Title: My God?
Text: Exodus 20:2-3
Intro:
In 1999, ESPN named Michael Jordan the “athlete of the century.” AP ranked him number 2. Anyone who ever saw him play – even someone like me who doesn’t care for sports – knew that his ability was something special. But what you may not remember as clearly was his season as a baseball player. In 1993, Jordan retired for the first time and tried out for Major League Baseball. He was good – but only good enough for the Chicago White Sox’ farm team in the minors. He played one season and while he acquitted himself well, he was non Babe Ruth. The sad fact is you can be great at one thing and good at many others, but it is hard to be great at everything.
This morning, I want to begin a series on the 10 commandments. I’m calling the series “Laws of Love, Laws of Life.” I suspect you view these commandments as individual events – rules to be followed, challenges to overcome. But if can this morning, I want to change your mindset about them. You see, the 10 commandments aren’t really rules so much as a contract, and what’s more, they’re not even a contract we ever signed. Simply put, the 10 commandments were given to Jews nearly 3500 years ago. Now, if you are a 3500 year old Jew, they most certainly apply. But if you are a Christian, you are free from their obligation.
So, you might be asking yourself then, why should we be spending time reading a contract that doesn’t apply to us? Well, contracts have a way of saying something about the person who makes them. When the Bulls signed Michael Jordan as a 1st round draft pick in 1984, they were saying, ‘Michael – we believe you can do great things.’ And Michael was, in fact, very handsomely rewarded for what he did. I want to submit to you this morning that each of the 10 commandments says something about God too, things that we should understand.
This morning, I want to focus on just the first commandment, and lets listen to see what it says about our God:
It may seem a little odd to hear God say, ‘Look I brought you out of slavery, but I’m a jealous god.’ If you have a legalistic understanding of God – you know the idea that he’s just some big cosmic cop in the sky waiting to zap you – then this first commandment doesn’t really make sense.
But see what it is that God is saying here. I’ve taken you out of slavery. I don’t want you to go back. You are only going to have one god.
Think about that from the perspective of the Israelites for a moment. They had just come out of Egypt where there was a god for everything. Their king was a god, their river was a god, their crops had a god. Everything and everyone had a lot of things they had to serve. It probably got pretty busy trying to balance king, crops, river, and everything else. That’s a lot of gods.
So what does our God say to them? Guess what. Just serve me, no one else. I am a big enough God to cover all those little things for you.
You see, people serve gods because they think they’re going to get something out of it. You worship the king so he doesn’t put you in jail. You worship the river so that it feeds you but doesn’t wash out your home. You have lots of little needs that will be served by little gods. But our God says, “I will supply all your needs, according to my riches in glory.” Our God is able to promise the psalmist, “The Lord is my Shepard. I don’t have any wants!”
And I’m not stuck at the mercy of millions of capricious gods all of whom have a jealous need to be first. Instead, I love just one god who jealous for my good. I am jealous of my wife, not in a controlling way, but in a way that says ‘She is the first and foremost priority in my life.’ That’s how our God is jealous for us. Isn’t that amazing?
Okay, I hear you say, I won’t go bowing down to Buddha any time soon. I don’t want to let you off so easily. You see, we live in a land of many, many gods, most of whom don’t even have names; many of whom are the real objects of worship in our lives today.
Now, let me deal with an objection I bet you have. I’d bet you’re thinking this. “Our problem today isn’t that we have too many gods, it’s that we have too many people who don’t believe in the one we have!’ And you are right, frankly in our society, idol worship isn’t one of those things that is sending kids off on the road to ruin. But I still want to suggest, our problem isn’t too many gods, its one too few.
Even the atheist falls into this trap. There’s a quote that’s been running through my head for a few weeks now. It goes, “The problem with the atheist is this – When he ceases to believe in God, it is not that he believes in nothing, but rather he will believe in anything.” Did you catch that? It’s not that he believes in nothing, but rather believes in anything.
