Family Matters – Exodus 20:12

Exodus 20:12

As always, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20:12. I heard about a 16-year old boy who just got his driver’s license, and he wanted to discuss the use of the family car with his dad. So, the dad said, “I’ll tell you what, you bring your grades up, you start reading the Bible more, and you get your hair cut, and we’ll talk about it.” About a month went by and that dad approached his son, “Son I’m proud of you. I noticed that you’re bringing your grades up. I’ve also noticed that you’re reading your Bible a lot more. But I noticed you haven’t yet cut your hair yet.”

The son looked up from the Bible he was reading and said, “Well, you know dad, since I’ve been reading the Bible I’ve noticed a couple things. I noticed that Samson had long hair, and Absalom had long hair, and Moses, and it would seem that even Jesus had long hair. So, it seems biblical to have long hair.” And dad said, “Son, you know what, you’re right! They also walked everywhere they went.” So, you see, the only difference between walking and driving for that 16-year old was honoring his father.

Let’s read Exodus 20:12; “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” And if you look inside your bulletin at the weekly quote, then you’ll notice Ephesians 6:1-3, where the apostle Paul says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’”

“Our Father, once again we turn to You in our need and pray that You will make Your Word live to us, that You will show us Your Son within its pages, that You will show us ourselves, and that You will renew within us solid and lasting convictions regarding the abiding authority and sufficiency of all that’s contained herein. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

What I’d like you to do for a moment is just step back from the commandment and consider once again all ten of them. Understand that the Ten Commandments essentially divide all of life into two categories. Call it the vertical and the horizontal; our relationship with God and our relationship with people. The first four commandments represent the vertical plane; the second six, the horizontal plane. The first four, all about my relationship with God; they are theocentric; God-centered. The second six are anthropocentric; man-centered. In other words, here are six ways to get along with people, and we begin with this commandment.

The Sense of the Command (Generally)

Question, why is this first on the list of commandments when it comes to the man-centered commands? The first four are out of the way. Now we’re dealing on the human horizontal level. Why is honoring parents first on the list? As if to imply it’s more important than “You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery,” etc.

I submit to you that it’s because it applies to everyone. Every person has parents or has had them. Not every person is a husband, and not every person is a wife; so, not committing adultery doesn’t apply to everyone. But this commandment applies to absolutely everyone. Also, the very first people that you tend to meet in life are your parents. That’s the foundation of everything: the parent-child relationship.

What are the first words children typically say? It’s not bicycle. It’s not stock-market. It’s not dude. It’s usually mama or dada; that’s the first relationship. If you were to boil all of life down to its irreducible minimum, take away all of the fluff, all of the venire, all of the stuff, and you boil life down to its core it could be summed up in one word – relationships.

Remember how Jesus responded when He was asked by one of the scribes what the greatest commandment was. Mark 12:29-31 says, “Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And 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.” The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Vertically, love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Horizontally, love your neighbor as yourself. All of life, Jesus boiled down to these two categories. And the first neighbors that you have are your parents. So, generally, we understand from this commandment that relationships are precious and family relationships are most precious.

But, here’s the twist. Here’s the irony of it. Although relationships are precious and family relationships are some of the most precious, they’re also very precarious. Relationships are shaky. I don’t know if you’d agree with this or not, but our greatest failures in life are usually in the area of relationships. If I looked out over this vast country of ours, I don’t think that our biggest weakness is technology. I don’t think it’s the economy or freedom or democracy; it’s relationships, and family relationships especially.

For the last two or three decades, our culture has unleashed this unending, unrelenting attack and barrage on the family. Family values are mocked. Even the phrase “family values” is mocked. Our world doesn’t value this fifth commandment. It mocks it; it makes fun of it. In fact, the very definition of family as outlined for us in this commandment (father/mother) has been reinterpreted to mean just about anything. And over time this unrestrained, unrelenting pressure from our culture pushes family relationships to the edge.

But there’s another reason that our family relationships are precarious, and it’s untended priorities (not unintended, but untended). We tend to take our families for granted. We don’t nurture them. We don’t maintain them. We end up like the steamboat captain that was racing a fellow captain down the Mississippi River to see who would get to New Orleans first. In his hast to win the race he discovered that he could go faster if he lightened his load. And rather than toss it overboard, he burned it for fuel. Indeed, he won the race, only to discover that he had no cargo to offload when he got to his destination. How many of us have burned the cargo of family relationships in our attempt to win a personal race?

So, we have unrestrained pressure and untended priorities, but there’s at least one more issue that makes for precarious relationships and that’s unsteady parents. Now some of you are thinking, “Wait a second, Lee, this is a commandment for children, not parents.” And that’s true, but every parent begins as a child and grows up to have children that become parents – and they grow up and have children that become parents. So, there’s a perpetuated cycle. What adds to the precarious nature of family relationships – and violates this fifth commandment – is in many cases parents don’t make the proper spiritual commitment. Remember Joshua, “[I]f it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

Loved ones, hear me, our children need to see their parents as people who also bow the knee and respect and honor their heavenly Father. There’s a steadiness that comes to a home when that type of honor and respect are given to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Scope of the Command (Specifically)

That’s the sense of the command, generally. Now I want us to consider the scope of the command, specifically. Notice that verse 12 doesn’t say, “Honor your father or your mother…” No, it’s both of our parents. There’s interaction with two parents that’s implied here.

In fact, as I mentioned a moment ago, you might say that this is a strong rebuke against homosexuality and transgenderism. We don’t read honor your two fathers, or honor your two mothers. We don’t read honor your father who really biologically ought to be your mother, and your mother who really biologically ought to be your father. No, God’s design from the very beginning was a home with two parents: biological father and biological mother.

All of that notwithstanding, there’s a clear interaction of two parents implied here. And that means that even if one of your parents (or both) were less than honorable, you’re still called to honor them in the way you approach them. I’ll talk about that more in a minute, but the point is we don’t get a pass on this fifth commandment just because one of our parents was less desirable than the other.

Not only is there an interaction of two parents, but there’s a repetition of this command in two testaments. This fifth commandment is mentioned not once, not twice, but eight times – twice in the Old Testament and six times in the New Testament. I’m sharing that simply to make this point, if God says something once, then that ought to be enough. If He says it eight times, then we really ought to listen carefully and ask ourselves why is He so emphatic on telling us this again and again and again.

The answer is because God knew our tendency to discard His law. In the days of the Old and New Testament the Rabbis developed a commentary, their own technical interpretation of what these commands actually meant. Now, the intention was right and good. They wanted to keep the Mosaic Law. Really, they wanted to be faithful to God and His instructions. But just like us, there were all kinds of real-world scenarios that came up that touched on these commandments and so the Rabbis created the Mishnah. This was their running commentary trying to provide direction and clarification about things.

Well, as you might imagine, over time some of those commentaries and traditions became more significant than the instructions themselves. And we have an example of this exact commandment and its commentary in the pages of Mark’s gospel, in the New Testament. You don’t need to turn to it (Mark 7), but in a nutshell Jesus is rebuking the Pharisees and He quotes from the prophet Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…” And then He says, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. And He said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ [that’s Leviticus 20:9] But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that’s and offering to God) – then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do” (Mark 7:8-13).

Jesus says, “Hey guys, you’ve created this tradition, this man-made law the excuses a child from honoring his father and mother by letting him give an offering to God. Thereby allowing him to claim that he can’t financially take care of them. That’s wrong. You’ve elevated your tradition over the Word of God.” And we do the same thing. We reinterpret God’s Word. We say things like, “Well, that verse doesn’t mean that anymore.” Adultery isn’t adultery anymore. It’s pursuing personal happiness. Stealing isn’t stealing anymore. It’s redistribution of wealth and improving the life of the working class. That’s the position of Vicky Osterweil in a book she released last year titled In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action.

So, there’s a scope of the command that implies it’s for fathers and mothers, Old and New Testaments, and people then and people now who seek to supersede God’s intentions with their own.

The Substance of the Command (Practically)

Practically speaking, let’s consider the substance of this fifth commandment. Notice the first word of verse 12. It’s the word “honor.” What does it really mean to “honor” someone? Well, the Hebrew word is kabad and it means “to be heavy” or “weighty.” I was telling the boys that the other day and they both busted out laughing and said, “We must be doing a pretty good job. You’re gaining weight, for sure.” That’s not what it means.

Well, what does it mean? It actually has the same root as another Hebrew word kabowd, which means “glory.” So, just as there’s a weightiness and heaviness to the character and nature of God in His majestic glory, there’s to be a weightiness and heaviness in the way that we treat our parents. Let me put it to you another way. How you treat the parents you can see will be an indicator of the way you treat God, whom you can’t see. That’s why we also read Ephesians 6. In the Ephesians passage we’re given two actions that are part of honoring father and mother – obey (that’s an action) and honor (that’s an attitude). Honor is the attitude that forms the basis for the action of obedience. It’s when we consider our own obedience (or rather disobedience) to our parents that we realize we haven’t done as good a job of honoring our fathers and mothers.

There are two implications of honoring: respect and appreciation. Respect. When you address your parents, how do you do that? When you talk about your parents to somebody else what words do you choose to use? Those of us that grew up in the South were taught to answer our parents “Yes sir, no sir and Yes ma’am, no ma’am.” Many of us were also taught to stand when elders entered the room.

And if you attended a particular college in the South (as some of us did) one sir wasn’t good enough. It was a sir sandwich: “Sir, yes, sir. Sir, no, sir. Sir, no excuse, sir.” Those were the only acceptable responses for a low life freshman learning honor, respect and duty. And you had to stand whenever an upperclassman entered the room. I can’t tell you how many injuries – twisted ankles, banged heads and knees – we had as a result of someone jumping down off the top bunk or standing from the bottom bunk when an upperclassman came barging into our rooms.

Now, certainly, just because you say the right words and stand the right way doesn’t mean that the attitude of your heart is honoring. There are plenty of times in my own life where I said the right things and stood, but in my heart, I was sitting in defiance. Or when I was standing in arrogance and pride when I should have sat in humility.

And there’s also an implied appreciation. Every child learns this the very moment they become a parent. There’s this immediate revelation, “Man, it takes a lot to raise a child. Oh, I so appreciate what my parents have done for me.”

For example, according to the latest US Dept. of Agriculture data from May 2020, parents who have a child today will spend, on average, $284,570 by the time the baby turns 18. That’s a middle-income husband/wife family with two children. The majority of the expense is housing, then food, then childcare and education (not counting college). And that’s just the financial picture. Don’t forget to add the nausea and pain of pregnancy, the sleepless nights of feeding, the worry, the concern, the prayers… If you can’t think of any reason why you ought to honor your father and mother, then that alone should be sufficient. One of the quickest and easiest ways to honor your parents is by a simple word or gesture of appreciation.

And can I just add this into the mix – in the Bible, honoring your parents also extended to your in-laws. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Lee, you just crossed a line. You were preaching before, but now you’re just meddling.” No, hear me out. May I remind you that we have an entire book of the Bible that proves my point. Do you know the name of that book? (Ruth) Some of you might remember that we studied that entire book in 2019, and the beautiful commitment of loyalty: “[F]or where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you” (Ruth 1:16-17).

Now, just so you don’t think it’s all respect and appreciation, there’s obviously a balance here. If your parents instruct you to do something that’s opposed to God’s Word or His character, then there’s room for disobedience. Remember Acts 5? We must obey God rather than men. It’s the same in the home. If parents forbid prayer or Bible reading or church attendance, then there’s room for disobedience. It should be loving and gracious, but disobedience nevertheless. So, there are boundaries, but let’s not allow those boundaries to crowd out the command to honor father and mother.

The Security of the Command (Personally)

Let’s conclude, this morning, by considering the security of the command (personally). As Paul mentions in Ephesians, this is the first commandment with a promise. There are benefits to doing this, and the first is a quality of life. Notice the second part of verse 12, “…that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Now, I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. There have been plenty of children that have loved God and sought to honor their parents and they died tragically and rather suddenly. Then there have been those children that didn’t have a care in the world for God or parents, and yet they lived to a ripe old age. Yes, you’re absolutely right. But that’s why I was careful to say quality of life and not quantity of life. Here’s what was originally intended by this fifth commandment. Follow me closely.

In the Old Testament, shortly after receiving the 10 Commandments, Moses received a lot of other instructions about how the nation of Israel should conduct itself. The 10 Commandments are what we refer to as the moral law, but there was ceremonial law and judicial law and civic law that was also given by God to Moses. When you hear Christians today talking about not living under the law but under grace, what they’re referring to are these other codes of law: ceremonial, judicial, and civic.

