Saturday, October 6, 2007
Purpose Of The Ten Commandments

Tcube today was just great today as our mini tribe come together for a time of growing deep in the Lord as well as bonding closer to each other. I thank God for my spiritual family; they have brought me much joy since knowing them.

I was one of the I.Cs for ice breaker and i thought it would be good just to break the 'ice' by getting them warm up in the game of musical chairs. I'm glad that they had fun through out the game. Anyways, what I was really looking forward to was listening to God's word. I learnt the importance of being free for God from Pastor Tim's short sermon. Haha, he have to get used to that name. Let us first look at the Ten Commandments.

Below is the summarised list of the Ten Commandments.
1. No other gods before the Lord ^
2. No idols
3. No misusing the name of the Lord ^
4. Observe the Sabbath
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5. Honor dad and mum
6. No murder
7. No adultery
8. No stealing <----------------->
9. No false testimony
10. No coveting

What is interesting about the Ten Commandments is actually how you can divide it into categories.
Basically the first 4 commandments is related between man and God, it is represented by the arrows pointing vertically upwards.
The last 6 commandments is related between man to man, hence horizontal arrows are represented.
If we were to separate the Ten Commandments further, we can observe that it is related to worship.
1)The commandments in red represents 'who' we worship
2)The commandments in blue represents 'when' to worship
3)The commandments in green represents 'how' to worship

If we were to cross-refer bet the NIV and KJV, it is notable that the word worship and serve is used interchangeably. Hence, worshipping God also means that we are serving Him. I will talk about the Sabbath later on in my next post as it is relates to worship.

However, who we worship, when we worship and how we worship must ultimately lead us to love. It is stated in 3 instances in the bible:
1) Mark 12:30-31
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these."
2) Gal 5:14
"The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
3) Romans 13:9-10
"The commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not covet,'and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law."
Though the Ten Commandments does not give us salvation, it is really a guide on how we should live our lives. Therefore, let us love one another regardless the differences we might have.

Labels: Devotion