Thoughts On The First Commandment

We are now going to begin an adventure into the famous “Thou Shall Nots” of life.  The Ten Commandments written in stone! 

But first lets think about some of the other law!  We have traffic laws, voting laws, laws of nature, laws of gravity, laws of relativity, laws of physics.

Most of the natural laws are not made by the human mind. They were not enacted by congress.  They are simply just the way it is!  

An object, heavier than air, falls to the ground.  Period!  

The laws of nature are simple forces at work in the natural world.  We cannot break the laws of gravity, relativity or nature.  They break us!

The Ten Commandments are much the same.  They define the way the world was put together.  They define the way the human was created to be -- and to live. 

In Deuteronomy, Chapter Five, God is setting down the basic truth!   The truth that is often forgotten by his human creation.  The truth of “I AM!”  I AM the one and only God!  I AM the beginning and the end!

“I AM the LORD your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt.” 

The One who was with you through all the scary days in the wilderness.  Who gave you food, water and protection.

I AM is telling you: it is you -- you -- who shall not have any other gods before me.  No idols to worship!  No bowing down to them!  For I am a jealous God. 

That is, I AM a God with great zeal!  A God with great passion and commitment!  A God who is always striving for the good of my creation.  Who never wants you to fail or fall away.  I AM is always and forever on the job of pushing you to have my passion — my commitment.  Always there to guide you and enable you.  Showing steadfast love to the thousandth of generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.  

God was establishing who people need to be worshiping. And why! 

He is finally giving them all of those laws because they have forgotten who is actually the true Boss.  They have let all kinds of little false idols influence them.  Leading them away from God! 

And most of all they have forgotten whose world - whose creation they have been blessed to inhabit.

The have actually forgotten whose they are!  

Not independent beings!  

Rather, God’s own!

It is now time that God begins to real them in. Pull them back into the proper environment reordering their preferences.  Their mistaken priorities!  

So He is giving them written down guidelines to help them move through their day in more successful ways.

Having laid out the plan!  God’s plan!  I invite you to think about something!  

Something very true for all of us!

These well quoted Commandment actually require nothing from us.  Nothing, that is, but what serves our best interest — our own welfare.  

They, simply and clearly, inform us as to how to live life in the safest of ways!

Let me give you a relatable example: 

It is like when your doctor lays down the law of healthy eating.  When he tells us: If you want your body to work correctly, and stay healthy, you should stay away from certain eating habits.  And then lists all of the foods you should avoid.

Now!  We can choose not to listen to the doctor’s advise.  Right?  However, that choice can lead to some unfortunate, or quite serious, health problems.

In the same way!  We also do not have to listen to God!  

We do not have to!  

That is most certainly the truth of it!

However, then we have to own up to our choices and accept the challenges, and consequences, of our own decisions. 

It is all up to us!

Martin Luther, in his small catechism, asks one question after each commandment:  “What doe this mean?”

After the first, and longest Commandment, he give his answer to his own question:  “Whatever your heart clings to and relies upon.  That properly is your god.”  

Note the small g for god!

Don’t move too quickly past Luther’s profound words!

Who is our god in the secret decisive places of our soul?

Think about what it is in your life that you ultimately rely on — depend on?  What is it that gives you your deepest satisfaction?  What are the things in your life that captures your loyalties?

Answer those pointed questions and we will find our true gods.  Lower case g!  If we think hard enough we could probably name many things.  

But believe it or not!  All of the little god’s that we treasure in our daily lives, are relatively minor replacements.  Ones that we allow ourselves to temporarily replace God for some special pleasure.  

I believe God understands these choices!  That God knows that they really don’t interfere with our faith and commitment to Him.

However, what about those idols that our heart clings so tightly to?  That we rely on daily?  Hold precious to our hearts so closely that even God get shut out?

No one can name another’s idols!  That is always and forever between us and God!

While I was writing all of the above questions a very old memory flashed through my mind.  My grandmother’s big black pocketbook full of all kind of stuff!  I have no idea what was in her pocketbook.  And I never dared to ask.  She kept it in a dresser drawer in her bedroom.  But when we went to town, she held it like a baby to her chest.  Both arms protecting it!

That memory is so vivid to me this morning.  I think because as a little girl it was a huge mystery to me.  

But what was in that big black pocketbook was so important that she held it closer than she ever held me.

What is it that we hold that close?

8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them;

6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 7 you shall have no other gods before me. 8 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, 10 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 11 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. (Deut. 5)