This Sunday is referred to as Palm Sunday, a term taken from the final entry of Jesus to Jerusalem before his sacrificial death on Friday and resurrection on Easter morning. As Jesus enters, people from all walks of life lay palms and their cloaks on the road as he rides into the city. Jesus’ entrance is a declaration of himself as David’s great descendent. It also fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 when the king would ride in on a donkey, which is a symbol of peace.

For us, as we study of God’s law, this Sunday signals to us the salvation of God! As we have studied the law, it has informed us about the holiness of God for the law is rooted in his character. God’s law sets the standard and communicates His vision for humanity. When we compare what we experience in the world to God’s vision, we cry out, “God save us.” The law zeros in on mankind’s sinfulness, exposing our law-breaking behavior, thoughts, and heart. It strips us of any righteousness we might bank based on our performance. There just isn’t anything to merit God’s favor or avert his judgment. As Paul concludes, “none is righteous, no not one,” Romans 3:10. Left fully exposed by the law, we cry out, “God save us.” The law forces us to ask Paul’s question, “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24) Then we see Jesus and again we cry out, “God save us.”

Before the Spirit came into our lives, we were dead in our trespasses and sins children of God’s wrath, Ephesians 2:1. Now, alive in Christ, the law no longer condemns but teaches us the gospel, humbling us to live in the grace provided for us in Christ. “God save us,” remains our cry. Save us from the sin around us; save us from the sin within us; save us with all the benefits of Christ. Join us Sunday as we cry out in worship for God’s gracious salvation in Christ.

The last commandment is a critical one to end with because it exposes the issue behind all the other commandments, desire. An important point to lead with is that the commandment does not say, “don’t desire.” God does not condemn desires, but desires for what others have. God created us to desire! We’re to desire him, his glory, the wellbeing of others, etc. The problem is that our desires are deceitful and distorted by our sin nature. As C.S. Lewis famously said, “Our desires are not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” This adds some clarity to the commandment.

Another important point is that sinful desires are just that, sinful. While the other commandments forbid actions, the tenth confronts what’s going on in our heart that no one but God and we ourselves know. When David saw Bathsheba his distorted desire (10th commandment) led him to violate the 7th (adultery), the 6th (murder), the 9th (false witness) and the 1st (idolatry). David should have recognized his distorted desire and immediately repented. This commandment challenges our culture’s argument that having a desire is not sinful. God says sinful desires violate his law, destroying his creation and our community.

Join us Sunday as we consider the Tenth Commandment and the presentation of God’s goodness. 

Our culture is quirky. A person can claim their own personal truth but then the court can demand that they tell the objective truth at the risk of jail time for perjury. So, which is it? Is truth relative or objective? Our culture is more like Pilate who challenges Jesus’ statement, that he came to testify to the truth, by asking, “What is truth?” A just society requires adherence to truth telling, in legal and personal settings. This means that the “spin” we hear from politicians, business leaders, etc., violates the next commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Again, the ninth commandment establishes a paradigm for how we interact with and love our neighbor. The commandment envisions truth telling in a court or legal proceedings.  If speaking the truth in a legal setting it is required, so is speaking the truth at home or in business. We shouldn’t have to be put “under oath” to speak truth.

The commandment has a specific application toward lying about our neighbor, or what the Scripture calls “bearing false witness.” If our neighbor stands accused of a crime, those who testify should tell the truth, even if it exonerates the accused. This broadens the commandment beyond the court system to how we protect our neighbor’s reputation by refusing to gossip or receive gossip.

All of this finds its root in the character of God and his unquestionable veracity. Join us Sunday, as we consider the abounding goodness of God in his law.

Sunday we’ll consider the Eighth Commandment, “You shall not steal,” Exodus 20:15. The obvious application is respecting what belongs to someone else. At least two principles are assumed in this commandment: the right to own personal property and contentment with what God has given to me and others. While this commandment undermines economic theories like socialism and communism, along with the taxation and state ownership that accompanies them, it’s rooted in the teaching that God is the source of all that we have. He gives and takes away, as Job says (Job 1:21).

This is where contentment enters the conversation. Contentment involves accepting what God has given you and owning the responsibility to steward those gifts. But it starts with loving the Giver more than the gift. The Apostle Paul describes this shift as the essence of idolatry, saying, “they worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:25) The Apostle and author of Hebrews says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5) Notice the connection he makes between contentment and the presence of God. Contentment is the result of loving God with our whole being expressed in loving our neighbor by protecting and not taking what belongs to them whether personal property or intangible things like their reputation.

Join us Sunday as we consider this important commandment and worship God for his loving, wise presence.

Sunday, we consider the Seventh Commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” Exodus 20:14. Like the former two commandments (honoring parents, forbidding murder), the Seventh is paradigmatic. In other words, it briefly states a paradigm for thinking about marriage and all sexual expression. The paradigm is simple: sexual expression is to be enjoyed in a complimentary (male/female) monogamous marriage. Scripture affirms this paradigm from its beginning in Genesis to the end in Revelation. This is the “created order” instituted by God when he brought Eve into union with Adam, Genesis 2:22-24. Deviations from this paradigm are subsequently condemned by God as against his “order.” This would apply to all the deviations that we see promoted in our culture in the name of sexual freedom.

This commandment builds on the previous two, affirming the honor given to father and mother, the building block of society, and affirming the inherent dignity of life. Sexual fidelity gives dignity to marriage, preserving procreation, protecting the family for the healthy development of children, protecting against disease, and giving dignity to the image-bearer. Sexual infidelity, or sexual freedom, degrades human beings and threatens the order that God created for us to thrive while enjoying his gifts.

