God Above All

Introduction

I feel a bit like Forrest Gump right now. I am sort of abruptly ending our Disagreeing Well series because I hit a point where I feel like Forrest, “that’s all I have to say about that…”

I prayed and sought the Lord on what to do next. Do we continue our Genesis study or do I pause that until summer is over? In that, the Lord laid on my heart an exploration into two mountain top experiences that define our world. One on Mount Sinai when Moses recieved the 10 Commandments and the other on a mountain near the sea of Galilee.

Both of these moments provide for us our ethics, the basis of our truth as Christians.

A driving question in our world today- what is truth? Is truth objective or subjective. Is truth outside of us or what we determine from ourselves?

This is critical because it defines our lives, the life of a culture and community. For so long, the dominating thought has been your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. Yet, this cannot actually stand. It creates much of the chaos we see today.

Worldviews are many layered, but there are 3 elements that are critical.

Ethics- the external rules and standards that provide foundation to life.

Morals- Personal convictions that are built from our ethics. This is where we internalize our ethics.

Values- the beliefs and practices that determine your priorities. Essentially, the actions we take.

All Christian ethics that lead to morals built and values lived are founded in the Word of God.

2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness,”

Hebrews 4:12 “12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The foundation of our ethics is found in the 10 Commandments and expounded through Christ.

Matthew 5:17 “17 “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

He fulfills them through His life- living perfectly the standard of God as human in our place. He was placed under the law and stands perfect under it where we could not.

His teaching- The Sermon on the Mount among other teachings show us Jesus expounding on the law of God. While the penalty against the law is covered by His sacrifice and shed blood on the cross; He still taught us how we are to live in the holiness of God granted to us as well.

Where opinions, feelings, and preferences rule the day, I want to take the next several weeks to show it must be the Word of God that rules the life of the believer by the power of Christ.

Because the heart is deceitful above all else, we need truth that is objective, outside of us.

Exodus 20:1-6

God establishes the foundation of His law in 10 commandments and He begins with Himself. Right relationship to Him has always been the goal and purpose of God to humanity.

Because God knows our hearts are fickle and easily tempted to trust other things, He starts with the rule through relationship.

Even more, it is only in relationship that we are capable of carrying out any of God’s standard. It is through Him that obedience comes.

The law is also reflective of the character of God, thus it can only come from Him. This means our ethics begin and end with God as Christians. He is the source of them.

God reminds the people that He is the one who brought them out of slavery. He is their redemption and rescue. Salvation was and is only possible through Him. As those saved we are called to now live for His glory.

Have No Other gods Before Him/ No Idols

While these commandments have their variance in meaning, they bear the same foundation.

Everyone is a worshipper of something or someone. It is written into the fabric of our lives by God because by His design we are to worship Him.

Unfortunately, sinful desire leads us to worship other things-gods of our own desires. Some of those gods are not visible, but some are. This is where idols come into play.

When I traveled to India I was amazed at the number of little temples that were built that you could pull off the side of the road to simply worship gods of stone.

Some of the idols were fashioned more humanlike than others and some featured more animalistic features. Here is what God says about idols:

Psalm 115:4–8 “4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. 5 They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. 6 They have ears but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. 7 They have hands but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throats. 8 Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.”

We may think, I don’t have little statues placed in my home that we bow to and worship or pray to. Idolatry is more than just something physical.

These commandments are about worship. Both placing gods and idols before the Lord is a misplacement of worship. Worship is not just singing songs or coming to church. Worship is what defines your life.

Therefore, idolatry is placing something or someone in place of God. This opens the door for idolatry to anything.

How do we determine if we have exchanged something/someone in place of God?

Let me answer this question with a question: If you are a Christian, a professing believer in Jesus Christ life, death, and resurrection that pays the penalty of your sin and grants a new heart and life to you; how does Jesus impact the choices you make in life?

If I make choices based on how I feel or what I desire, then perhaps I have a god/idol of self.

If I make choices based on what others will think of me, perhaps I have a god/idol of others.

If I make choices based on the popular opinion of the day/world, then perhaps I have a god/idol of the world.

If I make choices based upon accumulation of money for safety, security, or simply to have more, then perhaps I have a god/idol of greed or of self.

If I make choices based upon the will, desire, glory, and fame of Jesus, then perhaps my God is truly the Lord.

I like what pastor Kyle Idleman says to this,

The gods that compete for our attention come at us based on the circumstances of our everyday existence. (gods at war, 57)

It is not about just one thing, but who or what is the driving object of our worship- what defines our life.

Your life is defined by what you prioritize.

In the end the things of this world- idols made of stone or wood, nonphysical gods of greed, lust, self, opinions, jobs, success, athleticism- they will fade away.

Even more, those very things we seek, we ultimately end up serving. They over promise and under deliver; leaving us to always crave more and more. Becoming a slave to them.

Why does this matter to God?

If He is our object of worship, of devotion, then His Word and our ethics will flow from Him.

This is why He places a total of 4 commandments related to Him before He has anything relating to other human beings.

If we get our devotion wrong, we get our ethics wrong. Most ethical battles we are fighting right now at their heart are about humanism over theism. And at that, monotheism.

What did God say in verse 2?

“I am the Lord your God…”

There is only one God and He gets to make the call on your life before you do.

2. He is jealous for His reputation and for you.

I want to make clear that we are a desire of the Lord, but not His sole desire. His greatest desire is for His glory and His name. He wants that glory to be represented in us as His people. This is why He has turned his love and attention toward us.

