To Find Our Joy in Christ

By Pastor Benjamin Glaser - Posted at Thoughts From Parson Farms:

How the Tenth Commandment Teaches Us to Be at Rest

Good Morning!

We are at the last of the ten words God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai. Out of all the commandments this one is the only one without judicial punishments in the civil law. We’ll talk about why that matters next week. It is unique also in that it primarily asks questions of the heart and soul. To be found in violation of the Tenth is to sin in a way that might show itself in the breaking of other parts of the statutes of our Lord, but in effect is known only to our Creator. It is humbling, and pointed in that way. Because as we consider the blessings of our Savior’s gift and grant of faith they should each point us back to the glory of God and strengthen the hold we have on the gospel love. The question this week’s Q/A seeks to answer is are we thankful for what He has done, and if we are does it show in how we use the new life provided by Christ?

At the heart of the tenth commandment is the interaction between Jesus and the rich young ruler in Matthew 19. In all his claims to keep and follow the rules we are shown that the adoration the law is to move the heart of believers to have for the God who gave them is completely absent. There is no joy in the spirit of the rich young ruler, only a sense of fleshly, arrogant personal accomplishment. He does not show any idea that the statutes are given as a witness to the good nature of the One who made the heavens and the earth. For the rich young ruler they are merely an action to take, rather than a life to embrace. Which is why when Christ calls him out on his hypocrisy he goes away sad, rather than repent. His hope and peace is in the boasting of the heart rather than the humility of grace.

Let’s go ahead and get into the WLC for today:

Q. 146: Which is the tenth commandment?

A. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

Q. 147: What are the duties required in the tenth commandment?

A. The duties required in the tenth commandment are, such a full contentment with our own condition, and such a charitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbour, as that all our inward motions and affections touching him, tend unto, and further all that good which is his.

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