Rules are Rules! - May 12, 2024

First Baptist Arlington Sermons

Dennis R. Wiles

First Baptist Arlington

May 12, 2024

Mother’s Day

SPRING 2024

Together . . . for God’s Glory

April 7 – June 1, 2024

Preaching Voice: Prophet

Rules are Rules!

Exodus 20:1-17

Theme for 2024: Together

Theme for Spring 2024: Together . . . for God’s Glory!

Mom Rules!

The Decalogue – The Ten Words

“We must keep in mind at the outset that the Decalogue is no mere list of laws given in the abstract. It is given by God to a people he has just redeemed. They reflect the manner in which his people are to be ‘holy’ (cf. ch. 19). It is, therefore, safe to say that these laws are more than simply good rules to live by. They show us something of the nature of God, and for this they deserve our close attention. We see in them not simply ‘what we must do’ but what God is like . . . The giving of these commands is not simply the introduction of rules that help us hold society together—to make us good citizens, as it were. Rather, it ‘integrates cosmic order and social order . . . (the) means by which the divine ordering of chaos at the cosmic level is actualized in the social sphere, whereby God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Freitheim). The giving of the law, in other words, is an act of re-creation.”

-Peter Enns, NIV Application Commentary: Exodus

We find in the 10 Words instructions for how we are to relate to God as His people.

We also discover in the 10 Words how we are to relate to each other as the people of God.

Love God! Love each other!