Introduction
Today we are going to continue our journey through the Ten Commandments as we seek to build a foundation that will be of benefit to us when we find ourselves searching for stability and in a vulnerable state. Last week we looked at the idea of Sabbath, specifically, what it is, the dangers of distorting it, and why it is so important in our lives. Today I want us to spend our time looking at the aspect of reverence that is conveyed by the first three commandments; You will not worship other gods, have idols or graven images of any kind, nor take My name in vain. In other words, why exactly does our self-described jealous God demand these ideals, then and now, and how we can emulate this attitude.
Father Knows Best
One day a little four-year old boy and his friends were playing outside in the back yard. The dad of the little boy is supervising the whole thing and as they begin to play, the dad lays out the rules. The most important of which is not to go near the pool. They all agree and set off playing. After a while they have migrated over to the pool and just as they reach the edge the dad yells, “BE STILL!” They all freeze stricken with fear. The dad runs over and reminds them that they do not know how to swim and had agreed to stay away. The dad tells them to go back into the grass and he turns to start leading the way. Well, in an effort to make his friends laugh the little boy begins to walk along the edge of the pool, sticking out his finger at his friends, while shaking his hips, all in an effort to mock his dad. Just as his dad takes a few steps he hears this “splash”. The boy slipped and fell in the deep end. In one movement the dad turns and jumps in to grab his son. The friends all stand there in shocked silence as the dad pulls his son out of the water. After a few coughs, the boy begins to cry, obviously scared at what just happened. The father's immediate reaction was to yell at his son, but seeing how frightened he was he just hugged him. After a few minutes the boy apologized and the dad got him cleaned up, dried off, changed, and back playing with his friends. This little boy in an attempt to gain the acceptance of this world got himself into some real trouble. So I ask you this morning, how many of us are just like this little boy? How many of us seek to gain acceptance by the standards of this world at great risk to ourselves?
These Ten Commandments we are looking at over the next several weeks are not another set of fun-stealing, boredom inducing restrictions. These are commandments from God that when adopted and followed place each one of us in a position not only to avoid unnecessary heart ache, but to be blessed beyond our wildest imaginations. God gave these out of a sense of love, not demand; out of compassion, not control; out of grace and mercy, not power.
Rev What?
Now some people question those validity of those motives being attributed to God in light of what these first three commandments ask of us. Listen again to the first three commandments: “Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not have any graven images of any kind.” Some people look to these first three commandments as God's way of stroking an ego. But I want us to look at them just a bit differently. Instead of focusing on the words that we are forced to use to convey these ideas, I want us to bring out the intent behind these ideas.
These first three commandments are asking for and demanding our reverence to God; that attitude of deep respect tinged with awe. Now before we can begin to understand what that means for us today, we need to understand what that meant for the Israelites back then. Remember, these people had just been freed after 400 years in captivity. None of these people had ever made a decision of any consequence for themselves in their entire lives. Now they are free, in this desert, no idea of how to function as a community. Kind of scary huh? So God reaches out to them and gives them these commandments. Not to control but to ease their fear and apprehension. God speaks to them in a way they can relate to and understand. One of the first things to happen in any circumstance where there is a sudden lack of leadership is many people, and consequently many voices, begin to emerge in an effort to restore order.
The Reverend John Brokhoff tells of a Kansas City Royals baseball game when a dog walked onto the playing field and wandered around. The game had to be stopped so that the dog could be removed. The umpires yelled at the dog and tried to shoo him off. The players yelled and hollered at him, "Get out, go home, get away" The dog by this time was thoroughly confused, ran here and there, and finally laid down on third base, refusing to move. A sports reporter summed up the situation when he wrote, "The problem was that the dog could hear no dominant voice."
So God sets out to be the dominant voice by reminding them where they came from, captivity in Egypt, and that God was the one that rescued them from all of that. God granted their freedom, God guided them in the desert, God parted the Red Sea allowing them to pass and closed it up again trapping their pursuers. By pointing all of this out God is saying to them, look, all those gods of Egypt that you have been around and building monuments for, I just defeated at their own game, on their own turf. I alone am worthy of worship. I alone are the one you should direct reverence too, that attitude of deep respect tinged with awe. I alone need to be your dominate voice. God is revealing himself to them in a way that they can understand in their new found infancy. Again, not out of a sense of ego, but because God has their best interests at heart.
No Pictures Please!
