Honor your father and your mother, that your days me be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you. Exodus 20.12
When you have a three-year-old living in your house, there are just certain Bible verses that get used more often than others. Exodus 20.12 is one of them. So is its equivalent in Ephesians 6.1: “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” It is amazing what a three-year-old can learn if mom and dad repeat it often enough!
And why are Exodus 20.12 and Ephesians 6.1 repeated like mantras in our home? Two reasons:
1. Because authority in the home is vitally important.
2. Because children (like adults) are so prone to sin.
Let’s think those two out together.
Is authority in the home really all that important? Anyone who ever had a three-year-old (or a sixteen-year-old) will say: ‘YES!’ But the question is why. Why do parents want their children to obey? And why is it important that children do so? So that everyone can get along in the home? Maybe. So that our children will not grow up to be hooligans? Partly so. So that, obeying mom and dad’s wisdom, kids will generally fare better in life? Yes. That is the promise in the latter half of Exodus 20.12.
But let me suggest that there is another, perhaps more important reason why parents must establish loving authority in the home…and children must submit to it. Because authority in the home prepares the way for children to learn the authority of God over their lives. Think it out. We can tell our children all day long that God deserves to be loved, honored, and obeyed. But if we do not teach them to obey, honor, and love mom and dad whom they can see, how will they see the importance of obedience and trust in a heavenly Father whom they cannot see?
In a very real sense (though not a saving one) we parents serve as representatives of God in our home. We are to model (albeit imperfectly) for our children the love, the trustworthiness, and the authority of our heavenly Father. And if we do not lead them to respect our authority, we have presented a tragically distorted view of God. A God who winks at sin, instead of a God who is so serious about sin that He punishes it by death—even the death of a cross!
Now, a second reason why the Fifth Commandment is so important is because our children are quite good at disobeying their parents…and all sorts of other sins, too! No one has to teach them to be stingy with their toys, to lie to their parents, or to hit their siblings. Children are sinners, just like the rest of us!
Unfortunately, too many parents fail to help their children see how bad things really are. They shrug off or laugh at rebellion. Sometimes they even call it ‘cute.’ So kids think it is normal to sass mom and dad, to delay obedience, to poke fun at their parents. Even church kids! They do not know that they are bringing judgment down on their heads by their complete disregard of God’s commandment. And do you know why? Because their parents do not have the guts to tell them what God says and expect them to do it! So they never see the depths of their sinfulness. Thus they never see how badly they need the Savior!
This—and not the church’s lack of ‘relevancy’—is the most obvious reason why 18 year-olds are leaving the faith of their parents in droves. They see no real need for Christ, because they never saw how bad their sins were, because their parents were too lenient!
O, how important the Fifth Commandment is for the salvation of souls! O how important that children, as well as parents, take it seriously!
August 31, 2006
August 26, 2006
Delighting in the Day
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall do no work…For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20.8-11
Have you ever bought a used car? If so, one of the first things you inspected was the odometer. It’s not that mileage is the only indicator of the condition of a car…or even the most important indicator…but it is a good indicator isn’t it? The odometer tells more than simple mileage statistics. It also gives a general idea as to how hard the car has been driven, how much wear and tear might be on the engine, etc. So, we use the odometer as a gauge for measuring a car’s overall desirability.
May I suggest that the Lord’s Day functions much the same as an odometer does for a car-buyer? Sunday is a gauge of sorts—measuring the sincerity of our Christian conviction. Isaiah says we observe the day, not merely by externally obeying the rules—going to church and refraining from frivolous recreation and unnecessary work—but by positively delighting in the day (see Isaiah 58.13-14). We can tell how serious we are about the Lord by whether or not we get fired up for Sunday—a whole day set aside for worship, praise, study, and rest! Let me give you some reasons why I say this is so:
1. God gave us the Lord’s Day for our good—for our physical and emotional well-being. But how do we demonstrate that we believe that God knows what is best for our bodies and minds? And how do we demonstrate thankfulness for God’s goodness to us? Largely by delighting in the Lord’s Day. By taking advantage of the day of rest that God has given to us.
