Ten Simple Rules

We come to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 – ten basic rules to ensure that God’s new society runs smoothly and peaceably; ten fundamental guidelines for any family, community, workplace…….

The first three all relate to God – we’ll come to then later. The next seven are more obvious and easy to comment on in the context of my own experiences of family, community and workplace…..

4.  Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Everyone needs time off. Society has changed. As a kid, I remember all the fuss about shops opening on a Sunday and now it is the norm and no one thinks twice about it. It’s now not always possible for people to rest on the Sabbath (and the Sabbath differs according to religions anyway….), but the fundamental principle of taking a day’s rest is vitally important to our physical, mental and spiritual health. Hear that husband?

5. Honour your father and mother.

This is how it should work. We talk about respect and the lack of it in our society. People, even or especially children, have come to expect that their respect has to be deserved or earned…….and whilst I agree to a certain extent, this has been misused and has gone too far (‘I’m going to ring Childline if you don’t give me sweets now – that’s child abuse, that is!’). As parents, we are encouraged to have good reasons, and yet sometimes the best reason is ‘Because I say so…’

6. Do not murder.

Obv. Even if we have no intention of following through, how many times have we said ‘I’m going to kill her if she doesn’t…….’

7. Do not commit adultery.

All about trust. Stay faithful. Be loyal. Do not break trust – trust is fragile and can be broken in a moment and then takes years to rebuild.

8. Do not steal.

Anything. Ever. It starts small and then builds until trust is eroded and every bedroom in the house has a lock on it……….Stealing violates the individual and destroys relationship in a quiet, insidious way, even if it is just an eye liner, a pair of socks or another £10 note.

9. Do not give false testimony about your neighbour.

Do not exaggerate. Relate the facts and that’s it. Do not fabricate. Do not gossip. Do not post about others on Facebook and then get comments backing you up from those who have no real idea about the situation.

10. Do not covet.

It’s natural to feel jealousy sometimes but recognise it for what it is, admit it to yourself and don’t let it eat you up or rule your life. Don’t feel the need to drag others down so that you can feel more equal. Deal with your own insecurities without hurting others. Let them deal with theirs.

Not exactly rocket science. As Andy said last night, it’s all ‘motherhood and apple pie’ (weird when you thought you knew someone and then hear an expression come out of their mouth that you have never ever in your life heard before – lol).

This feels inadequate because I could go on for days about how legalism can push these simple rules to ridiculous outworkings or how on the other hand, Jesus makes these basic guidelines a whole lot harder by looking at the heart, but this will have to do for now.

And so now we turn to the first three, which may seem less obvious, more demanding and less vital. But God knew these three were vital too for a community to live in a healthy relationship with Him. If these guidelines were adhered to, then all would be well.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

This was a big deal in those days where multiple gods were the norm. A journey with this one true God would only work if you made sure he was always the only and one true God in your world. And today, it is still all about trusting even when we don’t understand, doing the right thing before God even when it looks risky, treating God as God in every situation.

2. You shall not make and bow down to any idols.

Again, this was what they did to appease the gods. Maybe today we don’t have a stash of wooden or ceramic little figures that we pray to, but maybe we do treat other things as the answer to everything – exercise, money, love, science, our home and family, success………

3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord.

So we wince when the kids say OMG or ‘Jesus Christ’ – it is getting worse, isn’t it, or is that just me showing my age? It grates every time, that’s for sure. But it goes further than that. Think about all the atrocities that have been carried out ‘in the name of God’ – the wars, the bombings, the genocides, the individual abuse. Think about the hurt and rejection that individuals have suffered at the hands of the church, when people claimed to be acting with God and for God. And what about the times when people have encouraged us to do something or stopped us doing something because ‘the Lord told them to’?  We have to be so careful when (or if) we speak for God or act on his behalf. It is a serious, serious responsibility and we must proceed humbly – very,very humbly.

So that’s it. I’d love to go on and on and on, but the day awaits. And God has far more to say to Moses, oh yes. We often stop at these ten and think that’s it, but we have a lot more to get our teeth into yet. Can’t wait!