1 GOD

Exodus 20:1-3

SERIES INTRO

Today, we are starting a new series on the ten commandments, and I thought living in Columbus, OH why not package it as the Big Ten. Now i know that some of the football illustrations might be lost on some of you and that probably means you are just spending your free time better than I do, but I promise we will make it connect. The Big ten is the conference that the Ohio State buckeyes play in and was originally named the Big Ten because there were ten schools in the conference, makes sense right? But now the conference has 14 teams, and we are adding 4 from the west coast next year, so we will have 18 team in the “big 10”. From the logo you can see that they are aware of the oddity and I’ve recently heard it called the B-1-G. But as we go through the original big ten, that is the 10 commandments, will never become 14 or 18 commandments. The legalistic leaders of the culture tried to continually qualify the specifics of the original 10 until a document called the talmud would contain 613 commandments the people were to follow. God gave 10 commandments on Mount Sinai that day, no more, no less. Now I will tell you that as I’ve worked on this series that I’ve felt impressed to take a break in the series 2 or 3 times along the way to preach different messages, as I know that these 10 commandments are weighty and don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by them, but rather I want them to help you experience freedom, just as God wanted you to experience freedom. Now, let’s introduce today’s first commandment, NO OTHER GODS.

SERMON INTRO

I am sure most of you realize there are many competing thoughts and ideas about God. Some believe in One, some believe in many, some are uncertain in what they believe, some believe in none. But in all reality if you believe in many, or none, is that really belief? To be indecisive on a belief in God is really a lazy man’s religion. It does not require courage, faith, or a defense of their belief. Anyone who believes in anything, cannot be ok with believing in everything. Christianity is often labeled as intolerant or close minded due to its lack of acceptance towards other beliefs. But few religions would be ok with worship of other gods outside of those in which they put their belief.

As Christians we believe in One Triune God; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. One Creator. One above all. Our text today is a major event in God’s timeline, He has just set His people free from the bondage of the Egyptians. The chains have fallen off, the plagues are over, the cloud by day and fire by night has led them through the desert, the red sea has been parted and God has named them as His chosen people. Many people have chosen a Deity to be their god but never has a God chosen a people to be His people. (REPEAT) But they’re not living like His people. They’re living like they’re still in Egypt, still in bondage.

TEXT Exodus 20:1-3 “Then God spoke all these words, saying, “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.”

PRAY

Our idols and gods influence our priorities, values, morality, choices, and ultimately our eternal destiny. This sermon series focuses on life under the protection, wisdom, and goodness of a Father who loves us; The nation of Israel travels to Mount Sinai where God will give the ten commandments. This nation of a few million former slaves are set free... However, they’re not living free. They’re committing adultery. They’re stealing from one another. They’re coveting. They’re lying. They’re not raising their children in the Lord. They’re worshiping false gods in addition to the real God. Though they are set free, they have chosen to not live free, so God’s going to speak into their lives.

Their issue was bondage, their answer was God. The only solution to OUR spiritual slavery, is God. This is not just a Charleston Heston movie we watch every year at Easter, It’s about God setting people free. God is saying, it is I that have brought you here, to set you free. You can be set free. You can live freely. But you can't do it the way you've been doing it. You have too much Egypt in you, and you can’t live freely living like Egypt.

In Hebrew writing and language, the order of presentation signified priority. This can’t be overlooked or overstated when we see which commandment He decided to give us first. None of the other commandments make sense without it. It is a statement that only God could make because for anyone else to make the statement would in the same statement be identifying themselves as a god, make sense? Second, GOD delivered us, not man. None of the other ten commandments concern themselves with what humans must do “for God.” Pre ten-commandments religions all believed that people must do alot “for” their gods. What God wants is for us to be good to our fellow human beings.

But He sets the stage with #1. I Am The Only God and you can't have any before me. God is relational. He is jealous. He wants a relationship with you. God says, we’re married, and I love you, and I’m not going to share this relationship with anybody else.” Some would say it’s very unloving of God. But just the opposite, it’s a picture of a perfect and faithful God. This is how love expresses itself. On God's Facebook status under relationship it doesn't say "complicated" it says "exclusive!" I learned a term this week called situationship, and I knew immediately that it would be part of this message. Too many are in a situationship with God...Using God situationally. When the situation arises I need a God. Car broke down, girlfriend broke up with me, relative got sick, I have homework due... we dial up God for that last minute date because no one else would go out with us this Friday night. God speaks up at the beginning of the ten commandments and says I AM YOUR GOD. Just me.

WHO IS YOUR GOD

Most of us are past other deities. Yes, you have to make a choice between the God of the Bible vs other gods that have been thought of our imagined. So as I pose the question who is your god? In this moment I’m sure the Holy Spirit floods your mind with ideas that you struggle with. Is food your god? Is it sex? Power? Attention? Affirmation? Entertainment? social status? I suppose... But in the old testament God shows up to say you need to understand I am GOD. Then in the New Testament Jesus arrives on the earthly scene and talks about it more specifically. In a sense I can almost see Jesus clearing things up for the New Testament church. I can almost hear them questioning Jesus, what other Gods do we need to avoid? In the New Testament Jesus doesn’t name any of the cultural gods that the people needed to avoid. He made no mention of Jupiter, Juno, or Minerva, the deities of the Roman Empire in which the Jewish people were currently living. Jesus says you can’t worship Mammon. That’s it, that’s the only god he mentions. Mammon is the god, Who is mammon? One description is the devil or evil influence of the worship of money.

