Because of the importance of the content, this one is rather lengthy, but please read to the end…

God's Top Ten - VII - Thou shall not commit adultery.

It’s the Difference That Makes the Difference

Matthew 5:27- “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Vs 31-32;  “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

    Adultery, what a nasty word. It’s no wonder people don’t call it that, they refer to it as an affair, a fling, an extramarital relationship, anything but adultery. In Exodus 20:14 God gave the people of Israel the Ten Commandments and number seven said, "You shall not commit adultery."  The old testament laws were laid down for a nation to keep it from deteriorating into moral decay and rotting away from the inside.

The concepts that Christ goes on to deal with here were meant to hold the moral fabric of marriage and family together.

    The sin of adultery was considered so serious under Jewish law that the consequence was death. It’s laid down in the book of Leviticus 20:10 (NIV) "’If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. And while this seems to put an end to the thought of possible reconciliation it certainly cut down on repeat offenders!

    But again, Christ says that the Christian is to go beyond the limits of the law. The law says no adultery, Jesus says no lust! Listen to his words in Matthew 5:28 (NIV) “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman “lustfully” has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

    What is the sin of lust? Lust in Greek is an impulsive, passionate desire. That desire can be appropriate in marriage. And we can certainly also have a deep
passion toward God. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1-2)

    But lust as a sin is a longing for sexual satisfaction outside of marriage. It seeks to fulfill its desires without considering love. As Christians we are to be people who love one another. Society teaches that lust and love are similar. But lust bypasses love and moves directly to passion. It eliminates relationships and turns the other person into an object or thing. They become a body to conquer. Lust is temporary and never has any lasting satisfaction.

    Now, Matthew 5:29-30 says “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Now let’s not confuse this teaching with Islamic law that actu-
ally uses this type of action as a punishment for sin. Jesus isn’t saying this is punishment instead he is saying it is prevention. How would you put this into words today? Don’t look! Turn away! Don’t linger! And it bears repeating this doesn’t just apply to the men, dirty dogs that they are, but also to the ladies. Listen, God recognizes our sexual needs and desires, after all he created them. But, again, we are talking about lust and not love.

    Now, according to God’s Word, there are two ways to control our thought process, the first is to say - "I will not think about that." So, everyone close your eyes. Come on humor me, close your eyes. Now, whatever you do, do not think about pink elephants, don’t think about big pink elephants at all. Ok, just tell yourself that you’re not going to even picture a pink elephant in your mind…. Get the picture? That never works!

    The second way of course is to fill your mind with good thoughts. How many people have read the book or watched the movie Peter Pan? Can you remember how to fly? Peter Pan told John that "You just think lovely wonderful thoughts and they lift you high in the air."  Need a more spiritual quote, then how about this Philippians 4:8 (NIV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” You fill your minds with things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praise worthy and I can almost guarantee you won’t have problems with lust.

    Now, as if Christ hasn’t stirred up enough of a hornet’s nest, listen to his next statement in Matthew 5:31 (NIV) "It has been said, ’Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’… What Christ is quoting here is the only Old Testament regulation concerning divorce. This ties in with the last statement that Christ made in that it also deals with the family. The Jewish law recognized that the
marriage was both sacred and binding. The Rabbis said, "The very altar sheds tears when a man divorces the wife of his youth" and the Prophet Malachi
wrote in Malachi 2:16 (NIV) "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel. Now that’s fine in theory but it didn’t work well in practice. One of the major problems of the time was that women weren’t viewed as people nearly as much as they were as things. So, when a man didn’t want his wife anymore he simply showed her the door. Well you can well imagine the effect that this would have on society and so the law brought about a proper procedure to deal with the situation and again it was a law for unredeemed people; You just give her a certificate of divorce!

    Do you remember Deuteronomy 24:1 (NIV) “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her”?… The big debate with the Jews was what was meant by the term "Indecent" the most conservative teachers said that it meant adultery, or he discovered that she wasn’t a virgin when they married. Others said that it meant that she made her husband unhap-
py in some ways. It could be that she couldn’t have children, that she was disobedient, that she was a nag, or burnt the dinner or, that he had found someone that he preferred over her.

    It was this second more liberal view that was held by the majority of the Jews at the time, at least the majority of the men. And so if the wife displeased her husband then he gave her a writ of divorce that said Let this be from me your writ of divorce and letter of dismissal and deed of liberation, (you can get them at any Wal-Mart.) so that you may marry whatever man you wish. This actually was the law for society, and it remains so today. If you cannot live with your spouse and whether you are a Christian or not, you don’t simply desert them, you go through the necessary actions and paper work and make it official. That is there to protect the institution of marriage, to provide a waiting period so to speak, to make it a little more difficult then simply walking away.

