From the Love of God - Exodus 20:1-21

Introduction

Nothing makes you work harder than love. Today is Father’s Day, and I know all of you dads understand this, especially when it comes to vacation. If you want to see love, you watch a dad at the beach. That dude is carrying 150 lbs of beach equipment 200 yards just to be buried in sand when he dozes off. Dad takes the family on a family camping trip. He’s setting up the sewage and digging out the chairs and getting the grill set up just to have his kids ask what’s taking so long. This is work that only love will do. Only love will sing songs to a tiny person who wakes you up at 2:00 in the morning. Only love will cause you to comfort the person who just peed all over your favorite couch. Nothing makes you work harder than love.

So, that’s how I would answer the charge, were it to come, that I focus too much on grace, too much on joy, or too much on love. I’m not anti-obedience or even anti-behavior. But, I am anti-guilt and anti-performance because I am pro love. In fact, I am so radically pro-obedience that the type of obedience that I’m calling you to isn’t possible apart from passion and love. Only love would work that hard. Only grace can sustain that life. This morning, we’re going to begin to receive the Law from God, and what I want you to see that it was the concept of obedience and faithfulness that has been there from the beginning for God’s people.

God’s Word

Read Exodus 20:1-21

Why the Forgiven Obey (headline)

I can remember being in the lunchroom in high school and having people question my way of life in ways that I struggled combat. And, what’s interesting is that, even though I didn’t realize it, the main question that they had for me that day is also the main criticism that Islam and other belief systems use to critique ours. Here’s what they asked me: “If I’ve been forgiven of every sin past, present, and future, why do I think so much about obedience? Won’t I just be forgiven? Doesn’t grace make obedience pointless? “By no means!” I remember my mind racing, searching for a satisfying answer, and I settled on what I think is the reflex of God’s children: “Because I love him.” And man, there’s so much that was, and I’m sure is, that’s messed up about my understanding of God and faith and obedience, but that’s the gospel. And, that’s what’s being called for in Exodus 20. You see, what I hope you get from the Big Story is not that there’s an arbitrary way for you see Jesus hidden like a code in the verses of the OT. It’s that NT Christianity is found in the OT, and it’s found in Exodus 20. We see right here why the forgiven obey (headline). God loves them. God’s love for them leads to their love for God. Their love for God leads to their love for others.

God “loves” us.

v. 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” So, the starting point is that God “loves” us. And, the ‘us’ here is especially important. For this truth to make sense, it has to be understood that the ‘us’ that we’re talking about is not the world, but the redeemed. God loves the world, but they respond to his love differently than the Redeemed. That’s why we can so strongly agree with Jesus that you will know his people by their fruit, by their obedience, not their perfect obedience, but their passionate obedience. The Redeemed of God respond to God’s love with obedience. Notice that this is where the Law originates. When we think of the ten commandments we typically start with verse three. But, they really start with verse two. Verse two is the first part of the first commandment, the most important commandment. And, in verse two, God starts his giving of the Law by saying the same thing in three different ways, displaying its importance. He says, “I’m the LORD your God.” “I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” “I brought you out of the house of slavery.” That is, He is their covenant God; He is their Deliverer; He is their Redeemer. He made the promise, He delivered on the promise, and He paid their price. So, the Law found its starting place in the love and grace of God.

v. 18 “Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off.” God doesn’t save you and leave you alone. That wouldn’t be love. God calls you his children into a deep relationship with him. He expects it. He demands it. You’ll notice that on the front end of the ten commandments we’re reminded of God’s redeeming love on the back end we’re reminded of his holiness. This is Israel’s collective burning bush moment. On this mountain, God had call Moses to be his servant, and now, on this mountain, God is calling Israel to be his holy nation, a nation that would be marked by his glory, marked by his presence. Having experienced God’s magnificent love and having witnessed his terrifying holiness, they couldn’t go back to living the same way. That’s the point.

God’s “holiness” and “love” converge in God’s commands. How do we know what holiness is? It seems so abstract to us, right? How do we know that we aren’t holy? God’s Law. God’s law is the outworking of God’s character and holiness. It shows us how holy He is, and it shows us how hopelessly unholy we are. But, strangely enough, how do we know that God loves us? How do we know that is willing to live in a relationship with us? God’s Law. God’s law shows His willingness for a “relationship” with us and our unworthiness for that “relationship”. God’s gives us commands that He didn’t have to give to people for whom those commands prove impossible so that He could show just how unstoppable his love was for them.

God’s love for “us” transforms our love for “him”.

v. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.” And, God’s love for us “transforms” our love for him. That’s why He says, “You shall have no other gods before me”, literally ‘no other gods before my face.’ Why would you want to go to other gods? Who else has loved you? To whom would you go? Why would you reject your Redeemer for one who has shown you no love? Salvation changes how we think of God’s love because it changes our position in God’s house. We’re not slaves working for love; we’re children who have been given love. Obedience is always “from” love, never “for” love. We obey because of God’s salvation, not for God’s salvation. So, that’s the starting point of the Law, and that’s the starting point of our obedience: God’s love. It would probably surprise you to know that the first time we’re told of God’s love in the Bible is here in the giving of the Law, in verse six. These aren’t ten commands so much as they are ten invitations to worship. They are ten invitations to love. They are the calls of response to a people left reeling from the magnificent love of God.

