to "overwork" is even greater as there is no finish, no completion. The grind just keeps going and going and going.... The day of rest is even more vital to health than before.

The first four "love letters" have illustrated how God surrounded us with Himself and His wonder. Next time we will explore how this loving attitude extends to those with whom we interact.

Don't you just love this Book?