
According to Exodus 19:1, three months had passed since the Lord delivered the children of Israel from the oppression of Pharaoh and the bondage of Egypt. They entered the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp at the foot of the mountain. The Lord instructed Moses to sanctify the people, for in three days the Lord would meet with Israel. On the third day, the Lord’s presence was marked by lightning and thunder, thick clouds, loud trumpet blasts, smoke and fire, shaking and trembling. It was glorious, awesome, and terrible. In Exodus 20:19, the Israelites told Moses, “You speak to us; and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
So the Lord spoke to Moses. Exodus 31:18 says, “And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” Exodus 20:1-17 records what the Lord said and wrote. The early church fathers called this passage the Decalogue or Ten Words, commonly called the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:3 states the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.” The main idea can be stated in three words: Worship God alone.
- The ancients were polytheistic, worshiping many gods simultaneously.
- Some were henotheistic, worshiping one God without denying the existence of other gods.
- Israel was the first people to believe and practice monotheism, the worship of one God.
Exodus 20:1-3 is the birthday of monotheism.
The Ten Commandments fall into two categories. The first four address our relationship to God. The remaining six address our relationship to our neighbor. The structure makes two key points. First, theology and ethics go together. True religion is vertical and horizontal. How you treat your neighbor is a direct reflection of how you view God. Second, theology comes before ethics. Peace, mercy, and justice are the natural overflow of true worship.
A lawyer asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus answered, “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.”
The Ten Commandments teach us to love God and love our neighbor. It begins by teaching how to love God: To love God completely is to worship God exclusively. Here are three reasons why you should worship God alone.
God’s Divine Revelation
There is much debate about the authority, wisdom, and relevance of the Ten Commandments today. But the significance of the Decalogue is clearly in Exodus 20:1: “And God spoke all these words.” Who spoke these words? “God.” What did he speak? “All these words.” These are not the words of Moses, the elders, or Israel. God spoke all these words. We often overlook this subtle affirmation of divine authority in our rush to get to the commandments themselves. But this statement is vital for us to understand, before we move on. It tells us that Israel became the people of God by the word of God.
- That God brought Israel out of Egypt did not make them his people.
- That God led Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground did not make them his people.
- That God drowned Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea did not Israel his people.
- That God fed Israel with manna from on high did not make them his people.
- That God brought water from a rock to quench their thirst did not make Israel his people.
Israel became the people of God because God spoke. That is the way you and I become the people of God in Christ. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”Divine revelation initiates, sustains, and nurtures the relationship between God and man. The would be no Israel, no church, no us, if God did not speak. The Ten Commandments matter because God spoke all these words. What do these words teach us about God’s will in our lives?
God wants you to be holy. The Lord planned to bring Israel out of the land of Egypt and into the land of Canaan. This Promised Land was to be a place of favor, blessings, and prosperity. For Israel to make it safely and live securely in Canaan, it would have to be a holy nation. God is holy. Therefore, his people must be holy. The Ten Commandments teach God’s standards for holiness.
God wants you and me to be holy. But this call to holiness is not a way to merit salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” We are saved by grace through faith in Christ, plus or minus nothing. Romans 6:15 says, “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means.”
You are under grace in Christ, not under the law. But grace is not a license to sin. Grace enables us to be holy. We obey the commandments because we have been saved, not to be saved. The Ten Commandments are not binding to us in the same way they were to Israel. But when a law is not binding; the principle is. The Ten Commandments teach the principles of holiness. We need these objective moral standards. The world views right and wrong subjectively.
- If it feels good, it must be right.
- If it makes you happy, it must be right.
- If the majority agrees, it must be right.
Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” If we are to be holy people, we need a true, objective, God-given standard of right and wrong. The Lord has given us the Ten Commandments because God wants us to be holy.
God wants you to be happy. One reason the Ten Commandments rub so many the wrong way is because they are negatively stated instructions. Eight of the Ten Commandments state, “You shall not…” Because of our sinful nature, we do not like being told what not to do. We want love to tell us yes. We do not want the law to tell us no. But true love requires prohibition. Parents know this. All good and godly parents know there are times you must say no, even when you want to say yes. But the no is to protect the child from the harm of something bad so they may have the joy of something good.
God’s primary purpose for your life is that you be holy. But that does not mean God does not want you to be happy. When you set holiness in opposition to happiness, it reveals you do not under either concept. Holiness and happiness go together. Psalm 119:1-3 says, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do not wrong, but walk in his ways!”
God wants you to be happy. But God knows you cannot be happy without being holy. Those who worship carved images, take the Lord’s name in vain, forget the Sabbath, dishonor their parents, murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness, and covet what belongs to their neighbor rob themselves of true joy, happiness, and satisfaction. Nehemiah 8:10 says “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
God’s Sovereign Authority
In Exodus 20:2, the Lord formally introduces himself to Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” In the ancient world, a conquering king presented himself to his conquered people by establishing his authority over them. Yet God’s authority is not something to be feared, dreaded, or rejected.
Colin Smith wrote: “Consider the difference between a kidnapper and a lover. A kidnapper may say, ‘You are mine’ on the basis of power. A lover says, ‘You are mine’ on the basis of affection.” The Lord did not kidnap Israel. He married her. This is the basis of the first commandment, and the other nine. Worship God alone, because God alone rules and God alone saves.
God alone rules. In Exodus 3, the Lord called Moses to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go free to worship their God. Moses was reluctant about this assignment because he was a fugitive from justice who fled Egypt after killing a soldier and hiding his body in the sand. Moses looked for a loophole to get out of this commission. In Exodus 3:13, Moses said, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them.” Exodus 3:14 reads: “God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has seen me to you.’”