When the apostle Paul contrasts the law and grace in Romans, this is what he’s talking about. He’s not suggesting that Christians don’t need to keep the 10 Commandments. The moral law of God, which is what the 10 Commandments are, is inextricably tied to God’s nature and character. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection didn’t set aside the fact that we’re still commanded not to take the name of God in vain, or that we shouldn’t murder, or that we are to honor our parents. But Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection absolutely set aside the need for continued sacrifices. Do you see that?

Ok, so right after receiving the 10 Commandments, one of the other laws that Moses received from God was Exodus 21:15, which says, “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death” and Exodus 21:17 says, “Whoever curses [or dishonors] his father or his mother shall be put to death.” Now, if it was lawful to kill a child for striking his/her parents or dishonoring his/her parents, then it makes sense why this fifth commandment says to honor them so that our days may be long. If failing to honoring them could get you killed, then honoring them at least meant for a longer life, if not a better quality of life.

Yes, generally speaking, if I listen to the direction of my parents and don’t put this knife into the wall outlet, then I’ll live longer. Generally speaking, if I obey my parents and not consume alcohol with my high school buddies, or do drugs, or go to certain places in town after dark, then I’ll live longer. Generally speaking, if I honor my parents by obeying them, then I can avoid painful scenarios in my childhood and even adulthood. But again, it’s not an absolute quantity, but rather quality of life.

Let me close with this. Did you know that almost every culture, every nation, every people group – both modern and ancient – say that it’s right for children to honor and obey their parents. It’s good for society. It communicates law and order. To obey, to honor, to respect, to appreciate mom and dad is right, not because the Romans said it, not because the Americans say it, but because God said it. The best way to live is with a clear conscience; to do something because you know it’s right before God; it pleases the Lord.

There’s only One person in the entire world that’s ever kept this commandment perfectly – that’s the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, “Well Lee, look at who His Father is. You don’t understand my situation. I was abused by my father. I was abandoned by my mother.” You’re right. I don’t understand, but Jesus does. He knows what being forsaken feels like: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? There’s no such thing as a perfect earthly parent. Nor is there such a thing as a perfect earthly child; but there is a perfect heavenly Father who sent His perfectly obedient Son to die on a cross for your sins and mine. If you don’t know God as your perfect heavenly Father, then I pray that today would be the day that you repent and receive His free gift of grace by trusting in the life, death and resurrection of His Son.

“Our God and our Father, once again, Your book pierces our hearts, challenges our minds, and calls for a response. We know we’re sinners and we need a Savior. We’re not going to make ourselves acceptable to You by keeping the fifth commandment, or even keeping all of them. We can’t do it. We’re flawed. We need a Savior.

And I pray that as a result of studying these first five commandments, as a result of being confronted by who we are before a holy God, that there will be people, even here this morning, from where they sit, who say, ‘I want to settle the matter of my eternal destiny. I need to trust in Christ.’

And for those of us who name the name of Christ, I pray that You will close the gap between what we know and what we verbalize and how we live. Make us zealous this week for the truth of Your Word in a society that’s completely crazy when it comes to these issues. Give us bold sensitivity, genuine love, and may we honor our fathers and our mothers.

May the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to Himself, the peace of the Lord Jesus guard and keep our hearts and minds, and the joy of the Lord Jesus strengthen us as we seek to serve Him. For we pray in His powerful name. Amen.”

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Holy Hiatus – Exodus 20:8-11

Exodus 20:8-11

As always, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20:8-11. As most of you know, I recently purchased a new/used truck. It’s new to me, but it most certainly didn’t roll off the showroom floor. Well, I’m going to begin this morning by reading something to you from my truck’s owner’s manual. For those of you that wonder who reads those things, well, I do. This is from the scheduled maintenance guide.

It begins this way: “Regular maintenance is essential to obtaining the highest level of performance, safety, and reliability from your vehicle. This booklet is designed to help you make sure that your vehicle receives proper and timely maintenance.”

That same section ends by saying, “Follow this booklet’s recommendations, and you will enjoy maximum reliability and peace of mind from your vehicle for many years to come.”

So, here’s the manual saying, read the book, and have regularly scheduled maintenance. Well, we have our personal owner’s manual right here. And the commandment we’re about to read, you might say, is God’s maintenance law for our lives, to ensure that we (too) live a peaceful life at maximum capacity. It’s the Designer’s Guide to our life.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

We pray, Lord, that our minds will be sharp and focused, that our hearts would be ready to receive, and that we wouldn’t be the cause of any distraction. Father, this is Your time, and we worship You. O God, we ask that You increase our hunger to know You and Your Word. The Bible says that You are a rewarder of those who diligently seek You (Hebrews 11:6). And I know, Lord, that You will reward Your people as we seek Your face. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A number of people have spoken to me concerning the impact of these 10 Commandments as we’ve begun to study them together. In fact, one gentleman announced at the conclusion of last Sunday’s worship that he was 0 for 3 (of course, we’d only covered three up to that point). He went on to say that having read ahead, he felt that the best he might hope for was 1 for 9. Later in the week I received an e-mail from him, and he revised his estimate and said it appeared more likely to be 0-10.

Now, those observations are as helpful as they are honest. Because there isn’t one of us here this morning who’s going to be able to stand up and say that we’ve kept any of the first three commandments perfectly. We haven’t loved God exclusively. We haven’t worshipped God correctly. We haven’t been free of the misuse of His Name. And now, as we come to the fourth commandment, we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that we’re gonna have to bow beneath the weight of this one and acknowledge, yet again, that we’re guilty.

But that’s not a bad thing, in and of itself. In fact, that’s the entire point of the law – to reveal our inability to keep it perfectly. Once we recognize that, then we’re prepared to receive the grace that Jesus offers through His perfect sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary.

So, there are three points that I want us to consider this morning, as we come to this fourth commandment. Number one, we’re going to consider the principle as it’s stated. Secondly, we’re going to look at the pattern as it’s observed. And finally, we’ll see how the practice is applied.

The Principle Stated

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” In other words, sanctify the day; set it apart. That’s what it means to keep it holy; it
means to set it apart.

Well, in what way is the day set apart? Weren’t there seven days in the week that God made? Yes. Did He just call one of them holy? Yes. Was there to be one that had a peculiar, holy, sanctified dimension to it? Yes! So, in what way was it set apart? Well, it was a different day because God said it was, and He demonstrated this by His own example.

Now, the immediate reaction is to say, “Well, what about the fact that every day is the Lord’s Day?” Well, in a sense that’s true. We ought to serve the Lord every day, and we ought to serve the Lord every moment of every day. And the way that we do our work ought to be a service to the Lord. And there’s a realistic sense in which, whether we’re brushing up a factory floor, or whether we’re giving an injection or writing on a school blackboard or having somebody sign an insurance proposal form, or whatever else it is, that we recognize that God is in charge.

But the fact is, even when we acknowledge that (that God ordained all of our days), in no way does that set aside the distinctive element of this fourth commandment. This one day in seven remains distinctly different because God has ordained it as such. So, once we acknowledge that God is in charge of every day, it doesn’t set apart the fact that God said, “Remember this particular day in a peculiar way, and make it a different day.” That’s what the commandment is saying. That’s not an interpretation. It’s simply what it’s saying.

The late John Murray, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, says, “To obliterate [the] difference between one day and the other six may appear pious. But it’s piosity, not piety. It’s not piety to be wiser than God; it is impiety of the darkest hue. The Sabbath day is different from every other day, and to obliterate this distinction … in thought or practice is to destroy what is the essence of the institution.”

Now, there’s a wealth contained in that statement. Let me summarize it for you: if you get rid of the distinction of the Sabbath day, then it’s impossible to observe it as it’s stated. Put another way, unless you and I are convinced that God has distinguished this day for all time, and that because He has distinguished it in this way, then any attempts at keeping the Sabbath day will simply be a result of either legalism, or some kind of time-honored tradition.

Now, I suspect that several of us grew up this way. “I don’t like this day, and I don’t want to do this, and I don’t want to worship. And I certainly don’t want to do it twice, and I’m not going in a choir, and I don’t like the Sunday school, and I’m sick and tired of the whole thing.” “That’s fine, honey. I heard you. I’ve been there. Now let’s go.” Does that sound familiar?

And unless or until the day dawns when God – by the Spirit – redeems that child, then that day will simply be the observance of custom. But, when God captures our heart, and it now becomes the conviction of our lives, then, from that day on everything changes. Once we’ve become convinced, once we’ve taken ownership of the principle in our lives, then we no longer do things simply as a result of custom, but rather we do them as a result of an internal conviction.

And that (my friends) is why many of us continue to buck the idea of the Lord’s Day. It’s still just the observance of a custom, and since we’ve never come to a conviction about its distinction, any time anyone suggests to us that this is what may comprise the Lord’s Day, our answer is “Who do they think they are to tell me what I’m going to do with my time?” But, you see, that’s precisely the point. The Sabbath day isn’t your time, and it’s not my time. This day is a day especially set aside to the Lord. He’s in charge. And He who created time and parceled it in that way intends for us to utilize this time (each week) to bear testimony to Him, and His creative handiwork, and to bear testimony to the fact that we’re His covenant children.

You see, the same thing is true of any commandment. For example, take the commandment not to commit adultery: if you and I are only going to keep the commandment because it’s pragmatically useful – “Well, that’s a good idea, you know, you’d get yourself in a lot of trouble” – but if we don’t keep it as a result of its rightness, not as a result of divine authority, not as a result of an internal conviction, then we’re left to the winds of circumstance to blow upon us. Then we’re on a business trip and find ourselves in the hotel lobby and an attractive person says, “Why not?” And since the commandment is simply a kind of practical tool and it’s not an internal conviction, then the smell of the perfume or the heat of the evening or the drive of the passion may be enough to take us right into sin, because we’ve never internalized the command.

We find out the hard way that God’s law was never really written upon our hearts. We never joined the psalmist in saying, “I delight to do your will, O Lord.” We never settled the issue. We never bowed there. We never internalized its truth. And so, as soon as the circumstances went against us, we were swept into chaos.

That’s exactly what’s happened with the Lord’s Day in the U.S., and in the Western world at large. We’ve got vast numbers of people who’ve never become convinced of the distinction of the day. They have no internal conviction about the day, about its abiding relevance. And so, when somebody says, “Why don’t we do this on Sunday? Why don’t we go there? Why don’t we do whatever it is?” the answer is “Yeah, why not?” Because, after all, the only lingering notion that we have of any abiding relevance of the command is that it has something to do with not cutting the grass and not riding our bicycle or not doing a bunch of stuff that we’ve picked up from somewhere along the line.

How else could Chariots of Fire sweep the Academy Awards, and sweep a nation of churchgoers and non-churchgoers and still completely miss the main point of the entire movie, at least in Liddell’s side of things? Remember him with the royalty, and the head of the Olympic committee, and that scene where they bring him in and sit him down? “Now, come on, Liddell. For the sake of your king and for your country, put aside these silly ideas of yours about the Sabbath and about the Lord’s Day.” Remember his reply? “I would never set aside my king or my country, save that there was a higher power, a higher authority, the one who sets up kings and the one who brings down kings. And I will not run.”

And there isn’t a person in the movie theater who didn’t find something inside of them saying, “Man do I love that kind of conviction!” What was it? It was a conviction about the distinction of the day. And once he settled that, then everything flowed from it. So, it’s not irksome. It’s not a punishment. Loved ones; it’s an awesome privilege for us to set aside a small portion of our weekly lives and worship the Lord God Almighty.

But here’s the thing: Does this strike you like something you would want to do? Spend a whole day without your TV and internet and recreation? The answer is “No, I don’t like the sound of that.” Do you know what? Can I tell you something? That’s what heaven will be like. You don’t like the sound of what it’s going to be like to be in the presence of Christ for all of eternity. And it’s not just you – I used to sit in those same pews before answering the call to pastor.

Listen… Think about this. Six of you go away to a cabin on the lake. You go away because you love one another and you’re glad of one another’s company. You’re there for three days, and suddenly, somebody says at a mealtime, “Do you wanna know something? We never turned the TV on. I don’t even know what’s happening in the world. I haven’t even called the office. You know what? I never called to check on my handicap.” Why? Because the context of fellowship and love and enjoyment is so all-consuming.

Folks, I’ve gotta say something: whenever our experience of worship is so devalued and our notion of the Lord’s Day is so small and anemic that our primary emphasis is to get things over and done with as fast as possible so that we may “get on with the day,” then we stand condemned before the fourth commandment. Actually, we ought to be getting down on our knees and thanking God for the privilege. And the fact that we don’t, and the fact that the Sabbath doesn’t appeal to us more speaks volumes about our spiritual appetites.