    As Christians we need to keep the law, but we are also required to go beyond it, to fulfill it.  So, Christ states in Matthew 5:32 (NIV) “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” And with those words Jesus opened up the biggest cans of worms in church history.

(I would mention that all of this is addressed to men because under Jewish law women had absolutely no right to divorce, however today this stands for both men and women.)

    What this says is that the only acceptable reason for two Christians to divorce, and remember this is for two believers, is for “marital unfaithfulness”, and this then, permits remarriage. Now I know that not everybody agrees… but, bear with me, these are the words of Jesus not mine.

    I realize that Matthew is the only place in the New Testament which includes the adultery option. Some maintain that is because it wasn’t a part of the original text, but that becomes the cop out you use any time you disagree with Bible. Others maintain that Christ was talking about the year of betrothal that the Jews observed. Others and I guess I’m in this camp, believe that the reason neither Mark or Luke mention it is because in Jewish society divorce wasn’t an option in the case of adultery, it was required. (Remember the story of Mary and Joseph?) During the “betrothal year, it was mandatory. When adultery happened the marriage vows were considered to be nullified and that was that. The other thing we need to remember is that adultery was a capital offense under Jewish law, you didn’t become a divorcee if your spouse cheated, you became a widower! There was less paper work that way.

     In Matthew 5 and 19, Christ tells us that divorce and remarriage are permissible on the grounds of immorality, a broad word that includes the concepts of adultery, the practice of homosexuality, or other perverted relationships, and abuse. That does not mean one MUST divorce a spouse guilty of such offenses, but rather that one MAY do so…

O.K. Here is a brief summary of my perspective on divorce and remarriage… (They are worthy of discussion.)

(1) Divorce and remarriage can be proper if there is a breach of faithfulness through immoral practice, such as adultery. Even in these situations, divorce is not always the answer - but may be appropriate in some cases.

(2) Divorce and remarriage can also be proper if one is deserted. In almost every case it is for someone else…which is adultery.

(3) If a spouse finds living with his/her spouse is intolerable (due to things like abuse, illegal activity, etc. divorce may be appropriate. (Why, because he/she has broken the marriage covenant!)

(4) I also believe that divorce that happens before a person accepts Christ is covered by His forgiveness. Neither Divorce nor adultery are the unforgivable sin! See John 8:1-11 -

“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

(5) Lack of happiness or incompatibility are not grounds for divorce. Marriage is a covenant of commitment “until death”; There is no “shoulda, coulda, woulda,” in marriage…or dreaming of greener pastures. I happen to be one who believes you better know what you are getting into before you get into it!

(6) Are sinful thoughts as bad as sinful actions? No!....but, the earlier you check a sin, the better. We cannot help the thoughts that come into our minds; we can choose which ones to savor and entertain in our minds.

    The bottom line is this; The Bible says that when a man and woman marry they become one flesh…there is only two ways they can be separated…one is death, the other is divorce… And, both leave scars!  The scars of death heal well over time, and we come to realize that it is a part of life… However, the divorce requires radical surgery that leaves deep wounds and scars, some of which never heal. In fact, quite often, though people survive the operation, the scars never heal. This applies to the parents as well as the children of divorce. That’s why Jesus opened the can of worms and tells the Christians to go beyond the law…It’s the difference that makes the difference.

God's Top Ten

VI – “Thou Shalt Not Kill”
    A Sunday School teacher was discussing the 10 commandments with her 5 & 6 year olds. After explaining the commandment to “honor your father and mother,” she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Quickly, one of the kids answered, “Thou shalt not kill.”
What I would like to do in this chapter is this:
1. Answer why God gave this command.
2. Consider what exactly is prohibited by this command.
3. Consider what is not covered by this command.
4. Consider the N.T perspectives on this command.

