A The Baptist Deacon

The First Two Commandments

deaconfarley | July 21, 2008 10:57

EXODUS 20: 3 – 6  

 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments

When was the last time you stopped to think about or even read the Ten Commandments? This is the beginning of God’s law to his people. You may be thinking we are under grace now, what does this have to do with me? Again I ask when the last time you read the Ten Commandments.

Today I am going to concentrate on the first two commandments.

Before I begin my explanation we must back up to the first two verses of Exodus chapter 20. 1And God spake all these words, saying, 2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

God is giving His law to Moses to give to the people. The Ten Commandments were and still are a very important part of what God expects from his people. The law was given for His people, but it was nearly impossible to keep. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all, James 2:10. This is the reason God sent Jesus to die on the cross. This was to make the way easier. We are now under “Grace” and it is sufficient. The plan of salvation is easy, we make it hard. We must work our own salvation out. Someone else cannot pray us into Heaven. 

So why am I looking into the Old Testament? Why am I specifically looking at the Ten Commandments?  Didn’t the death and resurrection of Jesus do away with the law? The short answer is yes, but I will again ask when the last time you read the Ten Commandments was?

The Ten Commandments were placed in the Ark of the Covenant. They are very important to God so I believe they should be very important to us. They are a guide for our faith and should be used as our moral compass.

Let’s look at the first commandment.  “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”

Here He is telling the children of Israel you will have no other gods. Notice that gods is spelled in lower case. The capital “G” is reserved for our God.

What makes other gods? With the children of Israel it was a golden calf, which was made before Moses could bring the commandments to them. It made Moses mad and in his anger he broke the original tablets. The golden calf was not the only idol they placed before God, it is the example I used for today.

What is it with us? What do we place before our most kind, loving and forgiving God?

Let’s start with a simple one. TV.  How often do we decide to watch something on television instead of studying God’s word? Most new shows are not fit to watch. Has this become your god?

What about sports? Missing church regularly to watch a game? Is this something that becomes a god to you? Has this become your god?

What about the internet? Had you rather “surf” than serve God? What are you surfing for? Has this become your god?

What about the love of money? Had you rather work and make tons of money or go to church on Sunday? Has this become your god?

These are just a few examples of what “we” let become our gods. You get the general ideal.  

What about our lifestyle? Is it contrary to the will of God?

If your god was not mentioned above, just fill in the blank: ___________. Has this become your god?

God should be the single most important part of our lives, but it appears that we just push Him to the side to do what we want to do. Is there anything more important?

God Bless You!

Continuing…

The Ten Commandments | Permalink | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)   Print View

 
Accessible and Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS
Powered by LifeType - Design by BalearWeb - Hosted by New Technologies.