“THE ONE AND ONLY GOD ”
(Exodus 20:3)
Someone wrote with biting sarcasm:
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want the warmth of the womb not a new birth.
I want about a pound of the eternal in a paper sack.
I’d like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
One man writes, “In the past half century God has been “trivialized, packaged for entertainment, presented as a sort of psychological panacea, as heavenly glue to keep happy families together, a celestial slot machine to respond to our whims, a formula for success, a fund raiser for pseudoreligious enterprises, a slick phrase for bumper stickers, and a sort of holy pie and ice cream.”
The God of the Ten Commandments cannot be trivialized or bought in three-dollar pieces. Nor is He to be viewed as a cheerless, crabby, celestial cynic Who is only interested in establishing rules and regulations. The Ten Commandments are not just a list of divine demands. Their intention is to bring us into a liberating relationship with God. God is not insecure. The first commandment is not a hand-wringing tactic of a vulnerable deity. It is an invitation from the one, unique God of the universe to enter into relationship with Him.
I. GOD’S UNIQUENESS
Many gods were worshiped in the land the Israelites left. In Canaan they would be confronted by the false worship of new pagan gods. Their God was unique from all false gods of the heathen cultures.
Israel’s essential creed was the Shema, repeated often: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Moses warned,
When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you (Deuteronomy 6:10-15).
David recognized God’s uniqueness and cried, “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you” (2 Samuel 7:22). This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God (Isaiah 44:6).
God is not capricious, but caring. He reveals Himself and is not remote. He is an inviting God, welcoming relationships between Himself and His people. The first commandment is a divine invitation to relationship.
God reveals Himself with certain qualities or characteristics. Some of these attributes belong to God exclusively. Only He is self-existent and omnipotent. Some of His attributes are represented in a limited way in humanity. No human can ever become omnipresent, but we may develop qualities of love and justice.
God’s uniqueness is displayed through His glory and through His lordship.
His Glory
God’s glory identifies Him. Several attributes are implied in His glory:
1. God is infinite—without limitation. How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:33). The Book of Job says, “He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted” (5:9); and asks, “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?” (11:7).
2. God is self-existent—dependent on nothing else. God identified Himself to Moses as I AM (Exodus 3:14). He was not made or created. If someone else made Him, that someone would be God. God has always been. His self-existence affirms His infinity. He is the Infinite God (subject to no limitation).
3. God is immutable—He is unchangegble and always consistent. He said, “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6). His changelessness is demonstrated by His faithfulness and dependability. We have this faith concerning Christ. He "is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He is consistent where false gods were capricious.
His Lordship
THE LORD is the most frequently used title for God in English translations of the Old Testament. Older translations use the word “Jehovah” from the Hebrew Yahweh indicating that God is, was and shall be. He says, “I AM WHO I AM.” He is the eternal God, not just a localized tribal god of Israel. He is the chief, the sovereign, the ruler of all creation. The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19). He does not lose control. Evil men crucified His Son and it seemed God was defeated, but Peter preached, “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross” (Acts 2:23).
God’s lordship is expressed in three of His attributes:
1. He is omnipotent—all powerful. The Bible says of Him, “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Psalm 115:3). “He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’" (Daniel 4:35).
Recognition of God’s omnipotence should give confidence to our prayers. A mouse crossed a bridge with an elephant. The bridge shook and swayed. On the other side, the mouse looked at his huge companion and said, “Boy, we really shook that bridge, didn’t we?” God is all-powerful and makes His resources available to His people. With Him we shake our bridges of adversity. He is Lord!
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty” (Genesis 17:1). His covenant with Abraham required the old man and his wife to bear a son. Ninety-year-old Sarah eavesdropped and heard God tell Abraham, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son” (Genesis 18:10). She responded with laughter. Well past child-bearing age, she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” (v. 12). Then the Lord said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son” (v. 14).
Nothing is too hard for our omnipotent God. He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20).
2. He is omnipresent—everywhere present. David acknowledged that God knew every activity and his inmost thoughts. He then says:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your pres-ence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you (Psalm 139:7-12).
When wickedness triumphs and injustice is unchallenged, God knows and sees all. He promises, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:2-3).
At the British Museum in London is an interesting old mariner’s chart. It shows the coast of North America as known in 1525. Intriguing notations are made on unexplored areas of the map. The cartographer wrote: “Here be giants;” “Here be fiery scorpions;” and “Here be dragons.” The map came finally to be owned by Sir John Franklin in the early 1800s. Perhaps he knew the Lord, be-cause he scratched out the fearful inscriptions and wrote across it: “Here is GOD!”
