The Struggle with God

The Struggle for the Throne of Your Life (Exodus 20:1-3) Big Idea: Our greatest struggle is to let God be God. Sermon File Type Sermon Passages Exodus 20:1-3 Topics Lord; Idols Tags Sermon #789 Speaker Rev. David Thomas Venue FHCC; Date Dec. 30, 2018; Introduction: This week we will flip the page or hang a new calendar. Some of us will make resolutions or identify goals. But who determines what goals are worthy goals? Your financial advisor would suggest certain goals that probably do not align with your physician’s goals which both may conflict with your spouse’s goals. I don’t want us to think of these as “rules for the New Year” but as “speed traps to avoid.” I also want to acknowledge that this different way of viewing the 10 Commandments has blossomed out of my reading and contemplating this book available from Moody Publishers. Before we study the commandments we need to know the commander. ONE OF THE HOTTEST ISSUES in America today is the debate over values. Our values inform us concerning what is right and wrong and drive us to certain actions. Your personal values can motivate you to donate to a food pantry or make you hide your income from the Internal Revenue Service at tax time. They can cause you to volunteer as a coach or sponsor or draw your shades in peaceful isolation. Where do you get your values? And how do you know which values are the right ones? Is it all a matter of personal choice? And if so, what are we to say about the values of Kim Jong-Un, Vladimir Putin, White Nationalists or followers of ISIS? They have values too. Values come from somewhere, and the first thing to grasp about the Ten Commandments is that they reflect the character of God. That's why there is so much controversy about displaying these commandments in public. Secularists object that these commandments are specifically tied to the God of the Bible. And of course they are absolutely right. A different god would have given different commandments. The God you worship will shape the values you hold, and the values you hold will shape the choices that you make. [This is why resolutions often don’t work, we attempt to change lifestyle without submitting to a new master.] When the God of the Bible doesn't fit with where people want to go, they find themselves desperately looking for other gods who will reflect different values, and therefore accommodate a different kind of lifestyle. This is a result of following your heart, rather than guarding your heart as we are commanded in Proverbs 4:23. It's no surprise that the search is on in America for new gods who will reflect our choices. If the lifestyle that is wanted is one of choice without consequence, then the God of the Bible will not do. This attempted reshaping of God is not new. It goes all the way back to the garden of Eden. When Satan tempted the first man and woman. God had told the first man and woman not to touch the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But Satan wanted them to make a different choice. His goal was to change how they behaved. His strategy was to undermine what they believed. "Did God really say that you could not eat from the tree?" he asked. (See Genesis 3:1.) "And this talk about death following sin is surely exaggerated. You shall not surely die. No; on the contrary, you shall be like God. You can be the Lord of your own life. You can decide your own values. You can discover what's right for you!" (See Genesis 3:1—5.) So Adam and Eve became confused about God. Adam and Eve's first struggle was their struggle with God. They wanted to take God's place, and although the first commandment had not been written at that time, it describes the greatest struggle not only of our first parents, but for all their descendants. Transition: Why should we listen to this God? I will give you 2 reasons God is God (Exodus 20:1-2a) Exodus 20:1–2a (ESV) — And God spoke all these words, saying, 2“I am the Lord your God… God has a name 1. God introduced Himself to Moses at Mount Sinai (also known as Horeb) when He spoke from the burning bush and commissioned Moses to speak to Pharaoh. 2. Moses wanted to know God's name. That wasn't surprising. Egypt had its own gods, and if Moses said that God had sent him, Pharaoh would want to know which "god" he was talking about. 3. So God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). 4. In the original Hebrew, this was just one word, with the letters YHWH. It's hard to be certain about how this was pronounced, because the Hebrew text of the Old Testament was preserved without vowels. 5. If you add vowels to YHWH, you could get "YeHoWaH" or in its anglicized form, Jehovah, though most scholars today think that the name should be pronounced "YaHWeH." 6. This is the name by which God made Himself known to His own people. Whenever it is used in the Old Testament, it is translated as LORD with capital letters, and it is surely significant that when Moses brought the newly liberated slaves to Sinai, God used this special name to introduce Himself: "I am Yahweh, (the LORD) your God." 7. Literally translated, God was saying "I am 'the I AM,' your God." He was saying, "I've got a name. I am not like a lump of clay that you can mold to your own liking. I am who I am. I am your God, and I am inviting you into a personal relationship with Me." 8. The God of the Bible is who He is. That means He is not whoever you want Him to be. 9. He is the Creator and the sustainer of all things. He is the unchanging, self-existent God, and that means that He depends on nobody. 