Biblical Ethics - Ten Commandments (part 2) - [Exodus 20:1-17]

So, for those of you who weren't here last week, this is part two of Biblical Ethics, what I actually taught in India, just a small portion of it, and we're going to be looking at the Ten Commandments.

Last week we looked at the first four, the ones that related to God, and today we're going to be looking at the other six. And then hopefully if we have time, we'll go a little bit further into New Testament Ethics to kind of round it off.

But let's begin with a word of prayer. A loving and gracious Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day that you've given us, the Lord's Day, where we are gathered together as saints who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, who trust in you and can worship you acceptably in spirit and in truth.

Lord, as we study your word, help us to be passionate about your revelation to us and to love you and to express that love by obedience to your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, so last week we began by talking about what ethics was, what are some of the problems with ethics, and then we started looking at the Ten Commandments, which is again the mountaintop, if you will, of the Old Testament ethics given to the Jewish people.

And then we were looking at some principles that we draw for our lives today, what would be applicable and what would not be applicable. And for those of you smiling at me, you know how thankful I was when the bell rang and I had to finish.

And those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, we were talking about the Sabbath and the fact that the Sabbath was a command, a commandment given to the Jewish people. They had to follow it rigorously with the penalty of death in certain cases.

And then how that transfers or does not transfer to the believer. So I want two common notes before we move to the next section. One is, as a teacher, don't come ill-prepared. That's what I think you should learn from me last week, because I wasn't prepared for the questions that we had.

And so I was mea culpa, my mistake. And the second thing is, you know, how we handle times where we are unprepared just as shows the way we are ethical in the way we handle difficulties in life, just as much as we know what the truth is about those things.

So one of the things that I regretted last week was some of you who were theologically astute saw me doing a little dance here as I'm trying to figure out what I should respond and what I shouldn't. And sometimes it's just good.

And I did this in when I was teaching in India. If you don't know the answer, just say, I don't know it. I'll get back to you. And that'll be a lot easier than standing here and trying to figure out what to say.

So just in terms of the summary of that question, again, for those who do not know what I'm talking about. So there was, uh, there is some here who believe in, um, holding onto the Sabbath, uh, in, in a particular way.

And I, and the problem I faced was I didn't know what particular way. So let me just give you a few comments on that and then we'll move to the next. So in my mind, when I thought of sabbatarianism, I was thinking of the seventh day Adventist.

You know, there are some who say that you need to hold to the Sabbath in exactly the same way as the 10 commandments says. And there's very few who do that. There is a few others too, but that's very few who do that.

And I think that would be very clear to talk about how that is no longer the case. There is a sense in which, uh, this is all fulfilled and done with, and there is really no need for, it is actually impossible.

And it is actually sinful to say that I'm going to hold on to this, um, Sabbath the same way that the Jewish people did because Christ has come and fulfilled, um, the requirements of all the law, including these.

And then there are some who would say that there is a transference of the Sabbath principle into the Lord's day. So we need to hold on to the Lord's day the same way in which the people in the old Testament did with the Sabbath.

And I think that's what I wasn't aware of. So this week I got to spend some time studying it to understand what the position was that some Christians, more Christians hold on to, especially in the reformed circles.

And so, uh, me and this brother had some very good exchanges. I learned a lot and hopefully we'll continue to discuss this as we figure this out where the differences lie. And then, uh, uh, the position that I want to advocate is that there are, and this is what I was talking about last week, is there are some Sabbath principles that are inbuilt and we want to be careful to them.

And the principles of worship and the principles of rest, uh, are, uh, are not to be lightly dealt with. The one who says, I'm just going to work seven days a week, make a lot of money and retire quickly and have a fun life, uh, is missing out on something fundamental that God has built into this fabric of, uh, of humans and the way we are, we ought to live.

And the one who says, you know, worship, I'll just do it in my own way. I would not find it necessary to gather together with the saints and worship together. That is also flawed. And so when we look at the new Testament, we looked at, um, some of the scriptures last week.

So I don't want to repeat them. Uh, we see how the principle of worship must be central to the believer. It is not necessarily limited to one day a week. It has to be, uh, transferred to all of your life, all of the time.

And uh, but there is also a proper place and time for corporate worship. So we want to make sure that the principles, uh, come to the believer. We don't take it lightly, but there is no command that we have, which says you must do the Sabbath the same way as the Jewish people did, or in some modified form for the believer or else it would be sin.

