God and God alone!

Alright, we are getting into it today. New Series. / / The Big 10: Are God’s Commandments Still Relevant For Today?

I won’t keep you in suspense, I’ll answer that absolutely rhetorical question right away. / / Yes, Yes they are! But, in a world where morality seems to be changing, or ideas of what morality is and what right and wrong are, we have to know what our baseline is as Christians. I can’t tell someone who doesn’t believe what I believe what their moral baseline should be. And a lot of christians get themselves in hot water with friends and family because instead of having grace for someone who doesn’t yet believe, they simply argue the point of their belief. And although we do believe that the bible holds the truth, that God is the ONLY God and that Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to heaven, if someone else doesn’t believe that, arguing with them or simply telling them they are wrong probably won’t win them over.

So, for us, what is OUR standard. We talk about that a lot here, Romans 3:23, we have all sinned, why? Because we have all fallen short of God’s glorious standard. And the reality is that as Christians we aren’t meant to be better than anyone else. We don’t set our moral compass just higher than the world. That’s not what Christianity is. We aren’t meant to have a better behavior, or better moral standing, or an elevated morality, slightly above...

We are meant to live by God’s standard.

Now, God’s standard will cause all of those things in our lives. If we are following Jesus we will have better behavior, we will be set apart, we will exhibit a better or elevated or higher moral standing. All of that is absolutely true. But, this isn’t a race or a ladder climbing competition as to who can be ahead in the morality department, it’s about being brought into a revelation of what God’s standard actually is, AND WHY.

I’ve said this before, I believe it to be true. God did not institute rules and laws and His standard for living because he wants to put a damper on our lives. He’s not trying to be a buzz kill. And as much as reading through the entire bible, and sometimes reading the Old Testament can raise some questions, when you read the grand story of God through all of Scripture you see that God’s purpose is made manifest through the life and death of Jesus Christ, but it’s always been the same.

John 10:10, Jesus says, / / The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

This has ALWAYS been the plan, the goal and the results God is looking for in our lives. Jesus doesn’t just stop at it being his purpose, but he explains it and says,

vs 11 / / I am the good shepherd.

vs 14-16, …I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

vs 27, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

This is the heart of God, Old Testament, New Testament, 2000 years ago, today, doesn’t matter, the heart of God is this.

/ / I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and they know me, my sheep listen to my voice, and they follow me.

Jesus was not a new character or expression of God. Jesus is God the Son, has always been God and will always be God and is the perfect representation of God. So, / / this has always been true, is true now, and will always been true: The thief steals, kills and destroys, God is the giver of life, and like a good shepherd he wants to protect, save and look after us. We just have to be willing to be his sheep and listen to his voice and follow him.

We also have to realize this isn’t just a subservient relationship where God simply looks after us, but He wants to be known by us and to KNOW us.

/ / The key to getting to know God is to know his word, watch for his leading, listen for his voice, and follow. It’s the key to getting to know God and it’s the key to knowing Him more.

And because this is and always has been the case, it also means that the instructions God gave in the Old Testament were and still are meant to do this, lead us to life, and lead us to Him.

Deuteronomy 28 tells Israel what the outcome of them following these rules and regulations would be. Moses is speaking to the people, and remember, Moses was considered to be the greatest prophet. He was the mouthpiece of God. He was the first leader of the people of Israel out of Egypt. He brought them to the promised land. He outlined the law on behalf of God. He is held in such high regard, and for good reason. He went up Mount Sinai, met with God and when he came down from that place his face was so dazzlingly bright that they had to put a veil over his face just so people could look at him. The glory of God was just beaming from his face.

After he’s outlined the law, we’re right near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, there’s 34 chapters and we’re at 28, and after this it’s really just the closing out of the first 5 books of the bible which are all attributed to Moses as having written them. He finishes the blessings they can expect if they follow God’s commands, he then goes through what will happen if they don’t follow these things, and then calls them to a place of repentance and always remembering to turn back to God if they lose their way.

This is the end of Moses’ story, Israel is about to move into the Promised land, led by Joshua, and become a nation of their own, not just a wandering group of people in the wilderness.

And he says in Deuteronomy 28, / / If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:

Your towns and fields will be blessed.

Your children and your crops will be blessed.

The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed.

Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed.

The Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven!

The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.

If you obey the commands of the Lord and walk in his ways, the Lord will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.

The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.

Unreal. I mean, imagine living in that all the time. Everything you do, isn’t just ok, but it’s blessed. There’s favor on it. It’s better than it should be. Works out in your favor, works out to be more than you expected.

Now, first things first. This is NOT to bless you more than anyone else so you can gloat about it, or so that others will be jealous. There’s two things that really stick out to me.

/ / Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the Lord, and they will stand in awe of you.

To me that’s kind of like saying, they’ll want to be like you. They’ll want to live with you. They’ll want to follow this God that you follow.

Jesus said in John 10, / / I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

Jesus, who said he came to fulfill, or complete all of this law, is saying it’s not just for Israel, but it’s for all who believe in Him.

Another important thing to note as we start this series. Because when we read the law in the Old Testament, along with the blessings there is almost always the counter, and it’s almost always listed as curses, and I want to define for you what that means for us. Because if we kept reading in Deuteronomy 28…well, let’s just do that for a second. After all of the blessing and good stuff we read if Israel is careful to follow the law, Moses then says this:

/ / But, if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:

Your towns and your fields will be cursed.

Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be cursed.

Your children and your crops will be cursed.

The offspring of your herds and flocks will be cursed.

Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be cursed.

The Lord himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do...

Let’s just stop there...

Is that true? If we don’t follow everything, are we running the risk of these things?

Listen, I’ve actually heard it preached that if you aren’t tithing, which is giving 10% of all of your increase, your finances will be cursed. Because part of this law and instruction included that, giving 10% of all you harvested so that the priests would have what they need to survive and also to help the community.

Here’s what I believe. I was at a meeting yesterday morning and after I had prepared all of this and started with reading John 10:10, I had a great confirmation - Brad Jersak, who was speaking at this meeting said this, The first key to reading the bible is: / / Memorize John 10:10, it is the THIEF who steals, kills and destroys, and that JESUS, who IS GOD, is the giver of life.

So, we have to read Deuteronomy 28 through the lens of John 10:10 - God is the giver of life.

That helps us see the heart of God, which is to give life, when we look at what Moses lists as the consequences of not obeying the law, or the opposite of the blessing. And it is because / / when you have a law, there has to be an effect.

Choosing to follow God’s ways, choosing to follow His path and his instruction is intentionally putting myself under HIS law which has cause and effect, and when I follow, I reach the intended goal of the instruction.

I have used this illustration before. What if I tell Kaylee that I’m going to make her some mac’n’cheese, the thing of her greatest affection. And, all she needs to do to receive this mac’n’cheese is clear the table so we have a place to eat, and stick around for me to make it. I also tell her not to touch the pot, the pot is hot and the pot will hurt her if she touches it.

Now, let’s say she comes into the kitchen when I’m not there at the moment, and touches the pot, and burns herself. Did I punish her for not listening? No, of course not. But as a result, she, in her pain, turns and runs, she’s sad, hurt and crying and leaves.

What happened? I put the mac’n’cheese exactly where it was meant to be, on the table where she can eat it, but she’s not there, and she’s hurt, upset that I didn’t protect her and blaming me for the pain she feels.

I didn’t punish her, I didn’t hurt her, my heart was always to bless her. And even in her pain, what do you think my heart is? I want to help her, put essential oils on the burn, bring healing to her heart, teach her that as she grows she can learn to use the pot herself so she doesn’t need to fear it.

God’s heart for blessing and life has not changed. And when he gives us instructions to follow, just like Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me… His intention is to lead us into life.

I don’t believe God curses us when we don’t listen. I believe he’s created a system of laws, and those laws are intended to lead to blessing, but when we don’t follow them, we are following something else, which has consequences, and we are responsible for our actions, and we in the grand scheme of things reap what we sow.

This is why I believe this. Galatians 3:10-14 says this, / / But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s book of the law.” So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.

Jesus rescued us from the curse. Note it’s not God’s curse, it’s not rescued us from God cursing us. …it says, / / Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the LAW.

And Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the prophets. - meaning the law isn’t being moved aside, the rules and regulations and instructions for a long and healthy and wonderful life in God are not being removed… / / No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. …anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven”

This is my take - The law, or let’s simply call it God’s instruction for our lives - is meant to bring us into life and blessing. And He is prepared to help us and encourage us, and give us all the things that come with following him… but it’s our choice.

I think the easiest and best example for me is when it comes to tithing, honoring God by giving back to Him 10% of what He’s given me through the jobs and provisions I know he’s put in my life. I always encourage people to tithe because I believe there’s blessing in it. That doesn’t mean that if you don’t tithe God can’t bless you, and that doesn’t mean that if you don’t tithe, your finances are cursed. It simply means that there’s blessing in following the instruction of God. Both for you and for the purpose of it.

Jesus also removed the curse of being under the pressure of the law. That in of itself is too heavy a burden to bear. This is also what Galatians 3 is saying, you’ll never be able to uphold the entire law, and to put that on yourself is dooming you to failure, that in of itself is a curse. Jesus is removing that and saying, don’t follow the law for the sake of the law, follow me and I’ll lead you in the law to life itself. If you follow Jesus you’ll be following the law as set by God. He’s not going to ask you to do something that is contrary to His word.

The second thought on that is this. A curse for bad action, or inaction would be punishment, and the bible actually says that God operates in love, not punishment. 1 John 4:15-19 says this, / / All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgement, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

God is not looking to punish you, or me, or anyone else, he’s looking for us to turn to him to experience his perfect love. But as long as we’re turning away from him, and following our own way and doing our own thing, we can’t expect to be living in all that God has for us as defined by his way of living.

Remember, the mac’n’cheese is on my table, where I am...

Ok, so second point, / / God does not punish us..., he’s not looking to punish us. He’s not looking to curse us. He’s trying to get us to stay on the path that leads to life and it’s a pretty narrow path so we should pay attention.

Third thing, / / discipline is different than punishment.

Part of being open to the leading of God is to be open to his correction or his discipline. Discipline is being trained to do the right thing and stick to it. Where have I gone wrong and how can I fix it?

Hebrews 12:10-11 actually says, / / …God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable when it is happening - it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

Listen, this has been my experience over the last year and a half in my journey of recovery. I don’t want to. It’s hard. Choosing what is right is not always easy, and sure, in some areas of my life I find it easier than in other areas, but Jesus was not playing around when he said if we wanted to follow him we would have to deny ourselves, give up our own desires and wants to follow His!

And for me, that was very much my experience, I felt the DISCIPLINE, not the PUNISHMENT or the CONDEMNATION, but the CORRECTIVE LOVE of God when it came to how I was living my life. Brad Jersak said yesterday that God’s love is ALWAYS Restorative.

That doesn’t make it easy - why should I get a pass? Because we like to say church revolves around food? Because part of what I do is meeting with people over meals. Because food has become a more acceptable and socially comfortable addiction than drugs or alcohol or any number of other things? No. And I felt it. And I FEEL it. Because I’m not always 100%. And every decision I make has consequences. And consequence isn’t a dirty word - we have to correct that, because it doesn’t just mean the negative.

Consequence simply means / / a result or effect of an action or condition.

If I eat what I am supposed to eat, the consequence is a more clear mind, a more connected spirit, and a more healthy body.

If I eat what I am not supposed to, or more than I should, the consequence is a sluggish mind, a dulled spirit and a growing and unhealthy body.

And it is LOVE HIMSELF that is telling me that. It’s not condemning me. It’s not cursing me. It’s not punishing me. It’s begging me to come back to the place of life. Come back to following the good shepherd. Come back to following the path of life.

Now, there’s a lot of instructions in the bible, but, I think the 10 commandments are incredibly valuable because they set a framework for following after God.

If you simply implemented these 10 things you’d be well on your way to a life of honoring God and walking in His blessing.

Ok, so let’s read the scripture, define the commandments and we’ll look at a couple of them today.

