June 7, 2009 Pastor Tim

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS:
LET GOD BE GOD
Deuteronomy 5:1-7

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Some things are meant to never be forgotten. I suppose that’s why for generations people have traditionally placed marble or granite markers called tombstones at the gravesites of those they love—so those persons will never be forgotten.

We had a large cemetery near our house for the six years we lived in the small town of Galion, Ohio. Since there weren’t sidewalks in our housing development, the cemetery actually became a great place for our kids to learn to ride bikes! The roads were reasonably wide and paved, there was virtually no traffic, and the people around there didn’t bother us much at all! It was beautiful and quiet, and, of course, there were hundreds of marble markers—lovingly placed so that people wouldn’t be forgotten.

God’s laws were lovingly written on stone so that they might never be forgotten. They were set up so that we might never forget the importance of certain things. We keep coming back to them, for they speak to us of eternal truths and values.

Many of you recall how God had met with Moses on Mount Sinai. You can read about it in the 20th chapter of Exodus. Moses descended from the mountain having been entrusted with the Ten Words or Ten Commandments from God—a framework for the covenant relationship God had established between Himself and His people—the people of Israel.

Many years had passed and much had taken place in the context of this relationship between God and His people by the time the scene unfolded as described in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. The now elderly Moses was giving his farewell address as he prepared to turn the leadership of the people over to Joshua. Again the Ten Commandments were proclaimed to the people. And it is from that text that I would like to read this morning—and we’ll be continuing week by week throughout the summer months on the Ten Commandments in a series I’ve called, “Back to the Basics.”
[Deuteronomy 5:1-7, NLT]

In their book The Day America Told the Truth, James Patterson and Peter Kim lay down the law for postmodern times. They observe that today there is “absolutely no moral consensus at all…Everyone is making up their own personal moral codes—their own Ten Commandments.” These new commandments are based on moral relativism, the belief that we are free to make up our own rules, based on our own personal preferences. The law is not something that comes from God, but something we come up with on our own. And, incidentally, laws made apart from God are usually in conflict with God’s laws.

We might hope to find the situation somewhat better in the church. Surely God’s own people honor the permanent, objective standard of God’s law! And yet the church is full of worshipers who don’t even know the Ten Commandments, let alone how to keep them! And so, while churches all across America have lots of people gathering together in them every week, there is a simultaneous decline in morality that’s not so hard to observe!

And that doesn’t make any sense at all! How can people be interested in God and at the same time be less willing to do what He says? The only explanation I can think of is that they do not know the God of the Ten Commandments—the God who extends to us the privilege of a covenant relationship with Him. And if we can begin to see the Ten Commandments through the eyes and through the heart of this covenant God, it just might change our whole perspective of the Ten Commandments as well as how we respond to them!

Deep inside the temple of God, in the Holy of Holies where the high priest would come before the Presence of God, there was the Ark of the Covenant, and inside that Ark were the stone tablets of the Law. Isn’t it intriguing that the Law of God is kept in the most sacred place of God’s very presence? You see, when God spoke from Mount Sinai and gave the Israelites the Law, He was not presenting them with rules to be followed as much as He was revealing Himself to them. He was revealing His character, His nature, and His will for them. This God whom Israel was called to follow, and whom we are called to follow today, is the Holy One. The Law of God reflects His holy nature, and we can’t adequately study the Ten Commandments and get around that!

You see, laws tell us something about the body who established them. The building codes which enforce standards of accessibility for people with physical disabilities reveal a government that cares about the needs of handicap people. When an elementary school sets playground rules, it says that the administration cares about the safety and well-being of children. When you set reasonable curfews for your teenagers of when they are to be home at night, contrary to what your teenager might think at the time, you are revealing yourself to be a wise and caring parent who wants only the best for your kids! When God revealed His laws to his people, it told us much about Him—and that’s what we want to learn! And while there’s not time to go through all the Commandments this morning, suffice it to say that the Ten Commandments display the character of God. They reveal His sovereignty, jealousy, justice, holiness, honor, faithfulness, providence, truthfulness, and, most significantly, His love. They express His will for our lives as they reveal His character.

