learning to love :the fifth commandment
Exo 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee
Eph 6:1-2
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
In the first four commandments we are taught that we must love God above all else; in the next six commands that love is put into application.
Jesus taught that a child does the works of their father; as he has generated who they are. So children of Abraham believe Gods word as Abraham did...children of the devil attempt to rephrase Gods word to their own desires.
The first command dealing with God through those he loves is to honor father and mother.
We touched on what a Father is, in simplest form he is a generator of a seed of life and a mother is she who nurtures that seed to maturity.
Even after birth a father often deals with what his child shall be when they are mature while a mother deals with providing what is needed in the present.
We see this dynamic in Gods dealings with us; as the Father has given both the written and living word to show us what we shall be and the Spirit in us giving us day by day moment by moment that which is needed to mature.
We honor our mother and our father upon the earth in the same way. They have given us life and provision.For this reason God does not differentiate between a good or bad parent. If you are able to read what I have written then your parents have done enough to be honored.
If your parents have sinned against you or against God,no matter how severe, it can never take away God's desire to honor them. We must forgive we must forbear and be long suffering if we say that God is our Father. There is no loophole out of the fifth command.
love is a verb: the sixth commandment
Exo 20:13
Thou shalt not kill.
1Jn 3:14-15
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
We are not to murder simple, straightforward. In Israel, under Moses, there was manslaughter and murder.
In accordance with the law the difference between the two was motive of the heart; for planning on a man's murder and hatred for a man ending in his death are the same. To be manslaughter, qualifying to have refuge, it had to be a complete accident with no hatred involved.
Many teachers of Moses understand murder included to kill the character of a person even if no physical violence was involved.
They correctly determined they should not hate; that they should love.Yet still their concentration was on what they should do. The truth that Jesus brought us is that not what we do but who we are determines our actions. The commandment shows us who our faith is in; in ourselves we will break the commandment and think evil toward others. Messiah's life in us is patient, kind, long-suffering, and seeks not its own.
Trying to change how we think or act or believe are all works of our flesh generated by man... often it is the failure of these things that drives us to the grace offered by Jesus.
What is this grace He gives us? The Grace is his own life (the Spirit...breath of God) abiding in us. It is God placing us in Jesus and dying in his crucifixion being raised in a new life powered by His Spirit.
Do not let sin reign in your mortal body by leaning on the strength of your flesh to change what you do; instead trust in His Spirit to make you who you should be... through his life in you.
God has not added himself to your life, but has giving you a new life. His life shared in you.
Trust in this fact is the only thing that takes away the murder of self and others in mans heart.
*So remember it is the flesh that hears thou shalt not kill and sees something to be done...it is the Spirit that hears thou shalt not kill and sees the promise of life God has shared with us and is conforming us to .*
The protection of the seventh commandment
[[Exo 20:14]] KJV Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Compared to adultery murder is a kindness. To commit adultery involves breaking almost every commandment. It wreaks devastation in the heart and life of the those committing it, their spouses, their children, and all their family and friends. If the initial blast of deception and reproach don't kill the soul then often the fallout of shame, mistrust, blame, and guilt act as a slow poison.
It is for this reason that God proclaims Israel in breaking his covenant with them had been an adulteress bringing the devastation of Israel and Judah by means of Assyria and Babylon upon themselves.
The world portrays adultery as a natural and unavoidable occurrence. In their shows in their movies and their songs it is glorified as love.
Jesus teaches that it is not a problem of the acts of the body but of the heart. Therefore the devastation and death does not occur solely in the act but in the lust of men's fleshly heart.
The world may be correct in the flesh it is natural for the carnal man to act this way, but the grace and the truth that Jesus brought us is that we are a new creation in Christ. The new man has the life the Spirit of God living in us.
So we trust in His Spirit to write his law in our heart and in our mind changing us into who we should be.To the end that not only would we learn faithfulness to our earthly spouse but to our heavenly spouse.
If we try to follow this law by the strength of our flesh, that is our own ability, we will discover only sin and death, but if by trusting and relying on his breath of life in us(Holy Spirit) we mortify the flesh. We will see his promise of thou shalt not commit adultery lived out in our heart and body.