Inward/Outward

v. 6 “but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” I want to point out to you a couple of different divisions in the commandments, ways that we categorize them. Notice the inward/outward nature of the commandments. This shows that there’s a lot more being taught and called for here than simply something to be used for prosecution in the courts. Commands one and ten are inward commands. They can’t be measured by other people. They can’t be proven or disproven in court. How do I know whether you love any other gods? How do I know whether you covet your neighbor’s wife? I don’t know. I’d never be able to actually prove it one way or the other. In fact, you could say that they are, essentially, the same command. After all, covet is just another word for worship. It’s a dismissal of God’s grace in hopes of something better. So, Commands 1 and 10 speak directly of the heart. Commands 2 through 9 speak to the overflows of the heart. So, in the commands, you have what you love, and you have how you live.

And, it’s this connection that we’re supposed to make when we read phrases like we find in verse 6 “those who love me and keep my commandments.” “Love” and “obedience” are synonomous terms. Love is inward, and obedience is outward. But, they are both demonstrating who you are and what you believe. It’s how we reconcile love and obedience that makes all the difference. And, that’s why the first commandment makes all the difference. That’s why it becomes what Jesus calls the greatest commandment. If you love God with all of your heart, mind, and strength, if you have no other gods, nothing that you covet more, you won’t be tempted to worship what you can make with your own hands. You won’t be tempted to worship your job or your standard of living or even your family. You’ll find it wonderful to be satisfied enough in God to rest in him in sabbath rest. You’ll not murder or steal or commit adultery because you have all you need already in God.

The outward commands are meant to reveal the inward reality. What your heart “loves”, your life will “follow”. You can’t see whether you love God supremely or whether you covet your ideal family instead, but you can see whether or not you renown the name of God or put down your hobbies and financial opportunities to rest in God or whether you lie to get ahead or improve your reputation. For a long time, I said that I loved to deer hunt. But then, I realized that I had not been in years and that every opportunity that I had to go I didn’t really look forward to. It’s like I said it because I was supposed to. But, if you would’ve examined my life, you would’ve had a hard time being convinced I was a deer hunter. Does that describe your love for Jesus?

Our love for “God” transforms our love for “others”.

Jesus uses a similar line of thinking to help us to understand the nature of the Law. Jesus points out that we’re to live out the spirit of the Law rather than trying to find loopholes in the letter of the Law. You see, these ten, and Jesus’ elaborations of a couple of them in Matthew 5 are the same way, set a pattern for a person to evaluate all of their lives. It’s these live and others like them. And, I think that Jesus helps us to see a second division in the ten commandments that’s important. They are just inward/outward, but they are also vertical and horizontal. If you’ll notice, the first four have to do with our relationship with God and the last six have to do with our relationships with each other. So, God’s love transforms our love for him, but then our love for “God” transforms our love for “others”.

Think of how Jesus applies these. He says, “Do you think it’s good that you’ve never shot someone in cold blood with an AR15? Well, that’s good. But, are you harboring bitterness? Are you holding on to anger toward someone else? You’re liable for the judgement of hell.” Now, I want you to see this. Jesus says that if that’s you then you need to leave the altar of worship, that is, you need to stop expressing your love toward God until you have forgiven your brother. You’re in violation with spirit of God’s command not to murder, and it’s because you’re in violation of the spirit of God’s law to have no other gods before him. You’re not supposed to treasuring anything in your heart except for God, but your mind and heart are filled with imaginary conversations and thoughts of making them pay and thoughts of showing them up. The problem isn’t just that you don’t love your neighbor well; it’s that you don’t love God well.

Let’s look at another example. It’s interesting that two of the commands here have to do with the family (honor your parents and adultery). The Bible sees the home as the epicenter of faith in our lives. But, Jesus says, “Do you think that you’re holy because you haven’t cheated on your wife with another man’s wife? Well, have you lusted after another? Have you coveted another? Rip your eye out so that you don’t go to hell!” It’s common for us to justify sexual immorality on the basis of love. We live together though we aren’t married, but we love each other and we’re committed to each other. I can’t even begin to tell you how many high school and college students I’ve heard justify their sexual sin because they love each other and know they’re going to get married, or how many single adults do the same because they love the person. How man men and women have had affairs and then justified them with, “But, we’re in love.” For the sake of your souls, listen to what Jesus is saying. Sexual sin isn’t because of love; it’s because of a lack of love. Sexual sin is because you “covet” pleasure more than you “love” God. Sexual sin is because you desire enjoyment at the expense of the family. Sexual sin, and my goodness, the same is true of your lying so that others think you’re better than you or stealing so that you can have what isn’t yours or abandoning your parents in their old age so you can live free, they all boil down to the same reality. All sin boils down to: God’s “relationship” isn’t as valuable as your “pleasure”. It isn’t your treasure. He isn’t your only God. His covenant isn’t your priority. You love other things.

There are two types of couples I see for marriage counseling. One type of couple just want to be able to say that they have given it a college try before they split as they already plan to do. But, the other type are the ones that say, “We’ll do whatever you ask. We’ll go for as long as we need. We’ll deal with whatever issues we’ve got. We’re going to make it.” And, the difference is love. Love makes you “determined”, not “lazy”. So, you see, the answer to our obedience problem is love. When I treasure who God is and what God has done, it will transform how I relate to him and others. Love doesn’t make every task fun or easy. Love makes misery meaningful. Love makes obedience desirable and sustainable.