Alright, so that’s the principle as it’s stated: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Now, let’s look at the pattern as it’s observed.

The Pattern Observed

The basis for the day is provided for us in verse 11: “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” In other words, God Himself, as Creator, distinguished between the days. He didn’t rest because He was tired. He rested and sanctified the day because He was finished with His work. All the days were His. All the days had a stamp of His creative power in them, and yet, on this particular day, God determined that it should be marked by this distinction: rest. So, the pattern of Sabbath begins in creation, but it doesn’t end there.

Some of you might know this; the 10 Commandments are recorded for us twice in the Bible. The first time is here in Exodus, and the second time is in Deuteronomy. In fact, that’s what the word “Deuteronomy” means in Greek: deuteros means “second,” and nomos means “law.” When Moses recounted the 10 Commandments (at God’s direction) in Deuteronomy 5, at the conclusion of this commandment God adds, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” So, not only was the day established as a creation reminder, but it was also a redemption reminder.

And since the Old Testament always prefigured and pointed towards God’s ultimate redemption through Jesus, when we get to the New Testament, the Lord’s Day memorializes the completion of the work of redemption at the resurrection of Jesus. And it was this fact which marked out and gave the first day of the week its distinctive religious significance. Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.”

So, here it is: the deliverance from Egypt gave sanction to the Sabbath institution under the old covenant, and the resurrection, in its redemptive character, gives sanction to the sacredness of the first day of the week. So, the pattern is seen not simply in looking back but in looking forward. We look back and remember Jesus’ resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). We look forward to the day when we will enter into the fullness of Sabbath rest in heaven. Hebrews 4:9-10, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.” And, we look to the present and find God’s grace to meet us where we are today.

Finally, let’s quickly consider the practice as it’s applied.

The Practice Applied

First, there must be a deep and unshakeable conviction of the divine warrant for keeping the Lord’s Day. Until we come to that, all that I’ve said today will simply be cultural, or customary, or even legalistic. Once we’ve been convicted that this REALLY is the Lord’s Day, then all the “do’s” and “don’ts” fly out the window, because we’re genuinely focused on Christ. We’re desirous to spend time with Him.

Second, this is a supremely important day for our spiritual growth. This is an opportunity like no other. Think about it. If it was given in creation before the fall… If, in paradise, perfect men and women were to celebrate the Lord’s Day… If it was necessary for them to observe the Sabbath without sin, in the pristine nature of God’s creative order, then how much more necessary for us to have this day for the development of our spiritual nature?

Thirdly, it must be observed as a complete day of rest. Not necessarily sleep, and not necessarily inactivity, although both of those are in view. Rest your body, rest your mind, rest yourself completely by enjoying God and His handiwork. If you must work may it only be out of piety, necessity, and mercy.

Fourthly and finally, the Sabbath must be a day of spiritual improvement. That’s what it’s about: the improvement that comes in public worship, the improvement that comes in families having time not around the television, not around the local sporting event but time around the Lord Jesus, the Bible, and His purposes.

Isaiah 58 is an interesting chapter. Like many other places in the Old Testament, God is speaking through His prophets and trying to get the people to see the error(s) of their ways. In this particular chapter God is telling the people that they’ve misunderstood and misapplied what it truly means to worship. They had taken God’s command fulfilled the letter of the law, but lost the spirit of the law. And yet they didn’t know why God wasn’t blessing them.

So, Isaiah reminds them what a genuine and godly worship actually looks like. And at the conclusion of Isaiah’s reminder this is what he says (I’m reading from the New Living Translation), “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the Lord will be your delight. [God] will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance [He] promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Isaiah 58:13-14, NLT).

Our Father, as we gaze into the mirror of Your law and see ourselves, we know we need a Savior. And I pray today that you will convict and convince of sin in the lives of some – that they may not be able to leave but to come and pray and settle the issue of faith, believing in Christ; that others of us who, by our disregard for Your law, live lives pragmatically, pleasing ourselves, that You will catch us, that You will consume us with Your grace and Your goodness, that You will create within us convictions for this day.

Remind us that we are a holy nation, a chosen people, a people belonging to God, that we might declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Write Your Word upon our hearts, we pray, that we might live to Your glory. In Christ Jesus’ name, Amen.

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The Name of God – Exodus 20:7

Exodus 20:7

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20:7. Back in 1986, a man by the name of Paul Dickson wrote a book titled Names: A Collector’s Compendium of Rare and Unusual, Bold and Beautiful, Odd and Whimsical Names. A decade later he updated that volume with a book titled What’s in a Name?: Reflections of an Irrepressible Name Collector. On the back cover of the original book, the late poet William Epsy wrote, “Had Shakespeare sniffed the likes of ‘Boofa Upthumbs’ or ‘Eloise Tittlekitty,’ would he still have contended that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet?” Probably not.

Here are a couple of his entries (all, of which, by the way, have been independently verified). For instance, a guy named Joe Bunt. He became a baseball coach. Fits perfectly, doesn’t it.

Then, there’s the Druff family (D-R-U-F-F). They named their son Daniel, and he turned out to be a barber. So, it sounds kind of odd when you go to a barber named Dan Druff.

He even points out two men by the name of Mr. Goforth and Mr. Ketchum (spelled with a K), who became partners in the same police force. So, you can imagine how that would sound in the station. “Who do we send? Send Goforth and Ketchum.”

He highlights another couple of guys that became business partners, named Mr. O’Neill and Mr. Pray (P-R-A-Y). Do you want to guess what kind of industry they were in? They sold church furnishings and accessories.

Then there’s a guy named Crumble (C-R-U-M-B-L-E), William Crumble. He became a plaster contractor. How would you like to have your home worked on by a guy named Will Crumble?

And, of course, he has some of the other odd names like the Turners, who named their baby girl Paige – Paige Turner. Or the Arms family (A-R-M-S), who named their son Carl – Carl Arms. And who can forget the family with the last name Bacon? They named their son Christopher, middle initial B, so it’s Chris B. Bacon. Again, let me just say, I didn’t make this up.

Today, we’re continuing our study of the 10 Commandments and we find ourselves considering the proper use and misuse of the name of God. If the first commandment says worship the right God, and if the second commandment says worship the right God in the right way, then the third commandment says worship the right God the right way, even down to the use and the mention of His name. Even His very name is to be honored. Follow along with me as I read this single verse:

7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

Our Heavenly Father, part of our worship is to listen attentively as Your Word is being spoken, and so we give You our minds, our very hearts. And these bodies we present as living sacrifices to You, holy and acceptable. It’s our reasonable service. We pray that during the next several minutes as we’re gathered attentively here, that You would talk to us about issues in our lives through this third commandment. In Jesus’ name, amen.

We understand that names say something. Names mean something. Names are significant. Now, if that’s true on a horizontal level, then it’s definitely true when we move to the vertical level, to the transcendent level of the name of God. And what I’d like for us to do this morning is to put our thinking caps on and try and think this through. Because I have a sneaking suspicion that if we were to ask, “Which is the least significant?” (although we know there aren’t any least significant), but if we were to determine what’s the least significant of the 10 Commandments, I wonder whether we wouldn’t choose this one; whether we wouldn’t say, “Well, I don’t think that one is as important as idolatry or murder or adultery.”

Now, if that’s true to any degree, then it bears testimony to the fact that we don’t fully understand what’s being said in relationship to this third commandment. If, to use the name of God wrongly… If, to misuse His name incurs guilt, as verse 7 tells us, then it clearly must be important, and we need to understand why. So, let’s take a moment or two to try and understand the importance of the name of God.

And I want to do that under these three headings: Significance of God’s Name, Samples of God’s Name, and Sins Associated with God’s Name.

Significance of God’s Name

The name that God gives (of Himself) to us in the Scripture is something that’s extremely precious. The name of God, the unique name of God, the proper name of God, that’s given to us in the Bible is spelled with the English letters Y-H-W-H. In your Bible it’s found in verse 7 as LORD (all caps). So, whenever you see LORD (all caps), then you know that the original Hebrew scriptures were using the proper name for God. The reason for the capitalization is to distinguish it from another name for God that’s spelled L-o-r-d (regularly). When you see the “regular” spelling of Lord, then you know that the Hebrew scriptures were not using God’s personal and proper name. They were using the word Adonai, which is the word for the title “lord.”

When you see the proper name of God (LORD), it’s referring to the Hebrew consonants YHWH. That’s how you would spell God’s personal name, but that’s hard to pronounce because there aren’t any vowels in the original Hebrew. And God did that on purpose. God didn’t want His name pronounced. It was too precious.

In fact, in the earliest chapters of the Old Testament, we discover that there was only one occasion in the whole Jewish year when someone was allowed to utter God’s name – and that was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. On that day, the high priest went into the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 23) and there, on that day, he took the name of God “Yahweh” upon his lips. But the fact of the matter was, and still is, that the name of God was supremely precious.

God’s encounters with Moses have as much to teach us about the precious nature of His name as any others do. Let me take you back to two scenes in the life of Moses. You’re probably familiar with both of them. The first is in Exodus 33-34 and then we’ll come back to Exodus 3.

In Exodus 33:13, God meets with Moses and Moses makes this request: “If You are pleased with me, teach me Your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with You.” In verse 18, Moses says, “Now show me Your glory.” And the LORD said, ‘I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, [Yahweh], in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,’ [God] said, ‘you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live’” (Exodus 33:18-20). And we’re told that there was a place in the rock, a spot in the mountain, where Moses could stand and God would pass by and Moses would be protected.

And when you flip over to Exodus 34:5ff: “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with [Moses] and proclaimed His name, [Yahweh]. And [God] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘[Yahweh, Yahweh,] the compassionate and gracious God.’” In other words, God says His name twice, and then He explains what He’s saying in saying His name. “The compassionate and gracious God.” What is God like? “Slow to anger.” He’s “abounding in love and faithfulness.” He “maintain[s] love to thousands.” He “forgiv[es] wickedness, rebellion and sin,” yet He is a just God and therefore “does not leave the guilty unpunished. And Moses quickly bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped” (Exodus 34:5-8).

So, we need to understand that the name of God is precious, and by His name God portrays His greatness. God reveals all that He is and all that He does.

Now, if you turn back to Exodus 3. This is the story of Moses and the burning bush, where God reveals Himself to Moses. Moses finds out that he’s going on a significant mission; he’s going to go to Pharaoh to say, “Let my people go.” Exodus 3:13 says, “Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is His name?” Then what shall I tell them?’”

Now, doesn’t that strike you as a little bit funny? He says, “If I go to them and say, ‘The God (Elohim) of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say, ‘Tell me His name.’” In other words, there’s a dimension to God that’s revealed in the name which He’s now about to give to Moses that is so immense in its grandeur and in its power that even the name Elohim, which is how Genesis 1 begins – “In the beginning [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) that that word, nor even all of those words put together, can begin to express the immensity of who God is.

“Well,” says God, “If they ask you that question, just use the verb to be. Say to them, ‘I Am who I Am.’” That’s what God says to Moses: “And you’re to say to them, ‘I Am has sent me to you.” What in the world does that mean, “I Am has sent me to you”? Here’s what it means. By using the verb form “to be” God is revealing that He’s self-existent, that He’s self-sufficient, that He’s sovereign, that He depends on no one and He depends on nothing. Now, who else in all of creation can take that as their name? Who else do you know who is self-existent, self-fulfilled, in need of no one, in need of nothing, and altogether sovereign? The answer is you don’t know anyone, and neither do I, for there is no one else.

And that, you see – jumping from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus – that’s why Jesus got Himself in so much trouble with the Jews: because He kept saying, “Before Abraham was … I Am” (John 8:58)! And they said, “That’s God’s name!” And He said, “That’s right. I’m self-existent. I’m self-sufficient. I’m sovereign. I need no one, and I need nothing.” Which is a reminder to us (in passing) that the God to whom we worship, the God of Scripture, the God of the Bible isn’t some cosmic discovery, nor is He a God of our own creation, but He’s the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He’s perfect and powerful and praiseworthy. And all of that is revealed in His name.

When Jeremiah grasped this, he said, “There[’s] none like … thee, O LORD; Thou art great, and Thy Name is great in might” (Jeremiah 10:6). Psalm 20:7, says, “Some trust in chariots, … some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” What was Jesus’ great triumphant prayer in John 17:6, “I have manifested Your Name to the people whom You gave Me out of the world.” Now, clearly, folks, this means something more than simply terminology. This means something more than simply saying, “God is God.” I mean, that’s repetition. No, God is expressing something of His character, and of His power, and of His control, and of His influence in all of the world.