If you don’t know the story, Israel spent 400 years in captivity in Egypt as slaves to the Egyptian people. They were growing too big and too strong for the Pharaohs of Egypt and so they decided to force upon them the manual labor of the kingdom and to keep them in check. Moses is born in Exodus 2, and it’s an incredible story you should go back and read. But we’ll fast forward to the most important part of his life. He comes to Egypt and tells Pharoah that God has told him to let Israel go. There’s a struggle, 10 plagues occur, again, fascinating history you need to read, but eventually Israel is let go from Egypt. And after walking for two months, this group of people, believed to be about a million people strong, make it to a wilderness called Sinai, and camp at the base of Mount Sinai.

And in Exodus 19 Moses climbs Mount Sinai and talks with God. God tells him he’ll give them instructions that will lead them to life and blessing, the people agree, good idea, we can follow that. So Moses goes back to God and Exodus 20:1-17 gives us the Big 10:

/ / Then God gave the people all these instructions:

I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.

You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected - even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath and set it apart as holy.

Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

You must not murder.

You must not commit adultery.

You must not steal.

You must not testify falsely against your neighbor

You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

Alright, so if we condense those down - here are the Big 10:

/ / You shall have no other gods before ME

You shall not make idols

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

Keep the Sabbath day holy

Honor your father and mother

You shall not murder

You shall not commit adultery

You shall not steal

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

You shall not covet

Alright, so we’re going to look at the first 2 this morning:

/ / 1. You shall have no other gods before Me

First things first. There is one God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:4-5, / / …there is only one God. There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.

Lots of people don’t mind Jesus being A way to A god. But Jesus being the ONLY way to the ONLY God is something quite different.

People follow all kinds of things these days. Religions spring up out of all sorts of things. And to truly understand God’s purpose for your life you have to first understand that He’s the only one with good purpose for your life. There are two avenues you can go down. The road that leads to life, the road that leads to death and the grave, or as Jesus says, the road to hell is wide…

Jesus is the only way, and God is the only God. And we as a church believe God is identified thoroughly through scripture not just as God the Father alone, but God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus, although the Son of God is God himself. The Spirit, although the Spirit OF God is God himself. They are completely unique as one God and completely unique as individual expressions of that one God.

Now, here’s why this is important and relevant for today.

Because one of two things are sure to happen in this life.

/ / Someone or something will try to convince you to follow another god, whether that is an entity or philosophy or ideology or thing.

/ / Someone or something will try to convince you to follow no god at all.

And those two things will change as the times change, but God never changes.

People throughout history have chased meaning in everything from the stars to the sun, the moon, the earth or what the earth produces or our own humanity itself.

Kelley said this last week from an article she had been reading, / / Worship is not unique to just God or religion. Though we in the Church often use the term in a religious context, worship is the most natural thing humans will ever do - religious or otherwise. Worship is hardwired into our DNA.

We are meant to worship and this first commandment is about looking at what gets our affection, and is meant to protect us from the path that those other two options would lead us down.

First, / / Any other god, or ideology, philosophy or theology that is not centered on the One true God and found in the saving Grace of Jesus Christ will ultimately lead you away from him.

This is not a command as much as it is a warning - If you don’t make God your one God you will fight with having other gods in your life that will be vying for your attention and leading you to what THEY want.

The reality is this, you end up where what you’re following is going. If you are following after money, you’ll end up with money but not much else. If you’re following after personal pleasure, you may be happy for a season, but it will ruin you in the end, and you can’t take any of that stuff beyond the grave. If you follow after the ideals and systems of this world, you will end up following what THEY say and doing what THEY do, bringing you to making choices to do, believe or act in ways contrary to Gods truth, because let’s just face it, the world is not trying to lead you to God.

It happened to Israel over and over again. And unfortunately it didn’t take a long time either. While Joshua is still leading the people of Israel they mess up and in Judges 2:10 says that after Joshua had died along with all the other leaders who had been there when God had brought Israel out of Egypt: / / After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the might things he had done for Israel. The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them… They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth…

/ / Every other god will lead you to abandon the one true God.

It may even start out looking like it’s a good thing, or an ok thing, but God made this the first commandment for a reason - because as soon as you deviate from Him being the ONLY God, you open yourself up to others who will lead you astray.