And I think that's where the challenge lies. And as one of you pointed out in the scripture, the challenge becomes even greater, uh, when I, the way I observe it, if I were to observe it in a, you know, I could become legalistic and say, if I do this, then God is favorable to me.

If I don't do this, God is not, uh, that could be a danger, but I could, with a clear conscience, uh, like I was giving you an example last week, uh, earlier, you could actually hold on to a principle that you will do no work and you will only worship on the Sabbath.

And that would be perfectly fine for you to do as long as you do it in faith. And uh, the problem would be when you turn around and say, you know, everybody else has to do the same thing that I do. And I think that becomes a matter of conscience.

You're free to do it, but you cannot impose that on others, which was the point of collusions too. All right. So with that, let's go to the next section, which is the fifth commandment. If, uh, one of you can read verse 12 for me, can someone read verse 12?

I'm sorry. Exodus 20 verse 12. I just assumed we are all right there. Uh, so Exodus 20, uh, thank you, Gary. Yeah. And, uh, this is the principle of authority within the family that God has established.

He has established the family unit and there is a manner in which you are to respond to those in authority over you. And, um, uh, this equivalent of this, can someone think of an equivalent verse in the new Testament?

That's right. Efficient six, one to three children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right on your father and your mother, which is the first commandment with a promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.

And this new Testament verse is pretty much almost verbatim in terms of what you have in the old Testament, uh, carried over here. And, uh, uh, this, we are looking at the 10 commandments from an ethical standpoint.

And I think it is important for us to consider, um, what ethical principles come from this. It is, it is very clear that God wants us to do this, but can you, can you think of why God wants us to do this?

What is the purpose that is built in this command, uh, that God has given to children to obey and their parents and to honor their father and their mother. Excellent. So let's maybe just take that for a moment and we'll come to the next person.

So you have a structure that God is built in. You know, we have God as a father that we respect and honor. God gives parents to actually reflect that relationship that we have with God. They, they show us, they are meant to show us at least, you know, the parents, uh, in the way in which they, uh, care for us, provide for us, love us to structure that same image of what God does for us.

And, uh, there is a, and you also talked about Christ and the church. There is a headship and, uh, and a submission that is involved there. And as I was talking earlier about authority, God built these units.

And the smallest unit that you begin with is the family. And then you have the church, you have nations. All these things are ordained by God, uh, for his purpose of governance and for the right role of authority in our lives.

Did I have someone else in the back who wanted to add? Right. Um, and again, we all know as those of us who are parents, how children have the propensity to do their own will. And we, as those who are born again, know how our natural depravity would want us to do what we want.

And there is a role of authority that God has ordained, uh, in his means of grace, both with the parents, as well as with God himself, as he saves us. And this principle of authority does transfer to a few other areas.

I'll just mention a few. And then if there's questions, we'll talk about it. If not, we'll move on. Uh, same in efficiency chapter six. You have the relationship of, uh, slaves and masters in the manner in which you respond to those in authority over you.

Uh, first Timothy two, one to two talks about the prayers that we want to make for Kings and those in authority. First Peter two, uh, 13 to 14, uh, talks about submission to those, uh, to the ordinance of man that has been placed for the Lord's sake, whether it is a King or governors and those who punish evildoers.

And, um, and the point there is that God, uh, places these authorities for our good, and we would do well in submitting to the authority that is placed over us and, uh, and to, uh, show reverence for what God has ordained.

Um, let, let me move on to the next one. The sixth commandment, uh, was 13. Can someone read that? It's a short one. Yes, he already has that thou shall not murder in the King James version. Uh, actually the King James version that I have, it actually says thou shall not kill, not murder.

And in fact, I remember spending like an hour with someone who used that verse to talk about how you should be a vegetarian. And, um, so it was, and the thing is, if you just read that verse and don't understand the context of what it is saying, you can easily draw those principles and so, um, obviously, uh, the, the, the word that is used there is better translated murder, not necessarily just intentional murder, but also accidentally killing a human person.

So it could mean both of those. Uh, but the point that is taking human life, uh, unlawfully. And so, you know, people would try to use that for vegetarianism or talk about wars and say, you know, is this, um, applicable, so he's got contradicting himself when he says this versus, uh, wars in the old Testament where God did say go and fight.

And so, uh, the point of this verse is quite simple. So I'll give you a quick summary and then we'll look at the new Testament principles from this. Uh, the point here is, uh, personal Vendetta and revenge.

