I’m not sure what people are calling it these
days, but I’ve noticed that people have called couples that are in a
relationship several different things through the years. I gather from older movies that folks used to
call it “going steady.” When I was in
elementary and Junior High school, people were “going together.” In High School and college people were
“dating,” or “seeing” each other.
Whatever we call it, what we mean by all those phrases is that a couple
is in an exclusive relationship. There comes a point in every relationship
where two people decide to be committed to one another exclusively and not
anyone else, and if the relationship is serious enough, that couple will
eventually vow this to one another in marriage.
There would be something troubling about a marriage where one of the
parties did not want to commit to the other exclusively. What we learn here is that love actually demands exclusivity in certain relationships.
This principle is also true in our relationship
with God. God demands that we worship
Him exclusively in the first
commandment. God’s people are to have no
other gods before Him (Exodus 20:1-3).
Now this sounds pretty simple and
straightforward: God’s people are to have no other gods besides Yahweh. But as we unpack this first commandment
today, I think you will see that keeping
this commandment is not as simple and straightforward as it sounds. Why is this the case? It is because as sinners, we are by nature idolaters. John Calvin got it right when he said that
the human heart was a perpetual idol factory and that we come out of the womb
as experts in idolatry.[1] Since
we are so prone to break this commandment, let’s pray that God would God would
show us our idols, would bring us to the place where we beg God for grace to
worship Him alone, and then help us to look to Christ when we fail to.
[20:1] And God spoke all these words,
saying, [2] “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of slavery. [3] “You shall have no other gods
before me.” (Exodus
20:1-17 ESV) So
what does the first commandment require and why should we obey it?
I.
Understanding the Content of the First
Commandment (20:3)
Let’s unpack this commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The first thing we need to notice is that the first commandment is addressed to each
of us individually from God (20:1,3a).
The “you” in this commandment
is singular, not plural. In other words,
all of us are individually responsible
to keep this command (as well as every other human being who has ever
lived). God was directing these
commandments to each one of the children of Israel that were standing at the
foot of Mount Sinai.
Secondly, the
first commandment calls for the exclusive worship of Yahweh (20:3b). God’s
people are to have no other gods before
or besides Him. He is to be recognized as the ONE and ONLY
God and to be worshipped exclusively,
or alone. God is letting His people know here that He does not share the stage
with other performers. This flies in the
face of what is called polytheism, or
the belief that there are many gods. As
a matter of fact, in the ten plagues of the Exodus, God was demonstrating the
reality that He was the only true God by showing His power over the “gods” of Egypt (Exodus 12:12).
The first commandment is a call for covenant loyalty on the part of God’s
people. It demands that God be first
and center of everything in our
lives. What I mean by “first” is that God should be our
highest priority. We should love Him
more than anyone or anything in our lives.
I think this is how Moses and Jesus interpreted this command (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:36-38). What I mean by “center” is that God should be the sun in the solar system of our
lives. We should see Him as the fount of
every blessing, the strength for every trial, the motive for every act of
obedience, etc. When we see God as the
center of our lives, everything from our work to our play to our relationships
becomes an act of worship to Him. Is God
first and center in your life?
Finally, the
first commandment commandment condemns idolatry (20:3). What are “other
gods”? The Bible calls them idols. People often tend to think of
idols as little statues made of wood and stone, but the Bible has something far
deeper in mind when it comes to what an idol is. An idol
is anything or anyone in creation that we worship above or alongside of God the
Creator. Habakkuk 1:11 speaks of people whose “might is their god.” Philippians 3:19 speaks of people whose
“god is their belly.” In Colossians
3:5, Paul said that covetousness
“is idolatry.” J.I. Packer says, “Your god is what you love, seek, worship, serve, and allow to control
you.”[2]
Augustine said, “Idolatry is worshipping
anything that ought to be used, or using anything that ought to be worshipped.”[3] One more from Matthew Henry: “Pride makes a god of self, covetousness
makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly; whatever is esteemed
or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended upon, more than God, that
(whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.”[4]
The reason people worshipped these little statues
and images called idols in Scripture is because these gods promised to deliver
things like pleasure, fame, success, fertility, comfort, power, etc. Are we prone to give our selves in pursuit of
those same things today? Of course we
are! When you understand that, you see
that all we have really done is gotten rid of the statues and changed the name
of the idol.
How do we discern what the idols are in our life? Let me first challenge you to make this a
serious matter of prayer and fasting before God, because as fallen human
beings, we are prone not only to idolatry, but also to self-deception about our idolatry!
But I would like to give you some questions that can help you identify
some of the idols in your life. First, what or whom do you treasure? Jesus said that our heart would be
wherever our treasure was (Matthew 6:19-24)
and that no man can serve two masters.
Second, what or who causes your highest joy or your lowest
grief? I find that I can often identify idols in my life
by taking an inventory of my affections for certain things. What I often find there is that sometimes a
good thing has become an idol in my life.
Third, what or who can you not
live without? In Mark 10:17-31, Jesus revealed the rich
young ruler’s idolatry by asking him to part with his possessions. He went away sorrowful because he could not
live without them. Fourthly, what
or who do you run to in times of need? Times
of crisis often reveal functional saviors that we secretly worship. Finally, what
or who is at the center of your life? In
other words, what do you live for? What
does everything else in your life revolve around? What or who is first and center?
II.
Understanding the Reason for the First
Commandment (20:1-2)
It is monumental to see that Exodus 20:1-2 is the premise
for this first commandment. It is really
the premise for all of the Ten Commandments, but especially for this first one.
God declares WHO He is and WHAT He has done (the events of the
Exodus) for His people as the grounds
for why they should keep these commandments.
In other words, these commands flow out of the relationship that God has
with His people, a relationship where who
God is and what He has done
establishes His right to issue these commands to His people.
Who does God say that He is? He reminds them that He is their Creator and faithful Covenant Partner (20:2a).
The Hebrew word here for God is “Elohim,”
the name used for God in the creation account.
As Creator, God has the right to demand loyalty from His creatures. But God is not an impersonal being; He says, “I am the LORD your God.” When “LORD”
appears in all capital letters in the Old Testament, it is because the name “YAHWEH” is being used for God. This was the name God gave to Moses at the
burning bush, a name that would remind God’s people that these commands were
coming from their faithful COVENANT
PARTNER. The commands were coming
from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who was keeping His promises to
them.
God also highlights what He has done for
them. He says, “I…brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
Not only is God their Creator and
faithful Covenant Partner, He is also their REDEEMER. They have history
with the One given these commands. God
miraculously demonstrated His power and love for them by freeing them from
miserable slavery.
We see this same connection elsewhere in the
Bible. [9] There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow
down to a foreign god. [10] I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out
of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. (Psalm 81:9-10 ESV) But I am
the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides
me there is no savior. (Hosea 13:4 ESV)
Why is it important for us to consider who God is and what He has done for us in order to keep this command to worship
God exclusively? It is important for the
reasons that we mentioned earlier. There
is a big difference between a child who demands to be first in line at recess
and a husband who demands that his wife be exclusively committed to him. The relationship between the child and the
other children is not the same as the relationship between a husband and his
wife. Being reminded of who God is and
what He has done for us shows us that God is not an immature child demanding to be first; He is the infinite
Creator, Covenant Partner and Redeemer of His people who rightly deserves to be
exclusively worshipped.
Brother and sisters, may we never forget who our
God is and what He has done for us! God
has brought about a greater Exodus for us through the work of His Son Jesus
Christ. If you are a Christian today,
God has freed you from slavery to Satan, sin and death through the
substitutionary work of Jesus Christ on the cross. In the life of Jesus Christ, God became a man
and kept this very commandment for us (Matthew
4:10). In His death, He bore the
wrath for every instance that we would every break this commandment. And Just as God demonstrated His power over
the so-called gods of Egypt, Jesus Christ demonstrated His power over the
forces of death and hell by conquering the grave. Colossians
2:15 says that Jesus Christ publically put them to shame! He is the one true God and is fully deserving
of our exclusive worship.
We must ponder who God is and what He has done for
us today, because it is not enough to simply tell you to stop committing
idolatry. We need to also see a God whom
no idol could ever hope to pack a lunch next to! We need to see a God who leaves any rival in
the dust of His glory.
Remember
what we said about the Ten Commandments a few weeks ago. This is how you were created to live. True freedom isn’t being able to do whatever
you want. That’s being your own god. True freedom isn’t being your own god, it’s
being able to do what you were created to do: know and worship God forever. Will you clear the stage of your heart and
turn to Him today as the one and only God by putting your faith in Jesus
Christ?
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