IDEA: The Ten Commandments involve both actions and attitudes.
TEXT: "Now as [Jesus] was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?' So Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not bear false witness," "Do not defraud," "Honor your father and your mother." ' " And he answered and said to Him, 'Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.' Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.' But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions" (Mark 10:17-22).
PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate that keeping the Ten Commandments involves our heart as well as our actions.
A young man whom we meet in the Bible had an unsettling conversation with Jesus, recorded in Mark 10:17-22.
Have you ever met anyone who said similar things about themselves?
Do you think when people were saying that (this young man and people today) that they were consciously lying?
I. Why would anyone feel that they kept the commandments?
We often do not know the commandments to begin with. I could say that I have kept all the laws of the state of Massachusetts if the only law I knew was to stop at stop signs.
Some people think of the commandments as a set of behaviors. Are they right about that?
II. Do you think that people recognize that behind the commandments there are motives that are also important to God?
Imagine a member of the Mafia with a clever lawyer who kept him from being convicted: could that person claim to be a "law-abiding citizen"?
If I really hate someone enough to wish that person were dead, but because I don't want to go to prison for life I won't commit murder, would you say that I have kept the commandment, "You shall not kill"?
If I tell a half-truth about someone that leads people to think ill of that person, can I claim that I have not borne false witness?
III. When Jesus interpreted the commandments so that the motives were included, he wasn't making up something new.
He was restating the Ten Commandments to include their intent as well as the action.