The Ten Commandments – Part 1 – Introduction
The Perfect Law of Liberty | November 4, 2020
Exodus 19:1-9; 16-20; 20:1-21; James 1:25; 2:12
Who thinks rules are dumb? Well, check out some of these laws.
In Juneau, Alasksa, flamingo owners are prohibited from bringing their pet into a barber shop.In Arkansas, it is illegal to honk a car horn at a sandwich shop after 9pm.In Tennessee, it is illegal to share your Netflix password with others.In Indiana, it is illegal to catch a fish with your bare hands.In South Dakota, it is illegal to fall asleep in a cheese factory.In Alabama, bear wrestling matches are prohibited.In Rhode Island, it is illegal to race horses on the highway.In Skamania County, Washington, the slaying of bigfoot is to be a felony punishable by 5 years in prison.
We’re starting a new series today that we will be in for ten more weeks, titled “The Ten Commandments: The Perfect Law of Liberty.”
Who in here knows the Ten Commandments? Like, you could say them on the spot? (give a prize to someone who does it.) I learned them in this building and still remember them the same way, from a kids song.
The Ten Commandments have been the primary moral guiding force on how someone should live for thousands of years. You see them in courthouses to this very day, though many people try to have them removed.
Read Exodus 19:1-9; 20:1-21
Scripture doesn’t use the phrase “Ten Commandments.” Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 record God’s “Ten Words.” These aren’t just commandments, but they are declarations, warnings, and promises.
God had spoken “ten words” before, in creation. Ten times it says, “and God said.” Now, He is creating a certain people into a new creation by speaking “ten words.”
Many complain about the negativity of the Ten Words. There are two positive commandments—remember the Sabbath day, and honor your father and mother. Mostly, it’s on “don’t” after another. God brought Israel from slavery, but many see God’s laws as just imposing a different slavery.
* expand on the context these were given, the Israelites coming out of Egypt *
A few years ago, there was an article on the CNN website titled, “Behold, Atheists’ New Ten Commandments.”[1] Two atheists sought input from around the world and offered ten thousand dollars to the winning would-be Moses. After receiving more than 2,800 submissions, they appointed a panel of thirteen judges to select ten winners. Here is what they came up with, the ten noncommandments of our age:
1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
4. Every person has the right to control of their body.
5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
9. There is no one right way to live.
10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.
These ten noncommandments perfectly capture the default moral code of the world we live in. One of the things that is crazy about these noncommandments, though, is that they are commands. The whole purpose is to get out from under the weight of commands that hinder our freedom and expression, yet these are all commands! They all carry the force of a moral ought.
I love this analogy offered by Francis Schaeffer, my favorite apologist and theologian.
If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which th
