There Is Only One Way...

 

     It may seem surprising, but the Ten Commandments are creating a lot of controversy these days. In November 2003, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court defied a federal court order to remove  a two-and-a-half-ton monument of the Ten Commandments from the rotunda of the state courthouse. When the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ordered Judge Roy Moore to remove the Ten Commandments, he argued that the moral law of God was the basis for all law, and therefore, its presence in the court-house wasn't a violation of the separation of church and state. In a state wide poll, 77 percent of the residents of Alabama agreed with the he judge.
     That controversy over the Ten Commandments captured national attention. At a pro-Commandment rally near Denver, Colorado, Darrel Scott, the father of one of the shooting victims at Columbine High School, shared his conviction that "our meeting is not about the Ten Commandments. It is about our young people and our children." Mr. Scott's point was clear to the overflow audience packing the auditorium. In a society of moral relativism burgeoning with violent crime, the Ten Commandments provide a moral compass. In an immoral world, they are the basis of morality.
     The Ten Commandments have served as a basis for society's laws for more than three millennia. Western governments have modeled their constitutions and established their laws on the moral code of ethics given on Mount Sinai.
     The psalmist David reminds us of the eternal nature of God's law. He declared, "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness" (Psalm 111:7, 8, KJV). He added, "You are near, O Lord, and all Your commandments are truth" (Psalm 119:151).
     The Ten Commandment law is the foundation of God's government. The Bible defines sin as "the transgression [breaking] of the law" (1 John 3:4, KJV). Sin is based not on our definition but on God's. Without the Ten Commandments, all morality is relative; there are no absolute standards. The apostle Paul wrote, "By the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20). The law clearly states that some behavior is right and other behavior is wrong. Right and wrong are not matters of individual opinion. It's not a matter that's up for grabs, defined by societal norms or personal preferences. In a society that says, "What's right for you may not be right for me" and "Each person discovers his own right path," God's law speaks with increasing relevance.
     Any society that turns its back on the moral principles of God's law is headed for chaos. Yet we live in a time in American history when "doing your own thing" is in vogue, when it has become popular to label as narrow-minded anyone who has well-defined moral convictions.
     What has this attitude toward God's law produced in our society? What fruits has moral relativism spawned? The prophet Hosea spoke of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind (see Hosea 8:7). This is precisely what is happening in Western society today. "We have turned, every one, to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6), and we are reaping the tragic result. The United States Justice Department reports that 1.6 million violent crimes (rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, and homicides) were committed in 2004. In a recent survey done by the Barna Group, 83 percent of the teens surveyed stated that for them, moral truth depends on the circumstances. Only 6 percent said moral truth is absolute.
     Perhaps this belief is one of the major reasons why 70 percent of all youth have experienced premarital sexual relations by the time they are twenty years old. Perhaps this is why the United States has the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases in the industrialized world, with 15.3 million new cases reported each year. Maybe it's why divorce rates in the United States are among the highest in the world. Perhaps it explains why among Western nations, the United States has the lowest percentage (63 percent) of children who grow up with both biological parents, according to the 2005 annual report titled "The State of Our Unions" from the National Marriage Prefect at New Jersey's Rutgers University.
     With moral values crumbling all around us, maybe it is time we take another look at God's law. Maybe it's time not to debate whether the Ten Commandments should remain in the rotunda of a courthouse in Alabama but to ask instead if these moral principles are written on our own hearts. Maybe it's time for a lot less arguing about the law and a lot more keeping of the law.

 