You know, this is, you're not supposed to just go and kill someone lightly like Cain killed Abel, nor are you to kill someone, um, just because they injured you and you want to take a offense against them, God does ordain authority that takes care of the social governance of, um, of someone who takes a person's life and there's capital punishment that, uh, that is valid in light of what we see in Genesis nine, I think.

And, um, because man is made in God's image, there is a penalty for taking someone's life. And there is also a place for war, which we see in other texts. But this is talking about, um, unlawful killing and, uh, someone who would just take someone's life, uh, on, on your own, basically murder, which I think all of us are familiar with.

Um, but I think, uh, can you think of, before we move to the new Testament passage, any comment on this? Because if there is some questions we can maybe deal with them before we move on. All right. So the new Testament passage, what can you think of as a parallel passage that talks about, uh, thou shall not murder or kill excellent.

And I think we'd go to Matthew five, uh, versus 38 to 39. And, uh, there, he talks about, um, the principle of how do you look to, uh, personal, um, injury. You know, this is what you've heard. You've heard it said before.

And in fact, when you look at the Beatitudes, maybe actually we should probably make this an IBS course and do this in, in its extensiveness. But, uh, we looked there, how Jesus, we actually did part of this in the new Testament one, when we looked at the gospels where Jesus would either take the old Testament or a Pharisee interpretation of the old Testament and said, this is what you've heard.

And I say unto you, and then God, Jesus never abrogates what is said in the old Testament. But what he says is he actually takes it to a much higher level. Uh, it is not just the murder that is, uh, condemned, but the anger in your heart.

And he talks about the root of those sins within the person's heart and how ought you to love your neighbor rather than hate him. And the first John three 15 to 16 talks about that. Hate, um, whoever hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

And this is the love of God. And he turns that around and shows how God lays down his life for us. And our response should be to lay down our lives for our brethren. Once again, when you think from the concept of ethics, you see the negative sense of, you know, the culmination.

If you last week, if you remember, we talked about the teleological teleological system of ethics, the end result being bad, which is a person's life is taken to the deontology or the duty or, uh, the, the principle that God gives us that begins with the motives of the heart.

So we begin with a motive of love rather than hate, and it is the hatred in the heart that is condemned. And, uh, the hatred will result in murder if it is not dealt with properly. Um, and again, uh, just a comment here before we move to the next one.

Um, when we look at this law on the next one, which is adultery, both of these are dealt with in the, in the sermon on the Mount and, uh, the law of Christ or the, the principle of love that, um, uh, pervades the entire new testament, uh, calls us to this very high standard that, um, encompasses and, and takes the ethics of the Christian to a completely different dimension, a dimension of, uh, intimate relationship with God and faith.

So, um, so that's, that's the sixth commandment thou shalt not murder. And as Christians, we take it, um, from the motive and the action, not just the action, any comments on the sixth before we move to the seven, all right.

The seventh commandment, again, a small one, verse 14, anyone who has it, please read it, you shall not commit adultery. Once again, the principle here. And again, I hope you're starting to see when we look at the last six laws, the manner in which the world would look at these laws, as opposed to how Christians view these laws, um, murder, you probably would get a large consensus, you know, yeah, murder is bad.

Uh, but when you start to come into these so-called, you know, personal choices, it doesn't hurt anybody else. It seems like, you know, I can do what I want with myself. That's what the world would say.

As long as, you know, we have mutually consenting people working out, whatever gives us the most pleasure. Like we said, that was one of the principles of the world has, I can maximize my pleasure and that would be ethically good for me, but God's views are completely antithetical to that.

His standard is holy. He calls us to, um, something that is very different. And actually, if you think about it from the standpoint of utility, this is actually good and it may not be pleasurable for the sinful man who wants to, uh, uh, maximize his pleasure in a certain way, but this is actually what is good for men and we'll, we'll just see it a few moments.

Why? So adultery, uh, the principle there is the sanctity of marriage, uh, and sanctity of family relationships. You have faithfulness, loyalty, devotion to one's spouse for one's lifetime. These are all built in, into this negative, uh, command against adultery because you would, uh, lawfully enjoy, uh, marriage within, with your spouse and with not with anyone else.

And if you think about the old Testament, what was the penalty for adultery in, in the Bible? That's right. It was death. So there was really no, like in the, in the new Testament, when you talk about a divorce and its conditions, one of those conditions is, um, uh, unfaithfulness to marriage and adultery.