God introduced himself to the children of Israel in Exodus 20:2: “I am the Lord your God.” This is an ocean of truth in a teaspoon of words. This little statement of identification is a great revelation about the nature of God. First, note that God said, “I am the Lord.” He did not say, “We are the lords.” He says, I – personally, singularly, exclusively – am the Lord.” God is not the C.E.O. of a board of directors of deities. God is the only true and living God. Isaiah 45:5 says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.”
God is God all by himself. This statement also tells us that God is sovereign: “I am the Lord.” God alone is the eternal and self-existent one who created the universe and reigns over it on the throne of his own intrinsic worth. In other words, God alone is in charge of everything. Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” God rules with exhaustive and unimpeachable authority over all he has created in heaven and on earth. Philip Graham Ryken said, “As for God, he has always been a monotheist; he has only ever believed in God.”
God alone saves. Verse 2 says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” The Lord rules as the Lord your God. That is enough reason to worship God alone. Yet there is another reason. The God who alone rules is the God who alone saves.
God reminds Israel of what he has done for them to affirm his right to call for their total devotion. They were not to worship God alone in hopes of what he might do. They were to worship God alone, in light of what he had done. In a real sense, God teaches the children of Israel a basic lesson in dating etiquette: You have to dance with the one who brought you.
Psalms 115:5-8 describes the futility of idol 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.” Those who serve idols are dumb, dead, and doomed. Only God saves. He proved it in the Exodus. Moreover, he proved it at the cross. As the blood of the Passover lamb secured Israel’s redemption from Egypt; the blood of Christ has secured our redemption from bondage to the guilt of sin. By the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, God has brought us out of the land of sin, out of the house of Satan.
Christianity is one of the three monotheistic world religions, along with Judaism and Islam. Christians believe in one God. However, Christians believe this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe the one God is a Trinity because Jesus has revealed him as such. Acts 17:30-31 says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” To God of Mt. Sinai is the Jesus of Mt. Calvary. How are things between you and the Lord Jesus Christ?
God’s First Commandment
A seminary professor instructed his class to rearrange the Ten Commandments in order of priority. The consensus was that the commandment against murder was most important. Second was the commandment against stealing. Then the commandment against bearing false witness. Half of the class felt the commandment against adultery was the least important; the other half chose the first commandment. After further debate, the first commandment was deemed the least important commandment. The class was wrong!
The First Word is the primary, essential, and definitive commandment that shapes our understanding of the remaining nine. The Ten Commandments is no random list or unrelated code of conduct. These commandments teach redeemed people how to relate to God. Charles Hodge wrote, “The duty to which we are directed by this commandment is the highest duty of man.” The first commandment is a prohibition of idolatry and a call to devotion.
Forsake all Idols. During their centuries in bondage, Israel worshiped the gods of the Egyptians. In the Promised Land, Israel would be seduced by the gods of the Canaanites. The Lord did not trust Israel to reject the habits of the past and resist the temptations of the future. Redemption was not an antidote for idolatry. The Lord commanded, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
This commandment is not some abstract called to affirm the theory of monotheism. It is a specific call to embrace the practice of monotheism. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is the essential statement of Jewish theology: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Israel affirmed monotheism. Yet they jumped into bed with every false god that came down the street. They were monotheistic in theory; polytheistic in practice. What you practice is what you believe. The Lord commanded Israel to live what they believed by forsaking all idols.
Do not think this commandment does not apply to you, because you do not have an altar erected in your home to some pagan deity. Idolatry is more internal than it is external. 1 John 5:21 says, “Little children, keep yourself from idols.” Even though you are a Christian, your heart is still a factory of idols. Your god is whatever is most important to you!
- Is family your god?
- Is money your god?
- Is sex your god?
- Is power your god?
- Is success your god?
1 Corinthians 8:4-6 says, “Therefore, as to the eating food offered to idols, we know that ‘an idol has no real existence,’ and that ‘there is no God but one.’ For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth – as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’ – yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” God alone is worthy of your trust, obedience, and devotion. Every other god is a fraud you should forsake immediately, completely, and permanently.
The dearest idol I have known
Whatever that idol be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne
And worship only Thee
Worship God Alone. Exodus 20:3 says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Notice the first word of the verse is “You” and the last word is “me.” “You” is singular. “Me” is personal. This commandment is not about religious rules. It is about a personal relationship between you and God. The preposition “before” is difficult to translate. Does it mean “before me” or “besides me?” Either way, God commands that we worship him alone. In fact, the key word of the verse is not “before” but “other.”
- Either you serve God or another.
- Either you are a worshiper or an idolater.
- Either God is everything to you or nothing to you.
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.” God’s throne is big enough for the glory, holiness, and sovereignty to occupy. It is not enough for God to share it with anyone or anything else. When it comes to worshiping God, it is all or nothing. This commandment does not merely teach you to give God first place in your life. The Lord does not want to be number one in your life. He wants to be the only one. God alone reigns over heaven and earth. God demands the same place in your life. It cannot be both/and. It must be either/or.
Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1 read: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.” The one who claims there is no God is a fool for several reasons. First, the existence of God is the supreme fact of the created universe and human history. To deny this supreme fact makes one a supreme fool! Likewise, the one who claims there is no God foolishly denies an essential fact of human nature. Human beings are perpetually worshiping creatures. Ultimately, there is no such as an atheist. If you do not worship the true and living God, you will worship something, anything, or everything. What you worship will inevitably shape your life. Worship God alone!
Ron Mehl wrote: “The greatest challenge in all of life is to keep Him first.” Joshua 24:15 says, “And if 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.”