And until we grasp this, we can’t understand why the third commandment would be so significant. See, if God is just down here somewhere, or if God is a cosmic creation, or if God is a figment of my imagination, or if God is whatever I want Him to be, then why in the world shouldn’t I misuse His name? But… If God is “I Am,” then I’ve got a problem, and so do you.

Samples of God’s Name

Now, let me give you one or two names of God. You may like to write these down. I think you’ll find this helpful. And certainly, if you get ahold of this, you’ll understand why God is so concerned about His Name. Let me give them to you. And this is not exhaustive or comprehensive; it’s selective.

The first one is Elohim. This simply means “Creator.” I referred to it just a moment ago, Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth.” Can I ask you this morning, do you honor God as your creator? Do you believe that God created ex nihilo, that He took nothing and made something? Do you believe that God is self-existent? That He spoke and the world came into being? That He set the stars in space? That He put the planets where He wants them? That He, in Christ, holds everything together? Do you have a core, deep conviction in your heart concerning Elohim? If not, then when you take His name upon your lips, you misuse His name, because His name is “Creator.”

Number two: El Elyon. It simply means “God the Most-High.” You find it in Genesis 14:18 in the priesthood of Melchizedek: He was priest of “[El Elyon] God Most High.” The name emphasizes the sovereignty and the rule and the power of God. Ask yourself, as I must, “Do I believe in the sovereign, powerful rule of God? Do I worship and understand El Elyon? And if I do, then why do I complain so much about my circumstances, and why do I doubt His ability to intervene on my behalf?” It’s because I misuse His name.

Number three: He’s Yahweh-Jireh (or Jehovah-Jireh). It simply means “the God who provides.” Do you know the God who provides? Abraham and Isaac learned this name in Genesis 22, when God called Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, and sacrifice him to the Lord. You know the story. Abraham and Isaac go to Mount Moriah, and even though God had said, “Take your boy and sacrifice him,” Abraham said to the servants, “The boy and I will be back.” Why? Because he knew what Isaac was going to find out. And when Isaac said, “Hey, we’ve got the wood, and we’ve got the fire going, but we ain’t got nothing to put up here,” Abraham says, “Yahweh, He is Yahweh-Jireh.” And turning, they look and see a ram caught in the thicket. And on that day, Isaac discovered that God was Yahweh, the provider God.

And in a very realistic sense, that beast on that altar bore the place of Isaac and figured what was to happen centuries later when on a Roman cross outside the walls of Jerusalem there would be yet another Who would be bearing the place of another who deserved it. And there, as Philip Bliss writes, “Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with His blood: Hallelujah! What a Savior.” Yahweh-Jireh

Oh, could I take this name upon my lips as a curse, as a joke, as a flippancy? Could I sit in the theater and listen to them abuse the name of my Savior? Can I listen to the nonsense without stopping my ears and running for sanity? You better believe we can. We’ve become so desensitized by the godlessness of our culture that we have a sneaking suspicion, as I say to you, that this commandment is an old-fashioned rule from somewhere long ago and that it bears no relevance to us at all.

Children, come in our homes and curse God. T hey come in and say “Jesus,” and they’re not worshipping Him. We pick them up in our cars, and they jam their finger in the door and profane the name of Christ. They don’t know any better. They don’t know that He’s El Elyon. They don’t know that He’s the Provider. They don’t know that He’s Yahweh. And they never will, living next door to the likes of some of us… for they hear the same stuff from our lips when we drive our golf ball into the woods or we stub or toe on the bed post.

The problem is our God is too small. We’ve brought Him down to our level. We’ve made Him manageable. We’ve made Him such that we can manipulate Him. We don’t exist for His glory, rather He exists for ours. We come to worship in order that we might get Him to do what we want. We don’t come to worship in order that we might magnify and praise His name, so that we might discover His plan for our lives.

Number four: Yahweh Nissi – “He’s my banner.” What does that mean? It was the banner of the marching armies, the protection of the army around Him. And you’re walking into some things tomorrow, and so am I. And we say to ourselves, “I don’t know if I can cope with another day in that office. I don’t know if I can bear another cancer treatment. I’m not sure I can do another load of laundry. I don’t think I can make these breakfasts anymore for these kids or get these lunches and drive like a jolly taxi driver for the rest of my life. I don’t know if I can do it!” Well, let me tell you something: Yahweh Nissi, the Lord is your banner. He’s your protection in the storm. Get underneath the banner and walk forward!

Number five: He is Yahweh-Mekaddesh; the Lord of holiness.

Number six: He is Yahweh Shalom; the God of peace.

Number seven: He is Yahweh-Tsidkenu, “the Lord my righteousness.” What does that mean? We, who are unrighteous, who are dead in our trespasses and in our sins, who follow the ways of the world and the wickedness of Satan unwittingly without even knowing it, who are underneath the condemnation of God, we may now stand complete and unchallenged by God’s holiness. How? By keeping the Ten Commandments? By showing up at church? By helping ladies with their groceries? By cutting the lawn for the little old man next door? No. By acknowledging that there’s no possibility whatsoever of standing before God’s holiness except to face judgment, unless there is one who may take our place – namely, Yahweh-Tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness.”

Number eight: He is El Shaddai (God Almighty). Don’t you love that song, written by Michael Card and made popular by Amy Grant in the 1980’s? “El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonai.” You say, “What in the world are we singing?” We’re just magnifying the greatness of God. Now, it’s not about the significance of G-o-d. It’s about the fact that God, in declaring and disclosing Himself, shows the wonder of who He is.

Sins Associated with God’s Name

Let me come to the part you’re most expecting: How, then, in the world do we break this third commandment? This is what you thought was important, and it is. But the fact is, the reason I’ve emphasized all of this is because until we understand the importance of God’s name, then breaking the commandment has very little significance at all. But once we understand the magnitude of what we’re doing when we abuse and misuse the name of God, then it becomes a telling truth.

Three words summarize it: we break the third commandment by blasphemy, perjury, and hypocrisy. Or, if you like, we break the third commandment by swearing, lying, and kidding.

Every time that we incorporate the name of God into things that we’re saying in order somehow to try and strengthen our words – for example, I hear people say, “And that’s the God’s-honest truth” – that’s blasphemy. There’s only one truth, and that’s God’s truth. We don’t need God’s name added to truth. Our words are to be “yes” and “no,” not “yes” and “no” and “maybe.” So, we don’t need to bring down the name of divinity in order to reinforce what we’re saying, unless, of course, what we’re saying is so shaky because of our character that we feel somehow, we need to strengthen it by an abuse of the name of God.

We blaspheme God by treating His name irreverently. We blaspheme God by mentioning His name and in the same time casting doubt on His character. We blaspheme God when we use His name in anger and in arrogance and in defiance of who He is. We misuse the name of God and take it in vain when we’re lying or uttering falsehoods and using God’s name to back it up; when we say we’ll do things, and then, using God’s name, affirm that, and then back off and don’t do it.

Did you stand at the front of a church and answer “I do” to the pastor’s question? Did you stand at the front of the church and say, “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all other, keep myself only unto her,” or “only unto him,” “so long as we both shall live?” Did you? And are you doing it? “Well, pastor, you don’t know my circumstances.” You’re right. I don’t, but He does. Did you vow to God that you would serve Him with all of your life, that you were prepared to go anywhere, do anything for Him, at any time, and you made that commitment, and you’ve stepped back from it? You misused the name of God.

And we misuse the name of God when we take it and joke with it or are hypocritical with it in any way. There’s a strange and progressing and disturbing frequency of expressions amongst evangelical Christians (including me), such as “Good Lord!” “Lord, have mercy,” even “God!” or “Oh my God!”

Loved ones, just when you and I are ready to sneak past the third commandment, it jumped up and bit us. Every service that you and I attend where I worship God with my lips and not from my heart, I break the third commandment. Every song that I sing using the name of God, when I sing lies, when I sing superficially, when I do not engage the reality of my being, I misuse the name of God.

The fact is that it’s only when we take God’s name in praise, and in study, and in love, and in carefulness, and in obedience, and in prayer, and in confidence, and in evangelism, and in thankfulness that we begin to get on the flipside of the commandment, expressed in the opening phrase of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.”

Most of us have reached that point of forgetting or misplacing people’s names. And some of you are sitting out there this morning, and you’re thinking: “God, I don’t know Your Name. I never met You.”

“And you will call His name Jesus,” said the angel, “for He will save the people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). It’s only when we encounter Christ as Savior that we meet God. It’s only, then, in meeting God that we can begin to understand why His name is to be hallowed. And therefore, this morning, that is both our point of conclusion and, for some, needs to be the point of beginning.

Our God and our Father, the psalmist tells us that “You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word” (Psalm 138:2). Forgive us for our flippancy, and for our lies, and for our superficiality, when uttering Your most holy name. As we look into this law and see our faces in the mirror, we know we can’t cleanse ourselves by trying to do better. And we thank You that You have provided for us, in Christ, a Savior. Lord, we want to be able to join the great hymn writer, John Newton, and say, “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, in a believer’s ear! It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and dries away his fear.” O God, grant us grace to hear You, to respond to You, and to live out what we’ve learned. For we ask these things, commending one another lovingly to Your care, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Idols and Images – Exodus 20:4-6

Exodus 20:4-6

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20. A few weeks ago, we began a new series on the 10 Commandments, and this week we’re up to number two. As you’re finding your place, let me read to you a rather strange obituary.

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin. Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart. The funeral was held at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Now, the reason we find this slightly humorous is because we all know that the Pillsbury Doughboy isn’t real. He didn’t exist. We know he wasn’t a real person, so we can laugh at something like this. But the children of Israel – living thousands of years ago in the land of Canaan – were surrounded by gods and goddesses that were represented in images and statues that didn’t exist. They weren’t real. They were made up. They were imaginary.

In fact, the prophet Elijah makes fun of these imaginary gods when he had his famous showdown on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18). Remember that? The people of Israel can’t decide whom to worship, so Elijah and the prophets of Baal agree to a little wager. We’ll both prepare altars and put bulls on them and whichever god/God responds is the One and Only True God.

So, the prophets of Baal go first and they cry out to Baal from morning until noon, but there’s no answer. Then, at noon, Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened” (1 Kings 18:27). Baal isn’t real. But Yahweh… The LORD God… The one and only true God that’s revealed to us in the pages of sacred scripture is.

Last week we were reminded that God takes idolatry very seriously. He wants to have first priority in our lives, and yet, truth be told, He often struggles to make into our top 5. He’s somewhere down the line behind careers, and family, and entertainment, and money, and sex, and our own sense of importance, and all sorts of other stuff. So, we were challenged to remove all of those things, and once again recognize Him for who He is – the Almighty God – our Redeemer and Lord.

Today, we’re going to consider the second commandment. Follow along with me:

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. 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

“Our Father and our God, we do now bow our wills to You. We bow our will, and we are submitted to what Your Spirit might say. And we pray, that in spite of the vessel that You’re using, You would speak loud and clear about who You are and how You are to be worshiped. We love you; and we want, and we need to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so we pray that You would teach us, and that You would feed us. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

If the first commandment says that God has to be worshiped exclusively, then the second commandment tells us that God has to be worshiped correctly. If the first commandment tells us whom to worship, then the second commandment tells us how to worship. If the first commandment is against false gods, then the second commandment is against false worship of the true God. You see how these first two commandments go together?

This morning, I want us to consider three things. Number one: the prohibition – what does this mean? Number two: the problem – why do we fail? Number three: the proclamation – how are we to see God?

The Prohibition

Some of you grew up in churches with lots of images, and I know that I’m speaking to people today who have come out of denominations or even completely different religions that include statues and images and icons. So, I want to be sensitive to all of that, and at the same time I want us to understand the unvarnished truth of this commandment.

Naturally, the first question that people have is, isn’t it OK to have art? What about engravings? What about drawings? After all, the Bible says that God gave Moses pretty strict instructions on how to build the tabernacle. You remember on the veil in the tabernacle were drawings of cherubim and angels. They dwell in heaven. Or what about the menorah – the seven-branched candle holder – there were knobs and flowers? The ephod that the high priest wore had engravings of cherubim. And what about the mercy seat – the lid that covered the ark of the covenant? It had statues of two cherubim with their wings outstretched towards the center.

