6/19/2008 8:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Controlling desires
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Exodus 20:17
Message of the verse: “17 ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s
house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his
female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your
neighbor.’”
This is the
last of the Ten Commandments and as in the first of the Ten Commandments this
commandment deals with what is in the heart, while the other eight commandments
have their focus on outward actions that begin in the heart. The heart is where the problem is, where it
begins, and where plans are carried out to break these commandments, thus
sinning against God and against man.
When I read
about Paul’s troubles that he expounds on in Romans 7:1-14 he said that the
commandment that he broke was this tenth commandment, “What shall we say then?
Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to
know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting
if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET.’”
This
commandment also speaks about one’s neighbor and as I wrote in and earlier SD,
there is a positive side of the commandments along with a negative side of the
commandments and the positive side of this commandments is to love your
neighbor, for if you have love for your neighbor then you will not covet their
house, wife, car, job, or anything else that they have because of the love that
you have for them. When Jesus summarized
all of the Law into two commandments He actually could have been using the
first and the tenth commandments. “36
‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ 37 And He said to him, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE
LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR
MIND.’ 38 ‘This is the great and foremost commandment.39 ‘The second is like
it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
40 ‘On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’”
I believe
that Jesus is saying that the first and tenth commandment are these two
commandments that the whole Land and the Prophets rest upon. First, as I wrote earlier these two
commandments are commandments of the heart.
Second these two commandment comprise all that there is to comprise in
this world for if a person loves God as he should and love his neighbor as he
should then this world would not be in the kind of trouble that it is in at
this point in time. There was a person
in the Gospel of Luke that asked a question of Jesus in order to justify
himself before Him, and the question was “who is my neighbor?” Jesus gave the answer by telling him a
parable about the “Good Samaritan,” and that story or parable still gives the
answer as to whom one’s neighbor is and according to Jesus we are to love our
neighbors.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I must say that this has been a great study
on the Ten Commandments and I have surely learned a lot of things from studying
this wonderful section of Scripture known as the Ten Commandments. I know that it was no accident, for believers
do not have accidents, for me to pick up Alistair Begg’s book about the Ten
Commandments at the same exact time that I began to study this section in the
Scripture.
There has
been a problem with Law and Grace ever since the Lord Jesus Christ died on the
Cross some 2000 years ago. Paul wrote on
of his letters about this problem to the Galatians and it is still a problem in
the Church today. Are we still under the
Law, or are we under Grace? I would say
yes to these questions with a short explanation. Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in
the New Testament so it seems to me that believers are to follow those
commandments. However the problem is in
the heart and when a person is born their heart is wrong and therefore must
receive a new one from the Lord in order to be a true believer in Jesus
Christ. Once this happens then because
of the new heart that is received from the Lord that believer will have a
desire to follow these commandments because they have been born again. This is the simple explanation that I have
been reminded of while studying this section of Scripture. Jeremiah wrote in the 31st chapter
and the 31st verse that there would be a people who would have the
Laws of the Lord written upon their hearts and the writer to the Hebrews
repeats this in his letter so this is how believers are able to keep the Law by
being under grace.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
- To love the Lord with all my heart and love my neighbor as myself.
- To give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
- To trust the Lord to search my heart to make sure it is clean.
- To yoke up with the Lord Jesus today as I go through some difficult times.
- To trust the Lord to make a way of escape for the tests and temptations that I face today.
- To pray like Epaphras prayed.
Memory verses for the week: Colossians
4:12-13
12.
Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave
of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in
his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of
God.
13.
For I testify for him that he has a deep concern
for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis
6/19/2008 9:59 AM
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