Now, in todays day and age you might think, well, no one is talking about baal or ashtoreth or molech…

And that is true, you might not see physical structures above ground to these gods, but the ideologies of these things are still very present.

Baal was considered a god of fertility, and his followers believed that sexual acts performed in his temple would boost his powers and contribute to an increased fertility. Numbers 25:1-3 says, / / While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having sexual relations with local moabite women. These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor....

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but hyper-sexuality and gratification of our own personal desires is kind of a big thing these days…

Call it baal worship, or worship of self gratification and pleasure, it doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s leading people further and further away from God’s intended purpose for healthy relationship and sexuality. And the consequences of our actions can be seen left, right and center.

Molech - here’s another real winner… In 1 Kings 11:1-2, 7 it says, / / Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway… On the mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

Well, Molech was a deity that was known for the act of child sacrifice. And you might think, clearly these things don’t translate to today, but lately I’ve seen a pretty loud cry for our right to kill children in the name of self desire and autonomy. And I don’t say that to offend anyone or to start any argument, but simply to say that the warning of God to follow him and him alone is more important than ever, because when we follow our own ideologies or our own systems or the systems of man, we end up sacrificing more than we realize.

And those are big things, but here’s something that hits a little closer to home for me. A definition of this could be “whatever holds the supreme place in a person’s life is a god”. In my journey of recover there are those who liken our need for substance to the replacing of God with that thing, making that thing our god.

Many people struggle with turning to things for comfort. And in doing so they make that very thing the god they turn to for comfort, when what we should be doing is following the prayer of Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:3, / / All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

God didn’t say don’t have other gods because he was trying to be unfair. He said it so that we wouldn’t be led astray by anything that would ultimately kill, steal and destroy in our lives rather than us experience the life he has for us.

And one of the keys to this is found in the very commandment itself. Exodus 20:2, / / I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.”

Right there in the line itself.....Remember who God is and what He’s done for you. He is the God who rescued you, who delivered you, who set you free. Look at what Israel’s problem was, They forgot about God and what he did.

/ / 2. You shall make no idols

The scriptural explanation of this is quite a bit longer. / / You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I , the Lord your God, am a jealous God...

It’s obvious why we are doing these first two together. First the gods we could follow, second, the things that represent them.

In the Old Testament, just like we read in 1 Kings, Solomon built these shrines to other gods, when the people would finally turn back to God, it always came with, destroy every representation of what you once followed and worshiped.

Again, this is so practical. Why leave something in your life that represents something you don’t want?

First of all, it’s not helpful, and second of all, you may be inviting things into your life that you don’t want and that will tempt you again.

There is only one God. But, that does not mean there aren’t spiritual forces at work that aren’t of God.

1 Peter 5:8 says, / / Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, / / …we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against might powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

Spiritual forces will get into your home any way you let them. There are actually two references, one in Leviticus 17:7, and one in Deuteronomy 32:17 that reference the sacrifices Israel made when not following God to being made to demons. If there are no other gods - God is the ONLY God, but, there seems to be something spiritual about certain religions, what do you think that might be?

It’s no coincidence that demonic activity is associated with religious people that embrace a multitude of gods and goddesses. People actually desire supernatural connection. Just look at the digital streaming services this day, loaded with supernatural content, stuff that seems ok and maybe even good, the cute magical stuff, all the way to stuff that is straight up evil.

And here’s a recipe for disaster - Just like we are made to worship, the devil desires worship. Look at his conversation with Jesus in the wilderness. He says, Just bow down to me and worship me and I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world.

Paul also warns in 1 Timothy 4:1, / / Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons.

Idols can take all shapes and forms, and many religions have them, including some Christians. Now, please listen to me, I am not decrying anyone’s cultural heritage or artistic abilities or what would be part of our history. But, there’s a fine line. Buddah, seems so acceptable as art. Totems to spirits. The many armed hindu goddess lakshmi, krishna, vishnu… They have all been made into forms, but they still represent physically a spiritual entity - even if it’s simply the spirit of deception that would try to lead us away from God.

