“God and Only God”
Ten Commandments, Part 1
Exodus 20:1-4, 7 and Psalm 105:1-6
October 2, 2011
How many of you went to Sunday school as a child?
How many of you learned the Lord’s Prayers, The Beatitudes, The Books of the Bible,
and the Ten Commandments?
These are basic teachings that the church teaches. We teach these things,
because they build the foundations of our faith. However, we don’t really study them
closely. Thus, this spring, we looked at the Lord’s Prayer and learned about the depths
of that prayer, how it still applies to us today, and how we are called to live and pray.
And, for the next 4 weeks, we will dive into Ten Commandments. These 10
Commandments are not ten options, not ten principles, not ten electives, but Ten
Commandments. Together they constitute a divine mandate. They are the core of all
the laws in the Bible. They are the foundation of how we are called to live.
The Commandments are commonly understood as divided into two “tablets”: one
concerning relations to God (vv1-11), and one concerning relations to our neighbor (vv
12-17). The relation between the two tablets is of crucial importance to a biblical faith.
The first 11 verses clearly state how we are to worship God and what God expects of
us. Many of us forget that the Ten Commandments begin with God reminding the
Israelites of God’s special relationship with them, a relationship in which God acted to
bring the children of Israel out of the house of slavery.
Thus, the commandments begin with God demanding that we honor and respect
God with our thoughts, words, and in actions -- for God cares and give us what we
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reflect. We also must spend time with God and renew our spirit. We need to stop and
feel God’s presence in our lives and in our world. In order to do so, we need to rest and
be one with God through prayers, praise and the words of God.
Now, the second tablet is not just a set of good moral ideas. It is not just what
we should not do but it contains conditions of viable human life, non-negotiable
conditions rooted in God’s own life and God’s ordering of the world. These set of laws
demands that we respect and more importantly honor other beings’ life and their
belongings, no matter who they are. We have responsibilities to others because they
are God’s gift. We cannot live by our own selfish desires but are to care and honor
other beings. We cannot live to gain power or wealth for ourselves, neglecting others.
Today, we will start with the most important law, the law that serves as the heart
of the Ten Commandment. The first commandment states clearly who God is and what
God asks of us: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” God wants total
loyalty, commitment and faith because it is God who has saved us from our pain and
suffering. As it says in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might,” we are to have faith and love
of one God. God who was willing to come as Jesus Christ to redeem us. God who
came to bring healing and restore our souls.
Like the Israelites, we all know about the suffering and struggles of life. We all
have suffered, felt trapped, in pain, and have been lost. We have cried out to God in
our Egypt time and time again, God has heard our cry and helped us out of our own
Egypt. The God we have is the God who hears our pain, who brings comfort, and who
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helps us out of it. Thus, God demands that we put only this God in our lives, that we do
not fill our lives with other gods.
God does not want us to turn to others things to fill our void and pain because
nothing else can give us what we truly need; only God can. However, like the Israelites
who had made golden calf and other small gods, we too have created our gods today.
We may not have small wooden idols to worship in our houses, but we have material
possessions that we worship more than God, such as money, homes, cars, retirement
accounts, and bank accounts. Martin Luther said that our god was anything that we
fear, love and trust above all things.
This is why we have the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself
an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” God knows that we have this tendency
to search for other gods instead of trusting and staying faithful to the God who freed
Israelites, and who frees us. God also knows that it is difficult for us to completely give
our lives over to God. Instead of following God, we want to lead. Instead of submitting,
we want to control. As God pulls us steadily and faithfully forward, we lurch to the right
and we lurch to the left. We dig in our heels. We are not satisfied to move in God's
direction, but are determined to move in our direction. And by doing so, we have scars
to prove what kind of life we have because we have not followed the first
commandment, “You will have no other gods before me” and have not followed the
second command, but created our own idols to follow. But, if we put God first in our
lives, then God promises that our lives will be taken care of. We will have harmony with
God, harmony with our families, with our neighbors, with ourselves, and with our world.
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We will see that the idols we worship cannot truly fill what we are looking for or help us
find happiness and peace. Those idols will not give us sense of purpose or worth.
Only God can!
Now the Third Commandment follows the theme of respect and loyalty to God.
“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not
acquit anyone who misuses his name.” However, often we have misunderstood and
misused this commandment. Most often we interpret as for us not to use “bad” or
vulgar language. But what this commandment is truly about is not using God for our
own gain and power. We are not to invoke God to justify our actions or desires such as
when Pat Roberts asked people to send him money because God wanted him to build
God’s church. Or, when Oral Roberts said that God had told him that unless he raised
8 million dollars in the next few months then God would “call him home.” Or when
people evoke God’s name to further their political agenda or to increase their power and
influence. Yet, it goes deeper than this. When people claim to speak for God to declare
God’s judgment or punishment on those who are different than they are, then God’s
name is being taken in vain. When people state that a storm, earthquake, or act of
terrorism was caused by God to punish us for our evil ways, God’s name is being taken
in vain. Yet, before we begin to think that such violations of this commandment are
limited to politicians and televangelist, we must remember every time any of us use God
as an excuse to exclude or hate another, or to get a head in the world, then we are
breaking this commandment. Anytime we make the assumption that God is on our side,
thus our actions are justified, we break this commandment. We who live in a nation
which places “in God we trust” on our coins, must always be alert that we do not use
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God to justify our actions, policies, or lifestyle. We must always be cautious not to
equate “the American way of life” or “the American dream” with the will of God. For
when we do, we are not really trusting in God, but are breaking this commandment.
As we know, throughout centuries, we Christians have killed, destroyed, and
brought wars in the name of God. We have used God to justify our actions and to have
power over others. Instead, we are to use God’s name in prayer and praise. We are to
come before God humbly, seeking God’s direction. We are to raise God’s name in
thanksgiving for our blessings, and then share those blessings with others. That is
what this third commandment is all about.
So, let us remember, worship, and honor God who is with us now and forever.
Let us live, remembering these commandments, making them part of every moment of
our lives. Amen.
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