STOP! (LOUDLY, INTENTIONALLY) Don’t flip that switch in your head that says the pastor wants me to give more, this is not a message about giving! it’s a message about your fidelity and trust in one triune God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

If there is anything that Jesus seemed to identify as the opponent of God it was money. Money, wealth, possession, and financial security are the greatest enemy of the Kingdom of God. In Luke 16:13 Jesus says

Luke 16:13 (ESV) says No servant can serve two masters (GODS), for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Other translations says you cannot serve God and Mammon.

MONEY IS gOD

Let’s start with how this was a reality for the Israelite people in Exodus and work our way forward to today. Now, some of you are saying what does Israelite slavery, crossing the red sea, wandering through the wilderness, manna from heaven, quail meat, and building golden calves have to do with money. By the way for those of you that are new to church those are all ideas that are a part of the Israelite story you should read about soon. These things have everything to do with Money! It started with Money as the Egyptians chained them to their cubicles, I mean the pyramids to build great buildings and luxurious living for the government, I mean Pharaoh, in exchange for food, clothing, and shelter. Sound at all familiar? When they get to retirement, I mean the red sea, they say didn’t we have 401ks, I mean graves back in Egypt and you brought us out here to die instead? When God provides them bread from heaven, they say didn’t we have better food back in Egypt? The tension here was that God was GIVING them food on one hand, while they had to strive for, work for, and even prepare their own food back in Egypt. The lesson here is that when you are under God’s provision you will have all you need, but often times we enslave ourselves to labor, stress, and anxiety to obtain or indulge in things that God knows are unhealthy and insatiable. And if God wanted us to understand the worship of money, could the story get any clearer than them making and worshipping a calf made of... what was it again? (hand to ear) That’s right gold. Your god is whomever/whatever you trust in to provide and sustain your needs and even your desires. Some may have desires where you say God can’t give me what i get from drugs, alcohol, food, entertainment, or certain immoral sexual behavior. Everything you want and think you need from those ideas is a perversion and lesser satisfaction than God designed for you to have. The devil has consistently been conditioning you to believe that a perverted form of a God-given desire is more satisfying, but he ALWAYS leaves out the consequences attached.

ONE GOD

Jesus said there are two potential masters you can serve. God… or the system of money. So today truly saying that you believe in the God of the Bible means you aren’t of the mindset of keeping control. That’s why Jesus said the love of money was evil. When you have money you have control. Money controls politics, money controls businesses, marriages, jobs, and entertainment, you might even not be stepping into God’s calling in your life over your concern of finances. In a 1964 comic strip we read the golden rule, “he who has the gold, makes the rules.” If you don’t think we are controlled by money, think about the reason you go to a job you don’t like anymore. Explain why you wear a certain brand of clothes or drive a certain car. We buy things we don’t need, with money we don’t have, to impress people we don’t like. REPEAT If you don’t think you are controlled by money, consider why less than a third of the church gives an offering, and less than a fifth gives a tithe. You see it’s easy to say we worship a God of the Bible, but if we honestly measure how much time and money we commit to God vs how much we commit our own comforts and desires, it might be a potentially empty acknowledgment of Him. We might say we love others but the more we gradually and continually become self absorbed the less we will truly consider when someone else’s well being is on the line if it potentially threatens our own comforts.

RESPONSE - TEAM

Your worry shows your worship. Whatever you are worrying about shows what your heart is truly concerned about. In other words you can’t say you worship God and worry so much about other things.

Ultimately you can know that my desire for you from this message is to be free of the need to have, the need for more, the need to impress others, and the need to measure up to others. We are holistic beings and the systems of this world are doing everything they can to create desires within us, so we will expend our God-given resources so they can temporarily and superficially satisfy them. We say we believe in the 1 true living God, but continually allow our decision-making to be dictated by what the world says is supposed to make us happy. We say we want to trust Him more, but not enough to reduce our trust in other factors. In Deuteronomy we hear the powerful words of what the Jewish people refer to as the SHEMA, Shema being the Hebrew word for Hear. SHEMA or Hear o ISRAEL...

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 ““Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” SHEMA, This is who HE is, this is YOUR response, love God with all your passion, your disciplines, and your energy/time.

How much more of an impact could you have made in different areas of your life for the Kingdom of God if money wasn’t a determining factor in your decision? Most of us won’t give anything away until we have made sure that all of our perceived needs/wants are met. Just give it to God. Test Him and see if God won’t just open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing upon you.

The best way to separate yourself FROM the world and TO a Holy God, is to separate yourself from your unhealthy concern over financial security and watch the Kingdom of God become real in your life.

Let’s pray today. I know that just writing this message made me re-evaluate a multitude of ideas in my life, so I’m hoping it hits home with you as well.

As we close with a final song of worship will you stand and consider these prayers? STAND

God I want to make sure you have control, maybe you know he doesn’t, you can pray and surrender control to him then ask him to help you how to re-distribute the use of the resources that he has blessed you with. God help me to trust You enough to give You what I have so that You can give me what I need. God help me to realize that I can trust in you the way that I should, until I stop trusting in my own means to provide for my needs. I know in my weakness, your strength is perfected. Maybe you have given him control, but just want to check in to make sure He’s still the one! There’s a lot of power in simply saying, Dear God I just want you to have all of me. Acknowledging Him as God is really central to what it means to worship Him. If nothing else, just take some time to come and worship Him through prayer this morning!

Just a small reprise of the song Christ be magnified this morning, The bigger I see Him, the smaller my concerns become. PRAY

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