Sunday School | Catechism - Ten Commandments Part I

Introduction

Okay, so here's what we're doing today. Five weeks ago, or whenever that was when I was here last, we were doing this series on red letters, stuff that Jesus said. And we still have a couple of weeks of things that I want to cover on that before we do something else. But we're interrupting that for two weeks because Bob Blacksmith, who we love, love, love, is sick. And he's not here today. I can feel myself getting louder. And he doesn't think he'll be here next week.

So what we're going to do in this group is we have welcomed into it all the people that are in Bob's Catechism class. So welcome back, or welcome if you've never been here before. We're delighted that you're here. We're going to spend two weeks looking at the 10 Commandments here, and then these guys' class will end. They'll stay or they'll leave. Whatever they do is fine. And we'll get back to the stuff that Jesus said for a couple of weeks, and then we'll do something altogether new and surprising because I don't even know what it is yet. Okay? But this week we're going to do two weeks on the 10 Commandments.

The Context of the Passage

Now, if you haven't been in Bob's class and you might not know this, we have this thing. It's called a catechism. It's called To Be a Christian. What's a catechism, you guys? Is that a meaningful word to you? Teaching? Teaching school? Okay. You say that with a sense of disgust. School. It's like teaching. Hate that.

Okay. What's the teaching methodology of a catechism? Question and answer. Question. It's all Q and A. So if you flip through this thing, it's just question and answer. What are the 10 Commandments? Here's the answer. What is God's Law? Answer. When did God give this Law? Here's the answer. So catechesis or catechisms is an ancient method of teaching. And really what you're supposed to do is memorize the question, memorize the answer.

Probably a more famous catechism than ours is the Westminster Catechism, which is very well known. The very first question is very well known. Would anybody know the first question of the Westminster Catechism? What is the chief and the highest end of man? The answer is, Glorify God and enjoy him forever.

So that's catechism. It's question, answer, call and response. What they're doing in Bob's class is running through this catechism, but they're running through it quick. For instance, today we're supposed to cover the 10 Commandments, today and next week, and there are 50 questions about the 10 Commandments in this Catechism. So we are not going to cover — well, maybe we'd cover 25, but you cannot have a meaningful engagement on 25 quite. We'd just be blitzing through it. There'd be no discussion. And as you know, the heart of this class is really engagement and discussion.

And so we're not going to cover all of them, and in fact, truthfully, we're not going to cover any of them. Okay? We're going to talk about — I want to talk about the content within these things, but we're not going to follow this kind of delineated QAQAQA thing. Okay? But if you're in the class, what we're covering essentially is going to be questions 256 to 299. And so you may want to go through and read those things, and you'll kind of find a review of what we're going to talk about here.

But first, I want to do something with you that my wife taught me just a couple of weeks ago that you may — maybe you know this, maybe you don't. I won't call on any of you, so you can answer this question honestly. How many of you could recite the 10 Commandments? Right now. All 10. I've got them. Boom, boom, boom. Okay, that's a tepid response. That's what I expected.

So, in about ten minutes, you're going to be able to do that. Okay? But you're going to need your fingers to help you because Kelly just taught me this little thing that she learned in her Bible study, the book that she's prepping for her study. Who is this, Kelly? From homeschool. Homeschool? A homeschool resource, and I got it from the Jen Wilkins Exodus. Okay, from the Jen Wilkins Exodus study to give full credit on some homeschooling.

So here's how you're going to do it. You're going memorize this, play along, and you're about to know the 10 Commandments for the rest of your life. You ready? First commandment, one finger. Let's go. You've to play along. Okay? I hate when people tell me what to do with my body, but I'm going to do that to you. Okay? One.

What do you think the First Commandment is? There is only one God. Right? No other gods. Right? This is it. Number two, two gods is too many gods. So don't make any idols. Okay? So one, there's just only one God. One God alone. Number two, two is too many gods. No idols. You with me?

Three looks kind of like a W. Right? So you want to honor God with your words. What would that be? Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Okay, now, I don't think that's what the third commandment actually means, so there'll be an asterisk by this one. We'll come back to that in a little bit. But it'll still have you remember it. So one, what is one? God. There's only one God.

