You must not have any other gods
except me.
— Exodus 20:3 (NCV)
Even though America has a Judeo-Christian Heritage we are quickly becoming a nation filled with biblical illiterates. For instance, if you were to ask the average man on the street to name the Ten Commandments, he may just simply give you a blank stare, or he may point you to the movie starring Charlton Heston. Instead of the literal Ten Commandments found in Exodus, what the average man may give you would probably be a variety of common sense axioms.
While you might not expect that much out of our secular society what about religious people? Do you think they would fair much better? Newsweek magazine once reported concerning church people that only 49% of all Protestants and 44% of all Roman Catholics could name even four of the Ten Commandments. Even in the church, there are those who are biblically illiterate.
One pastor in the Midwest, remarked concerning a seminary class, "In a seminary class I once taught, I referred to Exodus 20 and casually remarked, ‘Of course you all know the Ten Commandments.’ The empty looks on my students’ faces failed to convince me that they did. So I asked if someone — anyone — could name the first commandment. In a class of second-year seminary students, not one student could recite the first commandment! I continued to prod until one student finally recited the Matthew 22 summary, and from there we backed up to the first commandment. After five or six minutes of painstaking persistence I managed to pull six of the Ten Commandments from the minds of those future Christian leaders." Amazing.
Are the Ten Commandments important for today? Or are they laws that are archaic and irrelevant? What can we say about the Ten Commandments as we approach the beginning of the Twenty-first century? There is no question in my mind that the Ten Commandments are extremely relevant for today. They are relevant not as works we must perform to earn our way into heaven, but as laws that liberate us to serve God.
In the New Testament, the emphasis is on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the focus. The focus is not on keeping a certain set of rules or regulations, but on maintaining a living relationship with a living Lord. But an amazing thing happens to the Christian who has Jesus living inside of him. Such persons will find that they fulfill the law, because the great LawGiver and Law-Keeper is living within them.
The Ten Commandments are summarized in the New Testament in what we call the two Great Commandments. These are found in Matthew 22, and they boil down to loving God and loving our neighbor. The first four of the Ten Commandments are all about how to relate to God, while the second six are all about how to relate to one another. It sounds like those are two important areas that we need to focus upon in today’s world.
The First Commandment is all about choices because life is full of choices. We have choices to make concerning our lifestyle or how we are going to live. We also have choices to make concerning our allegiance or what we are going to be committed to. How are we going to live? What is going to be the object our affections? Are we going to live for ourselves? For someone else? Or for the Lord? Will you let God be God? Or will you let other things crowd Him out? How do you spell God? Do you use a big "G" or a little "g"?
These questions are extremely important. You see, to put Him first is to know the blessing of His peace, His love, His provision, and His life. But to put other things first is to know the ultimate emptiness of things that simply do not satisfy. When we say that Jesus Christ is Lord, we are saying that God is top priority. Is He top priority in your life? Do you put Jesus first?
Our text today is Exodus 20, verse 3. There the Lord says, "You must not have any other gods except me." This commandment reveals several important keys that will enable us to keep God first in our lives.
We Were Created to WorshipThe first thing we need to know is that we were created to worship. We must understand our own character if we are to understand why God gives us these commands.
Human beings are unique. We are not simply animals driven by instinct and uncontrollable desires. Human beings were created by God with a capacity for worship. We not only have the capacity for worship, all of us do worship, in our own way. The real question is: What do we worship? God created us to worship Him.
As God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, He said, "I am the Lord your God." Israel lived in a time where the worship of many gods was encouraged. They had just come out of a culture in Egypt where many gods were worshipped. Now they were getting ready to go into a different culture in Canaan, again, where polytheism, or the worship of many gods, existed. This practice has been common since the dawn of history.
Today, even in tribal cultures where the light of truth is unknown, people bow down to rocks and stones and images and idols. There seems to be a need for worship, even in the most primitive of cultures. We not only see worship in gilded cathedrals, but also in the thickest jungle.
