“GOD AND GOD ALONE OR Who's #1?”
Exodus 20:1-3
* Some years ago a group of Seminary students were asked in an assignment to rearrange the 10 commandments in order of priority. They were instructed to begin with the most important and end with what they considered the least.
When everyone finished, their lists were compiled. The majority made #6 # 1 “Murder” Then came #8 “Steal”, then #9 “false witness” and so on…..
AT the very end came a toss up. They couldn’t decide if the LEAST important was #7 “adultery” or #1!!!
God, who is infinitely wise, has another idea!! Christ agreed (Matt 22:37-38)
There are only ten of them - one for each finger. They are not very long. You can recite all of them in less than a minute. They are so simple the Bible in Exodus 34:28 simply calls them "The Ten commandments."
Yet as simple and short as they are, most don't know them and obviously they can't keep commandments that you don't know.
A Gallup Poll a few years ago revealed that while 85% of Americans believe that the Ten Commandments are still binding today, only 15% could name five of them.
-what about religious people? Newsweek magazine reported that of people who go to church only 49% of all Protestants could name even four of the Ten Commandments.
* It reminds me of a Sunday school teacher who was teaching on the Ten Commandments one time and she asked her kids the question, "Can anybody here list the Ten Commandments in any order?" One little boy raised his hand and said, "I can." She said, "Go ahead." He said, "Okay. 3,6,1,8,4,5,9, 2, 10, 7."
Remember…..these laws were not given to the Nation of Israel as rules for a relationship with God. These laws were given as a reflection of a relationship with God.
You don't keep the Ten Commandments in order to have a relationship with God; you keep them because you do have a relationship with God!
The Ten Commandments are not rules for religious people; they are guidelines for God's people.
They were meant for God's family.
Did you know that your home is to be a law school?
Parents are to teach their kids these commandments, not only to learn them, but also to live them.
In Deuteronomy Chapter 5, Moses restated the Ten Commandments that he had received from the Lord on Mt. Sinai. In Chapter 6, Moses gives these instructions. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
We have established certain rules for our children: do your homework, don't talk back to your mother, do your chores, and give me the remote!
I did not give these rules to my kids so they would be my kids; I gave these rules, because they ARE my kids! These rules simply reflect how I want my kids to behave!
Now we will see that the 1st commandment is not only the first commandment, but it is foundational to the other nine, because if you don't get the first one you will never get the other ones.
In the first commandment, God is not saying, "If you want to have a relationship with Me, this is what you have to do."
He was saying, "If you have a relationship with Me, this is what you want to do."
The first commandment forces us to answer the question, "Who's Number One?"
I. God Deserves OUR Undivided Attention
Notice immediately what God does. Before He tells His people what He wants them to do, He first tells them who He is and what He has done.
"I am the Lord your God." There is only one God.
“I” This little pronoun only one letter long, says a lot!
He doesn’t even argue with Atheism. Gen 1:1, Ps 14:1 “No pie for me!”
“I Am” = Jesus! “LORD” all caps KJV “Yahweh”/ “Jehovah” tri-une name of God
The Commandment allows no compromise!
Polytheism – poly: Greek for many – theism: Greek for God
Ancient Egypt had over 2,000 gods: India has over 330 million gods!
* United Nations “Meditation Room” in NYC * Pitt Memorial “Chapel”
PANTHIESM
PAN- “ALL” theism: All is God BUDDHISM, etc.
Not just Nature/New Age environmental tree huggers
Others are out on the Gold Course, or the Lake instead of Gods House on Sunday!
In America today people worship:
PLEASURE
2 Timothy 3:4 “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”
Philippians 3:19 “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”
Society appeals to pleasure. Nightclubs overflow, amusement parks grow.
What does Sunday mean to most Americans today? -NASCAR and NFL!
To many its VIDEO GAMES!
POSSESIONS
Many bow before The Almighty dollar!
Houses, cars, fashion. Big screen TVs and tech gadgets galore.
People spend on self , and next to nothing on Gods work.
God robbers are idolaters!
POPULARITY
They that love the PROMINENCE….the pre-eminence. God alone is #1!
Your EGO is not your AMIGO! Idol = ( I Doll)
Gen 3:5 “ye shall be as gods”
Jesus spoke of those who did things only to be seen of men.
Position and public notice is everything (when in reality it is nothing)
PEOPLE
Not just Rock stars- Hollywood stars or Sports idols!
Family reunions first? Boy fried or girlfriend? A he-doll or she-doll?
Spouse or children mean more?
*On the Tombstone of one girl:
“Her Parents put all their wealth in one vessel and the shipwreck was total”
Matthew 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
PROJECTS
Some folks get so wrapped up in political parties, PTA’s , Little leagues etc. that they get before God!
Some let their HOBBY become all consuming.
Who is on the throne of your life?
Then it gets deeper!! He said, "I am the Lord your God."
He uses the 2nd person singular showing He has a personal relationship with each of His people. That personal relationship is also a saving relationship, because He goes on to say, " who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Vs 2
God was reminding the Israelites that He was not only their Ruler, but also their Redeemer!
