The Seventh Word: Honor Marriage!

(...or, "have no other mates")

This week we consider the Seventh Commandment. It is the third in a series that focuses on loving our neighbor. After having dealt with our first neighbor (our parents, the neighbors we are born with) and our neighbor's life, The Second Table of the Ten Commandments shifts focus to the most intimate aspect of our most intimate relationship--the one we leave mother and father for, the one we take vows to protect.

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The Fifth Word: Respect Parents!

"Honor thy father and thy mother!"

This week we consider the Fifth Commandment. It is the first commandment that focuses on loving our neighbor, and it is a commandment with a promise attached. The Second Table of the Ten Commandments begins at home, where vital relationships are already established and likely to need attention, rather than with the stranger or enemy. We discover along the way that our expectations about who is addressed are being turned upside down. The commandment is addressed to the strong, the adults, so that children may learn and the aging, the vulnerable, and the poor be cared for.

The Sixth Word: Protect Life!

This week, we take things a little out of order. The sermon was about the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill!" The theme is appropriate to a weekend on which we commemorated the events of 9/11, especially given the conflict that surrounds the building of a mosque at Ground Zero and the threatened burning of the Qur'an by a Florida pastor. According to Jesus, the command to "Protect Life!" includes a requirement to seek reconciliation with, and to pray for and to feed, our enemies.

Next week we will study the Fifth Commandment. The remainder of the studies should follow in order!

The Fourth Word: Hallow the Day!

No Ordinary Appointment

This week I continue a study of the 10 Commandments at a website dedicated to the purpose: www.10wordstoliveby.com. This is a small group fellowship and discipleship Bible Study designed for use by our church. I am publishing it on the web in draft form to invite public suggestions and comment. The study and the sermon go together, so if you are in the Indianapolis area, you are cordially invited to attend. However, even if you miss the sermon, a quick read of the lesson for the week and the ten accompanying Discussion Questions may be of interest to readers of this blog. I'll be back to my familiar routine of posting after the 10 Commandments series is wrapped up in 6 more weeks.

Preview

Just imagine! The same God who spoke the worlds into existence without a lot of fanfare, is speaking a creating word directly to us. God's purpose in these commands is to establish an exclusive, dynamic, respectful, intentional relationship with us! Today we come to the Fourth Commandment. It is the final word written on the first of the two tablets inscribed by the finger of God on stone. In these first four commands, taken together, we now have a complete picture of the quality of the relationship that God wants to have with us:

A Passionate Relationship is:

• Exclusive (The First Word)
  
• Dynamic (The Second Word)
  
• Respectful (The Third Word)
  
• Intentional (The Fourth Word)

God's desire is to begin this relationship with us today. Do not wait! Make (and keep!) an appointment with God today.