The First Commandment (Exodus 20:1-3)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we're going to be in Exodus chapter 20 Verses 4 through 6 today we are walking through the Ten Commandments we're going to one by one we're in the second commandments uh today that'll be on page 35 in your blue Bibles uh you can follow along also on the screen so my family and I have owned owned two homes over the last seven years and both of those homes were complete remodels they required a lot of work and I've learned a couple things in completely redoing houses the.
First is is that I never want to move again and I never would do another remodel uh that was that's an important lesson we are staying until I die the second uh is I've I've actually learned quite a bit in the process of doing some of these these remodels I've learned on the fly a little bit how to do these different projects in the house uh which you know I didn't I learned a lot of things growing up but there's a lot of things that I just rejected like my stepdad tried to show me how to do quite a few things and I just said no I appreciate what you're offering.
But one day I'm going to be an attorney and I'll make lots of money I'll pay people to do this and that was a poor life choice based on the profession that I chose uh because I can barely pay anyone to do anything so I've had to learn on the Fly which has been helpful like I've had to learn these different things but there's been some there's been some successes and there's been some failures and the greatest failure was the back porch at my last house.
So we converted a screened porch into a sunroom which raised the flooring about a foot off the ground which meant when you stepped into the backyard you stepped about a foot down which is dangerous and I said we need to make this kind of a back patio area so I said uh you know what let's do a concrete pad that'll be the patio that we do and I never poured concrete before but uh but I said you know what I think I think this is doable I got on YouTube and I was like oh yeah I got this and I kind of just scanned through the process of looking at how to pour a concrete.
Pad and just said I got this so I went to Lowe's and collected concrete materials came back and then started and about halfway through I realized that this was a huge mistake that one is not simply just stumble upon the art of poor concrete there's a lot that goes into it I think it's one point my wife came out it was kind of looking and it's like oh no this is this is a disaster when it was done I looked at it and I was like this this is awful this is this is terrible like this looks horrible I don't know.
If you know this about concrete but once you do it like it's done you know you don't just fix that like it just it's over and uh so I just was like the only option how I'm not about to get a jackhammer and rip this thing up so I just decked right over the top of it and to this day whoever owns that house right now one day they're gonna change those deck boards and they're gonna pull them up and go what is that monstrosity who did this I did that I guess I had the right idea like I need that that back porch was necessary right it was dangerous to not have that it.
Was going to look good I had the right idea but I did it poorly I did it wrongly and I've heard pastors and theologians describe the first and second commandment like this at the first commandment is worshiping the right God and that truth gets pulled down to the second commandment and the second commandment is worshiping the right God rightly so worshiping the right God but not doing it wrongly and that's what we're going to see as we walk through this today we're going to be in the.
Second commandment we're going to see how the people are designed to worship God and God alone like we talked through last week in the first commandment but also to worship the one true God rightly I'm going to read it and then we'll pray and they'll want this together verse 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the Earth you shall not bow down to them or serve them.
For I the Lord your God and may jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children to the third and fourth the fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my Commandments let's pray and we'll want this together heavenly father I pray that you would continue to expose the Scriptures and these Commandments to our hearts I pray that we would have hearts to receive your word so that we might.
See your truth and your Commandments as good and that we might walk this out in faith and obedience and a repentance and ultimately delighting in who you are as our one true God we ask this in Jesus name amen Okay so let me start at the beginning of this he says in verse 4 You shall not you shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the Earth You shall not bow down to them or serve them.
So let's pause this we're going to spend quite a bit of time this phrasing is a broad condemnation of idolatry okay it's a broad condemnation of idolatry but as we're going to see as we walk through this it's a little more complicated than initially appears there are two different main ways to violate this commandment there's two types of idolatry condemnation that is happening here the first is the one that we're most familiar with and that is worshiping other gods through idols as a violation of this commandment.
So it's building off the first commandment that you shall have no other gods before me in my presence amongst my people in this land you will have no other gods before me it's pulling down that truth and the second commandment to say you want worship foreign idols my people will not do this this condemns all idolatry in the ancient near East now it's important to understand the nature of idolatry and the these worship and practices in the ancient near East okay.