Number two? Because two gods is too many gods. Three is really a W, which means your words. Honor the Lord with your words. Right? And how do we say that in actual 10 Commandment language? Words. Don't take the Lord's name in vain. Okay, four. Okay, now here's what we want to do. This is a little bit weird. Look at your hand with your four, and then notice that your thumb is kind of resting on the palm of your hand. Say your thumb is taking a nap on the Sabbath.

Okay? So four is rest. You got it? Okay? How are you doing? Does that one feel too weird for you? There's a couple that make good use of the thumb, and I like them. Okay? So one, there's only one God. Two, two gods, there's too many gods, no idols. Three, is it really a W? Your words don't take the Lord's name in vain. Four, you've a sleepy thumb. It's resting on what day? So we keep it to seven.

Okay, five. Imagine this. You've got to be like Boy Scout about this one, right? You're making an oath. I will honor my mother and father. All five of your fingers. Got it? Five. Honor your mother and father. You've to tighten this up. You've to be a little more, you know, honor-y. Don't do this or it goes really sideways. You've got to keep it just like this. Okay?

Alright. Five, honor your mother and father. Six. Watch this one. Six. Boom. Six. Oh, okay. Six. Sorry. That was my thumb. Forget the thumb. Okay? Six? Sixth commandment is you shall not murder and apparently your gun doesn't have a thumb. Okay? So these are the five people that you're not gonna murder with your gun. Okay? Six. Okay? Especially your — now you're going to confuse everybody.

We honor our mother and father and we don't murder people. Okay? You got them? Alright. Can anybody do — what did we just do? The first six? Let's do the first six. Can you review them? Six. One person. Who's got them? Okay, Tyler. Gosh. Stand up so they can see your fingers. Let's go. Alright, Tim. Also, take off your shirt. Let's just — alright. Go ahead. Tell me what to do with my body. Yeah. God. Two is too many gods, so I don't have any idols. Three, a W order, so take the Lord's name in vain. Four, oh, resting. Yeah, you see your thumb. That's good. Five, mother and father. Six, don't murder. Excellent. Well done.

Seventh commandment, go like this. Okay. Go like this. And then put these two people over here. There's two of them. And they're at the altar and they're making a pledge to each other because they're getting married and they can't cheat once they do that. Okay. What's this one? No. The seventh commandment is marriage. No adultery. Eight. You don't use your thumbs on this one. You're looking through bars. Why are you looking through bars? Because you're in jail. Why are you in jail, you criminals? Because for stealing, okay? You shall not steal. You got it? Okay. So far so good? So let's pick up from 5, 6, 7. Okay, what's 5? What's 6? Don't shoot people. Right. Okay, 7? No adultery. Eight. Looking through prison bars. Right? No stealing. Nine. What are we going to do with 9? None. Okay, what did you say? None.

Okay, so here's how this one's going to work. Here's your fingers again. And it's the thumb. It's always the thumb with these guys. Thumb is leaning in to whisper lies to these people about these people. That's good, right? Okay?

So what's the commandment? Don't bear false witness. This stupid lazy thumb has now moved on. Okay? So, no false witness. You got it? And then 10, go like this, and then go like this, and then go like this. Gimme, gimme, gimme. And what is that? You shall not covet. I want that. Mine. Give it to me. Give it to me. Give it to me. Okay? So, right? So, I screw any of those up, Kelly?

Alright. So, number one, there's only one God, no other gods. Two, two is too many gods, no idols. Three is a W. Honor and god of your words, don't take the Lord's name in vain. Again, I'm going to change that one. Four? Sleepy thumb. Okay. Sabbath. Right? Five? Murder. Six? Don't murder anybody. Yep. Okay. Seven. No adultery. Eight. Looking through prison bars. Right? No stealing. Nine. Whispering thumb, whispering of these four about these five. No false testimony. And five, gimme, gimme, gimme, no coveting.

