"Love Your God"
May 15, 2005
Exodus 20:1-11
We have reached the 10 Commandments!
In chapter 19, God Himself descended upon Mount Sinai in thunder and lightning and cloud with a loud trumpet blast and holy fire. And from that mountain on fire, God spoke the 10 Commandments.
Now, a very lot could be said about these 10 Commandments (and has, in fact!). I preached an entire sermon on each commandment back in the Summer of 2000 (which we hope to put up on the lansefree.org website this week for anyone interested). We could easily preach a sermon series on each commandment! Christians have seen a LOT here in these 10 Commandments over the last 3000 years.
But this time through the Book of Exodus, I want to cover them in just 2 weeks. We’re going to cover the first 4 this week. We already covered the 5th, really, last week. And we’ll cover the last 5 next week on Graduate Sunday.
And here’s where I get that. Matthew chapter 22. The Pharisees had heard that the Lord Jesus had confounded the Sadducees. So, they sent an expert in the Law of Moses to test Him. They were hoping to trip Jesus up. And the expert in the Law asked him, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Do you see what they wanted to do? They wanted to trap Him. If He said that one commandment was more important than another, perhaps they could catch him in a blasphemy or a contradiction. But Jesus is never caught. He wisely answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' [And then He said,] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Love Your God and Love Your Neighbor.
All of the Law hangs on (is suspended upon) these two commandments.
Love Your God and Love Your Neighbor.
Do you want the Law and the Prophets boiled down?
Do you want to know how to hang the Law and the Prophets in one place?
Do you want to get a handle on (a summary) of what the whole Old Testament demands?
Jesus says, "Love Your God and Love Your Neighbor."
At the risk of much oversimplification, I’d like to study the 10 Commandments with you with the first 4 commandments telling us how to love the Lord our God (this week) and the last 6 commandments telling us how to love our neighbors (next week).
Now, that is an oversimplification. Because obeying all of these commands (including the last 6) amounts to loving God. And there are certainly interpersonal dimensions in the first 4 commandments (loving others). But in general, the first 4 teach us how to love our God and the last 6 teach us how to love our neighbor.
It’s important before we go applying these 10 Commandments to ourselves to remember that they were given in a particular context. Exodus 20 does not address us first and foremost. It addresses Old Testament Israel. Verse 1 says that God spoke all these words to the Israelites camped at the base of the Mountain of God.
These commandments were for them. They were the establishment of Israelite Law for the new nation that had been rescued from Egypt. It’s only after we understand how they were to be followed by Israel and then we think about how they were brought through or changed in the Law of Christ in the New Covenant that we apply them to ourselves.
V.1 "And God spoke all these words: ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’"
This is the first commandment.
It begins with a reminder of Who God is. God is a Rescuer!
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."
I am a Rescuer. These commandments that I am giving you today are based on grace. Because I rescued you, I am now giving you my Law.
These laws are not to save you. I have already done that. These laws are here because I have saved you to make you holy like me and so you know how to operate as my people.
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."
LOVE YOUR GOD (#1) FIRST AND FOREMOST.
"You shall have no other gods before me."
No competition. No rivals. No one else in the position that rightly belongs to God.
YHWH makes the ultimate claim on Israel’s loyalty. YHWH demands from His people their unyielding faithfulness to Him and to Him alone–the position of preeminence in their hearts and lives.
This is how God feels about Himself as God. Isaiah 42:8 sings the same song, "I am LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another..." No other gods!
And the Lord Jesus says "What is the Greatest Commandment? Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
Love God First and Foremost.
To love God means to have Him be first and foremost in our lives.
Now, there are obvious "other gods" like Baal and Molech and Dagon and Ashteroth and Chemosh, and the pantheon of gods the Israelites just left behind in Egypt. Gods of fertility and nature. Gods represented by idols. Gods worshiped by the Canaanites and the Philistines and the Assyrians and the Babylonians. These gods would be a natural target for the LORD's exclusion (because they would be a natural temptation for the LORD's people). And they are ruled out. And therefore, Allah and Buddha and Krishna and Vishnu and all the other named gods of the religions of our world today are ruled out for us, as well.
