When I was a young Christian I began reading a lot. A lot of Bible and a lot of theology. I picked up some old confessions of faith where the brightest of my Christian ancestors worked together to summarize what the Bible taught about various important matters.

In reading those confessions, I couldn’t help but notice that most—if not all—included an exposition of the Ten Commandments. In my early experience, many well-meaning Christians taught me that the Ten Commandments were just for the Jews so I didn’t need to dwell on them. Better to stick to the New Testament. Moreover, most believers I knew at that time could barely name two or three of the ten commands. By word and deed, I was taught to see the Ten Commandments as a relic of yesterday and not a treasure for today.

I was wrong.

The Ten Commands Are Good, Actually

Like God’s promises, God’s commands are good, actually. The Ten Commandments reveal God’s never changing character and are morally binding upon all people at all times in all places. Yes, they also show us our sin (and that hurts), but knowing the bad news about our sin causes us to finally look up to see the glory of the gospel of our salvation! Even more, the Law’s practical wisdom guides us to live a life that will only grow richer, not poorer. As the Psalmist says, “The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimonies of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7-11). The man who meditates and walks according to them is blessed (Psalm 1:1-2). The Law of God isn’t a burden, but a blessing.

You may be thinking, “How can a list of prohibitions be so good or ‘revive my soul'” (Ps. 19:7)? I understand that. To the superficial reader, the commands seem only to be explicit “no’s”: “no murder” or “no stealing” or “no lying.” However, all the “thou shalt nots” carry hidden “thou shalts.” Behind “no murder” there is a “yes, care about people.” Behind “no stealing” you should hear a “yes, respect people.” Behind “no, adultery” there is a hearty, “Be faithful to people.” In these Ten Words, God is essentially saying, “Avoid the wrong and pursue the good.” All the “no’s” carry implied “yeses”. God gave His Ten Commandments not as a stern checklist of what not to do, but as a living map on how to worship God and love others.

Let me show you how.

The First Table: A Guide to Worship

As you likely know, God gave Moses ten commandments written on two tablets. The first has to with our worship of God and the second our love of neighbor. Jesus offered the best summary of both tables: love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-39). So, the two “great commandments” aren’t new, they’re just fresh ways of summarizing the old Ten Commandments God gifted his people with at Sinai.

Surprisingly, you’ll notice the list of ten doesn’t start with a command, but a proclamation of the basis of our worship: the gospel that God saves sinners who trust Him.

The Prologue: The Basis of Worship

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2). Before any command, God declares Himself our Deliverer. Isn’t that a comfort? Worship begins here—with the One who’s saved us and how he saved us. It’s a grounding truth: we adore Him because He first loved us. Paul underlines this same reality in Romans where he unpacks the good news of God’s saving grace in Romans 1-11 and then turns to show believers how to live “by the mercies of God” (Romans 12:1). Our obedience isn’t toward salvation, but from it; it isn’t the grounds of salvation, but its fruit.

So how do the saved live?

Commandment 1: The Object of Worship

“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). This one’s a call to focus: Him alone, no rivals. We all catch ourselves sometimes chasing little gods—worry, ambition, material possessions, status—but this command pulls us back to the one from Whom and for Whom we exist.

Commandment 2: The Manner of Worship

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Exodus 20:4). God won’t be boxed in or tamed by our hands. We often like to customize the way we worship to what is convenient or comfortable for us, but God calls us to love Him as He wants to be loved. By all means, enjoy and honor God in all areas of life – on your hikes, at sunsets, reading novels, or having coffee with friends, but don’t neglect the ways He’s instructed you to worship Him. God doesn’t want improvised, but faithful worship; on His terms, not ours.

Commandment 3: The Heart of Worship

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7, ESV). Though this command is often reduced to not using God’s name as a cuss word, it’s not limited to that. It’s about reverence, the heart from which our words pour out. Careless speech about God is a symptom of careless worship of God. God isn’t offended by our careless words about Him as much as the careless heart that provides it. To say it positively, it is heart worship, not lip worship, that God cares about.

Commandment 4: The Time of Worship

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). This one’s a gift—a pause button in a frantic world. I’m inclined to fill my days with exhausting work on earthward things, but God says, “Set aside and be serious about the one day I’ve given you each week for special rest for your body and worship of me from your soul.” God has scheduled our gathered worship into our calendars and we neglect this at the peril of our body and soul.

In this table, God doesn’t simple say to love Him with all our heart, but how. In the next table, God instructs us on how to love our neighbor.

The Second Table: A Call to Love

Like the first four, these commands aren’t just “don’ts”—they’re “do’s” in disguise, painting a picture of love lived out. In her famous song, Cher once sang, “What is love?” In the second table, God answers.

Commandment 6: The Work of Love

“You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). More than avoiding harm, this calls us to labor for the good of people in our reach; not to harm, but to protect and nurture their life. It shows us love isn’t a feeling, but an action. It has hands and feet. If your love isn’t working to better people’s character or circumstances, it isn’t love at all.

Commandment 7: The Commitment of Love

“You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). Faithfulness is the heartbeat here. True love stays true. In a world of broken promises, this calls us to honor our obligations to spouse, family, church, workplace, and neighbor. Genuine love doesn’t fall or fade with our feelings, but is steadfastly committed rain or shine, good or bad, thick or thin. It says, “I love you today and I will continue to love you tomorrow no matter what. It’s a high and beautiful bar to live up to, don’t you think?

Commandment 8: The Respect of Love

“You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). This is about respecting the rights of others and reminding ourselves it they’re not ours to take. We don’t take our work hours to use them for solitaire. We don’t take the hard earned money of other people. We take ourselves or our resources away from the church family God has called us to. We are to practice love that doesn’t grab, but gives.

Commandment 9: The Truthfulness of Love

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Loving my neighbor means speaking truly to them – guarding us against lies, false accusations, convenient exaggerations or half-truths. It also means speaking truly about them – guarding against slander, gossip, and bitter speech intending to hurt or destroy. When someone does something evil or foolish, God teaches to have a kind of love that chooses to say the hard (and sometimes hurtful) true thing to help them change instead of the easy lie that will comfortably enable them to continue in their folly. Truth is the language love.

Commandment 10: The Contentment of Love

“You shall not covet” (Exodus 20:17). We love others well when we rest in what God gives. Our culture’s guide to happiness is to travel the road of “more” with the promise it will lead to the land of happiness. Instead, love walks the road of contentment and doesn’t seek what isn’t ours to have. A covetous heart anxiously seeks happiness by collecting things for King Me, but love contentedly and cheerfully cares for others in the Name of King Jesus.

A Lamp Unto My Feet

The Psalmist sang it well, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105). It is God’s Word – yes, His Law – that helps us know not only to love God and others, but how. They’re not as much rules as they are lamps, lighting the way to worship God rightly and love others well. We all trip over them often—our heart veers, our tongue slips—but the One who saved us by His blood will be faithful to guide us by His Spirit to walk the path of his perfect Law.