Jealousy has a negative connotation for the most part in our minds. Yet, a husband is jealous for his wife, yes? She is for him and him alone just as he is for her and her alone. No other is to come between that. That is a good jealousy.

So in verse 5, among the commandment to not have idols God states He is a jealous God. This jealous is not petty like Jr High girls fighting because they like the same boy.

His jealousy that is tied to His glory is for your heart. He knows that these idols and gods lead to nothing in the end. They offer the world and yet give us a cow patty.

In Joshua 23, God through Joshua tells the people to not be taken in by the gods of the nations that surround them. Why?

Joshua 23:13 “…They will become a snare and a trap for you, a sharp stick for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.”

Matthew 6:19-34

How did Jesus expound on the first 2 commandments?

Jesus uses a specific example of our possessions and money as a god/idol.

From that He expresses that what we set our devotion upon will direct our lives or the body.

He then speaks of our anxiety that we face. The heart of it is loss of trust in Him as the great Provider. He no longer becomes our God and either self-reliance or money itself becomes our god.

I want to hone in on verse 24 though.

“No one can serve two masters, since either he will ate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”

The beginning of that verse summarizes the first 2 commandments. It doesn’t matter what the other god/idol is; we cannot serve 2 masters.

Divided devotion fractures us. It often leads to hypocrisy in the life of the individual too.

James 1:6–8 “6 But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter (Double-minded person) is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.”

It creates unstableness in one’s life. Jesus says it leads us a conflict of loving one and hating the other.

How does this come about?

We lose peace, security, comfort, our foundation erodes over time.

Solomon is a great example. A man who loved the Lord and His ways, yet he also loved love the political and personal advantages that women brought him. He eventually procured 700 wives and 300 concubines, something the Lord never told him to do. It fractured the man, his family, his relationship with the Lord, and ultimately the nation.

In the end Solomon was controlled by that which he followed. His lust. His own ethic, moral, and value.

Thus, there can only be one Lord of your life and my life. Whatever we surrender to is what we give the power to. Who better to give power to than the Creator of the Universe. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Alpha and Omega. The Word. The Redeemer. The One who is immortal, eternal, all powerful, all knowing, ever present. The Sovereign in this world.

How does this affect our ethics?

The short answer is we compromise.

We find workarounds to the Word to make it say what we want it to say.

“The Bible doesn’t speak about abortion” is a recent statement circulating.

Yes, you can simplify the Scripture to say that it does not use the word abortion or speak of the current medical procedure.

But, it clearly speaks of child sacrifice as an abomination to God. It speaks of God forming a person in the womb. It also reveals God’s high regard for human life as a part of His creation. Even if that creation happens through the way He allows for life to be created.

But, to make the Scripture say or not say what we want it to, there are some who are are trying to find workarounds to it.

We make justification for sin.

Similar to the workarounds, but in this case we seek to lessen sin for what it is. That lie is just a white lie, it doesn’t really hurt any one.

I can be ugly to the person that was ugly to me. It is justified because I was less ugly.

It’s just 5 over the speed limit. Its not that bad.

Love is love and if someone truly loves another, who cares what that looks like.

It’s a clump of cells, not a living being created by God.

The reality is the littlest of decisions matter just as much as the larger ones. The little compromises can allow for the larger ones over time.

This past year I had a moment to compromise. I was at Sam’s and bought items for the concession stand and also for our family. I soon realized that a pack of water was not purchased.

For a moment I had the internal conflict of brushing it off as a mistake on the part of Sam’s employees and it was just $4 anyway. Sam’s isn’t gonna go bankrupt over $4.

I was also on a time crunch and I just didn’t want to take time to go back in and pay for it.

But, the Spirit wouldn’t let me just leave it. I chose to take my receipt back to the desk at the front, go to the lady and tell her that I had a pack of water that didn’t get scanned and needed to pay for it.

She looked at me like I was crazy to do this. The internal conversation went something like this: If I choose to compromise on this little thing now, what would I be willing to compromise on in bigger things? The Lord is holy in the small and big things and I am to be holy in the small and big things.

Conclusion

What is our conclusion to this sermon? What is our call to action/response?

I think it boils down to deciding if God is above all in your life. Is He Lord enough in the big and little things? Is He Lord or is something else a lord or the lord over your life?

Before Joshua passed away and was no longer the leader of Israel, he gave a final charge to the people.

Joshua 24:14–15 “14 “Therefore, fear the Lord and worship him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship the Lord. 15 But if it doesn’t please you to worship the Lord, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship—the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living? As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.””

The choice is before you after hearing the Word of God. He is clear that nothing is to come before Him. Simply because He is our God who is jealous for us, but also the impact it makes in our living.

Choose today to rid yourself of any idol that demands devotion away from Jesus.

God desires an undivided heart. We can be guilty of giving our heart and affection to the things of this world. When we do, we grow cold in our passion for Him.

A life of fullness can only be found in pursuing complete devotion to Jesus.

The law of God points to the nature of God and is a call to living holy lives. It also reveals our sin in our inability to do this apart from Jesus.

Romans 3:19–20 “19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment. 20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.”

Romans 3:21–24 “21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

In short, the law tells us we are sinners, falling short of God’s standard. Jesus bridges that for us. You and I must trust in Him for that- whether for the first time or in our continued faith.

Our ethics, morals, and values all come down to who sits on the throne of our lives. If it is the Lord, then He gets to decide what is right and good for you, for us.