Whereas, uh, when you look at the old Testament, there was really no. Um, provision for the adulterer to come out. So there were the, the, there was no sacrifice that was provided. You know, if you committed adultery, you could go do the sacrifice and be free.

This was, you would, you died. Um, but at the same time, there is also God's grace for sinners in this area. Can you think of anyone in the Bible who was not stoned? A very, very, uh, glaring example that should come into your mind.

Uh, there was a punishment that was dealt, but it was not the stoning of either David or, um, uh, but sheba. Although I think, you know, David had a role in getting her husband killed and, and he, he was particularly heinous in the manner in which he did both murder as well as adultery.

Both of those sins, which were capital punishments, but God did forgive him. Although the baby that was born, um, did, did die. Uh, now let's look at it from the new Testament. What are some of the new Testament texts?

I mean, there's plenty of texts here that talk about, uh, the sin sexual sins. Um, can you think of maybe just one or two that we can briefly comment on woman at the well, like, so what happens there and, uh, and it's very interesting how God, uh, Jesus picks this outcasts of society who is pretty much in all the ways, shapes, and forms, you know, not part of the community, and then he brings, he speaks with her, he engages with her, talks to her about worship.

And then finally confronts her on her sin of at that point in time, fornication, um, and, uh, and then saves her, it seems from the text. Um, what about some commands about, about adultery? Excellent.

And, and actually that term sexual immorality, uh, fornication, those terms, you just find pretty much throughout the new Testament talking about, you know, watch out for these things, these are sinful, any other texts that you can think of and the right way to view, uh, your body.

And as a, as a temple of the Holy spirit and, uh, and the dangers of the worldly thinking that was prevalent, especially in Corinthians to pervade into the Christian thinking, you know, you, you say, I got saved, I'm saved by grace and now I can do whatever I want.

No, not really. Uh, you do not belong to yourself. You belong to Christ. Matthew 27. Oh, five 27. Yes. Right. Excellent. And that's where I wanted to kind of spend a few moments before we move to the next.

In fact, I like pastor Dave, you know, he always reminds, uh, summertime, you know, make a covenant with your eyes that you will not watch what is sinful. You know, he says, and it's very true in, especially in this part of country, summertime, you know, the clothes just come off, you know, it's, it's just some kind of rule that, you know, you, the less clothes you walk with, then, you know, I dunno, you're cooler or whatever it is.

Uh, but the, but the dangers, uh, especially for men is to watch out, how God your eyes and make sure that you do not, um, uh, actually this was a great question. I, when I was in India, one of the students who was very bold, uh, he stood up and asked, you know, um, when you see a woman, it is easy to.

Uh, think, you know, transgress on Matthew five, because you can, you can have sexual thoughts run through your mind and then soon it can become lost. And then you, you are sinning and how do you deal with this?

It seems so hard to handle. And, um, one of the, uh, principles that I learned as a young Christian, which I think is very helpful and which is what pastor Dave was talking about is temptation is not sin, you know, just because, uh, some temp temptation, whatever shape way, shape or form comes your way.

Uh, doesn't mean that you have sinned. Um, and the illustration that I heard was this, it's like a bird that is flying, you know, in the sky. You see that bird and it is tempting. It is, it is a metaphor of the sin that is coming.

It's not the bird itself. So the bird flies through the sky and, uh, you, you see it and like pastor Dave says, close your eyes, turn your eyes away, don't entertain that bird. But the moment you give it a little bit of contemplation, that bird comes and sits on your head.

And he doesn't just sit and do something and leave, but I'll let you figure out what I was thinking of. He normally brings a little twig. He puts it there. And then if you keep entertaining him a little longer, he'll bring another twig and before you know it, he is building a little nest and then, you know, he, he will have his eggs and his family.

And then before you know it, you're, you're a nice, um, vegetation for that tree, for that fruit, for that bird to live on. And that's basically temptation. If you think of James one, you know, temptation comes your way.

You do not send by just being tempted. Jesus was tempted. Um, but it is the way we respond to it and continue to grant it, um, fodder in our minds that leads you to sin. So you can be, you can choose as a believer, you have the ability to say no to sin when you are tempted to resist the sin because of the power of Christ that is in you.

