Danny Panter

Disconnection

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:16 (day six)

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

There is a reason the ninth commandment is you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, rather than you shall not lie. The former makes a clear connection between the truths (or lies) we speak and our neighbor. False witness is never spoken in a vacuum, but always lands on someone, always leading to a disconnected relationship or community.

God’s plan for his people was a community that knew and trusted each other. He had no desire for a fractured, disconnected people rising out of closed-door gossip, or back-alley grievances. When you boil it down, I think God is saying, “Stop talking ABOUT your neighbor; talk TO your neighbor.”

So, the next time you have a grievance against someone don’t rush to gripe about them to someone else, or pass judgment too quickly, rather go to them, and as much as it is up to you, seek to make things right.

Rich

Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:15 (day six)

“You shall not steal.”

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. -Paul, Philippians 4:19

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he concludes with thanking them for how they have helped during his time of need. He then makes the above promise, “My God will give to you in your need because you are rich in Christ Jesus!”

In God’s economy, according to the riches in glory in Christ Jesus, He gives to us so that through us He may give to others. We do not steal, simply because we have no lack, in fact we are rich! God has given to us, and we then give to others; we bless others. That’s the kind of community, or nation, God desired to build with the Hebrew people, and is now building in His church.

Sacredness and Wholeness

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:14 (day six)

“You shall not commit adultery.”

This commandment points to two truths, the sacredness of marriage and the wholeness of sexual intimacy, and neither are mutually exclusive. Marriage is sacred in the same fashion as life is sacred (#6), or as the family is sacred (#5); each serve a valuable role in God filling the earth with his glory. Marriage is first and foremost God’s; he made it in his image, therefore it is sacred.

Sexual intimacy, (not just sex) by design is the very consummation of wholeness, or oneness between a husband and wife. It is a physical picture of a mutual reality. God is very serious when he says, “The two shall become one flesh.” Or “what God puts together, let no man separate.” This commandment is God’s way of saying, “stay whole; stay as one!”

Why? Because oneness in marriage is the heart of its sacredness, and if a marriage loses its sacredness it can no longer fulfill God’s purpose.

Is it any wonder than that the enemy would aim to destroy sex and marriage?

Harmony

Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:13 (day six)

What is the opposite of murder or kill? Create life? While we come close, we can’t create life in the same way God does (out of nothing). Perhaps, in the fullest understanding of the sixth commandment, the opposite of kill is harmonize, as in two distinct things brought together as if they were one.

When reading Jesus’ interpretation of the commandment, he clearly teaches that to fulfill it we must go to great lengths to pursue harmony with others. Or another way, if you want to avoid God’s judgment be a reconciler; ditch the angry heart, and sharp words, and do everything in your power to make things right, especially if you are the offender.

The spirit of this commandment isn’t just life, it’s harmony. Who are you out-of-sorts with? Jesus would recommend checking your heart, holding the sharp tongue, and go to them right away to pursue harmony.

Tradition

Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:12 (day six)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”

The command is simple enough. We know it refers to all of us, not just our toddlers and teenagers. We know it rightly elevates the role of family in society. We even know what it means to “honor” our parents. And yet how often it is easily dismissed, forgotten, or simply replaced.

Jesus had strong words for the Pharisees when their traditions trumped the commandments. In the case of this commandment, the Pharisees allowed the tradition of a designated gift to the temple (corban, Mark 7:9-13) to alleviate any pressure to financially take care of elderly parents. Jesus said, “You create traditions, so as not to obey God’s commandment.” It got me thinking, what traditions keep us from honoring our parents? What traditions, even in the church, have disrupted God’s design for the family?

We probably would greatly benefit by giving that serious thought.

Enjoy

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 2:8-11 (day six)

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

This wonderful command takes into account two human frailties, our ability to only do one thing at a time (as compared to God), and the fractured nature of our minds. The aim of God’s prescribed rest is joy; joy in God, family, and the fruit of our labor. During a week of labor it is hard to slow down long enough to enjoy anything, much less focus or rest. So God says, “Rest…take time to enjoy me and one another, and whether a lot or little enjoy the fruit of your hard work.”

Jesus got so bent out of shape with the Pharisees because they completely sucked any joy or rest to be had in the Sabath. It became more work. So, remember God commands us slow down to enjoy what he has done.

Don’t take the joy out of your rest!

Holy

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:7 – (day six) “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

I changed my name when I was 16. Growing up I went by my middle name, but decided to go by my first name at the beginning of my junior year. There simply were too many other “Mikes” in the same dorm; I wanted to be set apart. Names offer distinction, separateness.

When God tells Moses His name at the burning bush that’s exactly what His name accomplishes. There is none like him, there never was, nor will there ever be. God’s name embodies His otherness, His holiness. This is precisely why he commands us to never take it for granted.

Godless

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:4-6 (day six)

It’s not only punitive, it’s reality. Growing up in west Africa there were a
number of things that were essential to living a healthy life, like malaria medicine, or filtered water. To remove either one of these, especially filtered water, you would avail yourself to all sorts of disastrous results. Removing God and erecting an idol in your life is very similar. You cannot expect your life or family to function in a productive, healthy way when you take God out of center.

That’s exactly God’s warning in the second commandment-your family will go awry for generations if you worship idols.

Blessing

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:3 (day six)
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

The 10 Commandments were intended to do for more than condemn us. This new covenant with the people of Israel was God’s next step in restoring His blessing. The first commandment then, with the others to follow, show us the way or what’s required. “You shall have no other gods before me” is not only a worth demand from God, but a state of being. When we devote ourselves to the Lord alone, when we love Him with all of our heart, when we know Him and follow Him above all else, then we know his blessing. The same blessing He promised Adam and Eve, Abraham, Jacob, and now the people of Israel, ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.

Introduction

Re:Verse passage – Exodus 20:1-17 (day six)

“This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”-Jesus, John 17:3

This is a first; a significant introduction. Up to this point stories of God had been handed down from Abraham to Jacob, and onto his sons, grandsons, and great grandsons, but nothing had been written down, until now. God sets a new precedent, that His Word would become His primary and most concrete form of revelation, with the Ten Commandments serving as a formal introduction to a chosen people.

And not just a greeting, but an introduction to eternal life. God gives His people His written law, so they might know Him, love and obey Him, and thus have eternal life. The law tells us, there is no god like our God.

The law proclaimed it, Jesus, the Word, fulfilled it.