But there are also other gods that aren’t as obvious. To "have another God" like verse 3 says, means to put something or someone in the place of the true God. That means whether they are an accepted Canaanite god with a name like Baal or Molech or something as trivial as a plate of brownies or a savings account or a favorite sports team or a spouse or a boyfriend or a child or a parent or a home or a job–if these things take the place that God deserves and demands, they have become another god. And the Lord will allow no other gods before Him.
We are called to love God first and foremost.
Here’s a set of questions that I developed several years ago to diagnose whether or not I am loving God or have another god before Him.
#1. Who or what do I want to get most intimate with?
#2. In whom or in what do I find my identity?
#3. Who or what do I run to first in a crisis?
#4. Where do I find my security?
#5. Who or what am I spending the bulk of my time, resources, and energy on?
#6. Where do I find my significance?
#7. Who or what am I primarily rejoicing in?
#8. Where do I find my satisfaction?
The answers to those questions will go a long way to showing me who or what is first and foremost in my heart.
God wants to be.
Gloriously, the opposite of this command–"You shall have no other gods before me."–is "You shall have me (the LORD, YHWH, Jesus) as your God! I will be your main love, your main trust, your main master, your main delight!"
And He is so worth it!
Love Your God First and Foremost.
#2. LOVE YOUR GOD AS HE REALLY IS. V.4
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."
This is the second commandment.
Love Your God As He Really Is.
We might think that this command is just a restatement of the first.
And while that is true to some degree, other deities and pagan idols are ruled out by this command, this command is actually not about other gods. But about the LORD Himself, the true God.
While the 1st commandment told us who to worship (the LORD alone!), the 2nd commandment tells us how to worship.
There are two parts to this commandment. (V.4) "You shall not make for yourself an idol" (or a graven image), and (v.5) "You shall not bow down to them or worship them." Don't make an idol, and don't use it in worship!
That's the second commandment.
But, again, this is not just don't make an idol of another god (like Baal, or Ashteroth, or Chemosh, or Dagon), but don't make an image of YHWH, the true God.
The first commandment already rules out images of other gods. If you are to have no other gods ,you definitely aren't supposed to bow to idols of them.
The 2nd commandment is talking about making idols that represent YHWH.
This is really clear in Deuteronomy chapter 4. Moses says, (verse 15):
"You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourself an idol (Do you see the logic? You didn't see a form of the LORD, therefore don't make an idol), (v.16) an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like an animal on earth or a bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the water below."
Deuteronomy 4 explains that this prohibition is against making pictures or statues for worship of the LORD in the form of anything found in the universe (above, on, or below the earth!) because they have never seen the true form of God.
The 1st Commandment told us WHO to worship (Worship the LORD alone and no other!)
The 2nd Commandment tells us HOW to worship the LORD (not with idols or images of the LORD!).
There are dangers in making and using in worship images of the true God.
Here are three:
First, every image of God distorts the glory of God in some way. No image can represent who God really is. He is too great and awesome to be boiled down into an image.
Second, we always begin to treat the image of God as God. We begin to think that God is what we have represented Him to be. And we begin to treat the image as God Himself. We begin to try to access God through the image.
And third, when we make idols we begin to think that we can control God. In the Ancient Middle East, it was often thought that if you made your god out of wood or iron then you had some pull with that god. After all, you made it! If your god is a god of your own making, you can get the idea that you own that god and that it should do what you desire.
The LORD will not allow that! God will not be controlled! He alone is sovereign over His choices. He makes us! He will not allow us to begin to think that we control Him.
The second commandment stands to warn us away from making God to be something that He is not. God wants us to worship Him in reality, not in half-truths or falsehoods.
