"I Am the Lord Your God"

  

"And God spoke all these words: 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.' "

 

            We now come to the Ten Commandments, our focus during Lent. In Exodus they are called simply "Words." They are certainly commandments, but first of all they are words about relationships. The first four deal with relationship to God, the next six about human relationships. They all concern either our attempts to control life, or our willingness to allow God to be in control. It is always a personal faith relationship with God that takes priority. To attempt to keep the commandments without having that faith relationship is really to miss the commandments. God wants his people to know him, to live close to him, to experience his grace, to be saved by him alone. This is what Paul is saying in Romans 10. There is righteousness by faith that says "The word is near you, and if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

            So God speaks to his people. He identifies himself: "I am the LORD your God." Then he describes their relationship. "I brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." It is the relationship of being carried by eagle's wings that we saw in chapter 19. The Lord held them, he fed them, he found water for them, he parted the Red Sea, and he waited for them at Mt. Sinai. Now he speaks to the people he brought to himself. If the relationship is to continue, here is what the people must do.

            Just as God delivered the people from slavery in Egypt, now he will deliver each generation from slavery to other gods. But for that to happen, they must not have other gods.

            Why is this commandment important? It is because, John Durham says, "there were so many other gods who demanded of Israel the allegiance that the Lord alone had the right to command." Having been delivered from slavery and carried into the presence of God, the only way they will stay in his presence is to have no other gods. This was a hard commandment for Israel to keep. There were so many other gods surrounding them.

            We are also called to live in the presence of God, to live before him. At the prayer retreat last Saturday, we were sent out for a prayer walk. As I walked on the grounds of the retreat center, with some sleet or snow in the air, I was looking down, wondering how I might find God in a new way. I looked up, and there was a deer, about ten feet from me, silently watching me. It startled me a bit. We so often go about our lives in a rush, distracted by this and that, looking for something, not realizing the Lord's watchful eye, the closeness of his presence. It would be good to be startled by God, to pay more attention to our relationship with him, and less attention to the loud voices that demand our allegiance.

            The second commandment forbids the making of idols. We do not understand idols very well. But in the ancient world they were ever present. It was the custom to cut or shape stone, wood or clay into an image, something physical believed to be possessed by a deity. People in the new age religions talk about "channeling," giving over one's voice to speak for a spirit. That is what idolatry is. The statue is not a god, but becomes the point of contact with a spirit. Israel is not to shape stone or wood for such a purpose, nor are they to make an image of a creature to represent the Lord. God is the creator and nothing he has created can serve to represent him. He is beyond all creatures, he is the "I am." Jim Bruckner says that Israel struggled with idolatry, because the gods around them represented the power of money and prosperity (the Canaanite baals), or sexuality (the goddess Asheroth) or military power (the Babylonian gods Molech and Marduk). But the people are not to follow such powers. They belong to God, who purchased them from slavery.

So we must remember that on the cross of Jesus we have been redeemed, purchased, from the powers that tempt us and demand our time and energy: voices that promise money and prosperity, images of sexual desire, and our perceived need for more and more power. The cross wins a victory over the idols of the world. We are not to bow down to them. We have been purchased by the blood of Christ. We belong to the Lord.

            The third commandment forbids the misuse of God's name. God revealed his name to Moses, "Yahweh" Ð "I am who I am." This name was to be used in the worship of Israel and in confession of faith. Someone counted 6,828 instances of the word "Yahweh" in the Old Testament, plus another 2,600 instances of the word for God. The name of God was very important, its revelation to them a great gift. It was not to be misused, used in an empty way, used to tell a lie, or given to an idol, or to cover false testimony, or in magical incantation. The point is that you cannot control the Lord. So we are to be careful in the way we speak the word "God" or "the Lord" or "Jesus." It is also our temptation to want to control God for our own purposes. So we are careful in the way we pray. We ask God for our needs rather than demand our desires. We do not put the Lord to the test, but in all things we are to have faith.

            The fourth commandment has to do with the use of God's day. Remember the Sabbath, observe it without lapse, and hold it as a continuing priority. Durham reminds us that Sabbath means "rest," but not rest as relaxation. It is rest for holy purposes, a day kept free from ordinary labor because it belongs to the Lord. It is a day for justice. Hired farm hands, sojourners and even farm animals were to be set free from work as well. In Egypt there was no interruption of the unending forced labor. When Moses requested time for Israel to worship God, Pharaoh refused. But the Lord brought them out of Egypt, and brought them to himself, with a gift of Sabbath, a day to rest in his presence.

            Last Saturday we experienced a Sabbath rest at the prayer retreat. We would like to do this retreat again, and invite others into this experience. Sabbath rest is a wonderful gift.

            All of these first commands are relational; they direct us to a personal, faith relationship with God. The God who saves us desires to know us, to spend time with us, to be known as Redeemer and as friend. We keep the commands, but our heart and focus of life is on the relationship. Our obedience is continually tested. These are not easy words for us to live by. But God is faithful. It is not law-keeping, but faith relationship that saves us. Paul says there is a righteousness that comes by faith. Jesus is Lord, and when we confess that, we know who purchased us at Calvary, we know who the authority is in our lives, and we do not live in fear of louder worldly voices. Jesus is the one who died on the cross for our sins. There is no one else. Jesus is the one who is risen from the dead. There is no one else. Jesus is the one who loves us and calls us to live by faith in him. "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

            Amen.