Hi Everyone,
Sorry about the tardiness of this posting. It was the longest posting I’ve ever
prepared, and I needed more time to get it ready. The Redemption Homework assignment is after the lesson as well.
Last Wednesday we learned about the Jesus and
the Ten Commandments. Here are the
answers to the homework.
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20: 1-17)
Commandment 1: You shall have no other gods before me.
Commandment 2: You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or
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; you shall not bow down to
them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of
those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and
keep My commandments.
Commandment 3: 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.
Commandment 4: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days
you shall labor and do all your work, 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 manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your
stranger who is within your gates. 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.
Commandment 5: Honor your father and your mother, that your days
may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Commandment 6: You shall not murder.
Commandment 7: You shall not commit adultery.
Commandment 8: You shall not steal.
Commandment 9: You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.
Commandment 10: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you
shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Here are the answers to the second half of the homework. Jesus validated 9 out of the 10
Commandments. He did not specifically verbally validate Commandment 4. I will explain
after the answers.
Commandment 1: "You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall
serve" (Mat 4:10). Also, Mat
22:37, Mk 12:30, and Luke 4:8.
Commandment 2: "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in
spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Also, Mat 4:10 and Luke 4:8.
Commandment 3: "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be
forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men"
(Mat 12:31). Also, Mat 15:19-20.
Commandment 5: "For God commanded
saying, 'Honor your father and your mother' and 'He who curses father or
mother, let him be put to death'" (Mat 15:4). Also, Mat 19:19, Mk
7:10, Mk 10:19, and Luke 18:20.
Commandment 6: "You shall not murder"
(Mat 19:18). Also, Mat 5:21-22, Mat
15:19-20, Mk 7:21,23, Mk 10:19, and Luke
18:20.
Commandment 7: "You have heard that it
was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery'. But I say to you
that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart" (Mat 5:27-28). Also, Mat 5:32, Mat 15:19-20,
Mat 19:9, Mat 19:18, Mk 7:21,23, Mk 10:11-12, Mk 10:19, Luke 16:18, and Luke
18:20,
Commandment 8: "For out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts...thefts...These are the things which defile a man"
(Mat 15:19-20). Also, Mat 19:18, Mat 21:13, Mk 7:22-23, Mk 10:19 and Luke 18:20.
Commandment 9: "Again you have heard
that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall
perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all"
(Mat 5:33-34). Also, Mat 15:19-20, Mat 19:18, Mk 10:19 and Luke 18:20.
Commandment 10: "...covetousness...All
these evil things come from within and defile a man" (Mk 7:22-23).
Also, Mat 6:25 and Mat 15:19-20.
So that brings us to Commandment 4: Remember the Sabbath day,
to keep it holy. Jesus does not
specifically say those words in affirmation.
This gets tricky because remember, Jesus lead a sinless, perfect
life. He also said “I have kept my Father’s Commandments” (John
15:10). So how is this possible if he
did not validate this commandment?
I told the Youth Group that night that if they listen to
only three words, listen to the next three words: Context, context, context. (It was pointed out that I said the same word
three times, but let’s not dwell on semantics.)
A single Bible verse can be dangerous in the wrong mind. We must always examine
the verses before and after the verse in question. Then we must always examine the complete
chapter. Then we must examine the
chapters before and after. Finally, we
must understand who wrote that specific book, and why they wrote it. At that point, we might have an understanding
of that specific verse, if the Lord allows us such wisdom.
So let’s dive into this verse using context, context,
context as our means of examination.
First off, what Sabbath was God referring to? Hint: it is not Sunday or Saturday or Friday
or really any specific day. The word “sabbath”
means “any special day of prayer or rest.”
(Dictionary.com). The Sabbath day is a day of prayer. The Sabbath day is a day of rest. Remember, on the seventh day, God
rested.
As a joke, I told the Youth Group that it is a little
known fact that existence actually started on a Tuesday. (That is an Animaniacs reference for those of
you who are into Warner Bros cartoons). I
said that to illustrate that the Bible does not say God said, “Let there be light”,
and there was light … and the day turn to night, and that was … Monday! No! The
Bible says the first day, not Monday. We
don’t know what day of the week the world started. Christians chose Sunday as our Sabbath. The Jews hold Saturday as their Sabbath. So… which one is right? (That’s a rhetorical question).
