Introducing the Ten Commandments

Hey folks! As we begin our journey through Lent, our kids are transitioning into a series of lessons about the Ten Commandents.

The Ten Commandments and the moral vision they espouse form the foundation of Christian moral teaching. With a little consideration one can see this everywhere, from the way we think about worship, to the way we think about the value of human life, humility, jealousy, and so on.

This is because when addressed by Christ himself the “Law” is not abolished but fulfilled: the Law finds its fulfillment in the life and ministry of Jesus and is itself summarized by the Word incarnate as the love of God and the love of neighbor (which can be used as a sort of template for reading the Ten Commandments). 

For the next 10 weeks or so we’ll we walking through these Ten Commandments with our kids as we attempt, with God’s help, to help them catch the Christian moral vision of God-and-neighbor love. 

This week we’re going to look at the first commandment, from Ex. 20:2-5: 

“I and the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”

There are a variety of ways to organize the Ten Commandments, ways which have indeed been taken up by the different traditions in the Church (though they have all always affirmed that there are only ten).

Where to “draw the line” on the first commandment is one of these differences. We are treating the whole of vv. 2-5 as expressing essentially one commandment: worship God and him only. There are not many gods worth our devotion who are responsible for the comings and goings of the world and of human life (e.g., rain gods, fertility gods, gods for prosperity and for war) there is only one: YHWH, who is as universal (he made every thing) as he is particular (he chose a tiny slave nation to bless the whole of the universe).

This is the “first principle” or “prolegomenon”—the first word—for any talk about God as he has been revealed in the Scriptures and in time and space. And it is perhaps the easiest to violate.

If worship is simply “ascribing worth to,” then we worship all kinds of things all the time in subtle and explicit ways. Wealth, pleasure, and power are obvious sources of temptation and while not evil on their own, very easily turn into sources of temptation and occasions for sin as we "bow down and worship" them.

Scripture to consider:

• Exodus 20:1-5

• Exodus 32:1-6

  
  

Questions for your kids

• What do you think our family thinks is most important? Why? (This will be revealing, potentially convicting, but certainly good to hear!)

Peace,

Danny+