Exploring the Big Ten

John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center, 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215. 770-719-0303

By JOHN HATCHER
Contributing Writer

One day I got tired of not knowing the Ten Commandments by heart. Sure, I could open my Bible to Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 6 and find them for myself. But here I was long into the ministry, not to speak about being a Christian much longer, and I could not recite the Ten Commandments from memory.

Of course, I considered myself not unique at this point. Many of us Christians could not give up more than five or six of the Big Ten upon demand. In addition, we would fail in giving them in any sort of order as first rendered on Mount Sinai.

I got so tired of not knowing something so very fundamental to my faith that I sat down and devised my own personal system for memorizing and then recalling the Ten Commandments in order. Today, not bragging mind you, I can give you the Ten Commandments forwards and backwards. You can give me a number and I can tell you the commandment or you can give me a commandment and I can tell you its number. There’s no need for me to tell you my system because it’s hokey and it may not work for you. But it works for me and that is what’s important.

Devise your own system. Memory by association works for me. Challenge yourself to learn the commandments once and for all. Like swimming, once you have learned them with your own system, you will have them the rest of your life.

The important thing about the Ten Commandments is to live them, not memorize them. But how on earth can you live something you don’t know?

Many Christians at this point will have a major case of the hiccups and declare they are New Testament Christians. Well, I am too. But good ol’ New Testament Christians usually affirm belief in the whole Bible: well, most of the Bible is Old Testament. And most of the Old Testament is occupied with the theme of God’s people’s inability to keep the Ten Commandments. It got them into a whole bunch of trouble. Like wandering in the desert for 40 years and like later being shipped off to Babylon.

When Jesus appeared on the scene, perhaps some of his followers would have really wanted him to discount the Old Testament inherent with the Ten Commandments. But nope. He actually affirmed every dot and comma of the Law. You see Jesus was really a dot.com kind of guy. He added that for any jerk who taught anyone to disregard the Law found in the Old Testament, it would far better for a boulder to be tied around his neck than experience other consequences.

Now an alternative to learning the Ten Commandments and applying them to your daily life would be to post a sign in your yard on which the Ten Commandments are printed. I see the signs here in Fayette and surrounding counties. On a recent trip to South Georgia, I saw the same signs posted.

I am not against the signs. I believe the Ten Commandments should be in every courthouse in the country and perhaps should be recited at the beginning of every day. But why post the commandments in your yard or even demand they be marbleized in courthouses when you have not taken the time to learn them and know what they really mean? It’s like school prayer. Why demand prayer in the schools when your churches spend very little time praying during Sunday services and prayer is not heard in your home? Go figure.

Jesus’ main point concerning the commandments was their fulfillment. Instead of just not coveting your neighbor’s Mercedes, he would suggest you demonstrate to your neighbor some level of love and good deeds. Instead of not just killing someone, Jesus suggests that you love your enemies and do good to them who use you. He took the Big Ten and filled them up with his kind of faith.

For the next several weeks, let’s look at the Ten Commandments and how we too can fulfill them. It’s a plan.