I’m sure you’ve heard this: “All roads lead to God.” Well, I have a hard time squaring that with Jesus who say that “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, but choose the narrow gate so that you can live.” I know the objection “we all worship the same God really,” but you know, if I’m hugging my wife and I tenderly call her by another woman’s name, can you imagine what her reaction would be? I’m pretty sure that my God is not the God who demands wives throw themselves on their husband’s funeral pyres nor is he the God who demands that people who convert away from the faith be executed. Our God is a jealous God because he doesn’t want to be associated with stuff like that.
Or think about the New Age movement today. What is it that people are supposed to believe? That they themselves are gods! That is perfectly compatible with how most atheists live their lives. And even if they don’t believe they themselves are gods, they find other things that are. Maybe its ‘humanity,’ maybe its ‘reason,’ or even ‘love’ with the a little l and an emphasis on the s-e-x. One way or another, we will always find some guiding principle that will be our god.
The question is, what god are you going to choose? Will you choose a god whom you love or a God who is love?
Let me give you a definition of a god. A god is a being superior in strength, who is worshipped, and whose actions influence my behavior. When we talk about our sports ‘idols,’ they are in a very low fashion meeting those criteria. Remember the slogan, ‘I wanna be like Mike?’ To be sure he was probably a better model than most, but at most he was only great at basketball. And yet, kids clamor for shoes today.
But what about the more grown up gods? Money, Power, Sex. All of these can be more powerful than us. All influence the way we see the world. And if we seek after them, they will change who we are.
To be honest, even standing here in this pulpit is someone who struggles with the god he will choose. When I was younger, I was convinced that politics could solve man’s fundamental problems. I was even convinced I knew which side could do it better.
But when I became a man, I put off such childish things, or so I had thought. I will never apologize for letting my faith inform my politics – it is supposed to. But I have also let it go the other way. I have, on occasion, let my politics inform my faith – and that’s wrong. That’s choosing another god. I’d like to tell you that will never happen again. I’d also like to tell you that I will never be cross with my wife again, or that I will always be single-minded on my Christ. But I’m human. I fail.
I can only thank each of you for the grace that you have shown me when I mess up. Your forgiveness models the God we love, because our God is love. We can be jealous for our petty prerogatives, but in the end, our God is jealous only for us.
So you see, when I mess up, just think of it as an opportunity to practice your faith.
But choosing our gods is vital to who we are. Whatever god we put forward as our chief god will dictate who we are.
Even if we choose multiple gods, that’s going to dictate our personality. I struggle with balancing my life a lot. I love my job programming computers, I love going to school, I love my family, and I love this church. And I believe that God has put me in each of those situations. But the temptation is to make any of those activities into gods – ends unto themselves. And when I do, I find out quickly that any of them can be harsh taskmasters.
When anyone of them becomes a god, I start getting very tired trying to serve them and do everything else I do. But when I serve my God, I have strength. I can run race, I mount with wings, like an eagle.
If you saw the move Chariots of Fire, then you know who Eric Liddell is. At the 1924 Olympics, he made a statement about who his God was. When he found out that his race was scheduled on a Sunday, he simply would not run. It wasn’t a matter of being priggish about the Sabbath – later in life he advocated boys playing soccer on Sundays to keep out of trouble. Instead, it was a simple acknowledgement that his God was a good and gracious God who had simply provided him with a day of rest.
But Eric Liddell’s God was one God throughout his entire life…
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #339
“It is Well with My Soul”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Praise Hymn #349
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #375
“Tis’ so Sweet”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Scripture Exodus 20:1-21
Sermon
“My God!”
Invitation Hymn #353
“Jesus is Lord of All”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another. Seeing that Jesus answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
And Jesus answered:
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ And the second is like unto it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
The Lord, our God, is one.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,
Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
There is one body and one Spirit,
Just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
No one can serve two masters;
for a slave will either hate the one and love the other,
or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living;
but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
- Mark 12:28-31; Duet 6:4-9; Matt 6:24; Eph 4:1-6; Josh 24:15