    First, why did God give this command? – Simply put, because we are made in the image of God. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
    We are the very top of the creation of God, the very greatest things he created on this earth. We are created with God’s very image stamped on us. That doesn’t mean that God looks like us – it means that our spiritual being is shaped like his. God has a mind, we have a mind. God has a will, we have a will. God has emotions, and we have emotions. This is the reason you’ll never see a depressed cow! They weren’t created in God’s image.
    Also, because God is the giver of life. “He is the God who made the world and every-thing in it. . . He himself gives life and breath to everything.” (Acts 17:24-25 (NLT)

Second, what exactly is prohibited by this command?
1. Murder: (being a premeditated act.)
2. Manslaughter: (killing of another on the spur of the moment.) Which may be   voluntary or involuntary.
3. Death resulting by acts of negligence.
4. Suicide
5. Euthanasia
6. Abortion

Third, What is not covered by this command;
1. The killing of animals, insects, etc. (An unfortunate and wrong result of some folks reading of the KJV is that all killing is prohibited God.)
2. The states action of carrying out the death penalty. And,
3. War

What about the New Testament perspective of this command?
    God is not just concerned with the outside, he’s also concerned with your heart! He’s not just concerned that your body is doing the right actions, he’s concerned that your heart has the right attitudes!
    Jesus came along and said, (paraphrase) “God’s not just interested in whether you kill, he’s concerned with whether you would kill if you had the chance. He’s concerned with your heart – what you would do if you thought you could get away with it.”
    What he actually said was “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Matthew 5:21-22 (NKJV) (Anger leads to many bad things.)
    What Jesus did, is move the commandments from just outward actions – “kill” – to inward attitudes and motives – “hate.”  Why? Because anger and hate and bigotry and racism and the like, all can lead to “killing”.
    You see, anger affects everyone. Not just you, but those around you. It’s very contagious!
    In his autobiography, “Number 1”, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch. When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend. Mantle’s friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery; so, he asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him. When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn’t let them hunt. “I’m so mad at that guy,” Mantle said, “I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!” Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, “We can’t do that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just watch me,” he shouted. When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, he heard two shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too. “What are you doing, Martin?” he yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger, “We’ll show him! I just shot one of his cows!” Anger can be dangerously contagious.
    Many parents have passed on to their children their own anger. They’re so angry because of – (you fill in the blank) – that they pass on their hatred. So, how does this command prevent pain in our life? Let me explain:
    If you break God’s commands on the outside, often the pain will be on the outside. (If you pull the trigger and kill someone, they’ll put you in jail.) But if you break God’s command on the inside, like we’ve been talking about concerning anger or hate, guess where the pain comes? That’s right. It’s all inside! When you bottle up hatred and anger, when you have a heart to kill, even when your body wouldn’t do it, they won’t put you in jail. But it will cause damage and pain and hurt and guilt in your heart that will mess you up and only God can heal!

Ten Commandments

V - “Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you”

    Parents of teenagers point to this commandment often. A father of four teens said, “There’s nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them won’t aggravate.” Another said, “Insanity is contagious. You catch it from your kids.”

    The fifth commandment is not directed at teens, but to families and children of every age. This is the first commandment with a promise.

ILLUS: A study once disclosed that if both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72 percent of their children remain faithful in attendance. If only Dad attends regularly, 55 percent remain faithful. If only Mom attends regularly, 15 percent remain faithful. If neither attend regularly, and just drop off their kids at church, only 6 percent remain faithful. –

    I think it’s interesting that God goes from our relationship with Him, to that with our parents. (Why do you think this is so important? Answer - It affects all other relationships! Our parents, our siblings, our friends, our family members, our co-workers, and our world.)

Look at Romans 1:18-32:

¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 

¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 

²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 

²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 

²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 

²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 

³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 

³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 

³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Sound familiar?

    Think about the cycle of life. When a baby is born into a family, he or she is totally dependent on the parents. (In what ways?) Don’t forget things other than physical.     

    As a child grows they become increasingly independent, - not necessarily smarter! - until they are ready to leave home and have families of their own. The parents however, take a different path. A path that takes them from the vitality of youth, to the security of middle age, to the vulnerabilities of old age. It is during the latter stages of life that they become more and more dependent upon their children…and the cycle is complete. And so it goes from generation to generation.

What does it mean to honor our parents?

1. Honor our parents by obeying them.

2. Honor our parents by valuing their advice.

"A wise son heeds his father’s instruction..." Proverbs 13:1

3. Honor our parents by showing your appreciation.

4. Honor our parents by helping meet their needs. (Not just in old age.)

    Not every home is a happy home, nor a God honoring home, some of us may have parents who: divorced; fought or were abusive; may have even abused you phys-ically; or, they were alcoholics. Some may feel like their parents did not deserve honor, nor forgiveness. But, forgiveness is not a feeling. It is a CHOICE to not hold on to anger that can destroy your lives and continue the cycle.

