There Is Only One God: The story leading up to the Ten Commandments isn’t just the story of Israel: it’s the story of God, and therefore of Christians throughout all of history. We see that the Ten Commandments follow the same pattern as the Gospel of Jesus: first, God rescues his people by grace, then He gives a law to show how we ought to live. Because we have already been saved by grace, we are called to love God and to love our neighbor. Recorded on Jan 29, 2023, on Exodus 19:1-8; 20:1-3 by Pastor David Parks.
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Ten Commandments: Learning the Law of Love is a sermon series on the most influential legal code in human history. Why should we learn about the Ten Commandments today? Because they reveal God’s will for how human beings ought to live: to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. Ultimately, the law of love points us directly to Jesus.
Sermon Transcript:
All year, we’re focusing on Learning the way of Jesus. And today, we’re starting a brand new sermon series on the Ten Commandments in the OT of the Bible. The Ten Commandments are really the cornerstone of the most famous/influential legal code in history. And you might wonder, “Why should we learn about the Ten Commandments today?” We have our own law in the US, but even as Christians, wasn’t the law a bad thing? Or isn’t it kind of like the opposite of the gospel? And the answer is that the Ten Commandments matter today because they reveal to us God’s will for us and how human beings ought to live. They reveal what is right and wrong according to God, both for individual people and for society. When Jesus was asked how to summarize the OT Law, he said it all came down to two principles: to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. And as we’ll see, the first four commandments of the Ten reflect our vertical oriented relationship, our relationship with God, and what it looks like to love God with everything in us. The remaining six commandments of the Ten, reflect our horizontal oriented relationships, our relationships with other people (friends and family, neighbors and coworkers), and what it looks like to love our neighbor as ourselves. But ultimately, as we’ll repeatedly see in this series, the Ten Commandments, points us directly to Jesus — to our need for Jesus because of our failure to perfectly obey this law of love, but also to the power that is available in Jesus for us to learn to follow/obey everything that he has commanded. With that, if you have a Bible/app, please open to Exodus 19:1. We’ll get a little of the context from chapter 19 and then we’ll jump down to chapter 20 where the Ten Commandments start.
Exodus 19:1-8; 20:1-3 (NIV), “On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord…And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”
So the book of Exodus is the second book of the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah was initially written by Moses, the mighty prophet the Creator raised up to lead his people, the ancient people of Israel, the descendants of the family of Abraham and Sarah, out of captivity in Egypt and into the land he had promised them: the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land. The first half of Exodus describes the wild events that really culminate here in the meeting of the Creator, and his people at Mount Sinai. The Creator had freed his people from slavery through many great and terrible signs and wonders including the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the armies of Egypt. And here, he would establish a covenant or an official relationship with Israel. These types of covenant relationships were common between kings or between nations, but here, a covenant was made between the Creator and Israel. He had promised he would do this hundreds of years earlier. But in the fullness of time, and after Israel had grown from a small tribe into a nation of 1-2 million people, the Creator raised up Moses to lead his people to freedom. Speaking from the burning bush, the Creator revealed to Moses his personal name, the name of Yahweh, which is translated as LORD in all caps in our Bibles. Yahweh means “I am” or “I exist” and reflects the eternal and uncreated nature of God. The Creator, Yahweh God, is transcendent, he is over and above his creation — he just is. But according to Moses, Yahweh never intended or desired to remain separate or uninvolved from his creation, from us. In the beginning, in the first chapter of our story, it’s clear that Yahweh made human beings, male and female, in his image and likeness because he loved us and wanted to be with us and for us to be with him. He was to be our God and we were to be his people, and nothing was supposed to come between us. Every single human being, including you and I, was designed to live and move and have our being in him and with him. Heaven and earth were made to be together.
But then there was a problem. In the second chapter of our story, tragically, sin entered into and broke/distorted/corrupted all things. The human beings, who knew Yahweh and walked with Yahweh were tempted by an adversary, the devil, and rejected the word/way of God. They turned away from him and chose their own word/way instead. To a great degree, this ruined everything in the Creator’s good and perfect world. Lawlessness reigned. Wickedness and evil became normal. Blood was spilled and people were oppressed/abused in all sorts of terrible ways all the way down to today. And so, the world became a very different place than Yahweh had wanted it to be. But even in the moment, in Genesis 3, when the Creator was explaining the consequences of this rebellion and the sin that now permeated the world, he still offered hope. He promised that one day, a child would be born, to us a son would be given, and this son would crush the head of that ancient serpent, the devil, and deal once and for all with the problems of sin and death. This would result in heaven and earth being able to come back together without the Creator having to destroy his creation. You see, Yahweh is a holy God. To one who was also holy, he would be the most beautiful and glorious one in existence. His holiness would cause you to sing for joy. But to one corrupted and stained with sin, they could not stand in his presence and live. They would be destroyed/consumed with the just wrath of God against sin. So at the fall to sin, heaven and earth had to be separated, otherwise all of creation would’ve been destroyed as an act of justice. But in Yahweh’s mercy, he was patient with his justice.
