Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I introduced the idea of grace with a diagram. We will build on that now, so if you missed it, go back and watch Tuesday and Wednesday’s content.
You may be familiar with the Ten Commandments. They are an important part of the tracks that God has created for our lives, the guidelines that keep us from self-destructing.
Where did they come from? They are over 3400 years old. God led the Israelites out of danger and slavery, then gave the laws by which this newly freed people were to organize their life together. Of all these laws, the Ten Commandments come first and take most important place.
In a few minutes, please watch the attached video to hear the commandments in detail. But first we need to know purpose first, to understand the commandments in their proper place…lest you come away from this thinking that Christianity is all about following a bunch of rules.
A common misconception is to make “Obey God’s laws” #1 as if it could qualify you for a life of knowing God. Sometimes Christians communicate the rules like they are number one, having forgotten how they came to know the God who helps them keep those commandments. Knowing God qualifies you to try and follow these commandments…God is working in and through his followers to help transform their lives from the inside out.
This was certainly true for Israelites. God, in his love for the Israelites, saved them from slavery in Egypt by parting the red sea. Only once they were safely on the other side of the sea from the Egyptians did he give them the commandments, and call them to live by those commandments in thanks for the gift he’d given them.
The 10 commandments answer the question: “How can I live to thank the God who has loved me so much?” Not how can I behave to earn God’s love, or avoid his hate. Not how can I get others to live by my rules?
Take a quick run through these commandments.
The Commandments deal with two things:
Relationship with God
Relationship with One Another.
The last commandment is unique, since it talks about contentment. This one may seem a bit different from the others, and it is. The others focus on our outward actions, what to do and not do, while this one focuses on our hearts, what to want and desire, and what not to.
God is in the transformation business. He not only wanted to see the Israelites as a transformed society, but also to see the minds of all his created human beings transformed in this way.
The Bible contains many other guidelines, principles and laws. We don’t have time to go through them all here. Life is complex, and there is not a specific rule for everything. But these principles, the 10 commandments, or even just the 2 commandments to love god and neighbour, or the principle of grace behind them all, can apply to any area of life. I am happy to help you interpret and apply if you have a specific question.
Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.
Read the Bible in Sync Today
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Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I'm Ryan your host of the Daily Challenges. Here we are in nature. And that's because this week we're studying how following Jesus resets our views of death, and in fact, Jesus resets death itself. We saw yesterday how western culture ignores, delays, avoids, fears death.
The result of ignoring it is that we are uninformed! We can be uninformed in a practical sense – having given and received no sense of one another’s funeral wishes, burial options, etc. until it’s too late. But we can be unprepared in a spiritual sense as well.
Paul, one of first Christians leaders wrote this to the first church community in Thessalonica.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 1 Thess 4:13-14
First, we should deal with what he calls the dead: those who are asleep. What might he be saying? There are various theories about just HOW death is like sleep for Christians, but Paul doesn’t go that far. We can simply note that he’s talking about those who have died, and says there is something akin to sleeping happening with them.
Clearly Paul and these first Christians had expected Jesus to return, usher in the full kingdom, before any of them died. The “second coming” seemed that imminent. The letter was written sooner after Jesus’ death than many other letters, and they were clearly full of anticipation and excitement. Then some died, and you can imagine the questions and discouragement as they realized their expectations were out of line. So Paul tries to explain Christian death, and says they are essentially sleeping.
Why is sleeping good news? Sleeping means time passes unawares. Sleeping is peaceful. Sleeping is part of life, not death. Those who have died in Christ are in many ways alive, but at peace, and waiting patiently for God’s kingdom.
Sleeping is hardly worth grieving about! When they wake, they will be in the fullness of God’s kingdom of heaven. The Bible has lots of imagery about that, but the bottom line seems to be the presence of God. That’s what makes it worthwhile, not golden roads, clouds or cream cheese.
Question: How do you respond to the idea of death being a sleeplike state? How is it different from other descriptions you’ve heard? Does it give you hope, or fear?