Join us Sunday, as we consider this critical commandment and look intently at the grace offered us in Jesus Christ.

The Sixth Commandment is strikingly simple, “you (shall) not murder.” While a simple statement it covers a lot of ground. Notice it doesn’t say, “you shall not kill,” because that would include any ending of life, even animal life, which God has given us for food. The commandment excludes capital punishment for crimes against God’s kingdom, or for crimes against God’s people. God prescribes this punishment for these crimes. It does speak against ending our own and other’s lives we deem unvaluable. The emphasis is premeditated murder, but it also speaks against irresponsible behavior that puts others’ lives in jeopardy (reckless driving, danger at work, etc.).

Jesus takes us deeper by denouncing the anger and envy that fills our hearts, leading us to “murder” in our hearts. Even calling or thinking someone is an “idiot” violates God’s Law (Matthew 5:21-26). So he calls us to actively pursue reconciliation with each other. Jesus is more than anti-murder; he is decidedly pro-life. He came that we might “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Join us Sunday as we consider the call to life.

Sunday, we move into the second table of the law. The first of these six commandments is, “Honor your father and your mother, that you days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” The Westminster Divines understand the commandment to frame relationships in representative terms, saying, “The general scope of the fifth commandment is, the performance of those duties which we mutually owe in our several relations, as inferiors, superiors, or equals.” (Larger Catechism {LC}, 126) God communicates the responsibilities of our relationships in terms of “father and mother” as the fundamental unit of society and to communicate the “care” that should imbody our relationships. (LC, 125)

It directs how we respond to those with authority, how those in authority treat their wards, and how equals honor each other. Notice that the commandment uses the word “honor” instead of “obey” because God requires us to respond to each other out of a greater motivation than avoiding conflict. We’re called to respond in a way that recognizes God’s organizational structure. On God’s organizational chart, he has established appropriate structures of stewardship, each with various responsibilities. Failing in our stewardship, defies God’s rule. So, join us Sunday as we consider this critical commandment.

Sunday, we’ll consider together the Fourth Commandment, where God’s people are charged to remember and keep the Sabbath. One of the first things to notice is that Israel is told to “remember” the Sabbath. This was not the first time they heard of the sacredness of this day. Even as they were exiting Egypt, they were told not to collect manna on the seventh day because it was holy. Moses connects the Sabbath with the Creation narrative where God rested on the seventh day.

Another immediate thing to recognize is the egalitarian enforcement of rest: “On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner (foreigner) who is within your gates.” The sabbath was not for men, nor was it for only Jewish people, but for the entire population, even working animals are given rest.

The “dual engines” of the commandment, as Kevin DeYoung says, “are worship and rest.” (DeYoung, The Ten Commandments, pg. 67) That hasn’t changed, but the New Testament practice has clearly changed. We gather on Sunday, called the Lord’s Day, and we no longer have similar restrictions, as Paul says, “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of…Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come.”(Colossians 2:16-17).

Join us Sunday as we consider the goodness of God in giving us rest!

The Third Commandment tells us we aren’t to use God’s name in our speech in a meaningless way. Certainly, this applies to phrases like “OMG,” but this is the lowest expectation of the commandment. The commandment tells us not to attach God’s name to something worthless like an idol. That’s probably a no brainer, but even as Moses is atop Mt. Sinai, the people make themselves a golden calf and call it “God,” affixing his name to something worthless. Moses destroys and devalues the image, grinding it to powder that he made them eat, and later expel. The idol they worshipped became refuse. Quite a statement.

The commandment also directs us to treat everything related to God with respect. This would especially relate to how we treat his image-bearers. When we make fun of someone for their looks, or criticize people for their vulnerabilities, we diminish their Creator. How we treat others says a lot about our respect for God. This also applies to sacred things in worship. Malachi records God’s complaint against his people who disdain worship, first by offering less than their best and second by disdaining the whole process. When the people make their sacrifices, they think to themselves, “What use is this?” Well, God connects their disdain for his worship with disrespect for him.

In addition, the commandment directs not to use God’s name as a control mechanism. Statements like, “God told me,” are sometimes used to manipulate others. I’ve heard television preachers say, “God told me to buy my new $30 million dollar jet,” or “God told me to tell you to send a $1000 gift.” When Israel’s prophets did this, God introduced them to the Babylonian sword. Whenever we “speak for God” we had better be sure that God has spoken.

Join us Sunday, as we worship God and explore this commandment.

Sunday, we will consider the Second Commandment which focuses on the worship of God. This is a continuation of the first commandment where we respond to God’s self-giving devotion by our own self-giving commitment to him alone. In this commandment, God certainly warns against polytheistic idolatry. God’s people shouldn’t have other gods, and certainly shouldn’t carve images of other gods to worship or serve. This commandment also warns against carving or making images that represent the living God. Israel violates this commandment almost immediately in Exodus 32.

Moses has lingered long on Mount Sinai and the people grow discontent. They donate their golden earrings to make a golden calf and they gather to worship it as “Jehovah.” (Ex. 32:5) While that might seem unthinkable, we’re probably more like Israel than we realize. This commandment sets the paradigm of worshipping God in a manner that is acceptable to him, rather than one preferred by us. The catechism refers to violating this as “corrupting the worship of God.” (Larger Catechism, Q/A 109)

As we respond to God, we need to hear what he is saying about himself (inform), consider where we fall short (convince), and allow him to lead us to Christ (humble). Join us for worship Sunday as we consider the Second Commandment!