The Content of the Commandments

Okay. Thanks to Kelly and Jen Wilkins and the homeschool movement. You now know the 10 commandments. Okay. Now, yeah. It's good. Right? Now you can remember it. But here's what you gotta do. Later today, just do it again. Because repetition is the secret to learning. So later on today, teach your children, teach your neighbor, and remember the thumbs do funny stuff.

Also, on number four with the thumb right there, this is for teaching little kids not to suck their thumb. You put them to bed and put the blanket on them. Oh, look at that. Okay. So you hear that? So you could also, you get your sleepy thumb. You put the kids in bed and you wrap the thumb up under the blanket, and then they just suck on the knuckle. Right? And then that works great.

So 10 Commandments. Now, did you ever notice that the 10 Commandments divide quite neatly into two sections? What are the two sections of the 10 Commandments? Robin? Vertical and horizontal. And where do you draw the line? I guess it's the fifth. Wait. Everybody's too murmuring. Say it. What numbers are vertical? The first four. Four. That's right. So if you think about it, the first four are Godward.

Number one, of course, is there's no other gods. Number two, we don't make any other gods. Number three is we don't take His name in vain. And then the fourth is Sleepy thumb is the Sabbath. Right? So those are Godward. And then from there on out, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten are all manward. It's things like don't covet, don't steal, don't bear false testimony. All those things are all vertical to the Lord and then horizontal to others.

And so we're going to talk through just notice that thing. And then what I want to do today is just talk through the first section. We're going to just walk through those first four. And if you want to, if you have your book because you're in the Catechism class, you can keep up. Some of the concepts we'll be talking about are going to be here, but I'm just not going to use this as your organizing principle because 90% of you don't have this book. But you can follow along.

So let's do the first one. No — what’s the first one? No — why other not? Let’s talk about this. Why are we not to have any other gods? There are no other. There is only one. What are we hearing back here? Is there more? They're not real. They're fake. There's only one Creator.

Now, we're going to make this a little bit more complicated than that. Everything you're saying is true. There is only one creator. God is. There was a time where there was nothing else. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And he is unique in all the world. He has no — we sing this morning, you have no rival. You have no equal. Now and forever, God, you reign. He is absolutely unique.

And yet, there have been proffered numerous other gods throughout the ages, and even the Bible itself — this is a strange thing — even the Bible itself observes the presence of other little g gods. Did you know this? Does this seem strange to you? When the Bible refers to other gods, we have a tendency to think that it's talking about, you've made it up, you're just imagining stuff. And there are no doubt, there are imagined gods. But I think there's also other, little g, gods, not other creators, no one that is outside of creation, but there are other created supernatural spiritual beings.

Does that give anybody a heart attack? Is that okay? All right. So, where does the Bible discuss this? The presence of other supernatural spiritual beings besides Yahweh. Gina? Job. Job. Okay. So how so? When he calls to the counsel of God and then the accuser comes forth.

That's right. Okay. So what Gina is saying is, in the book of Job, that Satan comes before God, kind of has this conversation, has this address, but actually depicts us not just before God, but before this counsel. The Psalms talk about this counsel, and the Bible treats other gods — Molech or who are some of the gods? The gods of the Old Testament, of the surrounding nations? Chemosh, Molech, Baal, Dagon, who breaks his arms off at the temple.

It's not entirely clear to me, it might be clear to you, but it's not entirely clear to me if those — which of those are made up, just mankind making stuff up, and which of those are supernatural spiritual beings that fell? You would think of them as angels, although there's multiple kinds of angels, and some of them have fallen into rebellion and set themselves up as gods.

Whichever category we're talking about, none of — okay, whether you're making them up whole out of your mind, you're just imagining nonsense, or like, you know, I don't know, let's just say Thor fits into that category or Zeus fits into that category, okay? Or we're talking about angelic beings created by Yahweh, which rebelled and fell and set themselves up as competitors.

In either case, whichever category, the first commandment says, No, no, no, no, no. They will not be your gods. I and I alone. Yahweh alone. The creator of all things is to be your God, and you will not get along and follow along with the nations or the groups of people that decide to worship anybody except me. Does this make sense?

