Connect360: Holding to Absolutes in a Nihilistic World

• Lesson 1 in the BaptistWay Press Connect360 unit “Pillars” focuses on Exodus 20:1-17.

Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today? We live in a culture that promotes this life principle, “I do me, and you do you.” This means each person can determine for oneself what standards he or she will live by, and nobody has the prerogative to judge another’s actions, words, or opinions.

This study will explore how the Ten Commandments should be applied as well as what Jesus said was the Great Commandment. This study will end with a look at Jesus’ Great Commission to the church.

Societies throughout the ages have established rules and laws for their tribes, clans, kingdoms and nations to provide a sense of order and security. The Ten Commandments are moral directives directly given to us by the Lord God. Even though there had not previously been a revealed, written code from God, a sense of right and wrong was written in the hearts and minds of humanity.

So, if the law of God beats in our hearts, what is the need for the commandments? What was God’s purpose in giving the law to Moses on Mount Sinai?

God gave the Ten Commandments to enable us to see his holiness, and as we look in the mirror of God’s holiness, we will see our immorality. It is through the law that we recognize we need a Messiah. When we hold ourselves up to the law of God, when we compare our conduct and the state of our hearts to God’s standards, we realize we are sinners with a propensity for sinning. We need a Savior. We need God to come and do in us, through us, and for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

They are called the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. Our culture’s war against absolutes not only ignores the Ten Commandments, but it also celebrates as progress the slide toward enlightenment and the movement away from absolutes. The One who created us knows what brings hope and fulfillment. We ignore these commands at our peril.

God gave his law to the Hebrew people so they would walk in harmony with him and one another. He provided moral clarity to a world driven by violence and selfishness. He gave light to people living in darkness. He also pointed them to a hope beyond themselves: One who would come after them that would offer them a new nature.

In the coming weeks we will take a focused look at each of the Ten Commandments and how they relate within our culture today. Do they still provide the moral compass for our society, our family, our church?

Compiled by Stan Granberry, marketing coordinator for BaptistWay Press.

To learn more about BaptistWay Press and the Connect360 Bible study series, or to order materials, click here.