10. God depends on no one. He exists in the power of His own eternal life. He is God whether we believe in Him or not. Some folks love Him, others hate Him, but none of us can avoid Him. He is who He is. So to make Him your God is to come in line with reality. To resist Him is utter folly. 11. God's name sets Him apart from all other gods. They were inventions of human history, the products of cultures that sustained them. Like pop stars who rise and fall with the fashion of the times, they rose and fell with the civilizations that shaped them. Nobody worships Bel, Marduk, Baal, or Dagon today. They were designer gods made to fit the demands of a market that has now passed away. 12. But Yahweh is who He is. He always has been and He always will be. He was not created by our words. He created us by His Word, and that is why it is entirely right for Him to say, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Transition: The first reason we should listen to God is because He is God, the second reason is also found in today’s text  God is Good (Exodus 20:2) Exodus 20:2 (ESV) — “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. God could have appealed to us based upon His authority 1. God could have laid out the Ten Commandments on the authoritative basis of His own divine power. Given who He is, He might have said, "I am your Creator. I made the universe. I have more power than a million nuclear bombs, and so you had better knuckle under and do what I say." God chose to appeal to us based upon relationship 1. But God does not make His appeal to His people on the basis of raw power, like a dictator. Instead, He says, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (emphasis added). God has already proved that He is committed to the good of His people, and it is on this basis of His gracious intervention to deliver them from slavery that He appeals to His people to follow His commands. Life in Egypt had been miserable for these people. Their plight had been hidden, and they had been powerless to do anything about it. They were trapped in a life of poverty, abuse, and oppression with no way out. Then Yahweh stepped in and brought these desperate people out of Egypt. He rescued them, and now He introduces Himself to them: "I am Yahweh. I am the One who brought you out of Egypt. I sent the plagues on your oppressors. I parted the Red Sea, and I destroyed your enemies. When you cried out, nobody else was listening. But I did. Nobody else cared about you, but I came down to help you. No one else saw a future for you, but I did. I am Yahweh, your God, and that is why you must have no other gods before Me." 2. You will never be ready to embrace God fully until you are convinced that He is good. You may submit to raw power, but you will never love raw power. That's why it is so significant that God invites you into a relationship of love. 3. Consider the difference between a kidnapper and a lover. A kidnapper may say, "You are mine" on the basis of power. A lover says, "You are mine" on the basis of affection. I have asked for and won your heart and you have freely given it to me. 4. Many people have the idea that the Ten Commandments are the talk of an authoritarian deity who, like a kidnapper, is intent on imposing his unattractive will on others. Those who believe this will do everything in their power to get as far away from God as possible. 5. But Moses and the Israelites knew better. They had experienced the grace of God in their extraordinary escape from slavery, and so they did not hear God's commands as the imposition of an authoritarian deity. They heard the commandments as the intimate talk of a lover who has given everything to win the affection of the loved one, and now embraces her, saying, "You are mine." God chose to reveal Himself to us in flesh (John 6:35; 14:6; 8:58) 1. We see God’s affection even more clearly in the New Testament where we discover that the "I AM" took flesh and came to us in the person of Jesus. Jesus Christ is Yahweh (the I AM) with us. That is why He said, "I am the bread of life," "I am the way and the truth and the life," and "Before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 6:35; 14:6; 8:58). The same God who spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses speaks to us in Jesus Christ, who has come down to bring us a greater deliverance than God's rescue of His people from their Egyptian holocaust. Christ came into the world to set you free from your slavery of sin, death, and hell. Imagine the risen Lord Jesus Christ holding out His nail-pierced hands and saying, "I am the Lord your God. I gave Myself to deliver you. Don't put any other gods before Me." How could you resist such an appeal? Transition: Because God is God and God is good… God invites us to Loving Devotion (Exodus 20:3) Exodus 20:3 (ESV) — “You shall have no other gods before me.” Cultivating our Affection for Him 1. God invites you into a relationship of mutual love and loyalty. That's what the first commandment is all about. You can't begin to follow this command until you are persuaded of the love and mercy of God. But for those who believe, the first commandment seems like a natural response of gratitude to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. 