And yet, despite the clarity, the singular clarity of that, Israel is constantly saying, Oh, I'm sorry. Who do you worship? Interesting. How do you guys do that? And then they jump into the party — total violation of the first commandment.

Now, in our world here, not that likely that anybody here is tempted to worship Molech. True? It's not that likely that we're this. But do you have competitive gods in your life? Yes. Okay. So what would be — if we were to translate that from, like, 2000 B.C. to today, what are we talking about here? What threatens your ability to obey the first commandment, to have no other gods before him?

Social media. Social media. So you can worship social media? Not you, but this guy. Okay. What would it look like for someone to worship social media? They're more intense on that, or they are listening to what's being said out there and pulling them away from the true God.

Great. Okay. So Carol's point, one of the things that we get from our gods is information, right? So God says, This is true. He's a revealer of truth, and there are plenty of people willing to compete in that space for you.

He said, No, no, don't listen to him. Listen to me. This is what is true, or this is what is good, or this is what is beautiful. So you could think of the competitors for God in your life might be those that come with a competing message and say, Don't pay attention to that. Just listen to me.

And social media is one place that has an infinite number of messages, some of them good, some of them bad, some of them true, some of them false, but we compete with that. What else? What else competes with you? Chris? Finances. Okay, I'm going to get a few lists, and then we'll pick some. Money. Robin? Well, I was going to say finances and time. Your calendar and your checkbook. Okay. Calendar, time, money, checkbook. You'd say time.

Anybody else want to throw anything in here, Sam? Politics. Politics, yeah. Or your political party or your political view of these things, for sure. Fred? The parts of the world or just your government. The government in places got. Yes, okay, the government. And the government, honestly, would like that. Caesar, when the Romans, when Caesar was declared to be a god, when the Caesars were declared to be a god, that's the state saying, pay no attention to this religious nonsense. Just listen to me.

Herrick? Religion? Okay, so this is great. So this is a little bit more of a dicey answer. So, Jesus is telling us true things, but religion is man-made structures that are set up to just put us into this ceremony, this ritual, this artificial constraint on our behavior, whatever that is. We don't want to follow any of those things. We say all this, there's a million things that could be your competing gods, right? Peers and entertainment. Peers, entertainment.

And by the way, some of these things are helpful. I like money. Right? Money can be helpful. Political parties can actually accomplish a good end. What else you've said? Time, like how we spend our time and spending our time, these things are good things, but they mustn't be ultimate. Yes, sir. Safety in own happiness. Oh, my goodness.

Right? Could you leave the room? Safety in our own happiness. Right? That's at the end of the day, what do you worship? Whatever is going to make me as happy as I can possibly be. We like all these other things because they're a means to that end.

Okay? So we are to have no gods besides Yahweh, and yet you live in a sea of competition. And it's helpful if you can be mindful, oh, I'm getting drawn away, and I'm worshiping. I'm giving more time and attention to these things.

The Second and Third Commandments

Okay? Now, number two is very similar to number one. So number one is no other gods but Him. What's the second commandment? No idols. Okay. So that's so similar. Okay. What does it mean in its original moment? What does it mean, you shall have no idols, to make no idols? Physical idol.

Okay. So this is again a difference. They were making a physical thing. We see this happens over and over again. The Old Testament really mocks and ridicules the absurdity of literal idolatry. Isaiah's got this great passage where he's like, Okay, so you take a block of wood, you cut it in half, and then half of it you burn in the fire, you bake bread, and you say, Ah, I see the fire. I am warm. He uses his language to make you sound like you're just an idiot. And then the other half, you set it up on end and you carve it into a statue, and then you put a wedge under it so it won't fall over, and then you bow down before it. He's like, do you not see? It's literally you've made bread over this thing, and now you are bound down.

And it's so idiotic, so completely ridiculous to create this physical structure that you're going to worship. What's the analogy or what's the manifestation of that in our life? Given that you just listed a bunch of things that are gods, what does that look like today for us? Idology. Michael? Homes, vehicles, retirement portfolios. So there are still physical things, right? That we're going to worship.