Someone has said that every person was created with a God-shaped blank inside, and that we are never satisfied until it is filled with God. Perhaps there is built within the subconscious psyche of all of us a realization that we are not all there is. Therefore, we must reach out beyond ourselves to a Supreme Being of some kind. The truth is that we are created by God, and that we do experience an emptiness unless we are filled by God. And so human beings search for fulfillment. That’s just the way we are made.
We Must Choose to Worship GodWe must not only understand our character, that we were created to worship; we must also underscore our choices. Because we are created for worship, we have to choose what or whom we worship. Therefore, we must choose to worship God.
God thunders from Sinai, "You must not have any other gods except me." God is affirming His preeminence. He is calling us to worship only Him. Why? There are many good reasons. Perhaps the most important is that He deserves to have first place because He is God. He is the living God or the true God. He is the Supreme Being. All other gods should be spelled with a little "g." They are really not God at all, only pale substitutes.
Psalm 115:4-7 says, "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of mans hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, but they cannot see. They have ears, but they cannot hear. They have noses, but they cannot smell. They have hands, but they cannot feel. They have feet, but they cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throat."(NASB) In other words, the false gods people worship, are gods who are powerless. They are simply the work of man’s hands. They can’t speak, or see, or hear, or smell, or feel, or walk. They are false gods. They are not God at all.
But God is the true God. He created us, and He speaks to us through His word. There he gives us direction and comfort, instruction and wisdom. He speaks to us through prayer. As we read His word, we become familiar with His voice, and then as we pray to Him, that still, small, voice, the same voice we heard in His word, speaks to our hearts. Our God sees. There is nothing beyond His vision. He sees us in public and in private. He sees not only what we do, but also what we think, how we feel. He sees our joy and our pain. He sees our circumstances. There is nothing outside of His sight. He not only sees the surface, He sees what’s on the inside. Our God also hears. As we lift up our voice to Him, that voice does not fall upon deaf ears. Our God hears our prayers. His ear is always open to His people — indeed, to all who call upon His name. Though a billion voices ascend at once, He hears each individual. And our God also helps us. The Bible says that His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. God is involved in the lives of those who trust in Him. He helps us; He gives us His strength, His wisdom, His power. He works in our circumstances, and He is able to do things that we could never do. That is the difference between our God, the true God, and those pale substitutes that pass for God.
Now that is important. You see, we need God. However well things might be going for you right now, there will come a time of trouble. There will come a time of crisis. There will come a time of tragedy, in which you will need God. Now if you call upon the wrong god, there is no help. Only in the true and living God, do we find help. We are exhorted in Psalm 62:8 to, "Trust in God at all times, my people. Tell him all your troubles, for he is our refuge."(GN) Only the true God can meet our needs.
But you may be thinking, "I don’t worship gods of stone idols set up in some pagan temple. I am a sophisticated person." I’m sure that’s true and I don’t mean to imply that any of you run out into the woods at night and worship a rock. But there are gods beside idols of stone. Anything can be a god, if it takes the place of the true God.
You must ask yourself several questions, in order to determine if you have other gods in your life beside the true God. One important question is: On what do you set your affections? In other words, when your mind takes a break from the complexities of daily living, where does it come to rest? Like a compass needle, which though spun around, will always come to rest pointing north, where does your mind point when it comes to rest? What is really important to you? What do you think about and long for? Is it your job? A promotion? Perhaps your home? Your car? Maybe another person? Or money? Material things? On what do you set your affections? Do you set your affections on God? We are told in the New Testament, to set our affections on things above.
Another important question is, Whom are you trying to impress? We work, we buy, we plan, we push ourselves, we study, and we achieve, but why? Whom are we trying to impress? Some may say that they do it all for themselves and that may be true. We may be trying to impress ourselves. In other words, there is a purely self-centered motive for our ambitions. We work for ourselves. We accumulate for ourselves. We achieve for ourselves. Some may say they do it not merely for themselves but also for others, for their family, or for some other person or persons. In other words, it’s not just their opinion that counts, but other people’s opinions are important to them. They are trying to impress other people. Perhaps they are people-pleasers. Perhaps they are striving hard so they will look good in the eyes of others.
