The Love of God and Genuine Worship

Have you ever tried to do something that you thought was good only to figure out that you were doing it the wrong way? On the way home from SC this week, Ella and Silas were sitting quietly in the back seat when all of a sudden Ella screams and it terrified Silas… When I asked why she did that and whether she meant to scare him or not, she said, “I was just trying to be funny.” Even though Ella was trying to be funny, it didn’t really accomplish it’s goal because Silas, and me for that matter, weren’t laughing.

Well, in Acts 17, Paul finds himself walking through Athens and while he is there, he sees loads of idols and one that reads, “To the unknown god.” It was said that at this time, it would’ve been easier to find an idol than a person in that city. Well, while Paul looked at this, his heart was grieved and he began to preach that he knows the unknown God and that that God is not pleased with the worship they give Him.

Now, if I were to ask you today, “Do you think God is pleased with your worship?” or “Do you think God is pleased with the worship of many churches in America?” What would be your response and how do you know that God is pleased with your worship? Well, if you’ve never thought about that before, today gives us a great opportunity to explore the worship of the Lord and how His love for us motivates us to worship Him properly.

Now, as we look at our text for today, we are going to find 4 things that help us break the passage down. (1) God’s Command, (2) God’s Reason, (3) God’s Warning, (4) God’s Grace. Let’s look at our passage here in Exodus 20:4-6

Exodus 20:4–6 NKJV

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

God’s Command

A. Notice the language here. He doesn’t want you to use any image whether it is in the sky, or on the ground, or in the water. God is commanding us to use absolutely no images to represent Him. Now one thing we need to remember is that Israel had just left Egypt and that they had become familiar with and even began following the idols of Egypt. One thing about the religion of the Egyptians was that they used just about any animal they could think of to represent one of their gods.

So, by demanding that they refrain from using images to represent Him, God is making it clear that He is unlike the god’s of Egypt and is far greater than they could ever imagine Him to be.

God’s Jealous Love

In verse 5, God gives us one of the reasons for banning the use of images as He says, “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...” Now, in our society we have kind of mixed jealousy with be envious and so we immediately think of it as being a bad thing. Well, as we all know, there is nothing bad about God. So this can’t be a sinful attribute. So, what does it mean that He is jealous?

Let me explain it this way: If a married man passionately loved and cared for his wife. Do you think he would be okay with other men flirting with her and taking her on dates? Of course not! Why? Because he loves her and is jealous for her and that’s a good thing.

Well, that’s similar to how the jealousy of God is here. He doesn’t want us to use false images because He is full of burning passion for us as His people. One writer said, “Godly jealousy is not the insecure, insane, and possessive human jealousy that we often interpret this word to mean, Rather, it is an intensely caring devotion to the objects of His love, like a mother’s jealous protection of her children, a father’s jealous guarding of his home.” God is committed to us and because of this intense love, He says, “Do not worship me with carved images...”

A guy named Christopher Wright said, “A God who was not jealous would be as contemptible as a husband who didn’t care whether or not his wife was faithful to him…But the unique and incomparable and only living God makes necessarily exclusive claims and has the right to a monopoly on our love… Jealousy is God’s love protecting itself.”

God not only loves us, but He wants us to love Him. He is the only source of joy, the only source of peace, and the only One worthy of praise.

Now, there are some other reasons that images won’t work that aren’t listed in this particular passage. One of the reasons is given by Paul in Acts 17:24-25

Acts 17:24–25 NKJV

24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

Paul is telling these Athenians that God is too great and too uncontainable to be described or held in what our hands can create for Him. So, the second reason is that even the greatest images and idols are too weak to express His greatness. Now, let’s move to our next point which is:

God’s Warning

Exodus 20:5 NKJV

5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

This is a difficult text for some of us if we aren’t careful. Because it almost seems as though if your father sins here, then God automatically looks at his children, grandchildren, and even great-great grandchildren and says, “Sorry, you’re out of luck” and judges them. But that’s not what is happening here. Notice, that the Lord says He will judge the sin of those who “hate” Him. So, this isn’t saying that this wicked man’s innocent children will suffer, but that the children of this man will be punished because and if they walk in the same sin of their father. God is showing us a few things here, but the main point I want us to ask ourselves is, “What kind of legacy are we leaving?”

God’s Grace

Now, I want you to notice the contrast that God highlights in the next statement as He says, “But showing mercy to thousands, those those who love Me and keep My commandments.” So, in the warning, there is a curse to those who hate Him even to the third and fourth generation, but to those who love Him, He shows mercy to thousands, or it might read, “a thousand generations.”

Although God doesn’t want us to make any images representing Him, He has made something in His image. In Genesis 1:27 we read,

Genesis 1:27 NKJV

27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

So, to put it this way. God is passionately opposed to those who He has created in His image bowing down to idols that falsely represent Him or idols of any kind for that matter. Last week we spoke about how demonic sin is and while looking at this passage, it seems clear just how wicked it is for image bearers to bow down to wicked idols and false representations of God in this world. Now, the thing we need to ask ourselves here is, “Well, I know my Bible and I know that when we were lost we didn’t love God. So how will God show mercy to anyone since we did not love Him or keep His commandments?” and that’s a good question.

God’s image bearers, not statues but humans, have bowed down to the things of this world. But God has robed Himself in flesh and, and John 1 says, come to dwell among us and His name is Jesus. This same Jesus said this in John 14:15-17

John 14:15–17 NKJV

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Now, this passage isn’t telling us that if we want to be united with God and have the Spirit that we have to earn it by making ourselves love Jesus. Notice that He says, “you know Him, for He dwells with you...” that is present tense language referring to the Spirit working in them and making them believers. And on what grounds are we made believers? Through the work of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the fulfillment of the second commands Colossians 1:15

Colossians 1:15 NKJV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

And because we belong to Jesus, we have been saved and now strive to worship God in spirit and in truth. What do we learn from this passage?

That God cares how He is worshipped.

That we are provoked to worship Him by His greatness and His love.

That we know the image of God, Jesus, and through Him we live as godly image bearers.