2nd Commandment
10 Commandments • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This morning we continue with the 10 commandments
Last we talked about some of you remember the 10 commandments like this
Did anyone go and watch the movie
As we continue to our series through the 10 Commandments we need to remember what Jesus said about the law
35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Remember just because it is from the Old Testament doesn’t mean that we dismiss it or don’t need it
Just because it was so long ago don't think it still doesn’t hold water and that it doesn’t serve a purpose
In fact the law does serve a purpose
Remember from last week the purpose of the law was to point us to God to our need for a savior and to grow our relationship with Christ
Jesus sums the entire law up with these 2 commands and church I believe that Jesus gave us that for us to still follow it
So if follow the command it would make sense for us to dive into the 10 commandments
Remember the Shema
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Remember this would have been repeated each and everyday as a prayer
They would have had an understanding of the law and what it meant
I don’t know that we necessarily have that understanding
It dawned on me the other day as I was reading this and praying after the sermon
I cannot do this, I can’t love the Lord with all my mind if I struggle with worry
You and I can’t serve 2 masters
13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
You cannot serve two masters
Which is why the first commandment sets the tone
You cannot, you should not have anything else before God or in God’s place
You cannot worship or serve 2 gods or 3 or whatever
God is a jealous and Exclusive God not that he will keep people away from Himself but that when you enter into a relationship with Him, it is with JUST HIM
From the beginning we see that God is concerned with our relationship with Him
He doesn’t want anything to come between us and Him
But sadly things come between our relationship with Him
If you have read anything in the Old Testament then you know it happened thing and if you are alive you know that it happens today
This morning we move to our second command, which is a follow up to the first one
If they were to have no other gods they worship and entered into a relationship with then there to not set up any idols or images of what they thought God looked like
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
We are to not set up any idol
We are to not set up anything of the likeness of what is in heaven or in the water or on the earth that represents God and worship that
There is no exception
To God it would be a turning our backs on our relationship with God
Nothing that would represent God or even a god
Simple right, seems very clear instruction doesn’t it
But God gave them that command because He knew they would be tempted right
He gave them the command because when He appeared to them, they didn’t see a form
So He didn’t want to come up with a form of sorts and worship that in place of God
He knew their travels would bring them by other people groups that had other gods and the nation of Israel would be enticed away
Church today it is no different
We may not come into contact with other religions per safe like we read about in the OT or even the NT or even a recognized religion but
We are enticed to set up things to worship
Set up things that we worship that we say represent God
Think of the things we have set up as idols in our lifes
Idol - an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship
Maybe it is education and initials behind your name and maybe just maybe you have placed education or your education on an altar that you worship today
Money, maybe it is that has the placed designed only for God and you worship or show adoration for money
Maybe it is your spouse, your kids
Right those are the easy ones that we like to think of
Maybe the most readily available
But church let us think about this
Do we have things in our own lives that we worship
Do we have images set up that we worship here in our own church
Do we worship things in our own church
Ministries, Songs, Worship Leaders, or Christian musicians
IT is an honest question that you have to ask yourself
Am I worshiping those things or people or are they helping me worship Christ
Am I worshipping and hanging on every word that comes out of someone else's mouth or am I filtering things through scripture and hanging on every word that comes comes out of Gods mouth
Another thing we are called to do is be on the look out is for deceptive words
That is what
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house and proclaim there this word and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” 3 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. 8 “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail.
Notice in vs 8 Jeremiah is telling the nation of Israel that you have began to trust in deceptive words instead of worshipping God Himself
The trusting in the words of other men
I think today we have this problem that we are so caught up with other people and what they say that we don’t filter it throughs scripture
If we filter things through scripture that takes the focus off the person and puts it on God
God is a jealous and exclusive God
He wants you all to Himself and doesn’t want you worshiping or serving idols
Those things you have set up in your life that represent God
God did not want people to set up an image of what they thought of God or represent God because as the verses said He is a jealous God
Remember it is only God, there is no other
Wether it is a golden cafe or or what ever you have set up in your life as something you worship
God calls us to smash them and get ride of them and return to a right relationship with God
This morning is a call to do just that
As the band comes forward
Maybe you are here this morning and this morning God has shown you that you have idols in your life
I would invite you to do something about it this morning
Maybe it is coming to the altar and repenting before God
Or maybe it is coming to the altar and listening to God
Or maybe you are here this morning and do not have a personal relationship with God
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone who can show you through scripture about how you can begin a personal relationship with Christ this morning