October 8, 2023
Raise your hand if you have ever seen the classic 1956 movie, “The Ten Commandments” starring Charleston Heston.
There were many other big-time actors in this movie like Yul Brynner who was Pharaoh. It also starred Anne Baxter and Edward G. Robinson. It was the highest grossing film in theaters that year. They often show this movie during spring in the build up toward Easter Sunday.
The movie is almost four hours long and includes an intermission.
The name of that movie just goes to show how The Ten Commandments that we find in our Exodus, chapter 20 reading for today is familiar to many. But do we really know them?
A pastor friend of mine who leads church seminars likes to offer a 20-dollar bill to anyone who can recite the Ten Commandments in order. He said that he has never given away his 20 dollars!
And to be truthful, I wouldn’t be able to recite them in order on the spot either.
So, with my cheat sheet handy, here are the Ten Commandments in order:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
5. Honor thy father and mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
Someone once shared with me this creative way of remembering the Ten Commandments by using your fingers. I invite you to do this with me:
1. “I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me.” Hold up one index finger for the number one. We worship one God.
2. “You shall not worship idols.” (Idols, false gods, are not only things like statues, but anything we place our ultimate trust and allegiance in, for example money or possessions.) Hold up two fingers. Should we worship more than one God? No, two is too many! One of them must be an idol, and we should not worship it!
3. “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.” Use three fingers to form the letter “W” which stands for “words.” Watch your words! God wants us to use his name in loving, caring ways, as we pray and as we talk about him, not in swearing or in anger.
4. “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” Hold up four fingers, fold your thumb under to let it rest. The thumb has the right idea. It’s the Sabbath, and the thumb is following the commandment to take a day of rest.
5. “Honor your father and your mother.” Hold up all five fingers on one hand as if you are taking a pledge, to honor your parents.
6. “You shall not kill.” Pretend the index finger on your second hand is a gun, shooting at the first five fingers. God’s sixth commandment teaches us not to do what has become too commonplace in our society.
7. “You shall not commit adultery.” Hold one hand out flat. The five fingers and hand become the floor of the church. Two fingers on the other hand are the people to be married, standing in the church, making promises to each other. This commandment calls for couples to keep the marriage promises they make.
8. “You shall not steal.” Hold up four fingers on each hand, for the eighth commandment. If you stretch out your fingers slightly, these become the prison bars, which hold someone who was been arrested for stealing.
9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Hold up all five fingers on one hand and four on the other. Fold your second thumb under and turn your hand around, so the thumb is hiding. It is secretly going around telling the other four fingers on that hand, lies and rumors about the five fingers on the other hand. It is “bearing false witness,” as it talks behind people’s backs, spreading gossip, criticizing others without talking directly to the people involved.
10. “Do not covet what belongs to your neighbor.” Hold out your hands, palms up, and wiggle all ten fingers to show that they’ve got the “gimmies.” Your fingers are saying, “Gimmie what belongs to my neighbor. I want all those things my neighbor has.” This is not the way God wants us to live.
And now put your hands together and go ahead and applaud because you now can use your hands to memorize the Ten Commandments in order!
Who knows? You might win $20 someday thanks to this fun exercise.
In a church I was serving, a member of my congregation showed up at an event wearing a sweatshirt that said, “The Country Ten Commandments.” I thought it was pretty clever. Here is this country version list. They’re short and sweet.
#1 – One God
#2 - No Idols
#3 - No Cussin’
#4 - Sunday Go To Meetin’
#5 – Honor Ma & Pa
#6 – No Killin’
#7 – No Hanky Panky
#8 – No Stealin’
#9 – No Gossipin’
#10 – No Wantin’ Yer Neighbors’ Thangs
How’s that for giving you all of these options to help us remember “The Ten Commandments.” I like how Jesus summarized all of the commandments that we find in the Old Testament. There are a lot more commandments than just the ten commandments. There are exactly 613 commandments that we find in the Old Testament.
Someone once asked Jesus which of all of the commandments he believed to be the greatest. And he answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” And then he added this second one, “And love your neighbor as yourself.”