Did God violate His own commandment? No, and here’s why. First, none of those things represent God. And second, according to Hebrews 8 and 9, the tabernacle and everything that was being done there was an earthly drama, a human depiction of what was going on in heaven. It was a worldly representation of a heavenly reality.

So, here’s the synthesis of it. Here’s the bottom line. Here’ the irreducible minimum. This commandment refers to worship. Look at the first part of verse 5, “You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” This commandment, although it has connections with art, really isn’t about art. It’s about how we worship. The commandment is saying this: God is Spirit, and nothing in the material world could ever represent Him adequately.

So, the idea here is not art. But I’ll say this. If art leads to an image in your mind of who God is, then it’s wrong. Any image that we look to in order to know God or be drawn closer to Him is wrong. And if you have a statue or a picture or some other type of image that’s supposed to be a representation of Jesus in your home or here at this church that you get in front of and bow down to and worship, then let me tell you DON’T DO IT. It’s not the art, it’s the adoration. It’s not the drawing, it’s the devotion. It’s not the picture, it’s the piety.

Let me give you an example right out of the Bible. Let me refresh your memory, because it’s a story that happened in Numbers 21. The children of Israel were in the desert. They’re murmuring and they’re complaining. And God sent snakes into the camp to bite them, and they started dying. So, God tells Moses to fashion a brass serpent and put it on a pole and lift it up. And as people look at the brass serpent they’ll get healed. That’s the cure.

Now somebody might say, “Hey, wait a minute. Didn’t God say not to make any images of things in heaven or on earth or under the earth? And yet, right here God is telling Moses to make a serpent. What’s up?” Yes, but notice that they are only told to look at the serpent. There’s no worship. There’s no praying to the serpent. There’s no lighting candles in the presence of the serpent. There’s no parading the serpent up and down the aisles of the congregation, or singing to the serpent – only looking at the serpent.

But did you know that the people of Israel didn’t throw the serpent away? They kept it. It became a sacred icon. And as years went on, they didn’t look at that icon the same way they once did. They looked at it superstitiously. And we find it again in 2 Kings 18:4, where we’re told, “King Hezekiah broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushtan.”

See what was happening? The symbol became the substitute. They weren’t looking at it by faith any more. It wasn’t just a symbol of what God did in the wilderness. They were worshiping the symbol. The symbol became the substitute for God. And that can happen with the cross and crucifixes, too. People have crosses and crucifixes and look at them superstitiously. “I forgot my cross today. I’m not wearing it.” “OK, so what?” “So, what? It’s my lucky cross.” See, they’ve given it a value that was never intended. I’ve met a whole lot of people, and even churches, who get hung up on having a cross, but they don’t live under the cross. They don’t preach the cross.

Listen to the words of George MacLeod. He said, “I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as the steeple of a church. I’m recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles but on a cross between two thieves, on a town garbage heap at a crossroads of politics so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse and soldiers gamble. But that’s where He died. That’s what He died about. And that’s where Christ’s men ought to be and what church people ought to be about.”

Is our worship of the One true God, the LORD God Almighty, being guided and directed by and to images and idols? We can find ourselves worshipping the God of the Bible, but doing it incorrectly. According to the second commandment, that’s just as sinful as worshipping false gods.

The Problem

Why are people driven to break this commandment? There are a few different problems that would push people toward the use of idols and images. Number one is peer pressure. Israel was leaving Egypt who worshipped idols and they were headed into Canaanite territory, another nation that worshipped idols. Naturally, they would hear somebody somewhere saying, “Hey, here are our idols. Here are our gods? Where are yours?”

In fact, that’s exactly what Psalm 115 addresses. Listen, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. O Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield” (Psalm 115:2-11). Do you hear the longing for an idol due to peer pressure, and the psalmist reminding the people not to go there?

Number two is personal loss. When a person makes an image, they’re making a statement. They’re saying, “No longer do I have the conscious awareness of the presence of God. I now need an image to remind me of God.” And casting that idol is a desperate measure to recover that which was lost.

You see, anybody who lives in communion with God doesn’t need a reminder. It’s not like you’re walking into the house one day and you see your idol, “Oh yes, God. I’m glad I saw that, because I had forgotten.” See, if you live in communion with Him and He’s a reality in your life, you don’t need a reminder. Friedrich Jacobi, in the 1700’s, a German philosopher, said “Where idolatry ends, there Christianity begins. And where idolatry begins, their Christianity ends.”

Think about it like this. I know it’s a silly illustration, but that’s what I do – offer silly illustrations. How would you feel if somebody said, I
want to spend some time with you, and they came to meet you and sat down to talk with you and pulled out their phone and took a picture of you and then just looked at that picture the entire time?

You’re standing there and you’re watching this person carrying on a conversation with a picture of you, while you’re in the room. Wouldn’t you feel a little put off? “Hey wait. I’m right here. You want to talk to me, don’t talk to that picture. Talk to me. Have a relationship with me. You don’t need that image.” As silly as that sounds, that’s exactly what’s taking place when we pull out our Bible bookmark that has a picture of Jesus on it and gaze at it and begin praying or speaking to it. He’s in the room. Better than that, He’s in you (if you’re a believer).

There’s a third problem, and that’s the problem of an invisible God. We just have a hard time relating to a person we can’t see. We’re visual people. Samuel said man looks at the outward appearance; God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). How do you have a personal relationship with a person you never see? Remember the H. G. Wells story “The Invisible Man?” The story is that a guy, through science, discovers how to make himself invisible, which sounds really cool at first. You can be in places and listen to conversations, find out what people are doing, push things around in the room. Sounds pretty fun.

After a while, the invisible man discovers it’s not so fun, because he discovers people don’t trust somebody they don’t see. So, Isaiah says, “Verily, you are a God who hides Himself” (Isaiah 45:15). Moses said, “Lord, just show me your glory. I’ve seen your acts. I’ve heard your words. I’ve seen the thunder. I want to see you.”

That’s why every Christian has a deep longing for Jesus Christ to return. That’s our hope – one day we’re going to see Him face to face and be totally changed. No longer will we have to live by faith, but we’ll be able to see Him. We won’t have to hold on to a promise in Scripture and say, “I can’t see it, but I believe it.” We’ll see Him. Titus 2:13, “Waiting for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” So, the bottom line is people want a God they can see and touch. And one day we will. Until then, we walk by faith and not by sight of idols and images and statues.

The Proclamation

We’ve seen the prohibition and some of the problems. Now let’s consider God’s proclamation. It’s found in the second part of verse 5 and verse 6 “…for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” So, if we’re not supposed to create images or idols, then how do we see God? We see Him in His attributes and in His character.

Leading up to the first commandment, God described Himself as the God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of slavery. That’s redemption. Now, God is describing Himself as a jealous God. That’s rivalry. God will not have you and me – His children – crafting some sculpture or idol that tries to rival Him. It just won’t work. It’s the kind of jealousy you’d expect from a husband towards his wife. In fact, that’s exactly who God is – He’s the Bridegroom and His people are the bride. He’s protective of those He’s redeemed. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the LORD; that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.”

The second thing we see is His justice. Now let me tell you what these verses don’t mean. Listen carefully, because you’re going to be prone to misunderstand me. The last part of verse 5 doesn’t mean that God will punish children for their parent’s sins. This is not a generational curse. Children and grandchildren aren’t punished for their parent’s and grandparent’s sins. However, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be impacted by them. They won’t be punished for them, but they will be affected by them.

If I murder someone and I’m found guilty, my children don’t go to prison. I do. They aren’t punished for my sin. But, they are affected by it. God says that those who create idols and images and bow down to them and serve them are setting their families up to follow in their footsteps. And notice that those who are guilty are those that hate God. His justice will be served on all who refuse to see Him for who
He is.

And we conclude with one final divine characteristic of our great and mighty God. His steadfast love. You just have to love God’s math. He shows steadfast love to thousands of those that love Him and keep His commandments. Just three or four generations of justice, but love to thousands. Do you want to leave your family a legacy? Then teach them to worship the One true God (commandment 1) and worship Him in spirit and truth – without the aid of idols and images (commandment 2).

When all is said and done, although we’re all longing for the day when we’ll see Jesus face to face and we’ll experience the unveiled majesty and beauty of the Father, the truth is, we don’t need any idols or images. We have Him. If you have an authentic, vibrant, daily communion with the Lord Jesus through His Word and in prayer, then the Holy Spirit will give you all the assurance you need.

Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Jesus said, “[He] who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). What a tragedy to embrace a picture and to miss the Person, to sit at a shrine and to miss the Savior, to worship a statue and fail to know Christ. And if that wasn’t enough, Jesus also gave us His table. Bread, representative of His body. Wine, representative of His blood. And all of it in remembrance of Him – not to be worshipped.

Our God and our Father, we thank you for the way that your Word speaks with such clarity, challenging even the prevailing misconceptions of our day, the things that filter into our minds even within the framework of church, the silly ideas we tolerate, the things we embrace that diminish your glory and misdirect men. Grant that we may be content and confident in worshipping You – the One and Only living God – in the way that You reveal Yourself: in the person of Jesus Christ, who bore our sins in His body on the cross of Calvary. And now may grace and mercy and peace from Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be the abiding portion of all who believe, today and forevermore. Amen.

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First Things First – Exodus 20:1-3

Exodus 20:1-3

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20:1-3. Two weeks ago, we started this new series on the 10 Commandments, and we considered some introductory and preliminary remarks. Today, I want us to consider the first of those 10 Commandments.

In 1952, the Encyclopedia Britannica issued a 55-volume set called The Great Books of the Western World. It’s a compilation of essays and writings by those (at the time) that were considered the greatest minds and contributors to law, science, medicine, art, etc. And it was noted that the longest essay was the one on “God.” When asked about it, the publishing chairman and executive director, Mortimer J. Adler, answered the question by saying, “It’s because more consequences for life follow from this one issue than any other issue.”

Makes sense. The stakes are so high, no wonder the largest essay would be about God. So, we come to this first commandment and we discover there’s really three parts to it, or you might say two parts before the command is given. The first and second component form the rationale for the commandment. So, we have God’s Claim, God’s Care, and then God’s Command. Basically, God says, “This is who I am. This is what I’ve done. Therefore, this is what I want.” This is who I am to you. This is what I’ve done for you. This is what I want from you

1 “And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You shall have no other gods before me.’”

“O God, we want to invite You now to have full capability in our own free will, where we invite You to speak to us about key issues of our lives. We want the Holy Spirit to have absolute freedom to remind us, convict us, encourage us about anything. And so now we open this book – Your holy Word – and we open our hearts to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

So, we begin where God begins: with Himself. That’s the top priority. It’s number one on the list.

God’s Claim

So, go back to verse 2, where the remark begins. The first words that God speaks are His claim. This is who I am to you. “I am the LORD your God.”

I did a little digging this week and discovered that that little phrase, “I am the LORD,” or “I am the LORD your God,” is mentioned 164 times in the Old Testament. Sometimes, it shows up as “I am the LORD your God,” or “I am the LORD their God,” or I am the Lord who does such and such. 164 times. Sometimes it’s an introductory remark, as if to say, “Hello, I’m the Lord.” But more often, it’s a rationale or a basis for what follows.

You remember, as a kid, when your parents told you to do something and you had the gall to ask, “Why?” And oftentimes your parents would say, “Because I said so. I’m the parent. You’re not.” That used to be sufficient. If you were smart you’d stop there in your questioning. That’s kind of what God is saying here.

Think about it. That’s really all the authority that God needs. “I am the LORD.” Now I’ll admit it. We don’t exactly know how the name of God is pronounced. Some think it’s Jehovah, or Yavay, or Yahovah. There are a number of different guesses at it. And the reason we don’t know is because the Jews never said it. They only wrote the four consonants that make up the covenant name of God. They never uttered it. Thus, we can only guess. But it’s what God said to Moses when Moses said, “OK, you want me to lead the people of Israel. Who shall I say sent me?” (Exodus 3:13, paraphrased). And God said, “I AM that I AM” (Exodus 3:14). Or “I will be that I will be.” Yahweh.

The name Yahweh signifies the self-existing One, the self-sustaining One, the One whom nobody made up, nobody invented. This is really who I am. I made everything. I sustain everything. I reveal myself. In other words, God stake’s His name on His claim when He gives these commandments. There’s no apology. There’s no explanation. There’s no argument for God’s existence. There’s no philosophical
clarification, just a bold declaration, “I am the LORD your God.”

