No Greater Neighbor

God's people should be the greatest neighbor ever.

Exodus 20:12-17  “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.  13  “You must not murder.  14  “You must not commit adultery.  15  “You must not steal.  16  “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.  17  “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

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The Ten Commandments begin with the most important rules, the rules that teach us about to relate to God properly. There may be many "gods" in this world but there is no other God, he deserves our love and we need to slow down and spend time with him.

Our ultimate love and the greatest desire of our heart should be for God but it is such a great challenge because the world has so many other loves and so many other places to put our trust. We fall for the lie that we can use people and stuff to give us the security and fulfillment that can only be found in God. 

After the Ten Commandments teach us about our relationship with God it moves on to our relationship with the people around us. All of us are tempted constantly to look out for ourselves at any cost but the Bible clearly shows us that God wants his people to live a different way.

God expects us to be like him especially in the way that we love and care for other people. God is giving these rules to his people that he just rescued from slavery and saved them from the greatest military of the day. He has proved his love for them and he expects them to live the same.

Obeying these six commands about our relationship with the people around us will help us live at peace and it will show the world that there is a better way to live.

The Ten Commandments Simplified

Mark 12:29-31 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Jesus taught us the spirit of the law when he answered the question about the greatest of all of the commandments. Love your Savior and your neighbor is all that it takes to fulfill all of the laws.

The parable of the good Samaritan is a great example of how we need to choose to be generous to everyone. Jesus taught us that we need to go out of our way and become inconvenienced to be kind to others. Jesus didn't give us a limited space to show his love to others, he broadened the definition of a neighbor to anybody you come into contact with.

The New Testament has so much to say about how we treat people:

Love One Another

• “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
• “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)
• “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:17)
• “Love one another with brotherly affection.” (Romans 12:10)
• “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:8)
• “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you.” (1 Thessalonians 3:12)
• “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10)
• “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.” (1 Peter 1:22)
• “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8)
• “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (1 John 3:11)
• “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3:23)
• “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7)
• “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:11-12)
• “And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.” (2 John 1:5)

Honor One Another

• “Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10b)

Greet One Another

• “Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.” (Romans 16:16)
• “All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.” (1 Corinthians 16:20)
• “Greet one another with a holy kiss.” (2 Corinthians 13:12)
• “Greet one another with the kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.” (1 Peter 5:14)

Welcome One Another

• “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7)

Show Hospitality To One Another

• “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:9)

Have Fellowship With One Another

• “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

Agree With One Another

• “…agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.” (2 Corinthians 13:11b)

Live In Harmony With One Another

• “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” (Romans 12:16)
• “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.” (Romans 15:5)

Be At Peace With One Another

• “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” (Mark 9:50)

Be Kind To One Another

• “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted…” (Ephesians 4:32a)

Forgive One Another

• “…forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32b)
• “…and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13b)

Bear With One Another

• “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:2-3)
• “Bearing with one another…” (Colossians 3:13a)

Bear One Another’s Burdens

• “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)

Comfort One Another

• “Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another…” (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Care For One Another

• “That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” (1 Corinthians 12:25)

Confess Sins To One Another

• “Therefore, confess your sins to one another…” (James 5:16)

Pray For One Another

• “…and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16)

Encourage One Another

• “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
• “Therefore encourage one another…” (1 Thessalonians 5:11a)
• “Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25)

Build One Another Up

• “…and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Exhort One Another

• “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13)

Instruct One Another

• “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.” (Romans 15:14)

Teach And Admonish One Another

• “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)

Sing With One Another

• “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.” (Ephesians 5:19)

Stir Up One Another To Love And Good Works

• “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24)

Do Good To One Another

• “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15)

Serve One Another

• “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)
• “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

Wash One Another’s Feet

• “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.” (John 13:14)

Wait For One Another

• “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.” (1 Corinthians 11:33)

Be Humble Toward One Another

• “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” (1 Peter 5:5)

Submit To One Another

• “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21)

Speak The Truth To One Another

• “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” (Ephesians 4:25)
• “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.” (Colossians 3:9)

Do Not Speak Against One Another

• “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.” (James 4:11)
• “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.” (James 5:9)

Do Not Judge One Another

• “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.” (Romans 14:13)

Do Not Provoke One Another

• “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another…” (Galatians 5:26)

Do Not Envy One Another

• “…envying one another.” (Galatians 5:26)

If you think the Ten Commandments don't apply to you, that's fine, but look at how clearly the New Testament makes the case for behaving way above the world's standards. Too bad the world can't see our Jesus because we have failed to live like Jesus by living extremely loving lives. (John 13:35)

What a huge difference we could make in the world if Jesus followers actually followed. We fail to give up our pride and selfishness and take on grace, compassion, service and forgiveness even though Jesus makes it so clear.