Contradictory and Confusing
     It is somewhat contradictory and confusing for some Christian churches to argue on the one hand that the law is done away with in Christ while on the other hand they decry lower moral standards and shout loudly about America's need to take a stand for the Ten Commandments. One thing is certain: Christ didn't come to do away with the law, as some Christians contend. He came to live out the principles of the law as an example to believers in every age. And He has sent His Spirit to write the law in our minds and hearts.
     Jesus instructed us, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17). Jesus didn't come to destroy the fifth commandment, which declares, "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12). He came to reveal throughout His childhood and adult life a loving example of faithfulness. He didn't come to do away with the sixth commandment, which declares, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). He came to reveal the dignity and worth of all human life. He didn't come to do away with the seventh commandment, which declares, "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14). He came to model purity.
     In addition to dying for us, Jesus came to teach us how to live. In His life, we have a wonderful model of living in obedience to the Father. Love for Christ never leads us to disobey His law. Love always leads to obedience, never disobedience. This is why Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15). All genuine obedience comes from the motive of love. Obedience is a response to Jesus' incredible sacrifice on Calvary. We don't obey to earn our salvation. Our obedience is the response of love to His great gift of salvation.
     We are not saved by our works (see Ephesians 2:8; Romans 3:27, 28). But any Christian who declares that salvation by grace makes obedience unnecessary misunderstands the gospel. The apostle Paul, in concluding his discussion on salvation, makes this point plain when he declares, "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law" (Romans 3:31).
     When we come to Jesus, the response of our hearts is to obey Him. According to Hebrews 8:10, our Lord makes this marvelous promise, "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." What does God mean when He says that He will write His law in our minds and hearts? He writes the law in our minds so we understand it. He wants His will to be clear. The precepts of His Ten Commandments speak of our moral responsibility. They reveal plainly how to live. And He writes the law in our hearts so we love it. Then our obedience is not some legalistic requirement demanded by an overbearing dictator. It is the response of hearts that love God supremely.

 

Codified love
     In fact, all of God's law can be summarized in one word: love. The Ten Commandment law is actually codified love. The first four commandments reveal how to respond in love to God. If we love Him, we will abolish all other gods in our hearts and worship Him supremely. If we love Him, we will place Him first in our life. We will demolish all idols and worship Him directly. If we love Him, we will respect and honor His name and always use it reverently. If we love Him, we will "remember the Sabbath day."
     By taking a stand for God's ten commandment law, we also commit ourselves to love our fellow human beings. If we genuinely love, we will honor our parents and respect each other. We will treat each person with the utmost respect and dignity. We will respect people by not stealing their possessions. We will respect their reputation and won't defame their name by criticism or gossip. We will honor God and accept what we have rather than coveting what other people have.
     Think how radically our society would be changed if all of us lived by the principles of God's ten commandments! Think of what your life would be like if God's love flowed out of your heart in willing obedience to His law.
     The last book of the Bible declares that at the end time, God will have a group of people who reveal to a waiting world and a watching universe that God's way of life is best. Through His grace and by His power, they lovingly obey Him. Revelation 12:17 describes them as the remnant "who keep the commandments of God." Revelation 14:12 pictures God's last-day people this way: "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." The Bible's last message to "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" (Revelation 14:6) is a clarion call to obedience. It is an urgent appeal to "fear [obey] God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come" (Revelation 14:7).
     In light of the judgment hour, God calls all of us to moral responsibility. We are accountable for our actions. We are responsible for our behavior. Christianity today evidences a lot of pretense. The final judgment will sweep it all away. It will affirm the truth that "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
     God's last-day believers will take a stand for obedience. Believers saved by grace willingly obey His commandments. With the aged apostle John, they declare, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His comments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). Motivated by love, Christ's true followers do not believe the law is a galling yoke around their necks. It is not a burden too heavy to carry. The passion of their lives is to please God. They find their greatest joy in obeying Him. If obeying God is a great burden, it is only "because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). The carnal mind wants to do its own thing. The unconverted heart only wants to please itself. If we are struggling to obey God, it is a matter of the heart. When the heart is fully surrendered to God, obedience is a delight.
     The new covenant promise is "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes... I will deliver you from all your uncleanness" (Ezekiel 36:26, 27, 29).
     The God who calls us to live an obedient life also gives us the power to live obediently. Every command is a promise of what He will do in our lives. His grace not only pardons us for our sins, it delivers us from the grip of sin. God not only is available when we fall but also "is able to keep you from falling" (Jude 24, KJV). When we take a stand for His commandments, we stand in His grace. We stand by His power. We stand through His love as a testimony to the glorious fact that Jesus saves from both the penalty and the power of sin.
     So today, in Him and by Him and through Him, take a stand for His commandments. When you do, you will take a stand with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. You will take a stand with Joseph and Daniel. You will take a stand with Peter, James, and John. You will take a stand with faithful believers of all time. You will take a stand with Jesus Himself. Now that's something worth standing for, and He is Someone worth standing with.