We interact with people all the time who swear they’re spiritual. They claim to be spirit-oriented folks. They talk about God in their own fashion. You know what I mean? They say things like, “Well, you know I’ve always pictured God as… My view of God is… Well, you know as I think about it, God must be…” And what you have is people who aren’t working off the revelation that God gave, but the imagination of their own minds. And whenever you push away from what God said about Himself, you’ve got to fill it with something and many times you’re left with your own imagination.

As you know, we have several golfers in our congregation and one of those is Steve Fuller. Well, Steve was frustrated with his golf game, so he went to see Byron Elmore. Now, if you’re new, or visiting, or you’ve never met Byron. He’s another member of our congregation and he’s a retired psychologist. So, Steve goes to see Byron to get some help with his golf game.

And Byron said, “Look, what you do is you go play a game of golf. Except, this time, use an imaginary ball.” Steve thought, “I’ve never done that before.” Byron said, “Trust me. Go out there and go through all of the motions, take all of the right clubs out, but use an imaginary ball. Just imagine your ball going down the fairway. Visualize where you want it to go.”

So, Steve went out a few weeks ago and took out his driver, teed up his imaginary ball, swung, and he imagined it going 260 yards right down the fairway, perfectly straight. And he stood there and said, “That was a great shot.” See, he made it up. Steve went down there with his five iron and then his approach shot and he parred the hole.

He played a whole round of golf till he got to the 18th hole and he saw Paul Vidovich playing exactly the same way – with an imaginary golf ball. So, Steve went to speak to Paul, and sure enough, they had both been to see Byron.

So, Steve says to Paul, “Hey, why don’t we play the last hole together? And I’ll bet you $20 on this hole.” Paul says, “You got yourself a deal.” So, they get out there, and Steve gets up, swings, and says, “Did you see my shot? 280 yards straight down the fairway.” Then Paul gets up, tees his imaginary ball, swings and says, “Look at my ball; right next to yours.”

They get down to the fairway and Steve takes out his five iron. Nice, beautiful swing. And then he waits a while and says, “Did you see what happened? My ball hit the edge of the green then that reverse spin brought it back and it went right in the hole. I win.” “No, you didn’t,” said Paul, “You just hit my ball.”

See, when you use an imaginary golf ball, you can make anything up. And so many people go through life with an imaginary God, one that they’ve concocted, one they’ve made up. It’s a god of their own imagination. It’s not the God of the Bible. And we wonder why there are so many different ideas about God in the world? Short answer is because men throughout history have suppressed the revelation that God gave about Himself.

Romans tells us, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18). The apostle Paul says, “They’re futile in they’re thinking. They have vain imaginations. And they suppress the knowledge that God gave at creation.” So, when God begins His commandments, He stakes His claim based upon His name. “I am the LORD your God.” That’s His claim.

God’s Care

Now let’s look at His care. God goes on to say, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery.” That’s redemption. That’s redemption that set Israel apart from any other nation in the ancient world. That’s redemption that the Jews celebrated and still celebrate every Passover.

You can go from Exodus – which is where the Passover begins – throughout the entire Old Testament, and you’ll discover the Israelites always point back to their delivery from the Egyptians. So, it’s this historical hinge that sets the stage for the first two commandments. Number one, no other Gods besides me. Number two, no graven images.

It’s as if God is saying, “Look, 90 days ago you were slaves in a land that oppressed you and tortured you and ridiculed you. But I delivered you from that land. Can you name any other god that did that? Did Osiris (the god of the Nile) help the Egyptians when I judged them? Did Hecket (the frog goddess) protect you or the Egyptians for my wrath? Did Geb (the earth god) intervene when I smote all of the cattle of the land with lice? Did Apis (the strong bull god of valor) protect anybody? No! I am the LORD God who delivered you, like no other deity, from the hand of the Egyptians.”

This event – this Passover and Exodus – becomes so paramount that the entire Jewish calendar gets reoriented. When the Passover was taking place in Exodus 12, the Lord said, “This month shall be the beginning of months to you. It will be the first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:1-2). So, the entire Jewish calendar gets centered around redemption. It’s a new beginning for Israel.

It’s similar to what some Christians do. I remember the first time an adult (probably 30 years old), said to me, “I’m two years old today.” And I thought, “Well, you’re a wing nut today, that’s for sure. What do you mean you’re two years old?”

No, two years ago I gave my life to Jesus. I was born again two years ago, and the Bible says if any man is in Christ, he’s a new creation. Old things are passed away, all things become new. I go, “I get it now.” What you’re doing is reorienting your entire earthly life around your redemption from sin through Jesus Christ. So, who God is and what God had done made Him of supreme value to the children of Israel, and that’s the basis for this commandment.

I’ve always loved what Dennis Avery shared about a Sunday school class. He was walking through the halls on a Sunday and he heard this particular class praying, and an 8-year-old boy was at the head of the class, and he bowed his head and Dennis Avery heard the boy say, “And God bless our mommies, and bless our daddies, and bless our teachers, and our brothers, and our sisters, and God bless our pets, our dogs and our cats, and God please, please take care of yourself, because if anything happens to you, we’re sunk.”

That’s an 8-year-old’s prayer, but I like his thinking. Who God is and what God has done in blessing us makes God of supreme value. So, what has God done for you? Who is God to you?

God’s Command

That forms the basis of the actual commandment that we get in verse 3. Here it is, “You shall have no other gods before me.” God says, this is who I am to you. This is what I have done for you. Therefore, this is what I want from you. And notice that the commandment is just a short, compact, straightforward sentence. Most of the commandments have little (or no) elaboration. The commandment itself is a very short, punchy, straightforward saying. God is the master of the simple. No other gods. No graven images. Honor your mom and dad. No adultery. No murder, etc. And we say to ourselves, “I think I get it.”

There was a woman whose husband died, and she had to put an obituary in the newspaper, so she called the newspaper and she said, print this. “Bernie is dead.” That was it. That was all. “Bernie is dead.” The editor said nervously, “Ma’am, if it’s money that’s an issue, you get six words for $25. You could say a little more.” She said, “OK, print, Bernie is dead. Toyota for sale.”

She was a practical gal, if you think about it. God is very, very practical in these commandments. I am God. You are not. Do this stuff, keep me first. Like Corrie ten Boom used to say, “Don’t bother to give God instructions, just report for duty.”

So, the number one commandment at the top of the list is no other gods before me. You could also translate that as no other gods besides me. I stand alone. I’m not one among many. I want all of your devotion, all of your worship, all of your praise, and all of your obedience. You’re not to worship angels, you’re not to worship people – dead or alive – you’re not to worship theological systems. You are to worship and serve me, God, Yahweh, the great I AM, and only me.

As we close, I want to frame this for you three ways: historically, pragmatically, and personally. First is historically. It’s understandable why God would give this commandment as the first commandment. Israel had come from Egypt and they were going to Canaan, and both of those nations were guilty of polytheism, henotheism, and syncretism. Now most of us are at least vaguely familiar with polytheism – the worship of many gods. In Canaan there would be people there who worshipped the sun god, the moon god, the sand god, the sea god, the river god. There were all sorts of different gods that controlled that land.

But in Canaan, there was also a twist on the normal, run-of-the-mill polytheism. It’s called henotheism. It’s where there are many gods and goddesses, but each one has a limited jurisdiction. Sort of like a neighborhood drug lord. This is my hood. Stay out of it. I’m in charge of this section. So, when nations would fight each other, they saw it as the gods behind that particular area duking it out.

And that helps us understand certain portions of the Old Testament. For example, 1 Kings 20, when the Israelites are fighting the Syrians, and the Israelites win the first couple of battles in that war and the Syrians wonder “Why are the Israelites winning and we’re not?” Listen to 1 Kings 20:23, “And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, ‘[The Israelite’s] gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely, we shall be stronger than they.’” Hey, we’re fighting this battle in that god’s jurisdiction, the hills. Let’s move the battle down to the valley, because we serve the valley gods. And if we fight in that jurisdiction, we’re going to win.

And if you keep reading that story you’ll discover that God knew that the Syrians believed in henotheism, and because of that God gave the Israelites a tremendous victory over the allied Syrian armies. So that’s henotheism and polytheism, but there’s a third, and this was the worst of all: syncretism.

This was Israel’s sin. They took God and added Him to the worship of other gods, thus reducing the only true God to the same level as Baal, Ashteroth, Molech, and all of the other false gods of Canaan. So, they worshipped God and other things. That was the big problem. That’s why Elijah, the prophet, would stand on Mount Carmel and sort of put the gavel down and say, “Listen, how long will you falter between two opinions? If Baal is God, then worship him. If God is God, if Yahweh is God, then worship Him. But you can’t have both. It’s one or the other.”

So, we get the picture pretty clear historically. God wants no rivals. He wants no competition at all. No other gods before Him. And some of us here today might be flirting with our own version of syncretism. God and other things. So, historically God would say this. We can understand that.

We can also understand pragmatically why God would give this commandment. God is very practical. God understands us, because He made us. God knows that nothing is going to satisfy the human heart except our relationship with Him. He made us that way. The Bible says we’re subject to vanity or subject to emptiness. We’re never going to be totally fulfilled until we’re in right relationship with the right God. Nothing else will satisfy our hearts.

This is a silly illustration, but you might say worshipping anything or anyone other than God is sort of like hugging a mannequin. Would you go up in a store and say, just a minute. That mannequin looks very lonely. I need to hug it. I need to spend some time with it. (Perhaps in today’s messed up world you might actually hear and see someone doing that.) But a mannequin isn’t a real person.

In Psalm 115, David does something really clear, really brilliant. He does something in a song form. He makes a contrast between the living God and the non-gods in the culture around him. And so, he’s contrasting the true and the living God with all of the pagan deities that were worshipped in statue form, in stone form and wood form. And this is what David says concerning the other gods, “They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:5-8). But our God, he says, is the living and true God.

You see, in real life you need a real God. In real life, you need a God who can hear. In real life, you need a God who can respond in some capacity. In real life, you need a strong God. In real life, you need a God who will never leave you or forsake you. And so historically and pragmatically we understand why God would give this as the first commandment.

Finally, personally. Let’s close on that note. We need to understand this commandment on a personal level. The Lord is saying, “I’m your God by creation. I’m your God by redemption. Now, I want to be your God by devotion. This is who I am to you. This is what I’ve done for you. This is what I want from you.”

So, in personalizing it, I want to ask you a personal question, and then I want to call on you to make a personal decision. Here’s the personal question. What do you think about in quiet moments? Where does your mind go when you’re alone?

You know, you can take a compass and you can go in all sorts of different directions. Turn it upside down, go around in circles, but when you just put it down on the table and let it sit, if it works, it’ll find true north. Our minds are sort of like the needle of a compass. They can focus on a number of things during the day, but when left to settle, where does your mind point? What do you think about? A girl? A guy? A goal? Perhaps your regrets? Having something? Accomplishing something? The Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). So, what do you think about in quiet moments?

And then, if you discover, “You know, I don’t think about God much,” then it’s time to make a personal choice. Now granted, most everyone here has already made the personal choice to exalt Jesus Christ, to be a Christian, to follow Him. But from time to time we need to re-evaluate our lives and ask ourselves if it’s true that first things are first in our lives? Is God first in my life?

Today, maybe you need to repent and renew your commitment to the Lord. Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters. He’s going to love one and hate the other, be loyal to one and despise the other. You can’t serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). One or the other. In the last part of the book of Joshua – do you remember what he said? “Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether you’re going to serve the gods that your fathers served on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). I’m going to serve the Lord. I’m making a choice.

Saint Augustine said it beautifully in a prayer, “Lord you have made us for yourself and we are restless until we find our rest in Thee.” Who’s your God? Who delivered you? Who shows up when you have a need? Who’s number one in your life? “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.”

“Father, look upon our hearts today. You know us. You made us. We don’t want to pretend before you. We don’t want to play at church. We don’t want to be simply sloganeers walking out from here. We want Your truth to take root in our hearts. We want You to help us to get rid of little gods that we’ve begun to include in our thinking: gods of our looks, gods of our ego, gods of our success, gods of our acquisitions. Help us, Lord, not to worship there. And then help us tomorrow, when we feel like worshipping there again, to remember that we said today that we didn’t want to worship there. Help us to help one another in this, ’cause all of us are learners from the One who knows the answers.

And may the love of the Lord Jesus draw us to Himself, may the joy of the Lord Jesus give us strength to obey His commands, and may the peace of the Lord Jesus keep our hearts and minds, today and forevermore. Amen.”

