1st Commandment

What is #1 in your life?

Not looking for a Sunday School answer nor what you’d say to your elder.

If the RCMP tracked your online activity, if they scanned your books and papers, and trailed you every day – what would they say was #1 in your life?

If the Canada Revenue Agency audited your finances would they see what is most valuable to you?

When you get up, what do you check first: sports scores? stock prices? the weather? a Bible passage or prayer reminder? It might be a hint about what’s most important to you.

It’s all related to the 1st commandment:

Exodus 20:3 NIV

“You shall have no other gods before me.

If the law is given to teach what sin is, this command lets us know that any time God is not #1 in your life, you’re not living up to God’s standard of holiness. . . . How’s that going for you?

To be honest, there have been weeks, even months of my life, when God didn’t rate in the top 3. For some of high school: music, friends, sports, and even my grades were higher priorities than God. Poor substitutes, eh?

Maybe you’ve talked to people absorbed w/ fashion: the best clothes, trendy footwear, exclusive sunglasses

Others are obsessed w/ cars and trucks beyond a hobby. They don’t talk of anything but horsepower and torque, detailing and aftermarket upgrades.

AND some people value others by how much they earn. They always take note: “he doesn’t have 2 dimes to rub together” or “she pulls in a 6-figure salary . . . plus bonuses.” If that’s their measuring stick for people, it shows what they value most.

God’s word through Jeremiah shows how foolishly we choose replacements for him as #1 in our hearts and value systems:

Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV)

“My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me, the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

I doubt any of you have burnt incense to Baal recently AND I don’t think you’d accept an invitation to sacrifice your firstborn child to Molech. Temptations are different in 2022 than 600 y before Christ regarding security, safety, and a big harvest. But some things are the same. We’re still tempted to swap the LORD’s assurances for empty promises:

sometimes we’re tempted to base our self-worth on our abilities, skills, or looks instead of on the deep love our Heavenly Father has for us.

sometimes were tempted to look for security from NATO, or the good neighbours in T’burg, or possessions we’ve stockpiled.

sometimes we’re tempted to look for pleasure in risky behaviour rather than finding joy in being a dearly loved child of God’s.

Like the Israelites of old, there are days when the “thou shalt nots” seem to overshadow the blessings and benefits we enjoy from God. Jeremiah laments how his audience forgot God’s providence and care:

Jeremiah 2:6–7 NIV

They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

How do you turn away after God has done so much for you? It left Jeremiah (and the LORD) scratching their heads.

You know a true-blue fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs is never going to cheer for the Montréal Canadiens; just not gonna happen.

That’s only sports. Loyalty to gods and cults in Jeremiah’s day ran much deeper. That’s why the Lord’s prophet was dumbfounded by the disloyalty of God’s people:

Jeremiah 2:11 (NIV)

Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.)

But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.

What has Baal, Molech, or any other god ever done for them?

Anything good that is attributed from another god – or any source – is actually a gift from the Lord God Almighty. One of the NT writers makes that clear:

James 1:16–17 NIV

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

I believe that’s true; do you?

If that’s the case, it’s odd to attribute God’s good gifts to crossing our fingers, or to friends in high places who pull strings for us, or that we’re smarter or more skilled than other people.

It’s wrong-headed thinking – giving credit to anything else – when credit properly belongs to the Lord God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Provider. And God doesn’t let us persist in that kind of thinking. Jesus Christ came to rescue us from idolatry: putting anything on His throne.

God himself came into his creation to rescue it. Jesus is both God and human. He faced all the same temptations we do. He struggled against temptation successfully, obeying his heavenly Father 100%.

The gospel writers tell us how Satan confronted Jesus in the wilderness and offered all the nations of the world if Jesus would bow down and worship Satan. It’s a 2-fold temptation to disobey the 1st commandment – an offer of “all the nation’s authority and splendor” AND worshipping Satan – instead of keeping allegiance to his heavenly Father. In the gospel of Luke, we find Jesus’s response:

Luke 4:8 NIV

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

It is that allegiance to his Father that kept Jesus on track; on mission. Even when it was clear that he would be arrested and crucified, Jesus obeyed and served his heavenly Father, offering himself as a sacrifice, a substitute, so that he took your sin, your shame, and your guilt and died on the cross in your place.

His victory over temptation, over sin, and over death is is clear from Jesus’ resurrection. By faith in Jesus, all people can be rescued from allegiance to powerless gods. We’ll find Jesus is the Living Water, and every other god is nothing but a cracked and leaky cistern.

Jesus offers you life and hope. Jesus did what we cannot do. When you put your faith in Jesus, he removes your guilt and clothes you in his goodness. Isn’t Jesus’ gift of salvation better than hoping some other god somewhere will be impressed by your efforts and reward you?

But if Jesus’ obedience is credited to you, if all his goodness is attributed to you by grace, why do we still need to do good? You’re not the first one to ask. Question is asked in HC.

Q & A 86

Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace through Christ without any merit of our own, why then should we do good works?

A. Because Christ,

having redeemed us by his blood, is also restoring us

by his Spirit into his image,

so that with our whole lives we may show that we are thankful to God for his benefits,

so that he may be praised through us,

so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits,

and so that by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ.

In the 10 Commandments, God shows you what goodness and righteous living looks like. The law provides instructions on holy living, imitating Jesus’ obedience.

You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 (NIV)

HC helps us again: What does the Lord require in the first commandment?

That I rightly know the only true God,

trust him alone, and look to God for every good thing

humbly and patiently,

and love, fear, and honor God

with all my heart.

In short,

that I give up anything rather than go against God’s will in any way.

HC Q&A 93b