    Over eighty-five percent of child sexual abuse is committed by someone the child knows, loves and trusts. Most often the person who exploits a child is in a legitimate power position over the child. More than fifty per cent of reported cases list parents, parent substitutes and relatives as being responsible for abuse. In most cases, what is labeled sexual abuse is really incest.

    Is it possible for a child to honor a dishonorable parent? Millions of children are conceived without love, abused physically, ignored shamefully, and damaged emotionally. How are they to respond to parents who have so mistreated them? Those who join groups like Adult Children of Alcoholics, realize that their tragedies are shared, and that they can support each other in undoing the effects on their lives. They recognize that a necessary first step toward recovery is an honest confirmation that the situation existed. Denial never brings relief.

    The most difficult step is to receive and offer forgiveness. As we receive forgiveness from God, we should also forgive those who have sinned against us. Difficult as it is, Paul’s formula is helpful: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

    Those with painful childhood memories can work through them with God’s help. Honoring parents, worthy or not, is the most healthy and mature course. Lewis Smedes, a renowned Christian author, offers a valuable perspective: “The commandment to honor parents doesn’t tell children to feel happy about their parents or to enjoy camping with them or even have them over to dinner. It says nothing about happy emotional relationships. All that it commands is “honor”. The commandment is concerned with family structure and the role of parents and teachers and leaders in the family.”

    Smedes separates love and honor this way: “Love is natural impulse; honor is a moral choice.” Even when love has been absent from a relationship, there is still a place for honor. In the best relationships, however, both should be present.

    It is interesting that God addresses this crucial commandment to children rather than to parents. He might have said, “Parents be kind, sensitive, generous, and thoughtful towards your children.” But, I think God wanted to give children the opportunity to “break the chain” so to speak and choose to honor even the dis-honorable. Remember, we choose neither our parents nor the environment in which we grow up. We may be raised in circumstances where respect comes easy, or in extremely difficult settings, but we can choose to honor our parents, and God promises that “it will go well with you.” Oh, and one more thing; neither you nor your parents are ever too old…it is never too late.

Ten Commandments

IV “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

    A preacher rode by one Sunday morning to see a farmer and church member at work harvesting. “Brother,” the minister lectured him, “don’t you know that the Creator made the world in six days and rested on the seventh?” “Yes,” said the farmer, “I know all about that, but He got finished and I didn’t!”

    There has been much debate over one particular thing in this commandment; What constitutes “work”?  Where do we draw the line? What about jobs that require you to work on Sundays? I believe God exhibits grace concerning some things. However, when I had jobs that required me to work on Sundays, I would have to say my spirit suffered, because I missed the worship and I missed the fellowship. (Other testi-monies?)

    There are three things that I would say are important in this scripture; “remember”, “rest”, and “revere”. It’s a call to remember basically three things about God;

1. God’s power and creation.  2. God’s provision.  3. God’s holiness.

    It is also a call to “rest”.  God took time out to rest and enjoy his creation. He made us, He created us, He certainly knows that we need rest and relaxation. Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, our bodies need time to refresh.  Statistics show that after 40 hours of work, concentration levels drop; mistakes increase; moral begins to nosedive; and even our health is affected.  People who are workaholics lead the charts in work related disorders such as; high blood pressure, heart problems, stress and depression… This is why God built into the system a “mini-vacation” called the Sabbath.

    We need a physical change of environment. We need an emotional change of environment. We need to encounter joy, and creativeness, and fellowship. And, of course, we need a spiritual re-charge.

    What we receive on the Sabbath gives us what we need to base the rest of our week and our lives on.  If we do not take time to rest and focus on God, we will become worn out physically - “burn-out” - we will get burned out emotionally and spiritually as well. This causes us to get caught in a downward spiral that weakens marriages; divides families; puts tension on friendships; and even weakens our moral and ethical convictions.

    God wants us to stop working on the Sabbath, but He also wants us to start worshipping. That’s why He adds “and keep it holy”… the word “holy” has to do with being set apart for God.  It is a time to spend in worship; it is also a time to spend in activities that contribute to our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. (What would they be?)

Would you consider this a negative or a positive command?

To what extremes can we take it?

    One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. "I don’t get it," he said. "Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did." "But you didn’t notice," said the winning woodsman, "that when I sat down to rest,  I was sharpening my ax."

In what ways can we sharpen our ax on the Sabbath?