If you're not a believer, you do not have that ability. You're a slave to sin. The Bible says, and therefore it is impossible to, uh, to say, no, you might like Augustine would say you might resist one sin and while you're resisting that sin, you'll fall into something else.

But as a believer, you have the power of God, the spirit of God who indwells you, who can make that bird keep flying away or shoot it down, whatever you do with it. Uh, but, uh, but, but the point is in Matthew five, which is talking about not just the end result of adultery.

Nobody just becomes an adulterer overnight. It is because there was something else that was going on. That bird decided to build its nest on your head before you committed that sin. And Jesus deals with the heart of sin.

And the one who looks at a woman with lust, um, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. All right. Before we move on any comments on the seventh commandment. All right. The next one is, uh, the eighth one was 15.

Okay. Simple. These are very short, brief versus, um, now, uh, the principle that comes from there obviously is honesty in the manner in which you gain your possessions. In fact, this was a very interesting discussion in India where we have a lot of inequality between those who have and those who don't have.

And, um, so that kind of tends people to move into, uh, like a socialist mindset where maybe, you know, the best way to deal with this iniquity in equality is to just, you know, do like, uh, the early church and acts, you know, let's just give everything to everybody.

Well, that's not exactly what happened either, but people assume that it would be, that would take care of this problem where people have positions, but, um, uh, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. So there's, there's two things.

One is honesty, how you acquire positions. And then the second one is actually, uh, an, an independent, a corollary, which is the right to own your own possessions. There's really nothing sinful in, in acquiring, um, uh, positions.

But let's not talk about the first one, how you acquire, what are some of the ways that people violate this? Thou shall not steal. Maybe let's break that up into two groups. One is the most obvious ones and the other, which is not maybe so obvious.

What are some ways people obviously steal and ways in which people may not think they're stealing when they're actually stealing, right? So it's not, uh, you're not going to the, uh, work and, um, stealing from their cash register, but you take something from them, which you're not allowed to, but you don't think it is a big deal that's something that's not meant for work, right?

Right. Okay. So that could be a subtle way of stealing Scott. Did you want to say something? Income tax. Yeah. So, um, uh, who's watching, you know, I can, I can fudge the numbers a little bit and get away with it and I'm fine.

So that's, that's, uh, that's a big way we want to, and why, why would that be from a new Testament verse? What would be a verse that talks about that? Uh, in like income tax, that's the Bible talk about uncle Sam.

Yes, that's right. So Jesus makes it very clear. You know, they actually asked him a direct question. You know, should we pay taxes to this while abominable ruler who puts this image on this coin and wants us to worship and Jesus is like, it's very simple, give it to him what he is due.

Give the, give the King what is due. And I don't, I think that should be exactly applicable to us. And if he went back to this issue of work, what would be a prop, maybe a general new Testament text that would secondarily apply to this being honesty at work, what is that?

Yeah. Just tell me the verse. What, what do you remember? That's right. It is in Colossians three to servants. I pleases, but as unto the Lord, so serve your masters as if you were serving the Lord himself and you wouldn't steal from the Lord and you don't want to be stealing from your masters either.

Excellent. Um, any other ways that you can think of? Excellent. And this is a greater temptation today because especially with Facebook or other social tools that are so, um, common, um, people can tend to abuse those during work hour instead of working.

I think there was some statistic done about the amount of time people spend and how much that resulted in a drop in productivity because people were just. Distracted rather than working. And that would be sinful for the believer, uh, who just does not, um, who is not honest with his work for what he should do.

And the flip side, how about a masters? What could be some ways in which masters could be stealing from their employees? Right. Uh, Colossians four, one masters given to your servants, that which is just an equal knowing that you also have a master in heaven, and, uh, this is just as applicable to every believer in every walk of life about not being a stealer, but rather being one who is honest, uh, with, with the, with the merchandise or with the goods that we have.

Um, and there's, there's plenty of other ways that we can subtly let this, uh, you know, we could just say, oh, I don't go and steal from a store. I don't steal from the bank, but there could be a lot of other ways in which, um, honesty in our dealings with others can be compromised.

And we have plenty of texts that talk about this danger beginning with, with, with our heart. Any other thoughts on stealing? All right. So, oh, sorry, go ahead. Excellent. And I think Malachi talks about that where, uh, you know, the, here you have people who just say, you know, we, um, in the, in the old Testament, they were holding back from God what they would do.