3. God is omniscient—He is all-knowing. God sees and knows all things. He is everywhere present and knows all there is to know. As a boy that thought made me more than a little uncomfortable. Here is a reassuring word:
Since God already knows everything about you and still loves you, then there is nothing you can tell him that will change his feelings for you. He is obviously not a Self-right-eous Celestial Prude, but a loving Father who hugs his children—even when they have jam on their faces. The upshot of this is absolute certainty that nothing you ever tell God will cause him to turn his back on you. Seen this way, God’s omniscience is not a liability, it is the source of interpersonal liberation.
II. GOD’S CHARACTER
Many don’t understand God’s character and imagine a tension between the holy God of the law and the loving God of the gospel. It’s almost like there are two Gods: the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. Some stress His holiness to the point of making life miserable. To them God is a rigid, ruthless tyrant, never satisfied with vain human efforts to achieve perfection. Others overemphasize God’s love, making Him an indulgent, sentimental grandpa, devoid of moral strength. The biblical God is both holy and loving.
His Holiness
God’s holiness means that He is utterly pure and perfect, with no taint of sin or evil. Since He is holy, His acts of love and pardon must also be holy. Four attributes relate to God’s holiness.
1. God is righteous—It is impossible for God to do or cause anything that is wrong. Because He is perfect, He demands perfection from those who are related to Him. This is a dilemma for us, because all have sinned and fall short of God’s perfection. We have no hope apart from God’s grace and provision for our salvation.
God said of Himself in Isaiah 45:
There is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength. All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult (vv 21-25).
Humanity has no inherent righteousness, and that is our moral predicament. God’s provision of righteousness in Christ is the heart of the gospel. “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’ (Romans 1:17). “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22). “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21).
2. God is just—It is impossible for Him to do anything that is unfair, either to Himself or to humanity. Isaiah recognized the rebellion of his people against God saying, “The LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (30:18). Justice awaits at God’s judgment. This comforts those who have been wronged because the Lord “upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free” (Psalm 146:7). It also warns those who think they get away with evil, because “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godless-ness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18). If God did not express His wrath in justice His love would be mere senti-mentality. However, God’s wrath is never arbitrary or subject to emotion. It is simply the spiritual harvest of rejecting God.
His Love
The Bible describes God in 1 John 4:8: “God is love.” Human love involves many attitudes and actions. God’s love is much more specific. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love . . . that he . . . sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 4:9-10).
God’s love is agape—love for the unworthy. It is expressed when its object has forfeited the right to be loved. God’s love is surrounded with grace. He embraces the worthless. He deliberately decides to rescue sinful men and women and bring them into relationship with Himself.
III. GOD’S INVITATION
To Worship
The first commandment requires loyalty to God. Commandments one to four enlighten our relationship with God. The other six cultivate right relationships with other people. Worshipping God is a basis for other healthy relationships. First there is worship, then there is witness.
Worship is the specific act of recognizing and rejoicing in the glory, majesty, honor and worthiness of God. How weak and restrained our worship is. Not so in heaven. Revelation 5:9-14 says:
And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thou-sands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and un-der the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!
God alone is worthy of our worship.
To Relationship
When asked to identify the greatest commandment, Jesus said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as your-self (Matthew 22:37-39). He emphasized relationship, not regulation. The com-mandments are more than ten rules to be obeyed; they are God’s strategy to release us for meaningful relationships.
We struggle to believe that. Intellectually, we agree that God exists, but never really depend on Him.
What does it matter if God sends the sun? Fluorescent lighting is more even; the sun causes skin cancer, and you can get tanned faster under the lights at the health club. God sends the rain, but we have umbrellas, flood-control systems, domed stadiums, shopping malls and indoor tennis courts. God controls the seasons and the agricultural cycles, but we have subsidies and price supports, frozen peas, nitrogen-fixed apples, dehydrated beefsteaks and sugarless gum. God has appointed man once to die, but we have group health insurance, trauma centers, intensive-care units, chromium-alloy burial vaults and perpetual-care interment. Maybe there’s a place for God in Mecca or Jerusalem, but the rest of us are too busy to give it much thought.
Lawrence of Arabia once brought some Arab friends to Paris. They saw the Louvre, The Arc of Triumph, Napoleon’s tomb, and Notre Dame Cathedral. They were unimpressed with the glories of Paris, but fascinated with the faucet in the hotel bathtub. They turned it on and off and thought it wonderful. A twist of the handle and they could get all the water they wanted.
When it was time to return to the desert, Lawrence discovered them trying to detach the faucet with wrenches. They said, “it is very dry in Arabia. What we need are faucets. If we have them, we will have all the water we want.”
God has invited us to relationship with the Living Water. He invites us to the source and bids us never thirst again. Have no other gods beside Him. He offers the flowing fountain—they offer a faulty faucet. You can be related to God through Jesus Christ!
Second Message in a Series on the Ten Commandments
