An Interesting Question...

Have you ever taken a pop quiz in life? I was at church this weekend and I asked if anyone could name me 10 pro sports teams. A brave young boy was the first to respond and he did a very good job of rattling off 10 teams. No stutters, no pauses (or very short pauses). I then asked him if he could name me the 10 commandments. He gave me 3 pretty fast, and then he started to falter. Now, I cut him off (so as not to embarrass)and asked the rest of the congregation if anyone could name me the 10 commandments.... Now, I don't know whether it was a lack of "on the spot" memory, a fear of speaking in public, or just one of the common bonds among Baptists which is an aversion to raising our hands for any reason during a church service. To be fair, I know for a fact that many of the church's members could have told me, if not all 10 in order, 9 without much problem.

Ok, why did I ask these two questions. One word - Evangelism. I did this to show how easy it can be to get someone to interact with you so that you can begin to share the truth of the Word with them. Without belaboring the point (because many others do a better job than I do), we need to be involved in evangelism. We need to go out to the world to show the light of life. The reason we need the 10 commandments is that unsaved people need to be shown how harshly God sees sin. Only then, when we understand how exceedingly wicked sin (any sin) is, are we able to understand the true love of God!

If you haven't yet, I advise you to listen to the sermon called "Hells Best Kept Secret" as given by Ray Comfort or Kirk Cameron. This is a powerful sermon that sparked a renewed commitment to repentance - true repentance - and it's role in true conversions. Also how false repentance results in false conversion.

How does all of this come together? The 10 Commandments should be the primary tool to prepare the way for the gospel message that we are called to bring (Psalm 19:7). Just look at some of Paul's writings about the law in Romans 3:20; 7:7; and Galations 3:24. Again, these are a snapshot, not the full spectrum of the Biblical argument for using the law to show us of our sinfulness.

We need to understand the gospel that we preach and have a passion for the lost. Now, this doesn't mean that all true Christians must stand on the street corner handing out tracts or standing on a park bench preaching to the passers-by. I do think that all Christians should have a burden for the lost and be equipped and willing to witness to the lost. I think that once we become equipped, we'll be more motivated by the Holy Spirit to bubble over with this information, and we'll naturally go out of our way to share this truth - Law and then the Gospel - with the lost.

10 Commandment Medallion images from LivingWaters.com