He won’t allow us to customize Him. He wants us to love Him as He really is.
Have you ever heard someone say, "My God would never do that?" And fill in the blank for something that God is said to do or be in Scripture.
"My God is gracious (not holy), my God is love (not righteousness), my God is forgiving (not angry at sin)."
People want a God of their own making. They want to customize God.
Stuart Briscoe says, "As Christians we may do this by trying to turn God into some kind of celestial Santa Claus. We don't like the God of Scripture and much prefer the one in our fantasy world...whittl[ing] God down, suit[ing] Him to our way of doing things, fit[ting] Him into a ‘comfortable’ pattern that does not harm our own ideas or challenge our way of thinking." (Playing by the Rules, Briscoe, 45-47)
But that is not God! And if we worship the god of our own making, we worship a false-god and are breaking the 1st Commandment, too.
We Need to Love Our God As He Really Is.
I know people who think that God is an ogre, someone to be avoided like the plague. The truth is that we have the plague, and He is the cure. But they have constructed a god in their own minds that is manageable and tame.
I know people who think that God is a grandfather type who loves everybody and just looks the other way when people sin. The truth is that God cannot look upon sin without judging it. But they have constructed a god in their own minds that is manageable and tame.
I know people who say that "their" God would never send someone to Hell or never call them personally to share the gospel, or never care about whom they date or marry. The Bible teaches the truth, but they have constructed a god in their own minds that is manageable and tame.
Are you customizing your own God?
Or are you loving your God as He really is?
Because He really cares about this. He is a "jealous God." V.5
"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."
The LORD is a jealous God.
Now, you may have been taught at some time that jealousy is a bad thing. And sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn't!
Jealousy is a passionate desire to possess or enjoy something.
And it’s a good thing to be jealous if you have legitimate rights to that thing you want to possess or enjoy. And it’s a bad thing if you don’t.
Marriage is a great example. Jealousy is not being naturally suspicious or distrustful of your spouse, but passionately desiring that your bond be unbroken by the establishing of any other competing bond. As the vows say, your spouse is for you to have and to hold "forsaking all others."
It is right and good for a husband to be jealous for the affection his wife. It is right and good for a wife to be jealous for the affection of her husband. By marriage, you have a right to one another that gives that righteous jealousy a fitting home.
Now, take that idea of righteous jealousy (sometimes called "Zeal") and stretch it up to fit our God's jealousy for ...what?...His glory! God desires to possess and enjoy His glory at work in the worship of His people so much that He diligently, passionately pursues His own glory.
And customizing God, reducing God to an idol or a graven image vastly negates His glory. So He won’t have it.
How committed is God to His glory? Unswervingly, Unstoppably Committed.
V.5 "Punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."
God is so dedicated to His being loved as He really is that He will not stop, He will not swerve until He is known truly.
Now, some have looked at v.5 and proclaimed God as unfair. It looks like God punishes people for something they have not done, (KJV) "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children."
But that's not what it's saying. It's saying that you cannot wear God down with your idol-making, God-hating behavior even if you pass it down from generation to generation. If you lead your family to hate God (notice it says "to those who hate me" and that includes the children who grow to hate God, too), if you lead your family to hate God, God will not back down in opposing you with the consequences. You will not win! Go ahead, bring your whole family (great-grandchild, great-great grandchild) and still God's judgment of your sin will not be stopped. You cannot wear Him down with your iniquity! So don't even think about it!
God is unswervingly opposed to those who oppose Him.
But the flip-side is so much more glorious! V.6 "But [the LORD shows] love to a thousand generations of those who love [Him] and keep [His] commandments."
When you love the LORD as He really is, He loves you back and is faithful beyond imaginable measure to you and your family that you teach to love Him!
"[The LORD shows] love to a thousand generations of those who love [Him] and keep [His] commandments."
Love Your God As He Really Is. He’s jealous for it.
Do you know Who He is? Knowing that means a lot of Bible reading. And a lot of prayer.
Do you love Him for Who He is? Or are you just customizing a God to your liking?
Love the Real God and He Will Love You Back In Unbelievable Faithfulness
#3. LOVE YOUR GOD IN HOLY REVERENCE. V.7
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
This is the third commandment. It comes with a threat. "The LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
God is holy. And His name is holy. It should be treated reverently.
The name of God stands for the reputation and character of God. His name carries the meaning of Who He is.
And our jealous God cares a lot about Who He is known to be. Therefore, His name must be treated reverently.
If you and I love Him, we will use His name in holy reverence.
At root, this commandment is about valuing the name of the LORD.
The King James translates this, "using the LORD’s name in vain" or emptily without valuing it.
Now, this could mean a lot of things.
The name of the Lord should not be used to curse in profanity.
Using God’s name as profanity is saying, "This name is so worthless that I can use it to mean excrement and make it a filthy thing."
"God will not hold guiltless anyone who misuses his name."
The Name of the Lord should not be used to control God like it’s some kind of magic. Like we can control God by using His name as an incantation. God will not be controlled.
The name of the Lord should not be used casually in carelessness.
God’s name is not revealed for us to take lightly and use as a convenient expression when we are angry, surprised, or scared.
"Oh, my God." should always be a deeply felt prayer directed or it should not exit our lips. God’s name is worth much, much, more than that brothers and sisters! "God will not hold guiltless anyone who misuses his name."
We can get to acting like God is a "light thing." But He is not.
If we love Him, we must love Him in holy reverence.
How do you treat God? How are you using His name?
Elton Trueblood says "the worst [violation of the 3rd Commandment is] not profanity but lip-service."
Love Your God With Holy Reverence.
And #4. LOVE YOUR GOD WITH HOLY TRUST. The Sabbath command. V.8
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Now, there is a lot in those four verses. And the Sabbath takes a lot of twists and turns as it winds through the pages of Scripture. You notice how it comes from Creation. That YHWH rested, so should they. And it relates to how the Israelites were to treat their slaves and animals and neighbors. Everyone was to rest, not just the wealthy who could afford it. There’s a lot here in these 4 verses, and there is a lot of controversy about how they are to be applied to New Testament Christians like ourselves. I’ll refer you to the website to read my take on that from five years ago.
What I want to point out today is how this 4th commandment is a call to trust YHWH. All commandments are a call to trust God in some ways. You only really keep them if you have faith.
But this is a specific call to faith for people living in an agrarian hand-to-mouth society.
Remember the manna?
For six days they were to collect it, but on the Sabbath there would be none. They had to trust God for His provision. If they didn’t do the work, then God would have to provide. And they would have to trust Him.
This 4th commandment (though it became a burden under the Pharisees) was actually a gift. The gift of God’s rest. And the Israelites, following God’s example of setting aside a day to be holy were to accept God’s gift of rest. And trust Him for it.
And if you and I love our God, we will do the same.
We will love Him with holy trust. With confidence that He has worked so that we can rest in Him.
There is a time to work, for sure. But God, who has brought us out of Egypt (so to speak), out of the land of slavery, has called us to trust Him and accept His gift of rest.
In the New Testament, I believe that the Sabbath is no longer a Day but is now a Person–incarnate in Christ.
And we come to Him for rest. We put our trust in Him.
The One who said, "Love Your God and Love Your Neighbor" also said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
So, stop your striving.
Striving to impress people.
Striving to impress God.
Striving to earn your way into heaven.
Striving to make your life work on your own strength.
Stop your striving.
And come to Him.
That’s what we mean by a love relationship with Jesus Christ.
Love Your God First and Foremost. No other gods before Him.
Love Your God As He Really Is. Don’t customize Him. He’s jealous for His glory.
Love Your God With Holy Reverence. Value His name. Value His glory.
Love Your God With Holy Trust. Stop your striving and come to Him in faith.
Love Your God.
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