***WARNING!!! BIBLE HISTORY AHEAD!!!***
We’ve established that the Sabbath day is any day of prayer
and rest. Within Exodus 20, we see that
Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mt Sinai. The Book of Exodus is called Exodus because
this is the book where the Israelites exited Egypt, and are on their way to the
Promised Land. The writer of the Book of
Exodus is credited to Moses, though there are some scholars that dispute
that. However, we are going to by-pass
that discussion because we have it on good authority that the Ten Commandments were
actually written by God directly. That’s
right, for the purposes of the Ten Commandments, God is the author.
So why would God write the Ten Commandments for us? They were written for our benefit. God gave his people ten laws for them to
follow. And God used himself as an
example for some of them. God rested on
the seventh day. God did not need to
rest. Yet, God did. But I digress.
The Ten Commandments serve as the basis of the Jewish
laws and traditions that we see in Jesus’ time on Earth. By this time, the Ten Commandments have grown
to the point where they are not easily all remembered. Humans, in their infinite need to mess things
up, decided that the Ten Commandments were not clear enough, and that a
complete set of laws must be developed and adhered to so that the common man
can understand what “God really meant.”
(I say that sarcastically.)
***BIBLE HISTORY LESSON ENDED. YOU MAY NOW RETURN TO YOUR NORMAL ACTIVITY.***
So, what did Jesus do regarding the Sabbath? Jesus executed God’s will on the
Sabbath. Jesus challenged the laws where
they were in direct conflict of God’s Commandment. Jesus said, "What
man is there among you who has one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,
will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man
than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to
do good on the Sabbath" (Mat 12:11-12). Jesus also said, “there would be no reason to pray this if the Sabbath was not
going to be in existence. "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also
Lord of the Sabbath" (Mk 2:27).
Jesus remembered the Sabbath day, and he kept it holy
through actions. Jesus would challenge the Pharisees and Sadducees, for the Jewish laws in place were a contraction to the fourth commandment. The laws actually prevented man from doing holy and good things on the Sabbath. "Is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath?'...And they could not answer Him regarding these
things" (Luke 14:3,6). "are you angry with Me
because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?" (John 7:23). "The Son of Man
is also Lord of the Sabbath...Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do
evil, to save life or to destroy?" (Luke 6:5,9).
To further this point, Jesus would teach on the
Sabbath. “this verse tells all who will
see which day is the Lord's Day. "And when the Sabbath had come, He began
to teach in the synagogue" (Mk 6:2). "And as His custom was, He went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read" (Luke 4:16).
"Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them
on the Sabbaths" (Luke 4:31).
So, yes it is true that in the Bible, Jesus did not say “Remember
the Sabbath, to keep it holy.” But his
actions reflected that. He upheld all of
the commandments, even without giving specific, verbal directions. We, as Christians, should emulate Jesus
Christ to the best of our God-given ability.
So, do not let a day of prayer and rest prevent you from doing good deeds
for God’s kingdom.
Maybe I am splitting words. I am guilty of that more than I’d like to
admit. I pray that if I have said or
written something pleasing to God, then please let people remember and
understand God’s word. And, if I have
said something blasphemous or heretical, then let those words be forgotten
immediately. I pray these teachings
promote and glorify God’s kingdom, not any earthly kingdom. Amen.
**HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT**
This is a redemption homework assignment for anyone who
did not do the homework, but still wants a marshmallow shooter. Remember God is merciful, but God is also
just. I want a 10-15 sentence history
lesson and interesting facts on the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
John. Here is an example based upon the
book of Acts.
Example: Acts was written by Luke. It is sometimes referred to as the second
Gospel of Luke. This is the fifth book
in the New Testament and the first book after the Gospels. Acts is called Acts because it records the
first acts of Christians after the ascension of Jesus Christ. Saul is introduced, who then becomes
Paul. Acts gives us a summary of the mission’s
trips by Paul around the Mediterranean. Modern
missionaries should constantly reference Acts to help them on their journeys. Acts is one of the few books in the New
Testament not written by Paul. Acts is
also where we see gifts of prophecy, tongues, and healing. Interestingly, Luke will jump in and out of first
person and third person pronouns as he talks about the journeys of Paul.
Have a good weekend, everyone. I pray to see everyone in Church on the
Christian Sabbath.
- Michael
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