Instead, in the third chapter of our story, we see Yahweh God move not to judge us, but he started to enact a plan of salvation, a rescue mission, through the family of Abraham and Sarah, the people of Israel. Through them, Yahweh God would rescue and redeem a people from every nation, tribe, and tongue throughout this rebel planet. Understanding a bit more of the story up to this point helps us understand why it would be wise for Yahweh, to give his chosen people a new word/way/law. Why? Because they needed to learn a new way in accordance with how he had intended for people to live. It would be a new way, no longer the way of the people/culture of Egypt where they had lived for over 400 years. It would be a way that would be similar in some ways to the other nations/laws that were in existence at the time. The Law of Yahweh is similar to what we find in Sumerian or Akkadian or Egyptian cultures in their day. But it was also radically different at key points, which only reflects the character of Yahweh God. So, the Law became part of this new covenant relationship forged at Mount Sinai. Yahweh told Moses and Israel, “…if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The Law, including the Ten Commandments, was intended to both guide for the people of Israel, and a mark of their covenant faithfulness, but also, the law was intended to be a banner or a light to reflect God’s heart to the world. Israel was supposed to be a kingdom of priests, ministering to God on behalf of the world. And a holy nation, a place where people could see God’s character in everyday life. So with all that, let’s jump back into the first word or first command of Yahweh God, the Creator, the maker of the heavens and the earth.
Exodus 20:1-2 (NIV), “And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Again, the Ten Commandments don’t come down from on high with no context. They come to us in the very specific context of the Exodus, when Yahweh God, we see his personal name there in v. 2, identifies himself as the one who rescued Israel from Egypt. Now, why does this matter? For one reason, Egypt was one of the most powerful/influential, if not the most powerful/influential empires of their day. And it was no accident that Israel was standing before the Lord on that day at Mount Sinai. It was the direct result of a series of miracles of God to demonstrate his ultimate power and authority over the gods and goddesses of Egypt. You have a Pharaoh? You have a whole pantheon of gods? You have horses and chariots, the newest technology of your day? You have wealth and glory among the nations? Big deal. If Yahweh wants to liberate a people enslaved from even the most powerful kingdom of this earth, he can do it. In fact it’s not hard for him. So the giving of the Ten Commandments is done by a personal God, with a name and a whole history. The second reason why it matters to start with the context of the giving of the law as part of the unfolding story of creation, fall, and redemption, is critical for us as Christians: we must always understand the order of what happened. First, Yahweh God rescued his people, then he gives them the law. First he rescued his people from slavery in Egypt, not because of their goodness or their potential. He is clear that they are not the best or most impressive nation or people on the earth. He rescues them purely because of his grace. God saved Israel by grace. And then he gives them the law. Even before Jesus, even under the old covenant, salvation comes first and then obedience comes second. Every other religion and philosophy in human history basically says, it’s what you do that saves you. But Yahweh God is different. He rescues people by his grace, and then gives them a law of love to learn to obey. A law that reflects his heart for how life ought to work. It is critical for us to understand this because this is the pattern of God for us in the new covenant in Jesus, too. The gospel is not a new word/way for us to follow in order for God to love/bless/accept us. The gospel is the news that God has already done everything needed for our salvation in Jesus. So today, just as if we were standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, we Christians have been saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus and are now given a law of love. Saving grace is the context of the commandments. This is something we will continue to remind you throughout this sermon series. So in light of God’s saving grace, of this specific and personal God named Yahweh, the creator and the savior who rescued Israel from Egypt, what is God’s will for us? How does God want us to live? What is his first word to us here? Look back at v. 3.
Exodus 20:3 (NIV), “You shall have no other gods before me.” The NIV has a footnote which says it could be you shall have no other gods before me or besides me. The original language of most of the OT is Hebrew and the Hebrew literally says before my face. This command is the origin of what’s called monotheism in history. Judaism, Christianity, and eventually Islam, which was also based to a degree on the Hebrew bible all claim that there is only one God, the Creator, the maker of heaven and earth. No other religion has ever made this exclusive claim. The Egyptians had many gods and goddesses, often representing power or authority over certain parts of life under the sun. They worshiped and served gods who they believed were responsible for wisdom or war or fertility or the harvest, and so on. The Akkadians and Sumerians before them and the Greeks and Romans after them all believed in a pantheon of gods and goddesses. So in this context, surrounded by the belief of many peoples in many gods, Yahweh God says that the first thing to know about his world and his way is that there is only one. According to him, there is not a pantheon of gods, these are human creations. There is only one, and he will not share his glory with anything or anyone else. Of course, this would be a very arrogant claim and culturally insensitive, unless it is true. But if it is true, then it would be the most loving thing in the world to realize that the gods and goddesses or the people and things that our hearts tend to run after in worship are actually not God. Why? Because what use is it to pray or sacrifice to or to serve something or someone that isn’t there and has no actual divine power to do anything about the problems of this broken world?? As I tell people often, if Jesus isn’t who he claimed to be and didn’t do what the eyewitnesses all claim that he did, then none of this matters at all. We should all go home and take a nap. But if, as Yahweh has demonstrated in his ability to rescue Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and if, and the whole bible claims, that there is only one God, and he is not one of many, then learning more about who he is and what he has done and what he wants for us and for our lives is of utmost importance!! If God is God, then we must listen to him and learn from him and obey his word.
How do we apply this commandment to our lives today? First, I wanted to give some extra details about the story leading up to this in order to help you understand where this law of love is coming from. We must know the story because it is not just Israel’s story, it’s our story, too. Second, we must remember that the law of God and obedience to the law is not the way of salvation. Remember, Israel received the law only after they were liberated from Egypt. Third and finally, we must see that our obedience to love God and love our neighbor is first rooted in a covenant relationship with God. This reminds us of the time, many years later, when the seed of the woman, the child of promise, in fact the Son of God himself, came.
