The First Commandment: “You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me”

30 Jan The First Commandment: “You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me”

Posted at 15:03h in English Service by

Preacher Huijun - 18 June 2015

Being Called Into A Blessed Lineage

All English Service

A man is driven by his identity. Not only the identity of man decides what he does or does not do, it also determines his destiny. As we embark on the four gospel books, God wants us to get right with our identity first. Through the genealogy of Christ, God wants to draw the link between us and the family of Jesus. We're born into this blessed lineage not by our good conditions or favourable traits. In contrary, we often see the sinfulness, unholiness, how lowly, scandalous and dubious we are - yet God love all of us and chose us into His blessed lineage out of His sovereign grace, and give Christ to us so that we can be reconciled with God through Christ. God uses many examples of "Fallen" men to tell all believers that although they may look despicable in the eyes of men, nothing can stand in between the grace of God -- all imperfections of men can be covered by the precious blood of Christ and be used for the kingdom's purpose. When we let Christ be the king of our lives, always acknowledging Him in all things and let Him be the yardstick of all our standards, we will see the faithful and gracious God lifting us up and enables us to transcend the earthly struggles. For when we're called into His blessed lineage, we've been blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessings in Christ, thus we're more than conquerors as children of God. Therefore, Jesus said - go sin no more. We who're born again by the Spirit of God, our destiny have changed. No matter how vulnerable we are, we can call upon God and receives the help of Holy Spirit to resist the insinuations and temptations that attack us and walk in the blessed living God has given us.

Related Topics: Knowing Jesus | More Messages from Preacher Huijun

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<Ex 20> 1 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.

 

 

2 questions:

(1) What does this commandment teach me about God?

(2) What does this commandment teach me about our Christian response and duty?

 

“First” commandment: Most important >>> Foundation to other commands

 

First commandment: The object of our faith; are we worshipping the right God?

 

“What does the Lord require in the first commandment?”

  • HEIDELBERG CATECHISM: “What does the Lord require in the first commandment?” [Q&A 94]
    • That I, not wanting to endanger my own salvation, avoid and shun all idolatry, sorcery, superstitious rites, and prayer to saints or to other creatures. That I rightly know the only true God, trust Him alone, and look to God for every good thing humbly and patiently, and love, fear, and honor God with all my heart. In short, that I give up anything rather than go against God’s will in any way.
  • Challenges faced today in obeying this first commandment: Pluralism, relativism and liberalism
  • “No other gods before me” may sound like God just wants to be the Number 1 God among many other ‘gods’, but no!
  • “Before me”: Besides me, to my face, in my presence

 

Idolatry is a BIG problem for mankind

  • Idolatry is the Number 1 enemy of our relationship with God
  • It’s so hard for the human heart to stay single-hearted
  • HEIDELBERG CATECHISM: “What is idolatry?” [Q&A 95]
    • Idolatry is having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed Himself in the Word.
  • 2 tests:
    • (1) What do you love most?
    • (2) What do you trust most? 

 

Exclusive devotion

  • “Forsaking all others”
  • Similar to exclusive relationship in marriage
  • Problem: We may not reject God altogether, but we also want other ‘gods’
  • God is a jealous God <Ex 20:5>
  • We are called to worship God with our everything <cf. Lk 10:27>
  • Though salvation is God’s free gift, following Jesus will cost us everything <cf. <Lk 14:25-33; Mt 16:24-26>

 

 Reflection

  1. Share about your struggles with idolatry. What are your idols? How can you set them in their right places (e.g. let money really be a ‘tool’ instead of ‘master’), and not let them usurp God’s place in your heart? How can you test whether you have succeeded in so doing?
  2. How have the pluralism, relativism and liberalism of our times challenged your obedience to the First Commandment? How can you restore the exclusive and singlehearted devotion to God? Are you willing to exclusively worship God even if it costs you everything?
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Preacher Hui Jun
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Huijun serves as Secretary of The Blessed RUN Ministries. She is also the Preacher at The Life Church and Missions (Singapore). She graduated from Singapore Bible College and currently lives in Singapore with her husband, Chengji.

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