2. God gave us the Lord’s Day as a testimony to a godless world. Another purpose of the Lord’s Day is to give us opportunity to show our friends and neighbors that God is important enough for us to set aside a whole day, holy to Him. And how do we give the testimony? By delighting in the Day. By treasuring the word of God and the local assembly of the saints more than we treasure the NFL or the beauty of a freshly mowed lawn.
3. The Lord’s Day comes to us as a command. Christian observance of the Lord’s Day stems from the belief that the 4th commandment (like the other nine) has abiding significance and relevance for New Testament believers. And how do we show our love for Christ but by keeping His commandments? Strange as it sounds, God commands us to delight in the Lord’s Day! And we show how much we love by how much we delight!
4. The Lord’s Day is our primary opportunity for worship and learning. Sunday is the main occasion when we are spiritually encouraged, morally challenged, and graciously called to believe in God’s Son. This is most important! If we do not delight in the day—we may miss the Son of God in all His glory! Without Sunday and its worship, all of us would be far less spiritually mature…and many of us may never have heard the gospel! Should we not, then, praise God for this all-important day? Of course! And one way we do so is by continuing to observe and delight in the day!
Make no mistake—The Lord’s Day is not the only indicator of our Christian commitment. It is not even the most important indicator. But it does say a lot about our Christianity. It reveals the depths of our faith in, gratefulness toward, obedience to, and delight in God! So…how is your gauge reading?
Have you ever bought a used car? If so, one of the first things you inspected was the odometer. It’s not that mileage is the only indicator of the condition of a car…or even the most important indicator…but it is a good indicator isn’t it? The odometer tells more than simple mileage statistics. It also gives a general idea as to how hard the car has been driven, how much wear and tear might be on the engine, etc. So, we use the odometer as a gauge for measuring a car’s overall desirability.
May I suggest that the Lord’s Day functions much the same as an odometer does for a car-buyer? Sunday is a gauge of sorts—measuring the sincerity of our Christian conviction. Isaiah says we observe the day, not merely by externally obeying the rules—going to church and refraining from frivolous recreation and unnecessary work—but by positively delighting in the day (see Isaiah 58.13-14). We can tell how serious we are about the Lord by whether or not we get fired up for Sunday—a whole day set aside for worship, praise, study, and rest! Let me give you some reasons why I say this is so:
1. God gave us the Lord’s Day for our good—for our physical and emotional well-being. But how do we demonstrate that we believe that God knows what is best for our bodies and minds? And how do we demonstrate thankfulness for God’s goodness to us? Largely by delighting in the Lord’s Day. By taking advantage of the day of rest that God has given to us.
2. God gave us the Lord’s Day as a testimony to a godless world. Another purpose of the Lord’s Day is to give us opportunity to show our friends and neighbors that God is important enough for us to set aside a whole day, holy to Him. And how do we give the testimony? By delighting in the Day. By treasuring the word of God and the local assembly of the saints more than we treasure the NFL or the beauty of a freshly mowed lawn.
3. The Lord’s Day comes to us as a command. Christian observance of the Lord’s Day stems from the belief that the 4th commandment (like the other nine) has abiding significance and relevance for New Testament believers. And how do we show our love for Christ but by keeping His commandments? Strange as it sounds, God commands us to delight in the Lord’s Day! And we show how much we love by how much we delight!
4. The Lord’s Day is our primary opportunity for worship and learning. Sunday is the main occasion when we are spiritually encouraged, morally challenged, and graciously called to believe in God’s Son. This is most important! If we do not delight in the day—we may miss the Son of God in all His glory! Without Sunday and its worship, all of us would be far less spiritually mature…and many of us may never have heard the gospel! Should we not, then, praise God for this all-important day? Of course! And one way we do so is by continuing to observe and delight in the day!