2. Pursuing a life of loving loyalty to God means cultivating your affection for Him. As with any relationship of genuine love, this involves thinking about Him, appreciating Him, honoring Him, desiring Him, fearing Him, trusting Him, hoping in Him, delighting in Him, calling upon Him, and giving thanks to Him. 3. It means giving God more weight in your life than anything else, so that if you face a decision where every inclination of your heart says no and yet to honor God you would have to say yes, you would say yes-because God carries more weight for you than every other inclination of your heart. 4. That has been the choice of thousands of believers who have gone to prison and sometimes died rather than renounce the name of Jesus. They are living the first commandment. 5. As Christians, we gather for worship because we want to cultivate our affection for God. In any relationship, love needs to be renewed and replenished. My love for my wife is renewed as I spend time with her and savor fresh insights into the wonderful person that she is. Fresh love sustains a marriage and keeps a husband or wife from turning to someone else. In a far greater way, it is your enjoyment of God's love and the renewing of your love for Him that will sustain you in following the first commandment. Turning from All that Offends Him 1. Pursuing a life of loving loyalty to Yahweh means turning from all that offends Him. Sins that break the first commandment have one thing in common: They all displace God. When something or someone other than God gains a controlling position in your life, the first commandment is broken, because that position belongs to God alone. 2. I've found it helpful to identify some of the sins that break the first commandment: • Pride • Hero worship • Infatuations • Allowing other people to bind your conscience • Superstition • Consulting the devil, mediums, or fortune-tellers • Teaching or believing that all religions lead to God (because it puts all gods on the same level) • Despair is another sin that breaks the first commandment. How can you despair if the Lord is your God? Despair comes when there is something that you want, and your disappointment in not getting it becomes more important than your loyalty to God. 3. This is a sobering list of sins. I see traces of too many of them in my own life, and they show me how much I still need to grow in learning to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Perhaps you feel the same. 4. The first commandment looks easy from a distance, but once you get up close, you will see how difficult it is. You may well find yourself saying to God, "I can't even keep the first commandment. I am surrounded by other powers that control my life. I need help!" 5. That's a great way to come to Jesus. Following the first commandment is a lifelong struggle, but with the help and presence of God’s Holy Spirit you can begin to pursue it. Subjecting everything to Him 1. What is the greatest affection of your life? That is your God. a. I would suggest that the thing you feel compelled to resolve to change in 2019 may be an indicator of what has crawled onto the throne of your life. b. When gifts are put in the place of the giver. It's rather like the marriage service: God invites you to take Him as your God for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, and keeping only to Him until death brings you into His presence. Indeed, if you can't make this kind of unconditional commitment to God, how can you hope to make such a commitment to someone else? Our challenge is to embrace God exclusively & unconditionally The first commandment leaves no room for an "if," "but," or "when," because as soon as you say "if," "but," or "when," you have put something else in the place of God and thereby broken the first commandment. If you say yes to God but then add, "if you give me my health," or "if you bless my family," or "if you solve this problem," then you are putting your health, God's blessing on your family, or the resolution of a problem in the place of God. The first commandment is our greatest struggle because we always want to set conditions. We want to use God instead of letting Him be God. But as soon as you try to use God, you have taken Him off the throne of your life and put whatever use you have for Him there instead. Conclusion: When Jesus said, "Follow Me," His disciples did not know where He would lead them, and you can't know that either. Making Christ Lord of your life could get you into some tough situations. The nine commandments that follow describe the life God is calling you to lead. Every one of them will be a struggle. But God is calling you to take a step of commitment based on trust, because you know that He is God and that He is good. Communion Closing Hymn #364 My Jesus I Love Thee Benediction: Eph 6:23-24 – Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.