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The Good Samaritan – Luke 10:25-37

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God’s Top Ten – Exodus 19:16-20:17

Exodus 19:16-20:17

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 19. We’re beginning a new series today on the 10 Commandments and I’ve titled the first message God’s Top 10. Everybody has a Top 10. The FBI has it’s top 10 Most Wanted. David Letterman used to have a Top 10 every night. One of my favorites, although I don’t get to see them often, is ESPN’s Top 10 plays of the week. So, let me ask you what’s your Top 10. Maybe it’s your Top 10 movies, or cars, or travel destinations, or songs, or Bible verses?

As you think about your Top 10’s, I want you to notice something about your lists. Unless someone specifically asked you to name your Top 10 most disliked in a specific category, almost every Top 10 list that we create is made up of our favorites. Have you noticed that? They’re special. They’re the most meaningful to us. They’re what we (the giver of the list) consider to be the best. Well, the same is true for God. His Top 10 sheds light on what He considers the best rules for life.

So, I’m going to take us back to Exodus 19, even though the 10 Commandments are found in chapter 20. We want to look at some preliminaries this morning, before we settle into each of the 10 commandments over the coming weeks. I want us to ask a few questions. Why study them? What were they, exactly? Why were they given? And what relevance do they have for our lives today, if any? So, we go back to Exodus 19 – beginning in verse 16 and continuing through Exodus 20:17.

16 On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves, lest the Lord break out against them.” 23 And Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You Yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’” 24 And the Lord said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

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. 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 the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Our God and our Father, we’re grateful for the revelation of You that we have in the Bible – that every portion of it reflects a different aspect of Your character, all of it to be studied and considered and applied. Lord, it’s marvelous how the Holy Spirit seems to take what we read on Sunday and brings it to bear in our lives the rest of the week. We pray that would happen again. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So, the first question I want us to tackle is why study them?

Why Study Them (Importance)

The argument in some Christian circles runs like this, “We’re believers of the New Covenant, which was made in the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for our sins, and the Bible says that because of Jesus’ sacrifice we’re no longer under the Law, but under grace. Therefore, I don’t need to be concerned about the Law and since the 10 Commandments are part of the Mosaic law, I’m not bound by them.”

That statement, or something similar to it, is referred to as antinomianism (meaning “against the law” – anti is “against” and nomos is “law”). What the person has done, perhaps unintentionally, is to take a biblical teaching and apply it in such a way as to arrive at an unbiblical conclusion. Let me untie the knot and we’ll move on to why we should study the 10 Commandments.

Here’s the knot. The biblical teaching is that Christians are not required to observe the Old Testament Law as a means of salvation. That’s true. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament Law. Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” In Ephesians, the letter that we just finished studying, Paul says that Jesus death “abolish[ed] the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross” (Ephesians 2:15-16). So, it’s true that we’re not saved by keeping the Law.

But the unbiblical conclusion that’s smuggled into the statement is that there’s no moral law that God expects Christians to obey. That’s not true. 1 John 5:3 tells us, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” Perhaps you remember Jesus’ response to one of the Pharisees in Matthew 22, when He was asked about the greatest commandment, “And [Jesus] said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’”

Now some of you are thinking, “Yes, I follow all of that, but Jesus didn’t quote the 10 Commandments in His response. He simply said to love God with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s true. Jesus didn’t explicitly give the 10 Commandments as His response, but what we’re going to discover is that the first 4 commandments are focused on our relationship with God and the last 6 are focused on our relationship with our neighbor. So, while Jesus didn’t explicitly say, “Obey the 10 commandments,” His response certainly carried that implication.

The straight line is this: we are NOT saved by keeping the Law, but by grace through faith in the person and work of Jesus. That’s how we’re saved. At the same time, we’re called to live holy and righteous lives – often marked by keeping God’s commandments – and that’s only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me offer one final verse to hopefully clarify this. 1 John 2:3-6 says, “We know that we have come to know [Jesus] if we keep His commands. Whoever says, ‘I know [Jesus],’ but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys [Jesus’] word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in [Jesus]: Whoever claims to live in [Jesus] must live as Jesus did.”

So, we’re not free to ignore the 10 Commandments. We’re saved by grace through faith and we’re called to live holy lives. Quickly, let me give you five (5) more reasons we should study the 10 Commandments.

They’re found in Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Part of the “all” Scripture that Paul is referring to there is Exodus 20. The Bible is God’s curriculum. It’s His owner’s manual. It’s His revelation to us.

They’re foundational to faith. Let me ask you this question: What was the Bible that Jesus quoted from? The Old Testament. Whenever Jesus said, “It is written…” He was quoting from what is now our Old Testament. Many Christians don’t understand the foundations of our faith. Jesus said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:7). If Jesus came to fulfill the Law, doesn’t it make sense that we should know something about the very law that He came to fulfill?

They’re fundamental to society. American jurisprudence used to have its basis in the 10 Commandments. I’m not so sure these days. C.S. Lewis, speaking about the 10 Commandments, in his book The Abolition of Man says, “Many ancient cultures have a surprising agreement in these ethical and moral standards despite cultural differences. Man has a basic understanding of these standard that God has established for His creation.”

They’re forsaken in the culture. When you push God’s law to the side, you’ve got to fill that space with something and what our culture has filled it with is relativism. There’s no absolute truth anymore. What’s good for you may not be good for me. My truth may not be your truth. What was once evil we call good, and what was good we now call evil. If that sounds familiar that’s what Isaiah says happens to a nation when they forsake the law of the Lord (Isaiah 5).

They’re forgotten by the church. What’s true of the culture has revealed itself to be true in some Christian circles too. A Barna poll from 2016 indicates that 62% of professing Christians say there’s no absolute standard of right and wrong. It goes on to say, “In some denominations, the vast majority of clergy do not have a biblical worldview, and it shows up clearly in the data related to the theological views and moral choices of people who attend those churches.”

What Were They (Substance)

Well, they’re part of a greater covenant that God made with the children of Israel when they left Egypt. We all remember the story; after the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, 90 days later they end up at the base of Mount Sinai where God calls Moses to re-establish His covenant and gives him these 10 Commandments, not 10 suggestions, or 10 ideas, or 10 proposals. Exodus 19:7 says, “So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.”

Also notice that there are 10 of them, not 5, or 19, just 10. And these 10 are sufficient to give us God’s “general will” concerning the great issues of life. And these instructions weren’t just limited to outward actions. While murder and adultery and stealing are external, there are commandments, like coveting, that focus on the internal attitudes of the heart. In fact, Paul says, in Romans 7, that it was coveting that awakened him to the reality of his sin. “Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness” (Romans 7:7-8).

And that was Jesus’ point in the Sermon on the Mount, wasn’t it? You have heard that it was said you shall not murder, but I say to you, if you’re angry with your brother without cause, you’re in danger of judgment. You’ve heard that it was said by those of old that you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if you look upon another woman to lust after her in your heart, you’ve committed adultery (Matthew 5:21-28, paraphrased). The Law governs external actions and internal attitudes.

That brings us to the third question for us to consider.

Why Were They Given (Significance)

Well, let me give us four (4). First, they were given to regard God. In other words, they were given to show visible, tangible expression of our love of God. Again, in Exodus 19:5 you’ll find an “if/then” construction, “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples.” Our obedience is one way that we demonstrate our love of God.

Second, they were given to relate man to man. Now follow me here. The first four commandments are what we call “theocentric,” meaning they have everything to do with how we relate to God. The last six are “anthropocentric,” meaning they’re man-centered. They have everything to do with how we relate to one another.

Third, they were given to restrain evil. If you gave man complete and unfettered reign to do as he pleases, it would be pandemonium and chaos all the time. Paul writes to Timothy and says, “Understand this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:9-10). So, these commandments, like all laws, were given to restrain the raging evil and sinfulness of human nature.

Fourth, they were given to reveal our need. Do you remember when you were introduced to a microscope for the first time? It was probably in junior high or high school, and your teacher said, “Take out one of your hairs from your head and put it under the microscope.” Now, you just washed your hair and it was silky and smooth, and you thought it was the best hair on the block until you put it under the microscope. Do you remember what it looked like? Gnarly, nasty, irregular, big cuts in the shaft. That was your hair under the microscope. Our lives under the microscope of the law looks that way for a reason. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul says the law was our schoolmaster, our tutor, to drive us to Jesus. It shows us our need.

So, we’ve looked at their importance, their substance, their significance, and lastly their relevance.

What Do They Mean (Relevance)

What are we supposed to do with these verses? Well, there are at least four (4) ways we can apply these verses, even today.

Number one, treat them as a compass. As we look at these individual commandments over the next several weeks, we’re going to see 10 categories, 10 reference points for us to use in order to make our way through life, things we don’t ever have to pray about. They’re just fixed. You never have to say, “You know, although I’m married, I’m really interested in this other person and I’m sort of thinking about having an affair, so I’m going to pray about that.” You don’t even need to pray about that. It’s done. We’re going to find 10 principles that will be our reference points and give us direction.

Number two, treat them as a thermometer. Thermometers measure temperature, and these 10 commandments are a great way to measure our love for the things of God. Are we hot or cold when it comes to the things that God says are important? We saw we love God, but what does the gauge of our obedience say?

Number three, treat them as a mirror. We all have a love/hate relationship with the mirror. They tell us the truth. That’s what the 10 Commandments do. They tell us the truth. They don’t fix the problem, but they do a really good job of showing us where the problem area is.

Fourth, and finally, treat them as a road sign pointing us to Jesus. Okay, so we’re going to see the truth about ourselves, the dirt so to speak, and it ought to motivate us to run for cleansing and that’s in the blood of Jesus.

I love the story of the young boy that got lost in London. At the heart of the city is an intersection called Charing Cross. All distances across the city are measured from its central point. Locals refer to it simply as “the cross.” One day a little boy became lost in the bustling city, and a police officer heard his cries and came to his aid to try and help him return to his family.

The bobby asked the little boy a variety of questions in an attempt to discover where the boy lived, to no avail. Finally, with tears streaming down the boy’s face, he said, “If you will take me to the cross I think I can find my way from there.”

Each week, the commandments are going to point us to the cross. That’s where we find our way home. Not because we kept the law perfectly in attitude or actions, but I need to be cleansed and forgiven and changed, and it only comes through Jesus.

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Fuel for the Fight – Ephesians 6:18-20

Ephesians 6:18-20

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn, for the final time, to Ephesians 6. Today’s message is the last in our series on Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus.

Many of you know that I’ve acquired a new truck, and this new truck is a diesel, and thus it requires diesel fuel. Now that’s not a major issue, but when you have to re-educate your family, particularly your teenage boys, on the importance of using the right fuel, well it can be a challenge. Habits are hard to break, as you know, and this is true when pulling into the gas station to fill up. So, there’s this constant reminder when they drive my truck of two important facts: 1.) it’s not a race car – that’s true of all vehicles teenagers drive – and, 2.) “Remember, it takes diesel.” So, when I ran across this story from pastor and author David Jeremiah it rang true.

I was invited to speak at a Bible conference back on the East Coast. It meant a sort of mini-vacation for my family. The conference was several miles from where my family was staying, so I borrowed a car from a friend at the conference to drive over and see them. I noticed that the car I had borrowed was a bit unusual. Right on the front of the hood it said, “Oldsmobile Diesel,” and there were also words on the fuel gauge that said “Diesel Fuel Only.”

Immediately after filling up it started to sputter and choke and belch out great clouds of exhaust, and finally stopped right in the middle of the small, rural New York town I was passing through. People in town gathered around to see what was wrong, and an old farmer began asking questions. When I told him that it was a diesel and that I had just finished filling it up, he raised the hood and immediately said, “Son, diesel engines don’t have spark plugs, and this engine does. You don’t have a diesel engine.” My friend had recently converted the car from diesel to regular unleaded, but had failed to mention it to me.

He continued with this thought. As I thought about that incident over the years, it became a great illustration to me of the spiritual life. We have the label “human being” pasted all over us (like my friend’s diesel car); but as Christians, we’ve been converted. Our spiritual lives won’t run on the same kind of fuel they used to. We sputter, choke, and ultimately come to an embarrassing standstill if we don’t fuel ourselves with the right kind of fuel.

Of course, the fuel for the Christian life is prayer. Without prayer, we simply cannot maintain the power and energy needed to be victorious in the fight that’s known as the Christian life. It’s no more possible to live the Christian life without prayer than it is to run a gasoline engine on diesel. Paul concludes his teaching on spiritual warfare with an emphasis on prayer, and so will we.

