“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (Exodus 20:1)

Those of us who are on the 40 Day Joel 2 Fast start reading and reflecting on The Ten Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 20:1-17, beginning today.

You may wish to consider what we are doing at our churches…go through the commandments 2 at a time for the five days that we will be focusing on this reading.

But, before we even get to examining The Ten Commandments, we need to address a simple question:

What is our motivation for obeying them?

#’s 2, 3 & 5 list specific consequences that follow our decision to obey/disobey them.

I believe that v. 1 lists the overall motivation for obeying all of them.

God reminds the people of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

Although, there is no conjunction “Therefore” between this verse and the next: “You shall have no other gods before me”, it is certainly implied, isn’t it?

Remember who you are obeying before you get to what you are obeying.

Moses makes this clear in Deuteronomy 4:33-35:

“Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.”

Just to make sure they do make the connection he goes on to say in v. 40:

“You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today…”

Yes, there are rewards for obedience and penalties for disobedience.

But, we do not obey primarily because of the promise of reward or the threat of punishment.

We do this because of what He has already done for us.

Jesus makes this abundantly clear in John 14:15, doesn’t he?

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

The apostle John puts it this way: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (I John 5:3)

The motivation for our obedience is HIS LOVE.

“We love because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19)

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

God so loved the people of Israel that He brought them out of Egypt. All they can say in return is: “We love you, Yahweh!” And then obey His commandments.

God so loved us that He gave His only Son to die on the cross for us. All we can say in return is: “We love you, Jesus!” And then obey His commands.

Obedience is simply the manifestation of our love. Amen?