Make no mistake—The Lord’s Day is not the only indicator of our Christian commitment. It is not even the most important indicator. But it does say a lot about our Christianity. It reveals the depths of our faith in, gratefulness toward, obedience to, and delight in God! So…how is your gauge reading?
August 24, 2006
I only have One Friend!
How embarassing to have an obvious, glaring typo that came out as a racial slur! And how much worse to have only one friend who was brave enough to point it out! The rest of you are in big trouble ;)
At any rate, sorry for the mistake...and if it may have offended anyone. And if you didn't catch it...whew!
At any rate, sorry for the mistake...and if it may have offended anyone. And if you didn't catch it...whew!
August 21, 2006
Blessed be the Name
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. Exodus 20.7
I’ll go ahead and say it up front: I go absolutely nuts when I hear Christians (Christians!) using God’s name as an expression of surprise, or worse yet, frustration. ‘O my God!’ ‘Good Lord!’ ‘Jesus Christ!’ These phrases are absolutely unfitting for any person to have on his lips, much less a Christian! To say such things is inexcusable. And other corruptions like ‘Gosh’, ‘Gracious,’ and ‘Jeez’ are no better. We all know what you’re really meaning to say.
OK, OK, maybe I am being too harsh. When those things slither out of your mouth, surely you are not using them intentionally to belittle God and His name. In fact, you may say: ‘I’m not trying to blaspheme God’s name. I don’t even realize I am doing it.’ But that is just the problem! We think so little of God that His name just slides off our tongues without us even realizing it. God is so far in the back of our minds that we can hear His name from our own lips and not even notice the name of the Almighty, infinite, Creator God! This is unacceptable. The LORD will not hold them guiltless who esteem Him so lightly!
And what about all the ‘Christian’ jokes that we often hear and tell? ‘Our Father in heaven, Harold be Thy name’? That is blasphemy! And jokes about the church, or other things of God are little better. They teach us to treat the things of God casually. They numb our wits to the fact that what we believe about God and His church is a matter of heaven and hell!
It is precisely this cavalier attitude toward the things of God that makes us the joke to the rest of the world. Think about it. When a cartoonist makes jokes concerning Allah, the whole Muslim world is in a rage. Crowds gather. Riots ensue. When a ‘Christian’ comedian pokes fun at the things of God, crowds also gather—with cash in hand to get front row tickets!
Am I saying there is no place for humor in the Christian life? No. But the Third Commandment is saying that we should never speak of God in a way that we would be afraid to do to His face. As A.W. Tozer pointed out—no one walks around Buckingham Palace telling jokes about queens. And there will be no work for Christian comedians in heaven either—bank on it!
Now there is one more form of blasphemy that I want to mention—when we pray, preach, teach, or sing things about God that we really don’t mean. Have you ever prayed things you didn’t really mean—maybe because others were listening? I have. And it is blasphemy. Have you ever sung in the worship service, but not paid a lick of attention to what you were saying? Have you ever taught something to others, but had no intention of applying it to yourself? In every case, we have misused God’s name! But God’s name is too precious that we should ever talk to Him, for Him, or about Him without really meaning what we say. To do so is abominable.
So how are you feeling right now? Guilty? Good. That is how the Commandments are supposed to make us feel! Now you can flee again to Jesus, through whom “all sins shall be forgiven…and whatever blasphemies [we] utter” (Mark 3.28); and through whom former blasphemers are strengthened, made faithful, and put into God’s service (1 Tim 1.12-14).
All of us, in one way or another, need our mouths washed out with soap. And that is just what Jesus came to do! So turn your misuse of God’s name into calling on His name. And Jesus will turn your blasphemy into blessing!
I’ll go ahead and say it up front: I go absolutely nuts when I hear Christians (Christians!) using God’s name as an expression of surprise, or worse yet, frustration. ‘O my God!’ ‘Good Lord!’ ‘Jesus Christ!’ These phrases are absolutely unfitting for any person to have on his lips, much less a Christian! To say such things is inexcusable. And other corruptions like ‘Gosh’, ‘Gracious,’ and ‘Jeez’ are no better. We all know what you’re really meaning to say.
OK, OK, maybe I am being too harsh. When those things slither out of your mouth, surely you are not using them intentionally to belittle God and His name. In fact, you may say: ‘I’m not trying to blaspheme God’s name. I don’t even realize I am doing it.’ But that is just the problem! We think so little of God that His name just slides off our tongues without us even realizing it. God is so far in the back of our minds that we can hear His name from our own lips and not even notice the name of the Almighty, infinite, Creator God! This is unacceptable. The LORD will not hold them guiltless who esteem Him so lightly!
And what about all the ‘Christian’ jokes that we often hear and tell? ‘Our Father in heaven, Harold be Thy name’? That is blasphemy! And jokes about the church, or other things of God are little better. They teach us to treat the things of God casually. They numb our wits to the fact that what we believe about God and His church is a matter of heaven and hell!
It is precisely this cavalier attitude toward the things of God that makes us the joke to the rest of the world. Think about it. When a cartoonist makes jokes concerning Allah, the whole Muslim world is in a rage. Crowds gather. Riots ensue. When a ‘Christian’ comedian pokes fun at the things of God, crowds also gather—with cash in hand to get front row tickets!
Am I saying there is no place for humor in the Christian life? No. But the Third Commandment is saying that we should never speak of God in a way that we would be afraid to do to His face. As A.W. Tozer pointed out—no one walks around Buckingham Palace telling jokes about queens. And there will be no work for Christian comedians in heaven either—bank on it!
Now there is one more form of blasphemy that I want to mention—when we pray, preach, teach, or sing things about God that we really don’t mean. Have you ever prayed things you didn’t really mean—maybe because others were listening? I have. And it is blasphemy. Have you ever sung in the worship service, but not paid a lick of attention to what you were saying? Have you ever taught something to others, but had no intention of applying it to yourself? In every case, we have misused God’s name! But God’s name is too precious that we should ever talk to Him, for Him, or about Him without really meaning what we say. To do so is abominable.
So how are you feeling right now? Guilty? Good. That is how the Commandments are supposed to make us feel! Now you can flee again to Jesus, through whom “all sins shall be forgiven…and whatever blasphemies [we] utter” (Mark 3.28); and through whom former blasphemers are strengthened, made faithful, and put into God’s service (1 Tim 1.12-14).
All of us, in one way or another, need our mouths washed out with soap. And that is just what Jesus came to do! So turn your misuse of God’s name into calling on His name. And Jesus will turn your blasphemy into blessing!
August 14, 2006
Second Verse, Same as the First?
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God… Exodus 20.4-5
‘I like how you always repeat yourself.’ That’s what I sometimes get at the end of a sermon. I’m not always sure if it is a complement, or a coy, yet constructive critique. At any rate, the repetition is usually intentional. Preachers often repeat important thoughts, either for emphasis, or to aid the congregation’s memory. I am no different. And when I read the second commandment, I am tempted to think God is doing the same thing. The first commandment was ‘Don’t have any other gods’ and the second one is ‘Don’t have any idols.’ Two ways of saying the same thing? Well, not exactly.
The first commandment has to do with worshipping false Gods. The second commandment teaches us not to worship the true God falsely. Or to quote Alistair Begg again, “The first commandment teaches us to worship the correct God. The second commandment teaches us to worship the correct God correctly.” What God is saying in this second of His Top Ten is this: ‘Don’t try to worship Me, the true God, by means of idols. Remember that I am Spirit, and those who worship Me must worship in spirit, not in a shrine.’