The First Commandment, however, exhorts us to be God-pleasers. The person we should seek to impress is God. We should seek to be a delight to Him.
A final question is: What are we living for? In other words, what are our goals? What are our aspirations? What are our objectives? Does it all center around us? If you were to list your goals on a sheet of paper, would the spiritual goals be at the top? Would there be goals that relate to your walk with God, and your service to Him? Or would your goals simply be centered around personal achievement, job, home, family, money and the like? What are you living for? These are important questions, which will help us evaluate what we put first in our lives.
We Must Make Our Worship RealWe must understand our character, that we were created to worship. We must underscore our choices, that we must choose to worship God. But we must also undertake a challenge: we must make our worship real. Our challenge is to translate the idea of putting God first into reality. You see, unless we put God first in practical ways in daily living, it’s all just an exercise in religious speculation.
But are you really willing to do it? Do you really want to put the Lord first? And if so, what can you do to make it real in your life? How can we rise to the challenge before us? There are several important things you can do.
The first is, to examine your life. Really look at your life. I’m not talking about a surface examination here. All too often we are guilty of only seeing what we want to see. Thoroughly examine yourself. Ask your husband or wife to evaluate you. Now that may be dangerous. They know us better than you think they do, so put on your tough skin and determine that you are not going to be upset. But ask them. Ask them honestly to evaluate both your strengths and your weaknesses. Ask them what they perceive that you really put first in your life, and then listen. Ask your children. As a matter of fact, they may be more brutally honest than even your spouse. You see, our children not only see what we say, they see what we do. But if you are serious about examining your life, they can give valuable information. Also ask others. Go to people who know you and love you, and ask them if there are some blind spots in your eye. You may be surprised at what they say.
If we are going to do a thorough analysis of our own lives, we need accurate information. When I was a manager in the broadcasting business, I learned the value of reports. Those who are trying to get a handle on their use of time will often use a time log. In other words, they keep a log of what they do everyday. Everything, no matter how minor is logged — when they get up — when they eat breakfast — how much time it takes. The time on the telephone — the time in personal non-business affairs — all of it is recorded. You see, only when you can get an accurate picture of what you really do, can you get a handle on your time. Often, people think they are making effective use of their time, whenever the facts say something different.
I remember a prominent member of my former church who is a farmer. On occasion I would spend time with him during the day. Once we pulled into a convenience store and bought a drink. When we got back in his truck, he pulled out a small notebook and logged the amount he spent for the drink and crackers he purchased. I found out that this farmer keeps a record of every penny he spends. At his home, he keeps records for every year, for every expenditure, both business and personal. He told me that this was the only way he could keep a handle on his finances. He compares his expenditures from year to year. He says that in order to control your budget you must have a handle on where the money goes.
If we are going to be honest with ourselves, we must have the accurate information. We have to do an honest evaluation. We have to look at our lives closely, in some detail, if we are to undertake the challenge before us.
Then after the evaluation, we must make whatever changes in our lifestyle that need to be made in order to put the Lord first. In other words, we must create an environment for living which reminds us to keep the main thing the main thing. We must determine our priorities and make whatever adjustments are necessary in ensure that the Lord is our first priority.
And finally we must fall upon our knees, and pour out our heart to God. We must ask, we must seek, and we must knock. Unless the Lord empowers you, it will all be some intellectual-spiritual exercise. He must empower you. He must create the desire within you to put Him first. He must fan the flame of your first love. He must give you wisdom. He must do his work in your life. But if you will ask Him to, He will do it. The Lord has commanded you to choose Him over all other things. He has commanded you to put Him first. The one who gave you the command will also give you whatever you need to rise to the challenge and obey the command. Let Him do it today.
Copyright © 1999 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
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