Commandments and Circumvention by Brother Curtis Hansen

         We are going to be reading from a couple of different places this morning for the message. Our first scripture is going to be in the book of 1 Corinthians, the 6th chapter. In the time of his ministry on earth, Jesus spoke at times to the crowds, the Pharisees, foreigners, and his disciples. There was a clear separation he showed in his teachings, where with the public he would speak in parables. His disciples, he would have a more substantive talk. We should have a separation in our walk today. You should set boundaries of what you allow in your life away from church, and you should have more of a open spirit here in church. Be Kindly, Christ like, shine the light to people who may not be a brother or sister in God, but be separate from the world. Stand out with a purpose.

        When Paul wrote his 1st letter to the church in Corinth, he was addressing things which were in the church body. There was pride, sexual immorality, spiritual gifts were being used improperly, and rampant misunderstanding of the christian doctrine. The letter written to the church was to get their focus back upon Jesus. Beginning in the first verse of chapter 6, Paul begins to address church members taking one another to court.

        Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

        2 Do ye know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

        In preparing for this message, I was thinking about the scripture in Matthew 16:13-19. Jesus was asking his disciples whom the people said he was. There were replies of John the Baptist, Elias, or one of the prophets. Jesus asked Peter who he was, and Peter replied that Jesus was the Christ. The son of the living God. Jesus replied that flesh and blood had not revealed this truth but the Father did. Jesus then stated that upon Peter would he build his church and whatever is bound on earth would also be bound in heaven. Whatever is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. Peter would receive that simple truth when he submitted his will under Jesus' authority. If your will is not under the same authority, you don't have the capacity to bind and loosen things on earth.

        3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

        4 If then ye have judgements of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

        Judgement in the church is not limited to the pastor nor the deacon. Paul is advocating for a larger circle. What does he mean regarding the judging of angels? It's the remnant of angels which fell from heaven.

        5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

        Is there no one spiritually mature enough to judge between brothers? This is the question Paul is asking in this verse.

        6 But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

        7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

        Paul is asking the church, why are they so quick to take one another to court over things. In that time, the Romans ruled the courts. Those courts were vulnerable to bribery and tilted to the more wealthy. It would cast the two parties suing one another as social enemies. The thing to note is for many believers, the world and its systems can walk all over them for six days. Rather than finding support and kinship with brothers and sisters in church, those believers begin arguments and disagreements within church. Saving up their hostility and frustration for Sunday,

        8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

        9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.

        10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

        11 And such were some of you: but the are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the spirit of our God.

        Paul is saying that you're doing wrong suing one another in church. You're better to take the loss from a brother in church who did you wrong than take him to court. In that list of verses 9 and 10, he states that there were those in the church who were those things, and because not only were they now Jesus' sons and daughters, they were baptized in Jesus name for the remission of sins. You and I are similar to what Paul is speaking about. 

        God knows that man needs rules and commandments to establish his authority. In the wilderness after the Israelites were released from their captivity in Egypt, Moses had spent a lot of time judging disputes and squabbles among the people. We are going to Exodus 20 and start reading in verse 3. Moses went up Mount Sinai for 40 days and returned with the template for sound Christian living. In fact, Jesus repeats four of them to the rich young ruler. Nine of these commandments are repeated in the New Testament in numerous ways.

        3 Thou shall have no other gods before me.

        What is exactly a god before God? Anything which you put priority in life over your spiritual well being. There's family, job, career, spouse, children, hobbies, sports. If it detracts it's a distraction from God.

        4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

        It isn't whittling a block of wood today, or worshiping the birds of the air or the creatures of the oceans that you worship and spend time with, It's the things which you acquire and give attention to that is the idol. You can say you put Jesus first but you love your things more.

        5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

        6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

        As I said earlier, Jesus references the 10 commandments, and he also states in Matthew 22:36-40 when asked by a lawyer which is the great commandment in the law, Jesus replied Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second commandment is Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The neighbor goes beyond the four walls of the church. Anyone who is in proximity where we can show God's love. You are not to use God and his grace for your own personal advantage and financial gain. 

        7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.

        8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

        9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:

        10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;

        11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the swam ad all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

        Throughout time, man has gone back to these commandments which God put forth, and has actively sought to reinterpret them for his advantage. If you are reading these so far, and looking for an out or a loophole, you aren't truly committed to them nor God himself.

        12 Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God gives thee.

        13 Thou shalt not kill.

        When you read that last commandment you think of the act of violence. I'm here to say if you examine it a little deeper, you realize that your tongue can cause more death than you could ever do physically. Look up James chapter 3 for the perils of the tongue.

        14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

        15 Thou shalt not steal.

        16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

        17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ix, nor his donkey, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

        The 10 commandments can be viewed like this. The first 4 commandments are about our Lord and God and what to do and not do. The other 6 commandments are what we should not do ourselves. All of them still apply in the church and in the believers life.

        Sometimes we feel conviction over something and can either lean into it or create a law, or rule in our life to ease our troubled conscious. There are a lot of resources which use bits of scripture to circumvent the basic commandments. The word of God doesn't have power in your life if you don't use it. If you are adding a do this for me and I will do that for you in the commandments, or reinterpreting them in some historical context you are circumventing the law. 

        In your life there will be many open doors for you to go through. Some have been open by God and others are not. How can you discern these open doors which to enter and not to enter? Not every opportunity is from God. What is that discernment? It's that still small voice you hear and it isn't in your gut. If we aren't led by the spirit into all understanding we are operating in our flesh.