No Greater Rest

Sabbath rest was just a glimpse of something better that is on the way.

Exodus 20:8-11  “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  9  You have six days each week for your ordinary work,  10  but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.

11  For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

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Just about all of us are running on empty and would love to have some time to rest but it seems like none of us are willing to make rest a priority. It seems like it should be an easy command to obey but for most of us resting is the hardest thing to do.

In the beginning God put us in a perfect place of rest in the Garden of Eden but instead of resting in our relationship with him we decided to take Satan's advice. We preferred to put our trust in our own efforts rather than trusting God but instead of improving and becoming a better version of humanity or becoming gods we became much less than we were. As a result we gave up our place of perfect rest in the garden. The Bible is the story of God making a way for us to get back to our rest that can only be found in his presence. 

God promised Abraham that his descendants would live in a place of rest some day, the Promised Land was a place where they would live under God's blessing, but hundreds of years went by as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all passed away waiting for God's timing.

God finally brought his people out of slavery to the kingdom of darkness where they never had any rest. On their way to the land where they should find rest in the land of plenty they sing this song of praise to God after he saved them from Pharaoh:

God Brought Them Out So He Could Bring Them In

Exodus 15:13,17-18 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home. 

17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain— the place, O LORD, reserved for your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established. 18 The LORD will reign forever and ever!”

Don't forget that God's children are singing this song out in the wilderness on the shore of the Red Sea. They are celebrating a miraculous victory over Egypt where they were forced to labor but they were nowhere close to the place of rest that God has promised.

They were brought out of the kingdom of darkness and guided to the place where they can reside in God's presence even though they were still standing in the wilderness. What a beautiful picture of the ultimate fulfillment of this reality in the future when God's people will find the perfect rest that we lost in the garden.

Until we get there we need to wrestle with the desire to do everything for ourselves. God's power at work in us and our willingness to rely on him is the way to a peaceful, satisfying life. But most of us see God's word as a bunch of to do list and rule keeping that looks nothing like rest. 

Finding rest seems just as impossible as it must have sounded to the former slaves that Moses led out of Egypt. For hundreds of years they were under the threat of losing their lives if they did not work and now God is telling them that their future depends on their ability to rest in him.

What Is Work? 

It's not a bad question to ask but when you look to man for the answer instead of God you end of with the wrong answer. In their passion to avoid work God's people kept adding to the list of things to avoid doing to the point that the Sabbath became a burden instead of a blessing.

Silly Rabbinical Rules and the True Meaning of Torah

When man adds to God's rules it is usually done with bias and it is done to have control over others. The largest organized religions in the world are famous for adding church rules and traditions on top of the Bible. We have to be careful when we add to the intended purpose of God's rules.

To not work is just the beginning

Isaiah 58:13-14  Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. 14 Then the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

God centered rest was taught by the prophets in the Old Testament over and over again. God made it so clear that they were doing it wrong, how to do it right and showed them the great benefits for doing it correctly. (Isaiah 56:1-8, Isaiah 58:13-14, Jeremiah 17:21-27, Ezekiel 20:12-26; 22:8, 16, 26, Nehemiah 10:28-31; 13:15-22)

Part of their problem was they were not living to please God the other six days of the week so it would be impossible to be genuine in their observance of the Sabbath.

Micah 6:3,8 “O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me! 8 O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

The unnecessary burdens that the religious leaders placed on the people probably contributed to their tendency to be unfaithful to God and create less demanding gods. The pleasant demand to rest had been replaced with a strict application of the law that was a weapon to control people. (Deuteronomy 10:12, Matthew 23:4, Acts 15:10)

Then comes Jesus, the religious leaders didn't have any idea how to handle someone that seemed to intentionally break their rules, imagine telling Jesus how to obey the Sabbath. It seems that Jesus took the time to break man's Sabbath rules in order to teach them the real Sabbath rules.

Did Jesus Break The Sabbath Law?

The True Sabbath Rest 

Matthew 11:28-29 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus must have felt incredibly misunderstood as he saw the unnecessary burdens that the religious leaders placed on the people. As the people tried to do what was right, their religious leaders only had bad news for them, no matter how hard they tried they were told they were doing it wrong. (Isaiah 58:1-14, Matthew 23:1-39)

Jesus offers us a better opportunity than the law could ever do, instead of resting for a day Jesus offers us a daily rest in him. Only Jesus can release us from the bondage of sin to receive true rest. We can lay down the burden that our conscious puts on us as we feel the weight of our sin. We can lay down the burden of trying to be good enough to be loved.

