Steps To A Better Life: The Ten Commandments, Part #2

Part #2

Steps to a Better Life

A Study of the Ten Commandments

Welcome to the Stevens Creek Church. We are glad to have you here and I especially want to welcome our South Campus and our online campus. Let me know that you are watching … share it on social media.

We are so glad that you are here. Some time ago, a Gallup Poll revealed that 84% of Americans believe that the Ten Commandments are a valid guide to life. That’s encouraging until you realize that another survey revealed that only 30% of those polled could name even 3 of the Commandments.

For many generations the Ten Commandments were considered a standard part of a good American education. Children learned to recite all ten, but those days are over.

Those days may be over, but the Ten Commandments are still important. The Ten Commandments were written by God … on two stone tablets … and given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The commandments written on two stone tablets. On the first tablet, we find the first four commandments that talk about our relationship with God.

• First, you shall have no other gods before me.

• Second, you shall not worship idols or make graven images.

• Third, you shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.

• Fourth, you shall keep the Lord’s Day special.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. This is a summary of the first four commandments. He summarized the second tablet of the commandments when he said, “love your neighbor as yourself.” So, commandments six through ten have to do with how we treat other people.

Here’s the Big Idea.

The Ten Commandments teach us to love God and love people. We are not saved by them, but we are kept safe by them.

The context of these commandments is the whole Exodus story. God rescued the Hebrew people from slavery so they could be an example of right living. God would have none of this business of the Hebrews treating each other in the ways the Egyptian taskmasters treated them.

God’s agenda is people to be free, not to be suppressed by tyrants. The Ten Commandments, therefore, establish essential rules to keep people from becoming like Pharaoh.

A pharaoh wants you to work and find your identity in what you produce, but the Ten Commandments teaches you to

find your identity in God.

Here’s what was written on the second stone tablet that Moses on Mount Sinai.

Exodus 20:12-17

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land 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 give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

So, at the very top of the second tablet, we find the fifth commandment.

Exodus 20:12

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

I want you to notice that the commandment says “honor” not “obey.”

So, what does it mean to honor one’s parents? In Hebrew, the word honor means “weighty,” in terms of impressiveness or importance. To honor is to validate someone’s importance. It’s to treat someone as a person of substance, deserving respect.

It’s not about blind obedience but about listening to them, learning from them, respecting their wisdom, and experience. It has to do with full consideration to someone.

To honor your parents doesn’t mean they are always right, but you learn their story, you give weight to their advice–even if you choose to go a different direction. It is important to give grace to your parents. Try to understand the world that they were born into. Times change and we need to give grace to people.

1. Give honor. Show love and grace to your parents and you will be blessed.

Let’s revisit the context in which these commandments were given. In Pharaoh’s Egypt, people were only as important as they were productive to the economy. Therefore, people were disposable.

Patty and I are learning how to take care of aging parents. When your parents age, they need someone, maybe you, to be their advocate … even if you live in a different state.

Patty was born to be an advocate. My parents and her parents have been blessed because of her tenaciousness. I am speaking specifically of how she has helped them navigate the health care system. Patty knows their medicines and their conditions and she watches them. She fights for them.