The Ten Commandments--Commandments 3 and 4

This blog deals briefly with the third and fourth commandments of the Ten Commandments.

Commandment 3: Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11. "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name." Here are some fundamental thoughts about this commandment.
1. It is certainly sinful to use the name of "God" or "Jesus" or "Christ" as a "curse" or "obscene" or "vulgar" language. Ephesians 5:4 and Colossians 4:6 make this quite clear. But this is NOT THE REAL POINT of this commandment.
2. THIS commandment teaches that a person MUST NOT use God's name as a means to achieve or accomplish a selfish purpose of the person speaking. Jesus "nails" this thought in ways in which he applies this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:33-37. A "godly person" looks you seriously in the face and promises that that person will do this or that, but has no intention or very little intention of actually doing what that person promises or assures you will do. The "nub" of THIS commandment has to do with BASIC HONESTY. I assure you that I will meet you for dinner at the Golden Corral in 6:00 p. m. on Thursday evening. I get there, and this person does not appear. Later, I contact this person, and that person had no intention of following through on this promise. This is simple, but this happens ALL the time. THIS is the sin reproved in the third commandment.

Fourth Commandment: Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15. Exodus 20:8-11 reads:
"Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work--you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it." Deuteronomy has the same commandment with the exception of the final explanation in verse 15, which reads: "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day." Here are some thoughts about this commandment.
1. All of us human beings BADLY NEED this commandment. Especially in the United States, we are WORKAHOLICS. To maintain our HUMANITY, our SANITY, our BALANCE, we need to "intentionally" take breaks--to do something different from what we normally do. God created us to work. Genesis 2:15 says: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden TO TILL IT AND KEEP IT." God INDEED expects all of us to WORK. BUT, God has ALSO "wired us" to REST. So we ALL need a SABBATH--a day of rest--EVERY WEEK. Do I do this well? No. But I should. What about YOU?
2. Each of us DEMAND that our family members, our friends, our employees, our church, our community take the time to rest. This will REVIVE us. This will REINVIGORATE us. This will GIVE US NEW LIFE. This is the way God has made us. Let us realize this. This is a POSITIVE commandment. What a joy to spend time to REST.

Do you rest? Are you a workaholic? Tell me your stories. Share your thoughts.

John Willis