So one commentator he describes it this way he says since the ancient near Eastern gods were viewed as being present in Idols that represented them bowing down before such an image was considered an appropriate way of showing respect to the relevant God so what he is saying is ancient near Eastern worship viewed these Idols as containing somewhat of the essence of that foreign deity of that foreign God in the idol itself and in a lot of ways that Idol contains some of the essence of that.
God and it correct it created kind of a pathway a portal a telephone line it gave you access to that God while the idol itself contained some of its Essence in the idol so ancient near easterners they needed Idols that they could touch they could having their home that they could visibly physically bring wherever they wanted to go it was a tangible way to have access to that God now if you were here last week as we walked the first commandment.
God doesn't want anything before him he wants our wholehearted worship and devotion and we don't run to foreign idols and anything those things may promise you don't run to those don't do that and then we kind of wanted this last week I don't think that any of you are the type of people who are going to go home today and you're going to have a little wooden Idol in your office or in your kitchen that you bow down to that's not what we do.
But what we do is we worship other things in the place of God that we create Idols out of created things in this life like you can have a career which is a good thing that God has given us but you can make it God by giving that career all of your attention all of your devotion all of your time all of your energy that you ride the highs and lows of that career that your happiness is banked on what happens in that career and that's idolatry that's worshiping something in the place of.
God that is elevating something created to the stage of Creator and worshiping it so the second commandment includes this broad condemnation of worshiping anything and for us anything that we think gives us ultimately the good life but that's not the only idea that's being conveyed here that's not the only type of idol worship that's happening here it's not merely addressing the worship of foreign idols but it is taking that practice this ancient near Eastern practice of believing that the essence of your.
God is bound up in that Graven image bound up in that created Idol and applying that Worship in practice too the Lord believing that you can worship the one true God through Idols that is the second type of idolatry that's being condemned in this second commandment and it's where we're going to spend the most of our time today is believing that any creative thing can represent God and that we can bow down to it and worship it and the place of.
God so remember the surrounding Nations believed that that false God that its Essence was in the idol itself and the people of God have been surrounded by the Egyptians and surrounding Nations for centuries this is commonplace practice to believe that your God could be represented that you could make a grave in a created image but you could carve an idol and it could contain your God you could have access to your God and God is saying don't take that practice and apply it to me that you're to worship me and me alone and you were to worship me rightly not wrongly The Great I Am who we've seen throughout the Book of Exodus Yahweh this.
Wonderful glorious slow to anger abounding and stuff I love steadfast love and faithfulness this wonderful glorious God whose attributes are unsearchable his Beauty and his Holiness and his goodness and his mercy and his love and his grace and everything that we try to describe or Indescribable God do not reduce Our God down to a created substance do not believe that you can make anything in His image and bow down to it don't bring that practice into this land that I'm going to give to you don't do it that is blasphemous that is a Blasphemous form of worship irreverently corrupting the name and the character of.
God by reducing him down to something that is not holy as he is Holy it is Blasphemous now that type of idol worship makes a whole lot more sense when you get down to Exodus 32 which we will get to when you get to the story of how they worshiped a golden calf so we get to Exodus 32 Moses we're going to see over the coming chapters he's going to spend a lot of time receiving the law on Mount Sinai from.
God and he's away for quite some time so long that so long that the people are like where is he where's Moses who brought us out and they start panicking and I started this is the man who's been telling us what we need to do this is the man who's been representing God as the mediator this is the man who's been like what what are we going to do and they go to Aaron second command and they're like Aaron you got to do something we need to be able to worship.
God and they come to Aaron and Aaron fails and they they've already had the second commandment they already they already have the second commandment and Aaron says all right bring me gold so he takes and collects they're gold they're very y'all the very gold that God secured for them in the victory over Egypt the goal that they took and I mean this they took that goal that God gave them and they melt it down into a golden calf and into an idol and in Exodus 32 it says that he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf and they said these are the are your.
Gods of Israel who brought you up out of the land of Egypt you might read that and think okay but they just think it's foreign gods that brought them out but it gets more complicated because this is how Aaron responds verse five when Aaron saw this he built an altar before it and Aaron made a proclamation and said tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord this wasn't just worshiping foreign Idols no no this will be this golden calf will be what represents our.
God taking the four and ancient near Eastern practices and bringing it amongst and into the people of God and then this makes even more sense later when you get to Deuteronomy which is the second ring of the law this is when right before they're going to enter into the promised land they're looking back at this event and Moses says this and Deuteronomy 4 he says therefore watch yourselves very carefully since you saw no form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of of out of the midst of the fire you couldn't.
See our God and you panicked but where lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves they needed a God that they could see that they could touch that they could bow down to just like the surrounding Nations and they thought they were worshiping the one true God but they were worshiping him wrongly they worshiped them wrongly and that is a heinous evil corrupted practice you may think of it they were trying they're trying to worship God they're figuring this out.
But we don't understand how heinous and how evil and how Wicked it is to do what they did I mean a small version of of that that I it doesn't even come close would be like if you if you had a family where the parents were like Elite and Rich and had power and influence and they somehow got access to a private viewing of the Mona Lisa and they got a private viewing the Mona Lisa and their child was with them and their child loved the Mona Lisa and they said I I want to paint the Mona Lisa and they let their child their child take paint and finger paint all over the Mona Lisa.
Just completely defacing it the most priceless piece of Western Art in history can you imagine the backlash can you imagine the stories across the world when people found out that a child defaced the Mona Lisa I mean it would be swift it would be severe and no matter how Earnest that child was trying to honor that piece of Priceless artwork they've corrupted it and degraded it and that comes nowhere even close to the attempt to reduce the glory of our God down to a created substance to mimic or try to reduce him down to a created thing reveals that you have a degraded and diminished view of who.
God is that you don't truly understand who God is and if you have a diminished and degraded view a corrupted view of God then ultimately what follows that is all the other corrupt practices and that's the nation of Israel that they would bow down to idols some of which they believe represented the one true God and there were all types of rebellious practices that followed all the way up into sacrificing your own children by burning them alive which happened in the history of Israel.
Because they believe they could reduce God down to something created and bow down to it and what this shows is because of this diminished worship of God it reveals they have a diminished corrupted view of God and ultimately if you have a corrupted view of who God is then you'll have corrupted obedience another way of saying that is how we worship reveals whom we worship that how we worship ultimately reveals whom we worship you may believe that you were earnestly worshiping.
God by bowing down to this Graven image but don't confuse earnestness with having the right heart and understanding of who God is it has diminished view of God and it reveals that you don't understand who God is in the first place that you could reduce the glory of God down to a career thing means that you don't actually truly know them the people don't truly actually know who their God is and there's the second commandment that is meant to so strictly guard that that not only are you do not have no you're to have no other gods before the one true.
God and you to worship him alone you were to worship Him rightly because how we worship Alton reveals whom he worships now the people of God needed to receive this they needed to walk in this they need to be corrected by this this gets a little complicated for us as Christians how do Christians obey the second commandment when the invisible God took on flesh and dwelt Among Us so that created uniquely a unique problem for Christians what do we do with the.
Second commandment now that the the God Came In the Flesh and walked Among Us that we he was an embodied person and now sits at the right hand of God the Father and it's resurrected body that created a problem for Christians for the last two thousand years as we've sought to still obey the second commandment when it comes to specifically images of Jesus around the fourth and fifth century they began to incorporate pictures of Jesus as a part of worship which ended up in a very big debate around the 7th Century between the eastern western churches of like what do we do with this is it.
Okay to have pictures in worship and they kind of just came to a little bit of a stalemate was like you can have them but don't we don't need to worship them and then this practice started to continue and get corrupted in the western Church in the Catholic Church and they began to use images of Jesus for worship I mean even to this day like I went to the Holy Land years ago and there's certain relics and and pictures and all and and places like where.
Jesus was whereas uh where this cross was that you see some Catholics it's what they're doing is they're worshiping and when it just they're bowing down trying to grab it to gain access to it's it's worship and this corrupted worship continued all the way into the Reformation and the reformers saw this around the 15th and 16th century and were like no they didn't want to see no images of G we don't mean to come anywhere close to violating the second commandment.
And when you get to one of the more foundational teachings and protestantism the Heidelberg Catechism which catechisms are just a teaching style of question and answer ask a question here's the answer we actually have a it's called the new city catechism which is out there by the bookshelf and the spiritual formation bookshelf which you can take and it has all kinds of helpful questions and answers to be able to learn more about our faith but in the Heidelberg Catechism hundreds of years ago they said question what does.
God require in the second commandment answer that we in no way make any image of God nor worship Him in any other way that he has commanded Us in his word and Protestants have largely been very hesitant about having pictures of Jesus historically up until today and what do you do today right there's historic Bibles there's there's film The Jesus film came along in the 70s The Passion of the Christ came along in the 2000 depicted Jesus now we have the chosen which is a TV show which is really.
Well done like there's a lot of Christian film and stuff that's horrible it's just really path but it's actually well done it's well directed it's well written it's well acted what do you do with that and I know that some of y'all might hear that and just go oh my goodness this feels so like tedious and nitpicky and almost Fair cynical like we're just are we splitting hairs here and I would just say don't roll your eyes it's something that the Church has earnestly sought to obey the.
Second commandment for two thousand years and understanding this so what do you do with stuff like that now I think the issue is not with the images of Jesus the second member of the Trinity I don't think that the issue is necessarily with the image of Christ that pushed back a little bit sounds bad but I pushed back a little bit on the Heidelberg Catechism because Jesus was embodied he's still embodied as the resurrected savior so he he imaged the invisible.
God imaged himself so I mean I think there's major problems if you try to represent the father God the Father God the Holy Spirit but the second member of the Trinity Christ because he was embodied he was a person I don't think the pictures of the problem I think how you approach those pictures is ultimately the problem and using any picture of Jesus to worship is highly highly problematic in a violation of this second commandment so I think the chosen is fine as long as you view it as entertainment give a general picture of the Gospel story that's fine.
But the chosen doesn't bring God into your living room Jonathan Rooney who's the actor that plays Jesus he's not Jesus so the chosen doesn't bring God into your living room when you're doing a storybook Bible with your children it's good to be mindful of what you're doing we have soilic Bibles and I love them but I really try to focus especially when it comes to pictures of Jesus try to focus on the story and then help them see that this is this is not literally.
Jesus this is just someone who's drawing Jesus we're certainly not going to have the storybook Bible out look at it and say children let's pray like not doing that and I think it's helpful to think through this I think even when I I've watched The Chosen I think it's actually really well done there have been times where I'll read it's one of the stories from the gospels and then I'm picturing stuff from that show and I'm like no no I'm not not doing that in my worship of.
God am I my quiet time before him I don't want to be picturing things I want the word of God to be what's molding and shaping My Worship so again so I might say that's nitpicky but I think it matters and seeing how to apply the second commandment because how we worship reveals whom we worship that matters I think that's a that's a clearly taught principle it's established here in the second commandment and it's pulled through the rest of the Old Testament like the rest of the Old Testament law is going to be there will be moments where they're teaching this is how you're supposed to worship you don't worship this way and the.
Second commandment but here's how you were to rightfully worship God that gets pulled into the New Testament where we're going to see teachings of how you're a rightfully worship God through hymns and Psalms and spiritual songs and reading Scripture and and teaching that all of that matters and as a principle this is a Down the Line application okay that I'm that I'm taking us to so not the main point here but but how we worship matters because it reveals who we worship that's why.
When we worship on Sundays as the corporate Church together we think about these kind of things that Matt who oversees or or worship Gatherings is thinking through the setting and lighting and songs and what we what we're seeing on some of that that matters because I mean there are I mean just there are some churches that that are so stale and so cold and so lifeless they can sing How Great Thou Art and I can sing when Christ shall come with shout of acclimation take me home and joy shall fill my heart and it's just lifeless and it's like do you realize what you're singing and how wonderful that truth is about Christ coming to.
Take us home and that's highly problematic if your worship is going to show who we're actually worshiping and I know oh farther into the Spectrum you've got churches that is just about the emotional high of worship and it's just emotional manipulation it's just it's hype culture on steroids like I remember when the last Church I was a part of we were hiring a worship pastor and we were interviewing some guys this guy came in from Texas and this guy was currently at the time he was leading Worship in Texas being flown out to a mega Church in Colorado and he wanted to get out of that culture.
Because they were it was so produced and manipulative that they were in his in their monitor telling him when to raise his hand in worship and it's just that so like I said not the main point of the passage but that principle matters and it comes out of the second commandment and flows to the rest of the Scriptures how we worship reveals whom we worship we are to worship the one true God and we are to worship Him rightly as we seek to obey the.
Second commandment just as the Israelites were called to do now they received this second commandment don't call don't incorporate these ancient near Eastern Pagan practices and worship of me and then what's listed are consequences and rewards for doing so so verse 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my Commandments they're both consequences and rewards.
For obeying or disobeying this second commandment now the consequences have to do with your children and your grandchildren and their children and a bad reading of this a bad reading of the second commandment is that children are punished for their parents sins and that's not what the second commandment is teaching Ezekiel 18 chapter chapter 18 verse 20. helpfully frames this it says the soul who sends shall die the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father nor the father suffer.
For the iniquity of the son the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself children are not punished for their parents sins that's not what the second commandment is teaching however the parents sins can certainly affect their children I love how John Piper explains this he says that just because you get the flu does not automatically mean that your child is going to get the flu and start showing symptoms but don't be mistaken that.
If you get the flu there's a greater chance that your child will also get the flu so if you have a father who is raising his kids and he shows up to worship every Sunday suit and tie presenting the best this is we're a Christian family but at home he's an alcoholic and he's abusive and he's cruel and he belittles his children just because the father's sins doesn't mean the kids will be punished for it but don't be mistaken but if that's their view of what it means to be a Christian and that's their view of.
God there is a chance they're absolutely going to hate God and they're going to reject him so absolutely parents have an impact on their their children and he's trying to help them see that if you bow down to idols if you do this your children and your grandchildren and their children will continue the same practice of bowing down to Idols don't do it we sometimes forget that the Commandments are not just written to us as individuals they're written to the nation of Israel as.
Well and that is the history of Israel that when they bowed down to idols what happens their children do and their grandchildren do you see that but the Kings of Israel they're kings that they start bowing down to idols and then their son and then their son and then you see Kings who are righteous David and Josiah and when they are worshiping the God of the universe rightly than the thousands and thousands are also worshiping the God universe so that's what's happened there's consequences and the rewards and one more quick this is another implication is teaching and this is.
For kids in the room so if you're a kid perk up for a second listen in the same way that you're not punished for your parents sins you also don't ride the coattails of your parents faith you don't inherit their faith you have to have your own personal faith you have to personally decide to follow Jesus and walk with him for all of your days for some of you've got some Godly faithful parents but you're just not going to pick up on their faith you've got to own this yourself.
So they need to understand this how this generational implications for obeying and disobeying the second commandment but they also needed to understand why why is the second commandment such a big deal why does this matter so much and it's right there embedded in the middle of it verse 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God it's because our God is a jealous God who has jealous love for his people jealousy can sometimes be thought of in negative ways and it certainly can be used in negative ways.
But it also can be used in wonderful ways when I was in college my wife and I we were best friends best friends throughout College but I had a rule about not dating best friends because I dated my best friend in high school and ended poorly we were no longer friends so I had this rule as I don't date best friends so I friendzoned her and then junior year came around and I was like what am I doing she's great I like I it.