This car, this house, this material good, whatever is coming from Amazon. In fact, if you want, take a minute and just check when it's going to be delivered, I would understand. If you want to just make sure, oh, it's coming on Monday. It's out for delivery. We love stuff. We love all kinds of things.

And here's the thing, I want to give you a working definition of an idol, and tell me if this doesn't fit for you. Okay? An idol is something that you think can save you, but it can't. This is why they would make idols. They would make a statue, they'd take off their earrings, throw them into the melting pot, and then just out would jump a golden calf. It was the strangest thing. Right? And then they would think that, okay, this cow, I'm going to prostrate myself before this golden calf because if I do, it will give me safety against my enemies. It will provide for me meaning and structure in my life. Right? It's something that you think can save you, but it can't.

Have you noticed this in your own life? That there are things that you're like, If I just could buy this, then I would be happy. Is there anybody in this room that has never thought, Oh, once I get that promotion will save me? This toy, now I'll be happy. You know this? That's what idolatry is.

There was a hand somewhere over here. Forget where. Tyler, but then there was somebody else back. Tyler, go first. I'm just going to offer one other paraphrase, which is stuff that almost works. Yeah. That's such a great Tyler's saying it's stuff that almost works. And it works well enough that you're willing to throw the dice one more time. Right? Do you know this phenomena? Like or or stuff that does work for a week, and then you need to get a new one. We have disposable idols. It just happens all the time.

Tom, was it you? I thought there was a hand back here. Promotional work. Promotional work. Right there. Right? Yeah. There's a lot of times that, like, you know, you long for something and then you get it and you're like, oh, that was not what I thought it was, for sure.

Robin? This is a little offensive question. They went as far as any image. I thought, like, when you were reading the New Testament, they talked about or the Old Testament. Wait. Can you go a little louder?

In the Old Testament, when they talked, weren't even allowed to have images. And we have images in pictures and in things like that. How does that? Yeah. Okay. So this is this is okay. This is where the conversation gets less comfortable. Okay? So there's idols in the sense of the things that you think can save you but can't. It was that whole thing. But then there's also a sense of what idols were — was a visual, physical representation of what God is like.

Now, the first thing you've got to understand is the reason that God says, Don't make a visual, physical representation of me, there's a reason He says that. Do you know what it is? It might be a little bit surprising. Why are we not allowed to make visual, physical representations of God? Lily?

Because God. Because He already did. That is the answer. There is. Did you know that there is a visual, physical representation of God that He made specifically for that purpose? What is it? Us. It's me, mostly. You are made in the image — you are the image of God. And so the idea that you're going make an image of God is like, I already did that. Go make a baby. Okay? That's — we are the image of God. We're not supposed to make other idols of him either — represent we are the representation of him.

Now whether we do that well or whether we do that poorly is a big deal, and it's going to become more prominent in the third commandment, which I'll show you in a second. But we are not — are we should be very circumspect about this. Okay? Now throughout history, we're going to be like, yeah, but let's paint a picture of Jesus. Right? So the Renaissance, right, the flourishing of the arch, you know, pictures of Jesus. We have, we don't — I don't think there's a lot of us that would say, like, we should go burn those things down because they're they're idols. But there are some that would say that you should not make pictures of Jesus because it's a violation of the second commandment. And I understand that argument. I'm not sure that I agree with it entirely, but I can see where it becomes more and more risky.

And right now, I'll say this, and this — this will probably trouble some of you, but I think that we should be cautious in the arts when we represent God. I think right now, The Chosen is something we should be thoughtful about. The TV show, The Chosen, they have created an image of Jesus, and then they're making him say what they want him to say. Right? A generation ago, it was the Joshua books.

Does anybody remember the Joshua books when they created those? This would have been in the '80s or '90s. I think the first Joshua book was phenomenal and was faithful, I loved it. But he started to write a couple of others, and he started to veer away from orthodoxy. Was like, oh, my goodness. You've done it.

