The Ten Commandments: Loving God, Loving Your Neighbor

Introduction

That Sunday was Mother's Day, the second Sunday of May. And the passage read in the service wasn't first of all a text "about mothers": it was Exodus 20, the long list of the Ten Commandments. And yet, in the middle of that chapter, one precise sentence gave birth, more than a century ago, to the day the whole world now celebrates: "Honor your father and your mother" (Exodus 20:12).

This message goes back to that connection, but it goes much further. It invites you to read the Ten Commandments as a single invitation: love God, and love the people around you as yourself. Not to become a superhuman Christian. To become, quite simply, truly human again.

Outline

1. A Mother's Day born from a verse in the Ten Commandments

The story isn't well known. In 1908, in the United States, a woman named Anna Jarvis still carried the memory of her mother, who taught Sunday school. One day, that mother had read Exodus 20:12 to the children and told them: "Think about how you can, in your own way, express your gratitude to your parents." Little Anna tucked that sentence away somewhere in her heart.

Two years after her mother's death, she organized a memorial service for her in her church. She decorated the sanctuary with white carnations, her mother's favorite flower, and gave a carnation to everyone present, saying: "When you see this carnation, remember your mother." From that small gesture, in a church, the Mother's Day we know today was born.

Since then, the tradition has broadened a little: a red carnation when the mother is still living, a white carnation when she has already passed away. But the origin remains the same: a verse from the Ten Commandments, read by a mother to children one Sunday morning.

2. Two tables, one single movement of the heart

The preacher points out that the Ten Commandments aren't ten rules stacked together at random. They divide into two parts.

Verses 3 to 11 speak of our relationship with God: have no other gods before him, do not make an idol for yourself, do not take his name in vain, keep the day of rest. He makes an important point about idols: they aren't only statues of wood or stone. An idol is whatever takes, in your life, the place that belongs to God. It can be a person. It can be money. It can be a social position. It can even be, he says, your health, when you put so much energy into protecting it that it ends up ruling your decisions in God's place.

Verses 12 to 17 speak of our relationship with others: honor your parents; do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not covet what belongs to your neighbor. Six commandments about everyday life, family, neighbors, work.

Summed up in one sentence, says the preacher: "Whatever matters to you, make sure it matters for others too." Or, as Jesus himself put it when asked what the greatest commandment was: love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30 to 31).

3. The Sabbath: rest for you, but also for those who depend on you

The preacher lingers on a verse we tend to read too quickly: Exodus 20:10. The day of rest isn't just a right you claim for yourself. The text specifies: you shall do no work, "you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates."

He points out how far this sentence, written about 3,500 years ago, still reaches today. Every person, he says, including those who depend on us, those in a position of weakness, those who live with us without the same rights, needs rest in order to live as a human being. "Every leader and person in authority in the world should write this word on their heart." At its root, the Sabbath is a concern for others, not only for yourself.

4. A mother's heart, an image of the heart of God

The preacher shares two personal memories. As a child, he attended a preschool connected to a church. The head of the school, a pastor's wife he calls Kishida Toshiko sensei, told him something one day that he never forgot: "The love of God, that love so great that he went so far as to sacrifice his own Son, Jesus, for us, the human love that comes closest to it on this earth, is a mother's love."

He also recalls an old proverb passed down in the churches: "The hand that rocks the cradle is also the hand that prays, and that hand can move the world." A mother's prayer, he says, doesn't concern only her child. It carries a reach that overflows her home, that touches an era, that reaches the whole world.

Finally, he mentions Sister Ige from his church, whose father went to be with the Lord in May 2015, eleven years ago. She offered the flowers that decorated the sanctuary that Sunday, in her father's memory. What the preacher takes from his own Christian journey, through these anniversaries of loss that come back every year, is this: the hope of eternal life. Healings received through prayer, concrete answers from God to this or that problem, are wonderful, of course. But what stands firm the moment you lose a father or a mother is the certainty that death does not have the last word.

5. What these commandments produce when Christ lives in you

At the end of the message, the preacher opens to Galatians 5:22 to 23, the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law."

He makes an important observation. If you look again at the last six commandments (honor your parents, do not murder, do not steal, do not lie, do not covet), you might think: "These are obvious. You don't need to be a believer to understand that you shouldn't kill your neighbor." And yet, no one truly lives out these obvious truths. That, he says, is the reality of this world marked by sin: we know what would be right, and we cannot manage to do it.

Believing in Jesus, he clarifies, is not becoming a superhuman Christian who, through sheer willpower, finally manages to check off the ten boxes. It's something else. It is letting the risen Jesus into your heart; it is letting the Holy Spirit rebuild you from the inside out. Little by little, what seemed obvious without being real (honoring your parents, not lying, not coveting, loving your neighbor) becomes possible. Not because you have become extraordinary, but because Christ lives in you.

And when that happens, he adds, the people around you notice it. "That person is different," they say. They give you their trust. They open their hearts to you. The blessing God promises to the one who keeps his commandments, "showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6), doesn't stop with you. It becomes a river of living water that touches those around you and flows down through the generations.

Key takeaways

• The Ten Commandments sum up into a single invitation: love God, and love others as yourself.
• An idol isn't necessarily a statue: it is whatever takes, in your life, the place reserved for God.
• The Sabbath isn't a selfish right: it is also a duty of rest toward those who depend on you.
• A mother's love is, on this earth, the closest image of God's love, and a mother's prayer carries a reach beyond her own home.
• Living out the commandments isn't a Christian performance: it is the fruit of Christ living in you through the Holy Spirit.

Personal application

• Is there something good in itself in your life today (your health, a person, a project, a position) that has quietly taken the place of God?
• How does your weekly rhythm of rest take into account those who depend on you (family, coworkers, people you employ, the more vulnerable people around you)?
• To whom, your father or your mother (living or already gone), do you owe a gratitude today that you keep putting off?
• Which specific commandment, among the last six, do you sense you're stuck on (despite your good intentions), and where do you need Christ to work in you from within?
• Who around you might one day notice that "you are different," not because of your performance, but because of the inner work of the Holy Spirit?

Verses quoted

• Exodus 20:1 to 17: The Ten Commandments (ESV)
• Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother" (ESV)
• Exodus 20:10: The Sabbath for you and for those who depend on you (ESV)
• Exodus 20:6: Steadfast love to a thousand generations (ESV)
• Mark 12:28 to 31: The greatest commandment according to Jesus (ESV)
• Galatians 5:22 to 23: The fruit of the Spirit (ESV)

FAQ

Are the Ten Commandments still valid for a Christian today?

Yes. Jesus himself did not abolish the law; he summed it up at its root: love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30 to 31). What changes in the New Testament isn't the law itself, it's the way we're able to live it out: no longer by sheer willpower, but through the Holy Spirit who produces in us what the law demanded.

Why is Mother's Day linked to Exodus 20:12?

Because it was born in a Christian context. In 1908, in the United States, Anna Jarvis organized the first memorial service for her mother based on the commandment: "Honor your father and your mother." Her mother had asked her, as a child, to think about how to express gratitude to her parents. The celebration later spread around the world.

How can I live out the Sabbath today when I work so much?

The message reminds us that the Sabbath isn't only a personal right: it is also a duty toward those who depend on us. Living out the Sabbath today doesn't mean going on vacation alone while leaving others to work for us; it means making sure that everyone around us (family, coworkers, more vulnerable people) can also rest and find, each week, a time to breathe and to be with God.