Now, I added Christian in there. And the reason I did that, and this is purely a side note because I don’t think most people are at risk of making idols out of these types of things, but I do believe it’s a matter to think on. I googled, “religions that worship idols” and guess what came up in the results... Christianity with a picture of a cross on a necklace, actually, it looked like a rosary… I’m not saying having a cross is idol worship. But how many remember the song by Michael W. Smith, Tell me why do you wear your cross of gold, state of mind, or does it find a way into your soul?

And he asks in that song, Is it a flame, is it a passion, a symbol of love living IN you, or is it a game, religion in fashion, some kind of phase you’re going through.

I think even in our faith our symbols should always be intentional. Not doing things for the sake of doing things, or doing things because we think the thing itself has power. A gold cross does not have power. You are not more or less Christian because you wear it. But if it reminds you to lift your eyes to God, then it’s serving a great purpose!

Now, I think idols can mean much more than physical representations as well. And I think that’s been a tactic of the enemy in todays society where there’s much less actual physical idol worship, but that doesn’t mean there’s less idol worship. In fact, I think there might even be more because humanity is great at having idols in our hearts.

You ever sing, O be careful little eyes what you see? O be careful little ears what you hear?

/ / What we let in to our lives will have influence.

What we let into our homes will have influence.

If having other gods can be defined as / / “whatever holds the supreme place in a person’s life is a god” - I would suggest to you this morning that having an idol is when we give places of influence to something other than God. When we look to something other than God.

Look at how the world responds to those we would call idols, the rich, the famous, the intellectual or successful, when they give their opinion on social or political matters. People eat it up. We see that increasingly with socio-political issues, we saw it during the pandemic. Even when it came to certain policies and things the government wanted people to do, they were making commercials and instagram posts with famous people posting pictures of them doing those things. Why? Because people have given a place in their hearts, minds and lives to be influenced by people based on their reverence of them. I think something about this person, and for whatever reason I think this person knows what’s best for me. I don’t know the person, I only know what they’ve allowed me to see, and lets not forget that most of these people are actors or artists performing on a stage in front of our lives…

How does this happen? Because people have made someone or something elevated in their eyes that they look to with reverence which has given that person or thing influence in their lives.

I say person or thing because it’s not always a person. Ideologies, theologies, opinions, science… What do we hold in high regard that is influencing us more than God in our decisions?

Again, both of these things, / / Having no other gods, making no idols, are instructions God put in place to protect us.

1 John 2:15-17 gives us a good warning. / / Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. They are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

When Moses spoke to the people about these commandments, and gave them the hope of the blessings in obedience and the reality and warning for disobedience, in Deuteronomy 29 Moses is again reiterating why this covenant is so important. He says in vs 16, / / You remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. You have seen their detestable practices and their idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you - no man, woman, clan, or tribe - will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

/ / Turning FROM God gives place in our lives to the things we turned TO...

We will follow something. We are made to worship. It’s going to happen.

And Moses continues to say listen if you turn from God things will not go well and the nations of the world will look at them and say, What happened? Weren’t they supposed to be blessed by God? It looks like God is angry at them… And he says in vs 25, / / And the answer will be, ‘This happened because the people of the land abandoned the covenant that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. Instead, they turned away to serve and worship gods they had not known before, gods that were not from the Lord...

I read it a couple weeks ago, and I truly believe this is the cause of the state of the world that we live in right now. Romans 1:20 says, …ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshipping the glorious everliving God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles… They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise.

And Paul says this is why the problems in the world exist… humanity has traded the truth about God for a lie...

I’ve been looking at the pictures that have come back from the James Webb Telescope. Kelley and I were talking the other night. I can’t look into the heavens and not believe in God. I can’t see the magnitude of the universe and not believe. And all the way down to the smallest micro-organism. The baby in the womb. Life itself, our uniqueness, the beauty of creation. Paul says this all screams the divine, it all shouts THERE IS A GOD!

Are these commandments relevant for today? More than ever.

There is one God, and he’s a jealous God, meaning he wants our hearts for himself because he loves us. He is Good. Always Good. He is loving and kind and gracious and compassionate. And he’s not looking for some sort of misplaced absolute servitude, he’s calling us to himself, calling us to follow him to life, leading us into relationship with Him, Father, Son & Holy Spirit!