God continues to help them by setting forth the commandment that you will have no graven images or idols. The culture they were just rescued from was chock full of idols and they were no match for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Old Testament scholar Peter Enns, explains the second commandment like this. “Thus, I suggest that this command has a twofold thrust: Israel is not to do as other peoples do by worshiping the idols of their gods, nor are they to do as other nations do by worshiping their own God that way.” God does not want us to define God with a graven image. We run the very tempting risk of ceasing to worship God and worshiping the image. God cannot be defined by anything found on this earth. God is bigger that all of that. God does not want to be reduced to an image, nor should we do that to God.
Why? Because God is self-described as jealous. Dr. R. Maurice Boyd writes, "When we read that God is jealous, it is the zeal of His love that makes Him so...He is jealous of anything that menaces our well-being, not for His sake but for ours. He is jealous of others gods, not because they threaten Him, (He really is very secure) but because they threaten us. When Israel was guilty of idolatry it was Israel who suffered, and God's jealousy was His distress at her folly and His sorrow at her suffering. His desire was to have her worship only the highest and the noblest. He was jealous of the false gods she went after because they were not worthy of her. He thought more highly of His people than they did of themselves. They were too easily pleased. It was only in Him, their Creator and Savior, that they could know their chief end and greatest good...What He wished to give them, and what He wanted them to want, was Himself." God knew the good and the blessing that God could provide them if they would just trust.
God even takes it one step further to help them follow Him by declaring the punishment that will follow if you break either of these two commandments. God says not only will you be punished, but I will punish your children to the third and fourth generation. Now those of us that miss the love in these commandments stop right here, just beside ourselves that a loving and just God would punish the children for the sins of the parents. But God did not stop here and neither should we. God continues by saying that those who abide by these commandments God will bless to the thousandth generation. Now math is not my strong suit but too me a thousand is much larger than three or four. But, the point I think God is trying to make here is that God does not have to punish children for the sins of their parents. We usually do a good enough job of that ourselves. Remember Proverbs 22:6, “train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it”. It works both ways. If we treat each other with contempt and malice and thereby teach it to our children, when they are old they will not depart from it. I believe God is trying to stress not numbers, but sentiment. Follow my laws so that I can bless you. Follow my laws so that I can always be a part of your life. Follow my laws so that our relationship is so strong there nothing in this life will ever defeat you!
What Did You Say?
This takes us right into our third and final commandment for today, you will not take the name of your Lord in vain. Today many Jewish people do not even pronounce or write the name Yahweh, rather they use the word Hashem, Hebrew for name, or write YHWH. They do not want to take a chance at misusing the name of God. We are a more risky type of people. Today, we often say this commandment means that you are not to say God's name when you curse. The Hebrew word give us more of an idea of 'misuse' rather than curse. J.I. Durham says, “Yahweh's name...must be honored, blessed, praised, celebrated, invoked, pronounced, and so shared. To treat Yahweh's name with disrespect is to treat His gift lightly, to undermine His power, to scorn his Presence, and to misrepresent the family of humankind His very nature as 'The One Who Always Is' “. What God did then, and what God does now, deserves our reverence to the point of honoring God's name. Each week we pray, “hallowed be thy name” The blessings and work of God are so incredible that our allegiance, respect and reverence are the only proper response.
This Rev Thing Again
That naturally brings us to the question of how can we be reverent today. When I think of reverence I think of these young men and women we honor today. How many of you were in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts? How many of you earned your Gold Award or Eagle Scout Award? Then you know what I am talking about. These Scouting programs are founded on a set of principles, high principles. They voluntarily bound themselves to certain oaths and laws that speak to a character of reverence and respect. You heard them this morning as they recited them for us. The Cub Scouts seek to help other people and give good will. The Girl Scouts pledge to be considerate and caring, to help other people at all times, to respect authority, and make the world a better place. The Boy Scouts, on their honor, pledge themselves to be morally straight, obedient, and reverent. These young people are being taught the importance of being honorable, considerate, and reverent.
Conclusion
If we all sought, on our honor, to do our best, to place God at the forefront of our lives how different would this world be? If instead of speaking a mean word to someone when we are angry with them, justified or not, we spoke kindly. Instead of giving someone the cold shoulder or speaking ill of them behind their backs we treated them with dignity and respect, deserved or not. What if we defeated our egos and let God be the ruling force in our lives, rather than some contrived form of justice we create? Do you know what ego stands for? It stands for “edging God out”. So my challenge to all of us, is to defeat the ego. Let God take center stage in your life. Let God show you the way to act. Let God bless you because you have no other gods, no idols, and give God your respect and reverence. Not so you can be controlled, but so that you can be blessed so much that you can bless others out of that abundance!
Prayer:
God, I come to you humbly; to ask for strength.
Help me to align my life; according to you.
When I lose my way; bring me home again.
Help me to defeat my ego; and make your will, my will. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment