Ten Commandments for Today
07/14/2002 - Put God First
We live in a culture that's losing its sense of right and wrong. Objective moral standards have given way to public opinion polls. In his landmark critique of American education Allan Bloom writes in his book The Closing of the American Mind that there is one thing that every college professor can be absolutely certain of and that is that almost every college student entering the university will absolutely not be certain of anything. When it comes to moral values most will have their feet firmly planted in mid-air.
That's because we live in a culture that has almost completely caved in to moral relativism. Moral relativism is the idea that what is true for you is not necessarily true for me and what is true for me is not necessarily true for you. In other words, there are no objective moral standards that govern our world. So when it comes to moral choices we can all make our own rules and be our own gods and live the way we please without worrying about what's right and wrong, at least not until somebody gets hurt. And somebody always does.
This week I read a funny story about Chi Chi Rodriguez, the famous golfer. He was driving down the street with his friend and going a lot faster than the speed limit when the light ahead turned from yellow to red and instead of slowing down he hit the gas and went right through it. His friend went, "Whoa, Chi Chi! What in the world are you doing? That light was red! Don't you stop for red lights?" And Chi Chi said, "No. My brother taught me to drive and he doesn't stop for red lights so I don't either." Just then they came to another intersection where the light was red and once again Chi Chi stepped on the gas and went right through it. By now his friend was crawled up in a ball under the seat. Chi Chi said, "I told you, my brother taught me to drive and he doesn't stop for red lights, so I don't either." Next they came to an intersection where the light was green and this time Chi Chi hit the brakes, slowed down, stopped and looked both ways. Now his friend was totally confused and said, "What are you stopping for, the light's green?" Chi Chi said, "I know, but my brother might be coming the other way!"
We live in a world where red lights have become green lights and green lights have become red lights. As a culture we've experienced the death of truth. We've lost confidence in the fact that we can know anything for sure, especially when it comes to morality. In her book Finding God at Harvard , Kelly Monroe says, "Students feel safer as doubters than as believers, and as perpetual seekers rather then eventual finders." She quotes one Harvard grad who lamented in a commencement address, "The freedom of our day is the freedom to devote ourselves to any values we please, on the mere condition that we do not believe any of them to be true."
In a culture that constantly encourages us to be "tolerant," and "open-minded," and "nonjudgmental" is it possible to believe in objective moral truth? Can we say that some things are right and some things are wrong for everybody? And if so, who decides what they are? You? Me? The majority? Or someone else?
This morning we begin a series on the Ten Commandments called Ten Commandments for Today. It's a series that flies in the face of the moral relativism of our culture. Yet 3,500 years of life experience has demonstrated that these commandments, these values are true and they are the best way to live our lives.
The Ten Commandments given by God, chiseled on stone, and recorded in Exodus 20 have been the bedrock of western civilization for millennia. The Ten Commandments are about the only thing that Jews, Muslims and Christians can agree on. All three accept them as coming directly from the mouth of God.
The Ten Commandments have been the foundation on which our entire judicial system has been built. And even though they've been legislated out of our public schools and covered over at the Chester County Courthouse they still provide the most central symbol in the chambers of the Supreme Court of the United States, carved in granite right above the head of the Chief Justice, all ten of them! In the House of Representatives the face staring at the president from the fresco painted on the back wall is the face of Moses who delivered the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments, given by God, are foundational to life in this country.
And God gave them to us because he loves us and he knows how life works. He sees the whole city map of our lives, every intersection we will encounter in life. He knows the hurt and the pain and mess we can make of our lives if we ignore the speed limit, run the red lights, stop at green lights, and take wrong turns.
Often when we think of the Ten Commandments we have a negative, adverse reaction. Like God is out to cramp our style and kill our fun. God didn't give us the Ten Commandments to hurt us, but to help us. They reveal his protection and his affection for us. Like a loving parent tells his three year-old not to play in the street or to touch a hot stove, every time God say's "don't" it's for our own good. The Ten Commandments weren't given to restrict our freedom, they were given by God to set us free, free from hurting others, free from destroying ourselves, free from serving gods that will fail us in crunch time.
This week, someone gave me a book on the Ten Commandments to add to my study written by Ron Mehl called The Tender Commandments. I love that title! That's how I want us to look at these ten values. I want you to see them as words of wisdom coming to you from your loving heavenly Father who made you and wants the absolute best for your life.
The Ten Commandments are not the way we get to heaven. Please don't think you are going to earn heaven by keeping them. Entering into a relationship with God that will last forever has always been by grace through faith, not by doing good works or observing rituals or by keeping certain commandments as good as the Ten Commandments are. Jesus made it a point to show us that we can't keep the Ten Commandments perfectly and because of that we need a Savior to forgive us and to give us life. And that's what Jesus does when we trust him as our Forgiver and our Leader.
The Ten Commandments are not outdated. A few years ago media mogul Ted Turner made a big splash when he said the Ten Commandments are obsolete and outmoded. He said people don't like to be commanded anymore. Commandments are out. So he offered his own "Ten Voluntary Initiatives" to deal with the problems of our world that included loving and respecting Planet Earth and limiting families to two children.
The Ten Commandments aren't outdated any more than God is outdated. They embody the moral law of God. They reflect his perfect, unchangeable moral character. Every one of them is repeated in the New Testament except the keeping of the Sabbath and that's because the day of worship for believers transitioned from Saturday to Sunday after the resurrection of Christ. The Sabbath day has changed, but the Sabbath principle is still to be honored.
The moral law of God is not outdated. The ceremonial law of the Old Testament is outdated. The sacrificial system and the priesthood were done away with when Jesus became our perfect sacrifice and our true high priest. He was the Lamb of God that took away the sin of the world. The civil law of the Old Testament is outdated. That's the law that governed Israel as a nation, which included all the dietary restrictions. That was superceded when Gentiles, like us were welcomed into the body of Christ. But the moral law captured in the Ten Commandments is still binding on every man, woman and child because it reflects the morality of our unchangeable God.
Now with that as an introduction to this series turn with me to Exodus 19. Exodus 19:1-2, In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt-on the very day-they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountains.
Ninety days after the children of Israel escaped from the bondage of Egypt, all 2 ½ million of them came to the desert floor in front of Mount Sinai. This wasn't a little tribe of nomads. This was a nation on the move. Imagine mobilizing a crowd of people 1 ½ times the size of the city of Philadelphia. Some one has estimated that it would take 1,500 tons of food a day to feed them, 11 million gallons of water a day to quench their thirst and a campsite of over 100 square miles to house them. This wasn't your typical weekend family camping trip. This was a logistical nightmare.
Yet, God in his love took care of his people like an eagle takes care of her young. Look at verses 3-4, Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.'"
I love that phrase, carried you on eagles' wings. It's a beautiful picture of how God cares for his children. When an eagle builds a nest for her young its huge, usually about 8 feet across and 8 feet deep. The largest nest on record was 9 ½ feet wide and 20 feet deep and weighed almost three tons. The mother takes great care to fill the nest with leaves and animal fur and down from her own feathers and makes it all cozy and warm. But when the time is right she takes her little eaglets and teaches them fly. She picks them up, carries them on her back to great heights and then drops them.
No parachute, no Drivers Ed course, no learner's permit, just dropped from the sky. And the little birds scramble and flutter their wings and just before they hit the pavement and become road kill mom swoops under them and catches them on her back and carries them again on eagles wings. And she'll soar high into the wild blue yonder and drop them over and over and over again until they finally learn to fly.
It's a beautiful picture of how God takes care of us. Think about it. All of us were in a free fall headed down into an abyss. The apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:12 we were all without hope and without God in the world. But then Jesus swooped down and picked us up and put us in his nest and now he sustains us and takes care of us every day of our lives.
And during those times when we feel abandoned, like we're free falling again, the Lord always come and gets us. He'll show up. And if it seems "late" to us it's because there's something that he wants us to learn or discover about ourselves that we wouldn't have learned or discovered any other way. God carries us on eagles' wings.
God carried his people out of Egypt on eagle's wings. They saw how he devastated the Egyptian economy and ripped apart the social fabric of that nation with 10 calamities. They walked away from a country in chaos and ruin because of what God did for them. They came to a surging, growling Red Sea and God parted the waters and walked them through on dry land. They came to a desert with no food and God provided white and crusty manna from the sky. When they needed water to drink God caused a spring to flow out of rock and when it moved it followed them mile after mile always finding a gully to meander through the camp. To keep them from baking on the desert floor God provided a cloud for shade during the day and to keep them from freezing at night God provided a fire in the sky.
They were astounded by this God that they had only known for three months and now he comes to them and makes them a proposal. And it's the same proposal that he makes to you and to me. He offers them and us a quality of life that is unmatched. The kind of life that causes people to scratch their heads and say, "You mean you can really live that way? You mean it's possible to have a life that good?" Look at Exodus 19:5-6, Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.
It's a threefold offer. First, he says you will be my treasured possession. "The whole earth is mine, I control the destinies of all people, but you'll be my special treasure. You'll be my highest priority. You'll get my extra special care. Would you like that?"
Then he says you'll be a kingdom of priests. Who was it in the Old Testament who had direct access to God? Who could walk into God's presence and talk with him like a friend while all the rest of the people waited outside? It was the priest. God says, "I'll give all of you that kind of access to me, to know me, to be my friend, to be comfortable in my presence. Would you like that?"
Third, God says I'll make you a holy nation. The word holy means "separate." "I'll make you different like me. I'll give you meaning and purpose in life. You don't need to live your life bound up by guilt or fear or bitterness. I'll fill you with my wisdom and my insight and my love like you've never known before. And you will be glad on the inside that you are the way you are. Would you like that?"
And the people say, "Yes! Bring it on! We've seen what you've done in the past now show us the future. Show us how to live." Look at Exodus 19:7-9, So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, "We will do everything the Lord has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.
That's the setting for the Ten Commandments. God is giving this nation and us, instructions and insight that will produce a quality of life unmatched in this world. Values that will give us an edge, that will put us a step ahead, that will make us wiser than our teachers in the decisions of life, in marriage and child rearing, in business and money management.
That's what David said about God's commands in Psalm 119:97-100, Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
And the first command, the first word that thunders from the mountain is found in Exodus 20:1-3, And God spoke all these words. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Commandment number one, put God first in your life. That's God's first command to Israel and that's God's first command to us. Put me first! Have no other gods before me. That's the foundation for this incredible life that God has to offer.
Pretty soon the Israelites would find out all about other gods. The Philistines had Dagon and the Amorites had Molech and the Babylonians had Marduk and the Canaanites had Baal. And each nation would say that their god made them great. Their god makes the ground rich and lush. Their god makes their cattle sleek and fertile. Their god is the secret to their success. And God says, "Don't believe them. And don't follow them. Have no other gods before me." That's what it meant for Israel. Now what does it mean for us?
We're not tempted to worship Dagon or Molech, Marduk or Baal. We're tempted to worship other things. What are you tempted to worship? What are the other gods in your life? A god can be anything that dominates our life, anything that controls us. Good things that God created for us to enjoy can become our gods. We can make a god out of our career. People do it all the time. They arrange their whole life around their career. They sacrifice their health and their children and their spouses at the altar of the company until one day they discover that the company has been bought out and their job has been eliminated. Does that mean we shouldn't work hard, have goals, strive to be successful? No. But it does mean we shouldn't worship our work. Have no other gods before me.
Sometimes I'm asked what's the hardest thing about being a pastor? Is it teaching? Is it counseling? Is it leading? And I have to say, "No. It's none of those things. The hardest thing about being a pastor is keeping God first in my life, every day, not the church, not the ministry, but God. That's my greatest challenge and probably always will be." Have no other gods before me.
We can make a god out of our marriage and family. People do it all the time. They long to get their deepest needs met from their spouses, or when they fail, from their kids. But spouses don't always come through and kids don't always come through either. They can't meet the deepest needs of our souls. Does that mean we shouldn't love our spouses and our children? No. But it does mean we shouldn't worship them. They are not worthy of our highest affections. Have no other gods before me.
Recreation can be our god. Money can be our god. Sex can be our god. Pleasure can be our god. Good looks can be our god. Those are all popular gods in our culture. But none of them are worthy of our worship, of our deepest affections. None of them are the ultimate source of our well being. Only God is. And in this first command, like a loving Father, God's trying to protect us from arranging our lives around the things that will all ultimately fail us in the end. Have no other gods before me.
True freedom in life is not found by casting off all restraint. True freedom in life is found by discovering the right master, the one who is worthy of our worship. Only God is. Are you putting him first in your life? Don't waste your worship on any other god.
In a moment we're going to observe the Lord's Table. This is always a special time for the church. The first step to putting God first in your life is believing in his Son Jesus Christ and receiving him as your Savior. And if you've done that then you're welcome to come to this table today. Make it a moment of consecration. Maybe you've sensed that something else has taken first place in your life and you need to come clean and tell God about it and confess it to him. Ask him to keep you vigilant so that what's second place in your life, never becomes first. It's probably a good thing like your job or your ministry or your marriage or your kids. But it's not to be number one. Then thank God that he is worthy of your worship. Have no other gods before me.