There are those who misunderstand the Old and the New Testament and think the Old Testament is all about the law of God and the New Testament is all about the grace of God. Yet, the very first commandment is full of grace!
God redeemed, rescued and He restored them, not because of anything they did, but simply because He loved them.
It was only after God had set His people free that He gave them His law.
Don't miss that order.
Many people think that in the Old Testament, salvation came by keeping the law, but in the New Testament, salvation comes by grace. The truth is salvation has always come by grace.
You don't keep the law to earn the grace of God; it is the grace of God that enables you to keep the law!
They had a relationship with God before the rules were ever given.
Rules never establish a relationship with God. You do not keep God's rules to have a relationship with God. You keep God's rules, because you have a relationship with God.
God said in effect, "Because of who I am and what I have done, I want your undivided attention. I am the Lord your God."
II. God Desires OUR Undivided Affection
This is going to come as a real shocker. The Ten Commandments are not about the law of God. They are really about the love of God; His love for us and our love for Him.
--in effect it is not enough just to believe in God. It is a matter of LOYALTY and FIDELITY!
Jesus himself said, John 14:21 “ He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said, "You can basically reduce the Ten Commandments down to two: love God and love your neighbor."
In other words, Jesus said, "The Ten Commandments are not about law; they are about love." You can't separate the law of God from the love of God.
We love God by keeping Him first, not worshiping any other god, not misusing His name and keeping His day holy.
We love our parents by honoring them.
We love our spouses by being faithful to them.
We love our neighbors by respecting their property, telling them the truth and not wanting what they have.
So when you keep the first 4 commandments, you are just loving God.
When you keep the last 6 commandments, you are just loving others.
The Bible doesn't say, "God is law." The Bible says, "God is love."
You not only can reduce the Ten Commandments to two, you can actually boil the Ten Commandments down to one word. The word is not law --the word is love!
That is why God says go back to who I am!
I am the Lord your God who desires a personal, loving relationship with you. I am the God who rescued you and redeemed you and restored you.
Nobody loves you like I do and you should not love anything or anybody like you love Me. God desires my undivided affection!
III. God Demands OUR Undivided Allegiance
Now God tells us what He wants. "thou shatl have no other gods before Me."
That will always be job one for God's family; to make sure that nothing comes before God in our priorities, in our plans or in our practice.
God will not accept being prominent in our life. He asks and demands the preeminence in our life!
We ought to think of the Ten Commandments as marriage vows rather than a set of laws.
Just as a good marriage is founded on an excusive, mutual commitment of one person to another person and the trust that goes with that commitment, what God was saying to Israel and to us is basically this, "I want to have a relationship with you and I want you to have a relationship with me. If that relationship is going to work, we have to establish some ground rules. The first ground rule is this –you are mine and there will be no other!." Strong stuff, but the right stuff.
This command was totally without prescient in the ancient world. No other nation prohibited the worship of other gods. Every nation just assumed that every other nation would serve its own gods.
* * When God says, "Before Me", * *
He is not just asking to be put at the top of the list or the head of the line.
The words, "Before Me" literally mean, "Before My face."
You can translate it this way, "You shall have no other gods in my presence," but that doesn't let you off the hook, because since God is everywhere that means you cannot worship any other god, but this God anytime, anyplace for any reason!
Basically what God was saying was, "With Me it is all or nothing. I want to be your one stop shop. I don't want you to ever go to any other god for any other reason."
You may remember the slogan of The Three Musketeers, "All for one and one for all."
That is exactly what God is saying, "There is one God and one God only for all of us.”
It is not politically correct. I know it goes against the spirit of the age in which we are living.
* Stephen Covey in his book, First Things First, describes a powerful illustration that he has used in workshops to make a point about priorities. He sets a large jar on the table in front of the room and places beside it all sorts of softball-sized rocks. He says to the crowd, "How many of these rocks do you think I can fit into this jar?" Someone guesses thirteen. Someone guesses nine. Someone guesses twelve. He then begins to place the rocks one at a time into the jar counting as he goes; all the while asking the group if the jar is full. The crowd keeps saying, "No," until it is really near the top. Then the audience agrees that the jar is full.
He then brings out a bucket with a bunch of smaller rocks and pours them into the jar. They filter all around the bigger rocks. As he pours, he asks the audience, "Is it full?" Now they say, "No," because they know what is next. He brings sand and then water; now it is really full.
He then asks the group what is the point of the illustration. After a few guesses he says, "The point is this. If the big rocks don't go in the jar first, they don't get in the jar at all."
The biggest rock of all, is the ROCK OF AGES !
The Only One That Should Be Number One
You and I were born in a spiritual Egypt, a house of bondage called sin, God sent Jesus Christ to rescue us, redeem us, and restore us to His family. God wants you to put Him first, because when He sent Jesus to die for our sins, He put us first…. DOESN’T He deserve to be #1 in yours!!!