Category Archives: Christian Life

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T TARNISH TRUTH

Christian Life,

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T TARNISH TRUTH

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour” Exodus 20:16

This command appears to be straightforward. “Don’t tell lies about other people,” but God’s intention goes much deeper than that. In Egyptian society there was terrible injustice because the Egyptians used false witnesses to get their own way. In the community of God’s people, God wanted justice for everyone.

This commandment is not so much about gossip, slander or starting rumours as it is about restoring humanity to people who obey God so that other nations would see God in them.

Behind the commandment not to lie is the Hebrew concept of darkness and light. We all have has a “yetzer harah”, an inclination to be greedy and selfish and to serve ourselves, not caring how we make other people feel. The “yetzer harah”, which they called “the evil eye” was anything that unravelled completion, and the “yetzer tov” – the eye of light – was anything that restored completion. If my words unravel completion, then it is darkness. What restores completion is light.

According to Genesis 1:14, God created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day to determine time and seasons. How were the days measured in the first three days without them?

 Before the creation of physical light, there was second light – Genesis 1:3 – “And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light.” The literal Hebrew translation is “Let Him who is the light shine.” There are two kinds of light, a physical light that allows me to see physical things and a second light that comes out of God, outside of space and time, out of spirit and has nothing to do with how we see or how we measure time.  It is a force that affects the way we live. It is a force that changes what we believe; that makes it not okay to kill, lie, steal etc.  Light is a force that brings things together, that reveals who God is and the best way to live, that holds the universe together. Jesus is that light.

God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. John 1:4 (a commentary on Genesis 1) tells us that Jesus is the light that came into the world to bring completion to us where darkness and disarray have unravelled our lives, Light reveals, a lie hides or twists the truth. A lie is the opposite of light so, to bear false witness is to bring harm and darkness to the other person and to yourself. A lie tears us apart because it goes against what holds the universe together.  A lie is a purposeful intent to deceive; a lie hides the truth.

Light frees us to be more complete; a lie creates slavery. The purpose of the Ten Commandments was to get us out of slavery. If a lie keeps going long enough it mingles with the person’s being and destroys him because he cannot distinguish between lies and the truth.

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – NO FRAUDULENT DEALS

Christian Life,

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – NO FRAUDULENT DEALS

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God…”  Ex 20:7

What does it mean to walk in the name of God? 

God gave His “Ten Commandments” to a group of slaves who had trouble relating to Him and to one another because they were used to be controlled and abused by their slavedrivers. They had no dignity or humanity.  God had to restore basic humanity to their thinking so that they could experience a marriage relationship with Him. People are different and God’s undertaking was to teach them to treat one another with dignity despite their differences.

To misuse God’s name is much bigger than saying God’s name in a disrespectful or inappropriate way since we are married to Him.  When you marry, you take on your husband’s name, and you have power of attorney.  God was instructing them not to misuse His name for their own benefit.  “Don’t take my name and do things that embarrass me. Don’t misuse my name to get your own way.”

God wants a community of His people who carry the Name properly. Can we misuse God’s name without saying the Name? God was trying to teach them that life is all about levelling the playing field, about people who have, helping people who do not have.  When people struggled with big sins, Jesus was there to help them, but He came down on those who looked down on others. He instructs us not to carry the name but contradict His name by the way we live, overlooking the poor, losing your temper, being unforgiving, gossiping, being judgmental etc.

The three Hebrew words used in this sentence can be translated literally like this: We can carry the name in a way that fulfils or disappoints the hope that rests upon it.

According to Hebrew thought, a person’s name was a prophetic utterance of character. In Ex 34:5, 6, God revealed His name to Moses: “Then the Lord came down in a cloud…and proclaimed His name, the Lord. And He passed in front of Him proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness.’” This definition of God’s name is quoted all the way through the Bible e.g., Psalm 103, a whole psalm expanding the name of God.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry and especially during His altercations with Jewish leaders, He insisted that He was sent by the Father to reveal His nature to His people. In John 17:6 He prayed, “I have revealed your name to those you gave me out of the world.”

As believers, we both carry and wear the name of God because we have been espoused to Jesus as His bride. To behave in a way that contradicts His nature or to use His name to try to manipulate Him for our own benefit is to abuse His name. God will not hold us guiltless for doing that!

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T SABOTAGE UNITY

Christian Life,

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T SABOTAGE UNITY

“You shall not commit adultery.”  Exodus 20:14

This sounds simple on the surface, but it has deep implications. The roots of this command come from who God is.  Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” was the Hebrew confession of faith. The Hebrew word for unity is ECHAD, unity in diversity, not as a single unit but in a team sense. God is ECHAD, and we are made in His image – ECHAD.  In the church, we are many members but one body. When one member suffers, we all suffer because we are one.

The world is ECHAD – everything functions as a unit e.g., the ocean currents affect the climate of the earth. God’s creation reflects His image. Since God is one and we are created in His image, we find our fulfilment in pursing wholeness -ECHAD, and if we do anything that sabotages ECHAD we bring destruction on ourselves and cause our world to unravel around us.

Since God is ECHAD, He keeps everything together in ECHAD. The force that holds the universe together is called ECHAD – oneness.  Since we are part of the universe and are therefore, part of ECHAD, when we sabotage unity, we are a part of what is tearing the universe apart. Adultery leaves a person disjointed and fractured.  Adultery is not only the act of illicit sex. Anything we do that sabotages ECHAD is adultery. Division in the church is the opposite of ECHAD. Whatever is in the environment that destroys unity is adultery, for example, gossip, division, quarrelling or self-seeking. Whatever arises out of selfishness destroys unity and is classified as adultery.