I love Jesus’ response because as important as it is to know what the Ten Commandments are, I think that it is significantly more important to know the spirit behind all of the commandments. The whole point of the commandments is that they are to remind us to love God and to love others as well. If we keep our focus on that, then we will end up fulfilling all of the commandments because they all relate back to these two; love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
Several years ago, I visited Israel and went to many of the holy sites that we read about in the Bible. It was a life-changing trip, but one of the most educational parts of my trip happened in the international hotel where I was staying.
On the Sabbath, which is Friday evening through Saturday evening, the hotel elevator that went up several floors would stop at each floor even if you were the only person in the elevator. This only occurred on the Sabbath. It seemed like it took forever to get up to my floor because it kept stopping at each floor.
And then I figured out what was happening. It was because on the Sabbath, they considered pushing a button in an elevator as work related which would be a violation of the 4th commandment which is to honor the Sabbath by doing no work.
That little experience reminded me of just how important it is for a Jewish person to obey the commandments. If you remember, Jesus often got into trouble with the religious leaders of his day when he healed on the Sabbath. Even healing someone on the Sabbath was considered doing work.
I remember discussing the Sabbath commandment with someone in a previous church and they made this important observation about obeying the Ten Commandments: She said how the Ten Commandments might appear to be straight forward but what about the single mother with three children who has to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet and one of those jobs means that she has to work on the Sabbath. Does that mean that she is breaking the commandment?
When this church member pointed this out to me, it helped me to see The Ten Commandments in a whole new light. Instead of just seeing these commandments as hard and fast rules for us to memorize and follow, I realized that there are more complexities and nuances to them than we might imagine. This is what Jesus was pointing out to the religious leaders of his day as well.
I also think of a teenager who came to me one day because he was thinking about enlisting in the military but as a faithful Christian, he also wanted to honor the 6th commandment to not kill. And so, I shared with him that it’s a little complicated because there are other scriptures like the one in the Book of Acts that tells us how the Apostle Paul led a Roman soldier become a Christian. That soldier didn’t stop being a soldier.
But I also shared with him another scripture of when Jesus taught that people who follow him are to turn the other cheek and to be peacemakers.
I basically said to him, “You know, there’s not really one answer here. It’s matter of doing what you believe that God is calling you to do.” I also encouraged him to keep praying about it, to consult other trusted friends and family members, and to not rush into his decision.
So, here’s what he ended up doing. After spending a lot of time praying and going back and forth on it, he decided that God was calling him to go to college instead and today, he is now serving in ministry. I noticed on Facebook that he and his wife recently celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary.
What impressed me most about Matt when he came to see me that day, was that he was showing an incredible spiritual maturity for his age because obeying God mattered to him. And even though he was very much aware of the importance of following the commandments, he also knew that discerning God’s will is not always as simple as it sounds.
As I’ve been reflecting on our Ten Commandments reading from Exodus, chapter 20, I keep coming back to verses 1 and 2, which I think often gets brushed aside in our rush to get to the list of commandments. This chapter begins by saying, “Then God spoke all of these words: ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.’”
Before we get the list of rules, the biblical author wants us to know who the God behind the rules is. This is a God who has rescued the people from their enslavement, who has been guiding them through the wilderness and providing for them, and who wants to always be their God.
In other words, this isn’t just a God who throws a bunch of rules at us to follow. This is a God who is seeking out the best for us, will always walk with us, and will help us in making important decisions in life.
Why do we want to do our best to obey the Ten Commandments? Why would we ever take the time to memorize these commandments? It’s because the God behind the rules has first reached out to us.
And because of this, God recognizes our struggles in keeping these commandments. I would have to think that God has compassion on the single mother of three who has to make ends meet by working on the Sabbath. I would also have to think that God was pleased to know that a high school senior came to his pastor seeking spiritual guidance and support before making an important career decision.
If we really want to follow the Ten Commandments, by all means, let’s memorize them and keep them close to our hearts. And let’s also remember that the God who is behind these rules is a God who loves us, who knows us, and who will always be by our side in helping us to be the people that God has called us to be.
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