Worship God (not first but only)
Praise & Worship • Sermon • Submitted
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Question:
Question:
What do you think is the most grievous, or cardinal sin in the Bible?
[Maybe take some time to get some answers]
For thousands of years or at least since the teachings of Augustine and in the Western Church it has been taught that Pride was the cardinal sin.
Some scholars, while not wanting to downplay the dangers and seriousness of pride - push back just a little and say that in reality pride is a subcategory of something far more dangerous and sinful...
Let’s read our text and see if we can figure out what that is -
Our passage is found in Exodus 20:1-6 It is part of what we call The Ten Commandments.
The Teacher’s Bible Commentary The Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1–20)
In Hebrew the Ten Commandments are described as “The Ten Words” (Decalogue). In their original form they consisted of ten brief phrases, each just two words long.
Read: Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Our reading just covered the first two of the ten commandments of which:
“The first four Commandments have a vertical reach. They are concerned with man’s right relationship to the right God.
The last six relate to man with his fellow man.
All ten are grounded in the essential worth of God and those made in his image, as unique human beings.
Right worship should also issue in right social relationships.
The worship of Israel’s God (and him alone) is based on the concept of his uniqueness and his worthiness. This God alone must be worshiped and in the right manner. That’s what these Commandments are about and that’s what makes this one of the truly great chapters of all the Bible.
Ralph Langley, “Exodus,” in The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, ed.
So I propose to you this morning that the priority the Decalogue or the 10 Commandments places on the first two commandments which deal with the subject of “idolatry” or right worship and relationship with God,
I submit to you that they show the most egregious and cardinal sin of the Bible must be “IDOLATRY”
We have been looking, in our current series, at Praise and Worship. We talked about praise and its different aspects, now I want to cover worship.
We talked last time about the importance of worshipping God for who He is,
today I want to reinforce the importance of Worshiping God AS HE IS!!!
Or to put it another way: Don’t worship God first - worship God only!!!
There are three main reasons as to why we should only Worship God:
Because God Said So!
He ALONE is God!
We Become Like What We Worship
Lets look at these three reasons:
1. Because God Said So!
1. Because God Said So!
In reality that should be enough!!!
God says we are not to
Have any other gods before HIM!!!
We are not to make any other gods
We are not to worship or serve any other gods
God’s reasoning for this is given to us in the next few verses:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
God’s punishment rests on those who are idolators.
And yet Idolatry rears its ugly head from Genesis to the maps in the Bible -
The term idolatry is composed of two words “image” and “to serve” it is fascinating that these are the two very commands God gives the children of Israel:
But God said to Worship Him ONLY!!!
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Idolatry can be defined as either the worship of images or of foreign gods.
Orton Wiley that tremendous Nazarene Theologian defined idolatry as “the paying of divine honor to idols, images, or other created objects, but may consist also, in excessive admiration, veneration or love for any person or thing” (Wiley, CT, 3:39)
Don’t worship God first - worship God only!!!
not only because God says so - but because God Alone is God!!!
2. Because God Alone is God
2. Because God Alone is God
In reality God the One True God can only be worshipped alone!!!
Idolatry mixes this up - it switches things around -
it tends to confuse the creator with the created - we have to have a proper understanding of that relation.
“The essence of idolatry is enjoying the gifts but not honoring the Giver.” ― Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Amazed (Minor Prophets): Restoring an Attitude of Wonder and Worship
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3 uses an interesting Hebrew word for the noun “before”
It means, “literally, ‘to my face’ It’s an unusual phrase and can also be used of taking a second wife while the first is still alive.
He’s talking about a breach of an exclusive personal relationship.
Philip Yancey asserts in his book, “What Good is God?” that idolatry is “something that supplants God as the centre of our lives.”
We don’t worship God first - We Worship God ONLY!!!
Because God ALONE IS GOD!