18 [P]raying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Gracious God, as we turn now to the Bible, we pray for the help, the enabling of the Holy Spirit, to teach and to listen, to understand, to believe, to obey, to live in the light of its truth. Accomplish Your purposes in us, Lord, we pray. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Well, as we come to the end of Ephesians – and we’ve spent some significant time in this final section – it’s important for us and helpful for us to keep in mind that this is not a section that exists on its own. It’s the closing part of one letter, and it’s also the concluding part of what we referred to, as we began chapter 4, as the more practical part of the letter.

You might remember – when we started this series several months ago – that we noted the structure of Paul’s letter. It’s 6 chapters broken down the middle into 2 sections. The first section (chapters 1-3) focuses on the indicatives, which means the first section is Paul’s statement of doctrinal facts. This is who we are “in Christ.” This is our identity as “children of God.” Then, after establishing the facts (as it were), he switches in the second section (chapter 4-6) and offers the imperatives – the “so whats,” the “therefores,” the “what we do in response” section.

So, chapter 4 begins with a call to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, and that means putting off the old self and putting on the new. It means getting rid of certain behaviors and lifestyles and embracing new ones. It means walking alongside others in the family of God – people from different backgrounds and stages of life. It means walking in a worthy manner in our marriages (as husbands and wives), walking in a worthy manner in our homes (as parents and children), and walking in a worthy manner in our jobs (as employers and employees). And Paul concludes his letter (in chapter 6) by saying, “Hey, all of this walking in a worthy manner is actually being done in a war zone, in a battlefield, in a spiritual conflict between people who are seeking to follow Jesus and the enemy, Satan. Therefore, we need to take up the armor of God.” And so, it’s from there that we conclude our study of Ephesians by considering the fuel for the fight.

There are four “alls” that are listed in verses 18-20, and they will provide the framework for today’s message.

Praying at All Times

First of all, then, our praying is to be “at all times” (v. 18).

Whenever we’re on the receiving end of an exhortation from someone, it’s almost inevitable that we say, “Well, I wonder if he/she is actually doing that?” And we need be in no doubt concerning Paul, because we can go back through the letter and find him saying, “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16). In other words, he’s absolutely true to what he’s now urging us to do. He’s praying all the time.

And that brings me to this thought: this whole matter of consistency or constancy of prayer is (if we’re honest) something we’ve all struggled with. Alistair Begg shares the story of a friend named T.S. Mooney, who has since died and is living in heaven. Mooney was a bachelor his entire life. He was a banker and taught a boys’ Bible class. He lived in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and one day Begg asked Mooney, “What’s your plan and purpose with these boys?” To which Mooney replied, “My plan for the Bible class has always been to give every boy a Bible in his hand, a Savior in his heart, and a purpose in his life.”

Mooney routinely prayed for each boy, and kept in touch with them as they grew up. Begg said that when he visited Mooney in his apartment one day, Mooney had photos of men who were judges, and surgeons, and teachers, and mechanics, and plumbers and all sorts of other professions – all of whom were influenced by Mooney’s teaching and prayers.

Mooney died in 1986. His housekeeper found him in the morning – fully dressed and kneeling over his bed. As she pulled Mooney back from the bed, she found a little black book alongside his Bible. It contained the names of all the boys/men that had gone through his classes, along with the other people and ministries he prayed for regularly.

Whose ministry is being held up on the strength of our disciplined commitment to prayer? Some of you are prayer partners to people. Do you realize what an amazing privilege that is, that you’re able to go to the living God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, and seek Him on behalf of a brother or a sister? All the time? Continually. Not spasmodically. But you know, such a call makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Because the battle goes on continually; therefore, the need for prayer is in the same realm.

In short order, this call to pray “at all times” is an expression of our dependence upon God. It’s not optional; it’s essential, it’s impossible for us to enjoy an intimate relationship with God without it, no less than the fact that you can’t enjoy an intimate relationship with your spouse apart from the engagement of communication. Not necessarily talking all the time! You can drive in the car for fifteen or twenty miles and never talk. But there’s communion.

Praying with All Prayers

Then the second “all,” you will see, is right there in the text as well: “Praying at all times,” and then, “with all prayer and supplication.” What does that mean? Well, the word “supplication” comes from the Greek word deésis. It means “to be in need.” That’s helpful, and I think that’s exactly what Paul is saying. He’s talking about the way in which we come to God in prayer.

Some of you have heard me refer to the ACTS prayer model. It’s an acrostic – where each letter in the word A-C-T-S represents something else. “A” is for adoration. We begin our prayers by acknowledging who we’re praying to and give Him adoration and praise. “C” stands for confession. Martin Luther said, repentance is not only something that begins our Christian life but is a daily experience; saying to God in the course of a day, catching ourselves, “I confess to you, Father, that I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5, paraphrased). “T” is for thanksgiving. Leona Von Brethorst wrote a hymn called He Has Made Me Glad and it includes these words:

I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart,
I will enter His courts with praise;
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice, for He has made me glad.

And what’s really amazing is learning that we don’t just thank God when the skies are blue and the breeze is at our back. In fact, simply acknowledging that “this is the day the Lord has made” immediately reminds me that He’s God and I’m not. I didn’t see to it that the sun came up this morning. I didn’t see to it that I slept all through the night and woke up healthy today, instead of dying in my sleep. Many of us just assume these things – as if God isn’t extending His grace to us each and every day that the sun comes up. Finally, “S” stands for supplication, or petition, or expression of our need. It’s coming to God and acknowledging that it’s entirely legitimate to ask, to knock, to seek (Matthew 7:7). Indeed, He tells us to do this. He bids us come and tell Him exactly what’s going on and where our concern lies and what we’re really interested in. And sometimes they’re big things, and other times they’re small things.

Folks, this is one area of my Christian life that’s a chore. It’s not a chore to pray, but it’s a chore to make sure that I don’t fall into the habit of saying the same thing time and time again. In fact, I said to myself this week (as did the disciples), “Lord, teach me to pray” (Luke 11:1). “Teach me to pray when I walk along the road, when I lie down, when I get up. Teach me to pray formal and structured prayers, as I have to. Teach me to pray standing or kneeling, audibly or inaudibly, publicly or privately. Teach me to pray groaning. Teach me to pray crying. Just teach me to pray.”

You see, often prayer is actually in the groaning and in the crying. You know, it’s true that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). You remember when Isaiah, in the midst of his circumstances, he says, “Oh! that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). There’s a ton just in the “oh.” God listens to our “ohs.” He listens to our groans. In fact, Paul says that the Holy Spirit actually makes sense of our groans, (Romans 8:26) so that we pray constantly, and we pray variously.

Praying with All Perseverance

And thirdly, we pray “with all perseverance.” In other words, we dare not be overcome by carelessness. You remember Jesus’ conversation with the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest, “Watch and pray [so] that you [do] not enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:41). And they did neither. They didn’t watch and they didn’t pray. What did they do? (They slept.)

In many ways, what we have here is an echo of the words of Jesus. But it’s also in keeping with what Paul said to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20. Before he left them, he said to them, “After my departure there will arise fierce wolves who will seek to draw away people after them and draw them away from all that I have taught you about Jesus and about the gospel” (Acts 20: 29-31, paraphrased). And so, he says, “Keep alert! Stay awake! Be watchful!” And it’s the watchfulness which then is the key to the perseverance. Sinclair Ferguson, in his commentary on Ephesians, says, “Christ is building His church on territory that has been occupied by an enemy. Alertness is always essential when living in a war zone.”

Perseverance is tough. It’s hard. No matter what you’re doing – whether it’s playing a sport, or exercising, or being married – sticking it out, gutting it out, hanging in there to the bitter end is part of what it means to “work out your salvation in fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). That doesn’t mean that we work to earn our salvation. No, it means that we persevere in our obedience to Jesus, and as we persevere to the end we actually demonstrate and confirm that we’re actually saved. In 1 John 2:19 we read a warning about the end times and false teachers and people that “claimed to be” saved walking away from the faith. Listen, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.” Praying with all perseverance is one of those areas of our Christian lives that’s tempting to quit, tempting to give up on.

Most of us remember the days before computers and e-mail. Some of you even remember the days before home telephones. I remember being in elementary school and also in Bible school at church and having pen pals – friends that we would write back and forth to. In those days’ answers didn’t come immediately. You would write a letter and then maybe 2-3 weeks later you’d get a response. We learned to wait. But today, when you can call and text and e-mail, we get upset when we see a text is delivered and read and we don’t get an immediate response.

Jesus even told a parable in Luke 18 about a persistent widow, and the introduction to that parable says, “And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, once said, “some blessings are like ripe fruit in autumn, which falls readily into our hands; but for some blessings, you need to give the tree a good shaking.” And some of us have been shaking some of these branches for a while, have we not? Some of us are going to have to be content to trust God that He will fulfill His covenant promises, and that should we not see it this side of eternity, we will on the far side realize that God who loves us, the God who reigns, the God whose will is best, will fulfill His promises. And in that, we continue.

Praying for All the Saints

That brings us to the fourth and final “all.” “Praying at all times,” constantly. “Praying with all prayer,” variously. “Praying with all perseverance,” unstintingly. “Praying for All the Saints,” expansively or globally.

Now, I looked at this again and again. I said, “It would have been so much easier if it had said ‘some’ instead of ‘all.’” Because then we could’ve all relaxed, you know. Praying sometimes: “Oh, yes, I do it sometimes.” And some perseverance: “Yes…” And for some of the saints. Because there’s a number of them I don’t want to pray for!

You see, it’s natural and it’s entirely legitimate for us to pray about our own personal needs. The Bible encourages us to do that – to bring the concerns of our own hearts and our own homes to Him. But when we ONLY do that, we’re no different from unbelievers. That’s what non-Christians think about prayer. It’s something that’s like a divine ATM that you can get stuff for yourself if you just go about it the right way. No, what Paul is calling for is to look beyond ourselves to the needs of “all the saints.”

Our prayers, individually and corporately, will always languish and will finally stutter to a halt without two things: 1.) a God-centered perspective, and 2.) a God-centered trust. So, in other words, we’re asking ourselves, “What’s God’s plan for the world? What’s God promised to do?” Well, He’s promised to put together a people that are His very own from every tribe and nation and language and tongue. Therefore, we can legitimately pray to the end that many people from many places, both in our own immediate area and throughout the entire globe, will become the committed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we pray for saints in Afghanistan, and Somalia, and Sudan, and North Korea, and China, in addition to the saints in America, and S.C., and Greer, and Greenville, and Landrum.

We have to acknowledge that if we’re going to pray for all the saints, it’s going to force us to a radical shift in perspective. It’s going to call us as Americans to stop seeing the world as spinning outwards from Washington, D.C. or wherever we are. Listen, have you noticed how modern maps have changed. Used to, when you were going on a trip you had to pull out the road atlas. You had to stop in a gas station and buy a map of the state or city that you were in. Remember those days? Now, with the advent of the smart phone and GPS navigation all you have to do is plug in your destination and instead of traveling from “A” to “B,” we travel from “me” to “B.” Did you notice that clever little shift? The focus has shifted from having a global perspective to only having a self-centered perspective. Because every time I look at a map, guess what? I’m at the center. And yet, there’s a world of people (correction: saints) out there that need our prayers.

The task to reach the world for Jesus Christ is unfinished. And the task won’t ever be accomplished absent God-centered praying. Without sincere, sensible, Spirit-filled outpouring of our souls to God, asking Him for such things as He has promised – His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Father, we bow down before You, and we acknowledge the mystery, the necessity, and the calling of prayer. We desperately need the enabling of the Holy Spirit in this righteous endeavor. Lord, we ask that you teach us how to pray at all times, and pray with all kinds of prayers, and pray with all perseverance, and pray for all the saints. As we approach Your table, God, we ask that You come and sit with us, be with us, draw near to us. May Your Holy Spirit fill the hearts of us, Your faithful, and enkindle within us the fire of Your love. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Sermons

Exodus 20:12

The Sense of the Command (Generally)

The Scope of the Command (Specifically)

The Substance of the Command (Practically)

The Security of the Command (Personally)

Exodus 20:8-11

The Principle Stated

The Pattern Observed

The Practice Applied

Exodus 20:7

Significance of God’s Name

Samples of God’s Name

Sins Associated with God’s Name

Exodus 20:4-6

The Prohibition

The Problem

The Proclamation

Exodus 20:1-3

God’s Claim

God’s Care

God’s Command

Exodus 19:16-20:17

Why Study Them (Importance)

What Were They (Substance)

Why Were They Given (Significance)

What Do They Mean (Relevance)

Ephesians 6:18-20

Praying at All Times

Praying with All Prayers

Praying with All Perseverance

Praying for All the Saints