And as we begin this journey together, I want you to see the Commandments as an invitation to a covenant relationship. That’s really what’s at the heart of the first commandment: “Do not worship any other gods besides me.”

One of the first lessons parents try to teach their children is how to share. Our son probably had a harder time learning this than did our twin daughters—for they literally started out sharing most everything! But it’s an important lesson for every child to learn.

However, as important as it is to learn to share, it is also important to realize that some things are not meant to be shared. Chewing gum, for example—I’m happy not to have you share yours with me! A bite-sized candy bar isn’t meant to be shared either, is it? Nor is a jelly bean—even those good Jelly Belly ones! A unicycle isn’t meant to be shared—that would be a bit too cozy! Neither is a piece of confidential information to be shared—nor the answers to a test. Or, to cite an even more serious example, the sexual love between a husband and wife is not meant to be shared with others. These things were never intended to be shared with someone else. In order to be used properly at all, they have to be kept exclusive.

If some things were never meant to be shared, then it is not surprising to learn that there are times when even God refuses to share. He is a loving and merciful God who loves to pour out His mercy and grace on His people. But there are some things that He will not share. And He will not share us with any other god of any sort! He will not share His glory with any other god. He will not share His sovereignty with any other god. So He has given us this command: “Do not worship any other gods besides me!”

As God began to reveal Himself more and more to people, He unfolded an invitation to a pretty spectacular covenant with them. It was a covenant of love—not too much unlike the covenant of love and commitment expressed in the typical wedding ceremony.

Most of you know by now that our family is getting ready for a wedding in August—August 15th. Since Krista’s engagement early in March to Josh Patten, we’ve been scrambling to have everything ready! But whether we have all the details ready or not, on August 15th our daughter Krista will become Mrs. Josh Patten. They’ll get married right here in this sanctuary—a beautiful place for a sacred occasion like a wedding. It’ll be an “open church” wedding, meaning that any of you who want to come are welcomed and encouraged to do so. And there will be friends and family gathering for this special occasion from all over the map. It’ll be a great day!

And I will not only do my duty of giving her away, but I’ll also have the lead role in performing their ceremony—something I have been privileged to do for each of our three children in recent years. And in that role, Krista and Josh will both be asked a similar question relating to the covenant they are about to make. For Josh, it will go something like this,
Josh, will you take Krista to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live? If so, say “I do.”

I’ve asked that question to well over a hundred grooms by now (maybe 200), but it certainly takes on new meaning once again when those words are said to a young man who wants to marry my daughter! “…Forsaking all others, will you be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?” It’s the moment when a good daddy of the bride is thinking, “Buddy, you better really mean it when you commit to this!” Why? Because marriage is a covenant relationship that is absolutely exclusive in nature! Josh is to love Krista as he loves no other woman and Krista is to love Josh as she loves no other man! It’s a covenant relationship of love! Such things are not meant to be shared!

And in the same way, God will not share our devotion with any other! In that sense, He is indeed a jealous God. The point is that when it comes to worshiping God, it’s all or nothing. That’s the way it has always been!
• It was this way on Mount Sinai…when God first gave Moses the law.
• It was this way when Joshua renewed the covenant…and said, “Put away the gods that your fathers served…in Egypt, and serve the Lord…Choose this day whom you will serve” (John 24:14-15a).
• This is the way it was on Mount Carmel…when Elijah liberated the Israelites from their bondage to Baal. He said, “If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is god, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).
• And it is the same way with Jesus Christ, who says, “No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and money” (Matt. 6:24).
God’s people have always faced a choice. Religious pluralism is not a recent development. There have always been plenty of other gods clamoring for our attention, and yet God has always demanded our exclusive loyalty.

When God commands us to reject false gods, he is also commanding us to choose Him as the true God, enthroning Him as our only Lord. The very beginning of the Ten Commandments establishes and reinforces this relationship—
I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. Do not worship any other gods besides me (Deut. 5:6-7).
This is not a prohibition kind of statement, friends—this is a wonderful blessing kind of statement! A tremendous invitation to fellowship and relationship and covenant—He is the Lord who has rescued us too! He has reached out to us and lifts us up in order that we might become all that He has intended for us to become!