The second commandment presents the possibility that we may attempt to worship the true God, and yet be idolaters. Isn’t that what Aaron and the children of Israel did at the foot of Mt. Sinai (Ex. 32)? The problem wasn’t worshipping Baal or some other false God. No. According to verse 5 they had “a feast to the LORD.” They weren’t breaking commandment one, but commandment two. They were worshipping the correct God, but incorrectly—by means of an image.
Now you probably haven’t built any golden calves lately. But I wonder if you’ve ever gotten caught up in one of these rituals where a cross is placed in the middle of a room and people are urged to gather round it for prayer, or to write down their sins and nail them to the cross. That is a violation of the second commandment. We come to Christ by faith in His blood, not through a piece of wood.
It is interesting, too, how many people have pictures of Jesus in their homes. Some people even pray or sing in their direction, as though Jesus were really locked up in the paint and canvas. The same phenomenon can happen when we see video representations of Jesus. The problem is not with our intent. The problem is that we are substituting a picture of Jesus for the real thing. We do not need pictures, statues, or crosses in order to help us draw near to God. We simply need faith in the man Jesus Christ.
There is not room here to go into detail about angel figurines, holy water, rosary beads, prayer cloths, and so on. We can make an idol out of anything. And any object that we employ to ‘help us worship God’ is an idol. God means for us to come to Him in spirit, by His Son, and through the Word, period. Anything else is a breach of the second commandment.
Thanks be to God who, through the death of His Son, has allowed us to “turn to God from serving idols, to serve a living and true God" (1 Thess. 1.9)!
‘I like how you always repeat yourself.’ That’s what I sometimes get at the end of a sermon. I’m not always sure if it is a complement, or a coy, yet constructive critique. At any rate, the repetition is usually intentional. Preachers often repeat important thoughts, either for emphasis, or to aid the congregation’s memory. I am no different. And when I read the second commandment, I am tempted to think God is doing the same thing. The first commandment was ‘Don’t have any other gods’ and the second one is ‘Don’t have any idols.’ Two ways of saying the same thing? Well, not exactly.
The first commandment has to do with worshipping false Gods. The second commandment teaches us not to worship the true God falsely. Or to quote Alistair Begg again, “The first commandment teaches us to worship the correct God. The second commandment teaches us to worship the correct God correctly.” What God is saying in this second of His Top Ten is this: ‘Don’t try to worship Me, the true God, by means of idols. Remember that I am Spirit, and those who worship Me must worship in spirit, not in a shrine.’
The second commandment presents the possibility that we may attempt to worship the true God, and yet be idolaters. Isn’t that what Aaron and the children of Israel did at the foot of Mt. Sinai (Ex. 32)? The problem wasn’t worshipping Baal or some other false God. No. According to verse 5 they had “a feast to the LORD.” They weren’t breaking commandment one, but commandment two. They were worshipping the correct God, but incorrectly—by means of an image.
Now you probably haven’t built any golden calves lately. But I wonder if you’ve ever gotten caught up in one of these rituals where a cross is placed in the middle of a room and people are urged to gather round it for prayer, or to write down their sins and nail them to the cross. That is a violation of the second commandment. We come to Christ by faith in His blood, not through a piece of wood.
It is interesting, too, how many people have pictures of Jesus in their homes. Some people even pray or sing in their direction, as though Jesus were really locked up in the paint and canvas. The same phenomenon can happen when we see video representations of Jesus. The problem is not with our intent. The problem is that we are substituting a picture of Jesus for the real thing. We do not need pictures, statues, or crosses in order to help us draw near to God. We simply need faith in the man Jesus Christ.
There is not room here to go into detail about angel figurines, holy water, rosary beads, prayer cloths, and so on. We can make an idol out of anything. And any object that we employ to ‘help us worship God’ is an idol. God means for us to come to Him in spirit, by His Son, and through the Word, period. Anything else is a breach of the second commandment.
Thanks be to God who, through the death of His Son, has allowed us to “turn to God from serving idols, to serve a living and true God" (1 Thess. 1.9)!
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