SCRIPTURE:
"He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me."
Deuteronomy 10:4
OBSERVATION:
A wise man said “methods are many, principles are few; methods may change, but principles never do.” What God commanded to Moses never changed, never swayed. It was never influenced by the changing of the times, by the rise of technology, by the need for efficiency. The 10 Commandments were the 10 Commandments, and as the tablets rose from the crumbles, God didn’t change a thing.
When looking at it, God could’ve made some changes. He’s God. He could’ve said “remember the Sabbath day, cause you’re gonna need it.” Or “thou shall have no other gods before me like you did with that golden calf.” Yet, He found no need to rehash or rephrase His initial intent. God is perfect and does not make mistakes, so why would he change it? But how often do we take a tried and true principle and spin it in order to suit us? How many times have we compromised a commandment in order to comfort the community?
We’re in a constant season of change and transition. And the biggest obstacle to overcome is the shift in culture, in principle. We’ve basically destroyed the original commandments and have rewritten them in the name of relevancy. But it’s not relevancy that we need to keep up with, it’s Jesus and the miraculous workings of the Holy Spirit. Who cares what works at Church X or what Pastor so and so and his team are doing to redeem technology. Yes, we will always seek more effective ways, but what type of effectiveness we are seeking is the key. We want to be effective examples of the Word of God more than anything else. We want to value relationships over presentations.
APPLICATION:
We need to put Him first. And we need to work hard on it, constantly correcting back to the cross. We need to number the people not for stats but in order to shepherd. We can’t labor in order to just master how to do church, how to reach people or how to put on a good service. We need to labor because we revere the One we labor for. That’s the principle that we can never change. An audience of One can’t just be a hashtag, it needs to be the hymn of our heart.
So what are our commandments? What are the uncompromising Principles that we need? At New Hope, we call them our “Totems”:
Love God- This is our primary drive and purpose. We desire to be a people who love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. It’s out of this love that we live our lives. (Matt. 22:36)
Love People-Jesus said that people wouldn’t know us because of how smart we were, nor how perfect we lived and not even how big our ministry was but rather simply by how we love one another. We value people in our ministry for who they are and not what they can do for us. We love people because God loves people. (Matt 22:37)
Doing Church As A Team- We realize that God has gifted every single believer and in order for the church to become the one church Jesus intended, everyone must function together by serving with their various gifts, talents, and temperaments. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
Spirit of Excellence- We believe that we do not work for men but for God. Therefore we desire to give Him our very best in everything that we do. It’s important to denote that we have a spirit of excellence and not a standard of excellence. A standard of excellence focus on the product and its performance; a spirit of excellence focus on the heart and manner in which someone does something. We live by the latter.
Gracious In All Our Dealings- We realize that it is because of grace that we have everything that we have today. God did not give us what we deserved, but rather chose to show grace and rewarded us according to His great love. In the same manner we tend to err on the side of grace when we deal with each other. The way we treat each other and forgive one another testifies to the hope and love of Christ that lives in each one of us. (Colossians 4:6; Philippians 2:2-5)
PRAYER:
Jesus I’m convicted, but not condemned. Instead of looking down at all the “work” I choose to lift my head high and look up to You and your loving arms ready to hold me, ready to lift me up when I fail and ready to applaud me when I don’t. May it never be about us and our success, but always and only about You and your sovereignty.