God's purpose for us on the sabbath is that we experience the highest and most intense joy that can be experienced, namely, that we "take delight in the Lord." And yet what he finds again and again is professing Christians who prefer little human-sized pleasures from things that have no close relation to God at all.

John Piper

We can work as hard as we want everyday of the week but if we will acknowledge that every good thing that we have comes from God's blessing on our lives then we can give up our slavery to our own strength and stamina. We can rest from our labor and trust God that he will provide for tomorrow just as he did today. (Exodus 16:16-26)

The greatest rest that we need can be found only in Jesus. We celebrate the rest that only his work on the cross could make possible, peace with God and the peace of God is available without an effort on our part. (Ephesian 2:8-9, Romans 5:1, Philippians 4:6-8, Revelation 14:13) 

How can a true believer that understands the incredible gift that Jesus has given them fail to rejoice at the beginning of the week for a day focused on celebrating this glorious fact?

Let's focus on delighting in God as we look forward to the day when we reach our final and ultimate Sabbath rest for eternity in his presence.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Eighth Day (baylor.edu)

The Sabbath in Apostolic Preaching and Practice (bible.org)

Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy (desiringgod.org)

No Greater God

Our ultimate love and the greatest desire of our heart should be for God.

Exodus 20:3-5 You must not have any other god but me. 4 You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 

5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods.

Exodus 20:7 You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

Matthew 22:35-38 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” 

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

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Ever since they were saved by the Passover lamb God's children have become increasingly more familiar with him. The wilderness experience has been used to show them, and us, that God is holy and his chosen people have been redeemed to live a new way that is a reflection of his holiness so that the rest of the world will get to know him as well.

The first and most important rules that God gave his children in the ten commandments are the ones that tell us how God must be treated. If we fail at this then we are not going to be successful at the rest of the commands that tell us how to treat our neighbors.

The challenge to treat God properly has always been a struggle, man’s number one priority is to worship God but it is Satan's number one priority is to keep you from doing it, or at least to keep you from doing it correctly. The problem that started with Cain is still going on today.

Psalms 51:17 The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.

Satan doesn't need to stop you from worshiping God, all he needs to do is get you to do it your own way. Satan knows that worshipping God wrong is just as offensive to him as not worshipping him at all. 

After all of the miracles they have seen they will still struggle to be loyal, God's people adopted the polytheistic ways of the Egyptians, they were okay with the real God as long as they could have the fake ones as well.

Isaiah 44:6-7, 10 This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: “I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. 7 Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future. Who but a fool would make his own god— an idol that cannot help him one bit?

When you look back at world history you cannot find another God but the one true God that has proven himself to be far greater than any of the imitations. The man made gods never had anything to offer their followers but somehow the creator of those gods seemed to think he had made something more powerful than himself.

The gods are worshipped for very pragmatic reasons. Almost never are the gods worshipped for their intrinsic beauty or goodness, but for what they control. Hostile, capricious gods are worshipped to appease their anger and to avert the outpouring of their wrath. Others are worshipped largely due to the powers which they possess and the benefits which they produce. In other words, the gods are viewed by their subjects as means to a desired end. It is no wonder that the worship of false gods is called harlotry in the Bible. The relationship between men and the gods is closely akin to prostitution. A price is paid and a service is rendered, but there is certainly no love between the two parties.

-Bob Deffinbaugh

We can easily find fault in the people that God brought out of Egypt, we look at them and wonder why he wasn't God enough for them, but we are worse than they were. They didn't have the big picture that we have, the only information that they knew about God was what they learned personally or from stories passed down from the previous generations.

We have a much better perspective of God because of our Bibles, we have much more information about him and how to please him but we still have trouble with the commandments that teach us how he should be treated.

The sin against this commandment, which we are most in danger of, is giving that glory to any creature which is due to God only. Pride makes a God of ourselves, covetousness makes a God of money, sensuality makes a God of the belly. Whatever is loved, feared, delighted in, or depended on, more than God, that we make a god of.

-John Wesley

Our ultimate love and the greatest desire of our heart should be for God but the world has so many other loves and so many other places to put our trust. We fall for the lie that we can use people and stuff to give us the security that can only be found in God.

We all have something that we trust that makes life work, something that we depend on instead of God, it can be power, approval, comfort, control, your achievements or even your religion. Whatever gives your life meaning and worth is where you will have difficulty keeping God in his rightful place.

1 John 5:21  Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

With so many options that the world makes available to us it is difficult to love God  exclusively, to find our greatest worth and love that satisfies us and helps us get through our trials. We must put our ultimate love and trust in the only one that will never fail us in this life and for eternity.

RELATED ARTICLES

What Are the Attributes of God? (God's Perfections) (blueletterbible.org)

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