Finally like fall like winter winter break it clicked I just was like what am I doing I want to be with her about the time I decided I wanted to be with her I found out that she was going on dates with this other guy and what welled up in me was jealous love oh my God I was jealous for her attention for her affection and for her and she was going on dates with this guy they weren't official yet but she was going on dates with this guy who by the way was nothing like me he played left he's a starting left tackle.
For Coastal Carolina he was six foot four three bills I mean we could not be any different I was like what is happening but I was like The Unofficial yet this is going a few dates so I was making my intentions clear I was I was she saw very quickly that was no longer just friendship that I was interested in her now I don't want to spoil the rest of the story but she found out that I liked her and he's like bye that guy was gone and to this day.
If I saw her walking down the street holding another man's hand what would well up in me is jealous love because I have a jealous love for her I want her attention I want her affection I want her and the God of the universe even more so is jealous for us don't miss that he wants our attention he wants our affection he wants you God is jealous for you that is why the language of idolatry throughout the rest of the Old Testament is a spiritual adultery that's what a language is playing the Harlot after foreign Gods whoring after other gods that language is intentional.
For a reason because God has a Fierce and jealous love for his people and it's wonderful it's wonderful and people misunderstand that they criticize the jealousy of God Oprah said the reason she rejected the God of the Bible is because the Bible says that God is a jealous guy she thought that was petty and small as you missed it you completely misunderstand the jealousy of our God our God isn't jealous for us because he needs us Our God eternally has existed as self-sufficient he doesn't need anybody before creation even exempt.
For time existed which this is bright this breaks the brain but in what's called eternity past God the Father God the son and God the Holy Spirit eternally existed in Perfect Harmony had no need of creation had no need of people but God made the University made people he didn't need us but he desires us he wants us he is jealous for us and his jealousy is so wonderfully displayed that when his creation rejected him and chased after other idols and worshiped other things in the places of.
God that he would not let that stand and he came forth and that he obeyed the he took on flesh and dwelt Among Us and Jesus obeyed the Old Testament law perfectly and then he went to the cross for us to have his blood shed for our idolatrous pursuit of everything else and he died for us and he rose for us so that we could walk and the newness of life that experiences the Wonder and the joy of a God who is jealous.
For his people so that we could experience his jealousy for us now into eternity that is how jealous and how wonderful our God is so the first and second commandment you shall have no other gods before me and you will worship me rightly that is a good gift that is those are wonderful Commandments because it calls us to see the one true God who is completely in love with us completely jealous for us and allows us to see him for who he is.
So that we can love him with all our heart with all our soul and with all our might and we would enjoy him forever the band's going to come up and we get to worship we get to sing to our jealous wonderful God we get to Behold Him for who he is but there are probably some of us they don't see that and don't fully understand that and some of us all we can see is our sin and our Brokenness and we think how in the world could.
God possibly want me we were the first the second commandment we can see all the other things that we worship in the place of God and so how could this God still want me he loves us because of his great love and his great Mercy he loves us because he is jealous for us because of what Jesus did for us and it's based completely on the work of Christ in Christ alone so yeah we are unworthy I don't know we're unworthy to worship Our.
God and to Behold Him but through Christ and what he has done for us we get to worship our God and there may be some of you here that have never truly believed this who have never surrendered to this God who is jealous and I want you to see how wonderful the jealousy of God is I want you to see how wonderful it is to have no other gods before him but to be so deeply in love with him and my hope is that you would surrender this.
God because he's worthy worthy you pray heavenly father I pray that you would help us behold you now in worship we are we are idolaters we do chase after other things and those things leave us empty and unsatisfied and broken and weary and that you get to pick up our heads and help us see the cross in the empty tomb we get to behold you our jealous and wonderful God the Lord help us worship and if there's anyone here that is not understood that has not believed that does not know you.
God may you absolutely bend their hearts to believe and the beholding you as our one true God so that we can worship you and worship you rightly in Jesus name amen.