I think in The Chosen, if watching The Chosen, there are some scenes in that show that are sublime. I think the interaction if you watch how many of you are watching it or have watched it? Okay, so many. Like, scene where the woman at the well, the John Four story, isn't that compelling? I think it's just absolutely exceptional. And it's just so rich, and it makes things come alive, and it gives insight. It's beautiful. It's wonderful. But there's a bunch of stuff that's just made up. That's just not true.

What are the things that you've noticed happen in The Chosen that have no biblical merit whatsoever? Lily? It doesn't stick to the text when he talked about his mother at the wedding, where he's making water. Okay. So in that whole Canaan, John two, this year, where he's making water and wine at the wedding, there is going to be some flexibility with the text. Right? And to a certain extent, you have to do that because the text is more staccato when he's trying to make it vivid. So yeah, but then you're like, what about this? And the problem is, to any normal person that's reading it or watching it and isn't very familiar with the text, they're not going to know how to braid out truth from error. Or not even error, truth from — I should say it that way. Right? You've got to be a little careful about that. There are things that are more, not even just filling in the words, but Jesus was not arrested by the Romans mid-ministry. There's that whole scene where they bring him in and they question, and he's very witty. I mean, he just does a great job in that scene, but that didn't happen. And there were probably millions of people watching that show that just think that that's real, and it's not.

So I think any time somebody's going to step forward and say, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not violating the second commandment. I'm just going to represent God doing things that he didn't actually do, it should just be really careful. Right? I'm not saying, you know, don't watch The Chosen. I think there are some things that are really, really good, but I would say whatever you do, do with discernment. Like, is this true? Are you making this up? Is this real? It's a dangerous thing to create a sock puppet god and then to write him your own script. You with me? Okay. That's the second commandment. So we don't make any idols. Good enough?

The Third and Fourth Commandments

Here's the third. What is the third commandment? Well, first of all, what is it? W — words. Honor God with your mouth. Okay. Don't take the Lord's name in your — what do you think that means? Eric? I used to think that it meant don't cuss. Yes.

Come to think that it means from readings, don't take his name on as your identity. Don't call yourself a Christian if you're not going to be a Christian. It's like when Lauren, I married, she took my name Schmidt. So I should not take his name onto me and then represent — he'll do a bad job of representing him in the world if I'm not prepared for what it means to be a positive reflection on him. Okay. Take that lightly. Don't do that in vain.

I'm afraid that you may not have heard what Eric said, which would be a shame because his answer was exactly right. Okay? So, the first level, the way this is understood and even the way the little mnemonic does it is basically, maybe don't say, Damn it. But if you do, really don't append God's name to that. That would be bad. We think that to take the Lord's name in vain is to turn God's name into a cuss word. That's generally what has been represented for hundreds of years. And I don't think Moses had that in mind at all. I don't think that's what it is.

The word here, you shall not take the Lord's name in vain, we turn that into don't say his name in vain. But that is not what the word take means. What the word take means is don't bear it. Don't wear it. Don't, exactly as Eric said, don't say I am a Christian and then go live Christianly in a really bad way. So what we are to do, because we are — we don't make idols. We don't make images because we are the image. That's number two. And number three is, image well. That's what law three is. Or law three is. Can't be excruciating coming through.

The second commandment is don't make any other images because you are the image. The third commandment is, image well. Don't wear his name. Don't bear his name. Don't carry his name. Don't walk around representing him to the world in a way that people are like, God is terrible. You're terrible. You represent him, ergo he must be terrible. We're not to do that. That's what it means.

If you want to remember with the W and that helps you get through the, oh yeah, it's that, but it means something else, that's fine. But you guys, we bear his name. We wear his name. We carry his name. We are his image. We are his representative. And that should make us very thoughtful, not just about — think about this, if the second commandment is caution, don't make other things that misrepresent him, that speak of him falsely, that falsely show what he is like, you can be like, okay, no problem. I'm just not going make any TV shows and everything will be fine. Well, no, because you are a TV show. Right? You're already in the game. You can't escape the circumspection that is required of this.

As soon as you get out of bed in the morning, it's like, I'm walking around the world saying, Behold my God. Right? And so, like, my goodness, what are we teaching the world about him as we bear that name? Okay? That's really what's going on in the third commandment.

Jennifer. The W could be where? Okay, this is good. So that we wear his name. That's good. If you don't want — that's good. So we fixed the mnemonic. Thank you very much. We wear Him. We bear Him. What is it, Ruth? Don't make it cheap. Don't make it cheap. Don't cheap it. Yes, that's right. Make it what it's worth. That's right.

And it should. It should inform our repentance. Could ask the question every week, right, when you're like, Think about this, Lord, where have I failed you? Where have I not loved my neighbor as myself? Where have I lied about God? If people were learning what God is like based on the way that I behave, where do I need to say, Oh, wait, real quick. That was not what I meant. That was a misrepresentation of him. I'm bearing his name poorly. I'm not as just as he is. I'm not as holy as he is. I'm not as gracious as he is. I'm not as compassionate as he is. That was a misrepresentation. Where are those things? That's the third commandment.

Eric? You said another thing, when you're wearing his name, don't wear it for your glory. Wear it for his glory. That's right. That's right. Excellent. Eric says, when we wear his name, we don't wear it for our glory, but for his. Right? Blasphemy. Yeah. So Carol said, is that like blasphemy? So what's — what's a working definition of blasphemy? Somebody look that up. What is the — somebody like Google this or whatever. Blasphemy, what is the definition of this? Anybody racing to get their phone out or am I on my own here? Blasphemy? What's the technical definition of this?

Anybody? I see some folks flicking their phones. Here we go. Blasphemy, what is the somebody like Google this or whatever. Blasphemy, what is the definition of this?

Lying about God? What do you got, Jennifer? Or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God and Savior. Wow. Okay. So that really, that kind of turns the knife a little bit. Speaking sacrilegiously, profaning his name. So the question is, are we — is the very way that we live our lives, when a husband who is charged to love his wife like Christ loves the church, when he loves his wife in a way very unlike the way Christ loves the church, is that blasphemy? When a wife is supposed to treat her husband, honor him as we follow Christ, and she is dishonoring him, man, is that how many ways are we blaspheming in the way that — when I'm cast in the role of Christ, when I am cast in the role of one who honors Christ, and that we're not bearing his name. We're representing rightly what he actually is.

The Fourth Commandment

Okay? You so far so good? You got all three? Okay, we've only got a few minutes. Let's go to the fourth. What's the fourth? Sleepy thumb? What is that one? Sabbath.

It's the Sabbath, okay? This one is tricky. It's tricky for a lot of reasons; I've only got a few minutes here, okay? What's tricky about the Sabbath, you guys? What's the theological conundrum around the Sabbath? The Lord will save it. Okay. Okay. So let's start here. What day? So what when the 10 commandments are written, what day is the Sabbath? Saturday.

When do Christians tend to observe it? Saturday. Why? Because Jesus rose from the dead. So the Sabbath is the last day of the week. We worship on the first day of the week. That is a stunning argument for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that you can get a bunch of Jews to say, You know what? We're not worshiping on the Sabbath anymore, which has been a deeply ingrained thing, and we're to move it for a day.

What happened that was so monumental, so powerful that it would dislodge this day of worship and observation? I mean, it's a big deal. And the answer is God died and rose again. That would do it. Okay? So it's a huge thing. Okay? But then there is something else that is controversial and reasonably so. What's the weird thing about the Sabbath? Sam?

Oh, should Christians keep the Sabbath? If you notice, Jesus was constantly attacked for doing stuff on the Sabbath. Jesus offended the sensibilities of the Pharisees all the time. He would say that he is honoring the law, all of it. But what he did on the Sabbath was grossly different from the things they thought he could do on the Sabbath.

He would do things like heal people, and they were like, bad, bad, bad. Right? There was constantly tension over this. And then Paul, who was a Pharisee — I want you to listen to what Paul says about the Sabbath. This causes people fits. Go to, if you have your Bible, we'll do it really quick, go to Colossians 2:16. I'll give you — we'll just do three verses on Paul on the Sabbath.

Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. — Colossians 2:16-17

He says, "Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ."

That's pretty stunning for a Pharisee to say, Don't let anybody give you grief on whether or not you keep the Sabbath. That's weird. Okay?

Galatians 4:9-10, Paul says, "But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You're observing special days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you that I have wasted my efforts on you." He's rebuking their religious observance of a special day.

That's so odd. In Romans 14:5, he says, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special does so to the Lord. And he who eats meat, eats to the Lord. He gives thanks to God. He who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God."

He's basically saying there are disputable matters where you are allowed the freedom to observe. If you want to set aside one day of the week as a special day, you're allowed. But some of you don't, and that's not bad either. This is massive. This is incredibly significant.

Those three passages — Paul, a Pharisee, is saying, "You all have misunderstood the whole deal with the Sabbath." Jesus himself said, "Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." And what he's essentially teaching us is that this day of rest, this day of worship, it's a gift. It's made for us. It points to a greater rest.

Hebrews 4 is well, in fact, we'll go to Hebrews 4 real quick, hang on. Give you this context here.

Therefore, God again set a certain day, calling it ‘Today,’ when a long time later he spoke through David, it was said:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." — Hebrews 4:7

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken about another day. There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For anyone who enters God's rest, rests from his work, just as God did from his.

Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by following the example of disobedience.

Well, whoever wrote Hebrews, I don't think it was Paul, maybe, who knows? Whoever wrote Hebrews, what he's arguing is that the Sabbath rest was a shadow. It was a picture that pointed to something else — it pointed to a deeper rest. There's a rest beneath our rest that we can cease laboring, we can cease our work. And in Christ, the real Sabbath has come, to which the little weekly Sabbath was pointing, which I think means that you are free to behave as you wish on that day.

Paul is not affirming a continued Sabbath observation other than as a reminder of the rest that we have in Christ, and it's a chance to take a weary, broken world and say, "Why don't you take the day off?" Right? It's not meant to be a burden or an obligation. It's meant to be a gift.

But Paul argues it very graciously in a way that sometimes is necessarily represented. Okay? Which might be a hand grenade to drop ten minutes before we gotta go back to church. Okay. Go. I heard a teaching recently on staff that was talking about how observing rest, whether it's for a full day, for whatever it is, is really also helping us to thrive in our work.

So, you know, taking that time through this busy schedule and saying, Lord, I'm going to set aside time to read my Bible. Yep. I'm going to take time off from my job to spend time with my family and invest in marriage, and even if I'm worried about the bills. And, of course, you don't do that all the time.

Yep. But obeying the Holy Spirit when he says slow down and rest, you say, "But, God, I have all these things to do," and the Lord says, "I'll take care of those things. I need you to rest right now." That's right. That's right. And not just that I need you to rest, but you need you to rest right now.

Right? And so I would say, and I'm talking about both sides of my mouth, but I don't think the New Testament affirms the legal obligation to obey the Sabbath. I think that's what Paul is, I think, very clearly and Jesus and then Paul very clearly is undercutting that argument. He's like, we're not obligated to do this. But in a world as fraught and busy and overworked as ours, it does seem like we might not want to just kind of dismiss that quite so quickly.

Right? We need rest. And you can very easily kind of get wrapped up and tangled up in all the work that you need to do. I have a friend who would say that if you work on the Sabbath, it demonstrates that you believe in works righteousness because it all depends on you. I don't have time to stop. I have to be frantic. I have to be busy because the weight of the world is on my shoulders, and it demonstrates a lack of trust that the Lord will be your provider.

So there's a lot there. You can chew on that. But remember, there's only one God. Two gods or too many gods. Maybe you want to wear him differently. However you want to do that — one or words, whatever. Fourth, what was fourth again? Sleepy thumb. Okay, Sabbath. And then, Kelsey, you get the final word.

Go, go really loud. That's right. Yeah. As former slaves, where there was no rest, it's more bricks, less straw, that should be the easiest thing for us to obey. It's one of the hardest things for us to be like, I don't want it. I want it. We want to go. But we are weary people who also need rest. But it's a gift, not an obligation.

Quiz yourself on your fingers, and we'll finish it up next week.