And so the command tells us whom to worship as well as whom not to worship! It is both positive and negative in scope. And in the positive realm, I want us to consider the wonderful possibility of a covenant love relationship with the Creator of the universe—the God who made you, who gave you breath, but who also put the sun in the sky and placed the stars in their places throughout this universe and keeps the earth rotating on its axis!

The stormy conditions we’ve had this week have reminded me of severe storms we experienced far more often living in the Midwest. I am always reminded of the power of God when the earth is shaken by thunder and quickly illuminated by lightning and drenched by heavy rain. Living now in a desert area, I’ve come to welcome rain as never before. And on those rare occasions when the rain is pounding down in its force I have sometimes thought, “Who of us could tell God to stop the rain? Who of us could demand that God turn down the volume of the thunder?” Not one of us could—because He alone is God! And this One true living God invites us to a covenant relationship with Him—letting God be God in and over our lives.

And it’s certainly not inconsistent with Scripture to use the word “love” to describe this relationship. The first commandment solidifies the covenant love relationship between God and His people. Think of the creed most Israelites recited every day—often called “The Shema”—
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut 6:4-5).

There is a sense in which this first commandment is the greatest, because it gives the motivating power for all the rest. The rest of the commandments mean little or nothing unless our commitment to God compels us to obey Him.

I’m guessing that few people would actually admit to breaking this commandment—at least not those sitting in this sanctuary this morning. But as we allow the Lord to examine our lives in light of this commandment, we might contemplate Martin Luther’s word:
Whatever thy heart clings to and relies upon, that is properly thy God. (Martin Luther)
Security, position, power, social prestige, love of country, love of family, profession, job, self-centeredness—it is not uncommon for any of these to replace God as our first commitment. Jesus put the matter plainly when He named the greatest commandment,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
And on the basis of that commandment, Jesus told us how to live:
Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matt 6:33)

I am keenly aware that most people only consider the negative expression of some of the commandments and that Christianity—and particularly churches like ours—are often thought of as restrictive and trying to take all the fun out of life (and maybe we’ve been guilty of that in our past!) And yet moral law is always double-sided. It commands and prohibits, for every moral act is at the same time also a refraining from a contrary action that could have been taken! In other words, this commandment and all the others is more than not doing something; it calls us to do that which is good and that which is in keeping with God’s will for us and that which is the most appropriate response to who God is.

And so I also want us to consider the blessing of this commandment. In this covenant relationship we become aware that God is a personal God, available to take care of our needs! The Scripture is filled with that proclamation and we love to cling to these promises!
• “I cried out to the Lord…and He answered me!” (Jonah 2:2).
• The Apostle Paul said, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory…” (Phil 4:19).
• King David of the Old Testament prayed, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (Ps 23:4).
• The prophet Isaiah declared, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isa 40:31).
• Isaiah went on to proclaim the word of the Lord, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you…” (Isa 41:10)
The blessings are great for those who walk with God in this covenant relationship! We are blessed people! That’s the foundation of the Ten Commandments!

The question is not only whether we believe in Him in our heads or even acknowledge Him from time to time, but whether we worship him continually and commit ourselves to Him in this covenant relationship, holding nothing back—worshiping Him alone! It’s not just a matter of accepting the reality of His Presence, but rather it’s the question of whether or not we have entered into a covenant relationship with Him.

I suppose that every time we gather for worship, it is an opportunity for each one of us to renew our covenant relationship with Him. As Christians, we understand that God has opened the door to fellowship wider than it had ever been before when God sent His Son Jesus to be our Savior, to give His life in order that our sins could be forgiven and we could be accepted into His family and welcomed into His Presence for all eternity. It’s the blessing of this covenant relationship with our Heavenly Father. But the foundation of this relationship has not changed. The Lord invites each of us to once again renew our covenant with Him, as He proclaims to us,
I am the Lord your God, who rescued you…do not worship any other gods besides me.