God never comes next. We are told in Matthew 6:33 to “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” JESUS CHRIST does not come next after all else has been attended to. WORSHIP GOD
5 I am the Lord, and there is none else, There is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
60 That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else.
4 As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, And my servant whom I have chosen: That ye may know and believe me, And understand that I am he: Before me there was no God formed, Neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the Lord; And beside me there is no saviour.
Sometimes we try to compromise and mix gods -
“It is interesting that the ancient peoples believed in three categories of gods (although each individual might differ by their own personal beliefs somewhat)
A personal god
The family god
the national god
For most Israelites at most times and for all other people who knew anything about Israel’s God - Yahweh or Jehovah was merely a national god.
They may have at times used Dagon as their personal god and Baal as their family god - but they would nearly always have Yahweh as his national God.
It didn’t matter how immersed in idolatry an Israelite would always call Yahweh his God but it was many times nothing more than a national god (the one who brought them out of Egypt or whom they would appeal to in times of war.) but their greater day-by-day loyalty in worship would be toward the various idols they were serving” - (Douglas K. Stuart NAC)
John Calvin put it well when he said that “the human mind is…a perpetual forge of idols.”
“The true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention.”
― Timothy J. Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters
..“Idolatry is attached to everything. All of our bitterness, all our impurity, all our malice, all of our problems, everything that troubles us is a result of idolatry. And what is idolatry? It's taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing.”
― Timothy Keller
But GOD our GOD is only worshipped exclusively at the exclusion of any other GOD!!!
We don’t worship God first - We Worship God ONLY!!!
Not only - Because God Said So
And not only - Because God ALONE IS GOD!
BUT BECAUSE:
3. We Become Like What We Worship
3. We Become Like What We Worship
G. K. Beale has written and talked extensively on this subject and he reminds us, its not that we become an idol - but we become like the idol
It is interesting to see how many times in the Bible God talks about people not seeing, hearing, or understanding His Word and Truth.
Nearly 100% of the time the cause of that is due to idolatry.
They had become just like the idol they were serving who couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t understand.
Even when Jesus came in His earthly ministry - frequently it says - they couldn’t understand or he talked in parables so they wouldn’t understand - that their eyes were darkened -
It wasn’t that he was trying to hide the truth from them - it was that they were to busy with their idolatrous and had become like their idol
Can we do that yet today - yes - Jesus several times uses a phrase - “He that hath ears to hear”
Are we following a made up god? Are we trying to turn something created into our creator?
Are we so blinded by false that we can’t see the true?
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
One of the struggles of a pastor - is that he has to wrestle with the scripture and let it work in Him before he gets up to expound on it -
God has dealt with me personally about some things that have been getting awfully close to “idols’ in my life and there are things we have to do -
We have to confess that to God
We have to smash those idols down
Mark Noll Reminds us:
The solution to idolatry, however, is not to destroy all the materials from which idols are made.
The solution is to treat the material from which we construct idols appropriately to its reality.
The wood and stone from which idols are made do not deserve to be worshiped; because God made them, however, they deserve to be studied as wood or stone.
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind - Mark Noll
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only thee.
William Cowper
We have to follow the ONE TRUE GOD
We don’t worship God first - We Worship God ONLY!!!
Because God Said SO
Because God ALONE IS GOD!
Because We become like what we worship
Think on this a moment - if that is true of worshipping false idols - the adverse of that must also be true -
If we worship the ONE TRUE GOD - we will become more like Him!!
Invitation:
Invitation:
Is there something in your life that the Holy Spirit has put His finger on during this message this morning that you are worshiping instead of God?
Are you putting something before or in place of God?
Are you bowing down or serving something else?
This could be pursuit of money, or fame
Work,
Relationships,
Things,
Sex,
Addiction,
What is it that comes between you and God this morning?
I’m not going to ask you to come forward by yourself in front of everyone - but I do want us all to go to prayer you can pray at your seat or you are welcome to come forward to the altar -
but it’s your time to confess this terrible thing of idolatry and let God give you Himself in its place - lets get some things settled this morning -