God indicted His people for spiritual adultery because they worshipped idols, behind which were demonic spirits that tore their lives apart and destroyed their EHAD-ness with each other and with God. Idolatry affected their behaviour towards one another. Parents burnt their children alive as sacrifices to these gods, destroying families, and disrupting unity. Think of what alcohol, drugs, gambling, and promiscuity does to families. These are all aspects of the broad term, “adultery”.  Physical union outside of marriage is the seal of a union already broken.

The deepest cry in our hearts is to be connected in oneness because God is one. A hypocrite is one who divided inside of himself. Genesis 2:24 – marriage is not just companionship for life, a cure for loneliness, or a sexual partner.  At its core is a picture of what God is like. Sexuality is much bigger than just a physical act. To a Hebrew person, having sex meant that two people were creating a union which constituted marriage.

To rape a woman meant you were married to her.  There is no sex in heaven because we won’t need the picture anymore. We have a strong sex drive because it expresses our need to be connected to another person to be one.  Marriage is to reflect God’s nature; therefore, marriage must be always protected to keep our lives and families intact.

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T WITHHOLD WHAT YOU CAN USE TO BLESS OTHERS

Christian Life

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T WITHHOLD WHAT YOU CAN USE TO BLESS OTHERS

“You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15

On the surface this was a simple command. “Don’t take things that do not belong to you” is a basic idea found in most cultures.  Even a child knows that it is wrong to take someone else’s property. However, this commandment has a much deeper significance than that.

First, we must define what is ours. There are two ways to obtain things: We earn money and buy them, or somebody gives them to us. However we obtain our possessions, we claim that they are ours.

But what does God have to say about our possessions?  Deut 8:10:17, 18. “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today’. Remember that whatever you get by increase or multiplication comes from God.  Don’t forget where you came from, and what He has done for you, so that you don’t become proud and claim that you are responsible for your wealth. All our possessions are gifts from God. God must always be in the centre so that we use our possessions to honour Him.

God tells us how to honour Him. If we ignore His instruction, we endanger ourselves by taking up the attitude that “I earned it, therefore it is mine.” Stealing is wrong because it perverts God’s way of our getting things. If we claim ownership because we earned it, it takes God out of the centre.

To a Hebrew person, stealing is much more than taking something that isn’t ours; it is also withholding what we can bless someone else with because God is the centre of our lives.  He wants us to be generous with what we have because He is generous.

The Apostle John picks up on this principle. “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in Him?” 1 John 4:17. If there is someone in need and you can meet it, do it. This applies, not only to money but to life on every level.  God is trying to weed out of us the attitude that we have the right to hoard. 

God’s idea in this commandment is not only to protect property but to protect property so that we have something with which to bless others who have a need. God hates a huge gap between the rich and the poor. When the gap between those who have and those who have not gets too big, a nation implodes on itself. God wanted to protect the nation’s existence by creating a culture where those who have share with those who have not to maintain equality, not to foster laziness. By promoting generosity, the nation would continue to fulfil its destiny.

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T ELEVATE YOURSELF

Christian Life

GOD’S MARRIAGE COVENANT – DON’T ELEVATE YOURSELF

“You shall not murder…” Exodus 20:13

On the surface this commandment simply says, “Don’t kill people.” This must have been a relief for the Israelites because, for the duration of their slavery in Egypt they could be killed, but God was telling them that they were to respect every person as made in the image of God.

There are two Hebrew words for “kill”; to take someone’s life on purpose and to take someone’s life by accident. To kill someone on purpose, you would have to develop a belief that you are above that person.  According to statistics, 1% of all murders are coldblooded; 99% of people are killed because of anger. Anger is a secondary and dangerous emotion.  Drunkenness and anger are the two main causes of murder.

When we are angry, the blood leaves our brain to prepare us for a fight, leaving most people in a state of being mentally depleted. Is it possible to make a good decision when you are angry?

What makes us journey from anger to contempt? When we allow ourselves to become angry and don’t resolve it, we begin to travel a road that ends in murder, first verbal and ultimately physical. The first step, called “the cold shoulder”, implies that our world would be better without you. This is how Jesus defined the start of the way that ends in murder (Matthew 5:20-22). It does not begin with the intent to take another person’s life. It begins with stripping the other person of their dignity, treating them with contempt. This type of contempt is all around us, sarcasm, bad humour, making fun of people, the cold shoulder. This commandment is about putting other people first.

In Matthew 5:27 Jesus deals with this. “Anger” here is a sustained feeling of anger. The word “raca” replicates the sound of someone who is about to spit, implying contempt. There is a progression in Jesus’ teaching.  Anger brings judgement; contempt will land you in the high court, but to say, “You fool” puts you in danger of the fires of hell. Jesus said, to call someone “Fool” is tantamount to murder in our heart by writing another person off as a morally debased person.

If something is true in your imagination, it might as well as be true. Once you want someone dead, or believe they are worthless or degrade them by slander or sarcasm, or make fun of them, you are guilty of murder.

This was a serious issue with Jesus’ religious opponents because they dismissed Him as Beelzebub, a Samaritan and demon-possessed, all of which were their way of showing contempt, the first step towards killing Him.

Matthew 5:23 – Jesus said, “Make it right before you offer your gift. You take the initiative if there is a problem between you and someone else.” We cannot create a culture that shows the world what God is like if we do not honour the image of God in every person. The key issue is that every person, whoever they are and however bad they are, matters.