March 22, 2006 - Mike McCoy, Hills Vineyard (Concord)

March 22, 2006

Exodus 20:12-17
Mike McCoy, Hills Vineyard (Concord)

Read the passage and respond to these questions:

1. Which of these commands is a challenge for you to obey?
2. Why do you think God cares so much about how we treat each other?
3. How do you need to be changed so you can love your neighbor as you love yourself?
In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge attempts to extinguish the light of truth that is in the spirit of Christmas past. Even though he makes her disappear, her words echo in his room, ‘Truth lives.’ God spoke the truth, the Torah, to Moses on Mount Sinai. Like Scrooge, many of us have tried to extinguish these words of life giving truth, jokingly calling these commands of God the ‘ten suggestions.’ More seriously, many have claimed that these commands are ‘old fashioned’ and ‘out of date,’ meant for people of another time and culture. Even the morally thoughtful may question whether these commands are relevant to the complex issues we face today.
When does human life begin? Is the use of embryonic stem cells killing a human being? How will we know if we go too far with genetic engineering?
Has the possibility of a ‘just war’ become impossible in an age of ‘weapons of mass destruction’? When is divorce permitted? Is cosmetic plastic surgery coveting? How do we relate to those who are struggling with sexual identity issues? Do we stone them or condone them? How do we honor parents who raised us in such a dysfunctional way that we have serious ‘family of origin’ issues that may never be completely healed? As you reflect for a moment, you will probably think of your own questions. These dilemmas are important because they deal with the big question - what is sin? What breaks our relationship with God and each other? When God gave the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai His voice sounded like thunder and it shook the very mountain. God spoke and His truth cannot be silenced.
So what is the Lord saying to us? Our neighbors matter to God. He is telling us how to treat people because He loves them. He wants us to love them just as He loves them. All of our moral and ethical quandaries involve people and how we are to relate to them. If we ask the Lord to show us how to love our neighbors, if we listen to His Word with a desire to obey, He will lead us through the toughest dilemmas our world faces by writing His law upon our hearts and giving us a Spirit to obey Him.
Prayer
Pray today that this would be true for you, your church, and your world. Ask God to show you a specific way that you can love your neighbor today.