And, um, and I think, uh, from a, from a new Testament standpoint, what would be a good principle, good text or a principle in terms of not giving back to God, what are some of the things that God has given us that we, uh, ought to give back to him joyfully rather than, you know, as a, as a duty.

What, what are some texts that come to mind? What are ways that we could be stealing from God? Um, what is that? Okay. Okay. That's, that's very, that's deep. It took me a few seconds to connect that.

That's very true because when God has given us so much, our heart should have a heart of gratitude and thankfulness to him. But instead I could be this churl who's just ignoring all the goodness that God has given to me, and then I could just be, you know, either complaining to God or just walk around with a door face.

Um, while God has actually blessed me with much excellent point. Very good. I didn't think of that. Yes. Not praying and what, what, how specifically does that address this area of, of stealing from God?

Uh, that's excellent. Actually, um, you know, the amount of time, if you just measured, you know, maybe for a day or two on your notebook, how much time do you spend in the presence of God versus everything else that we do?

I think many of us would be just deeply convicted of this lack of, uh, faith in God or trust in God that as opposed to, um, the, where our heart is, you know, where your treasure is there, your heart is also the amount of time you spend at work and everything else versus the time that we spend in the presence of God.

I just do a little note on that. You know, um, it is good for us to set aside some time just for quiet time with the Lord, you know, as you read the word, meditate on the word, pray to God through the word so that you just draw upon his strength.

Uh, and that heart of prayer should also permeate through the day. So no matter what you're doing, you are, you know, have a hymn of Thanksgiving in your heart as you're going about your work that reminds you of what God has done for you, keeps your heart rightly focused.

Uh, as you go through life, you remember someone pray for them. As you meet, uh, go through a circumstances, pray to the Lord for it. And that basically shows you whether your heart is, uh, focused in faith toward God, or is it just, you know, me ruling my world, uh, every time, except when I'm, you know, in church or in, in my time, uh, in the word.

So that's excellent. Uh, there was a couple of hands in the back. Yes. Actually, that was the place I was going when I first heard this term. Uh, because I think, you know, when we have spiritual gifts, God intends for us to use for the ministry in the body, he gives us those gifts freely.

We didn't earn them. And God wants us to use that to edify or build up one another and bring glory to God. And so very often we can just be either prideful or whatever, or selfish, uh, and then say, you know what, I'm not going to just, uh, serve the body, but rather I'm just going to serve myself with what God has given.

And that would be a clear example of not, uh, using gifts the way God intended. Excellent point. Excellent. Actually, we should probably take a few minutes to talk about that, especially given what I mentioned earlier.

Um, so there was no compulsion upon anyone to give anything. Um, but there was a obvious need in the, in the, in the Jerusalem church. You know, all these people come, they don't have jobs. They, they, they needed a provision for these people.

And, uh, as the people were saved by the love of God, they were filled with the love of God for these people. And they sold what they possessed and then shared it in common. And not everybody did, and not everybody did on everything.

And Anna is when they saw, I think it was Barnabas, right? Um, gay gaining prominence because of what he did. They wanted to gain that prominence. They come at it with the wrong attitude. Again, we'd look at motives, not just the money they gave.

And then when they did that, they also lied by, they wanted to look better than what they really were. So they said, we, this is all that we had and we've given it to you. And, uh, and they basically lied to Peter, um, and to the Holy spirit, as Peter would say, and, um, God, they received the judgment of God right there and they were killed.

And, uh, it just demonstrates that, um, there was, there was a very specific purpose why God did that at that point in the early church. Here is a young judge being started, um, under the apostolic leadership.

And, uh, the spirit of God, uh, was affirming the work in and through Peter and, uh, and dealing with this deception that was coming in, into the early church as it was getting started. And so there was, there was a sin and it was punished directly both Ananias and Sapphira.

Was there one more hand? All right. And I think hopefully for us as a new Testament saints, we get to see the heart attitude that we should have. We are stewards of what God has given us, whether it is stewards of the spiritual gifts that God has given us, uh, of a time that he has given us off the relationship that we get to enjoy with God or the places that he places, whether, whether we are at work as a worker or as a manager, or whether we are paying taxes and all of these things, we are stewards or managers of the things that God has given to us, and we want to deal with it honestly toward others.

Honesty in Speech and the Ninth Commandment

The next commandment is the ninth in verse 16, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Once again, this is a matter of honesty in the manner in which you deal with your neighbor. Uh, speak the truth, do not speak lies, do not spread false allegations, defamation, slander.