The Sanction for the Fourth Commandment – A Kingdom Catechism

The Sanction for the Fourth Commandment

A Kingdom Catechism

Why do so many Christians have such a perfunctory experience of the Lord?

Q 81: What sanction does the Lord threaten for disobeying the fourth commandment?

A 81: The Lord threatens that He will cut off from His people any who violate the fourth commandment. (Exod. 31:14)

If we will not worship the Lord as He commands, we should expect to be cut off from Him, not only in worship, but in all aspects of our lives as well. Many who profess faith in Jesus Christ do not experience the life of faith as a source of power, glory, or transcendent significance. Their worship is flat and perfunctory, their daily lives lack spiritual vitality or significance, and they are not consciously involved in the work of the Kingdom or the mission of the Church. Much of this lethargy and unreality can be traced back to improper worship, whether on the part of individual members or in their churches as a community. We are cut off from the Lord because we have cut ourselves off from the requirements of worship as set forth in the fourth commandment and all the Law and Word of God.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.