I love sharing ideas. I love it so much, that I have to force myself to really internalize and apply an idea before running off to share and discuss it with others. That being said, I hope that this blog will not just be a place where I can spew my thoughts to the digital universe. I hope it will be a place where my thoughts meet yours. I hope it will become a discussion ground... a place where we sharpen and mold each other to the heart of God.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."
(Exodus 20:12 ESV)
This may be the most difficult commandment for us so far… not because we are teenagers or because we had bad parents… but because this commandment is so positively blunt… and practical.
This one we have to do.
We shouldn’t spend years pondering the deep abstractions of this commandment… (not that we should do that with the other commandments either) our parents are here for the honoring… right. now.
“ONCE UPON A TIME there was a little old man. His eyes blinked and his hands trembled; when he ate he clattered the silverware distressingly, missed his mouth with the spoon as often as not, and dribbled a bit of his food on the tablecloth. Now he lived with his married son, having nowhere else to live, and his son's wife was a modern young woman who knew that in-laws should not be tolerated in a woman's home.
"I can't have this," she said. "It interferes with a woman's right to happiness." So she and her husband took the little old man gently but firmly by the arm and led him to the corner of the kitchen. There they set him on a stool and gave him his food, what there was of it, in an earthenware bowl. From then on he always ate in the corner, blinking at the table with wistful eyes. One day his hands trembled rather more than usual, and the earthenware bowl fell and broke.
"If you are a pig," said the daughter-in-law, "you must eat out of a trough." So they made him a little wooden trough, and he got his meals in that.
These people had a four-year-old son of whom they were, very fond. One suppertime the young man noticed his boy playing intently with some bits of wood and asked what he was doing.
"I'm making a trough," he said, smiling up for approval, "to feed you and Mamma out of when I get big."
The man and his wife looked at each other for a while and didn't say anything. Then they cried a little. Then they went to the corner and took the little old man by the arm and led him back to the table. They sat him in a comfortable chair and gave him his food on a plate, and from then on nobody ever scolded when he clattered or spilled or broke things.” –smoke on the mountain
How do you treat your parents? How would you have your children treat you when they are your age?
With honor?
What does “honor” mean?
“kabed”
This is the word used for “honor” in the commandment. The Hebrew word goes beyond thinking highly of them… thinking they are beautiful, or special or nifty…
It’s most basic meaning is
weighty
You are to see that you parents are weighty.
(don’t tell THEM I said that…)
There are other words the author could have used to instruct us to honor our parents:
“hadar”
Lev. 19:32 You shall stand up before the gray head and honor(hadar) the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am YHWH.
Proverbs 25:6 Do not claim honor(hadar) in the presence of the king…
Lamentations 5:12 Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect(hadar) is shown to the elders.
“hadar” means to “swell.” It has the idea of hanging ornaments on something to show it’s splendor. To clothe something in honor.
“yaqar”
“yaqar” means precious… the Bible speaks of precious stones, lives, things, thoughts, and people.
Why does God want us to “kabed” our parents… what’s wrong with “hadar-ing” them? Or “yaqar-ing” them?
kabed is used to describe famines:
Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe(kabed) in the land. (Gen 12:10 ESV)
kabedis used to describe heavy burdens. It is used to describe the heavy glory of God that weighs down on man’s sinfulness.
Perhaps the word was chosen because of the cultural context of the Hebrews…
Genesis 22 – The Sacrifice of Isaac
Abraham had waited into his old age to have a son from his wife… his son who was promised to him by God.
And then God said, “Take the boy to the mountain and sacrifice him.”
Now in the end, God did not permit Abraham to kill his son…
But if anyone had the right to take Isaac’s life… it was his Father.
Judges 11 – The Sacrifice of Jephthah’s Daughter
This is a difficult passage.
Whether or not the Bible condones Jephthah’s approach to honoring God, it doesn’t seem to detract from the father’s right to put his child to death for proper reasons.
“Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
“Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.
(Exodus 21:15; 17 ESV)
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, [19 ] then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, [20 ] and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ [21 ] Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
(Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ESV)
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."
ancient hebrew modern america
Agrarian Society vs Industrial Society
Kids = tools (wealth; legacy) Kids = nuisance…
They help put food on the table extra financial burden
OR genuinely loved OR genuinely loved
In an ancient (or modern) agrarian society, kids are assets. They are numbered as a part of Job’s wealth. They are extra workers. And a man’s children give him a legacy to leave behind after he is dead.
If they ended up being a liability... there were proper times and methods of disposing of them.
Not many of us think of our children as extra workers… as assets. If anything they are a burden on our finances. And if we get pregnant at an inconvenient time in our lives... we have methods of disposing...
In either case, parents have the choice to see their kids as things – assets or burdens – or to love them as people God allowed them to help create.
Because of modern advances we are freer than ever to enjoy relationships simply.
Not because of what someone can do for us…
But we can be free to see people as people and value them simply.
Now at last it is possible to honor our parents genuinely, because they no longer have the power to kill us if we don’t.
But we are just as capable as ever to use people to advance us personally (financially, emotionally, etc)… and to despise those who stand in our way.
Why is God serious about parental(kabed) today?
John 17: 20-25 – ThePrayerOfJesus for us
"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be oneeven as we areone, 23I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.”
Unity is God’s goal. God wants unity to begin in the home.
The home is our source.
It can shape us forever.
we can learn about Unity in diversity… being one part of a whole…honor… respect… help… encouragement…
God’s plan is for a society ofunity.
and He wants unity to be learned in the home.
This is heavystuff… to attack God’s plan for the home is to attack God’s plan for humanity… it is to attack God.
To curse your parents is to curse your Heavenly Father.
To curse your children is to defame the Heavenly Father.
parents… be kabed – worthy, and train your children to kabed you by kabed-ing
your parents in front of your children.
Kids… kabed your parents!
and in doing so, we continue to obey the first 3 commandments.
entered Earth’s atmosphere, he extended one slimy tentacle to flip on his cloaking system.
He needed to be invisible. He had procrastinated, and his thesis was due in only three galactic sectons. Without it he hadn’t an earthman’s chance of passing his comparative anthropology course. He couldn’t waste time finding good hiding places, or erasing memories with his deneuralizer.
Swooping dangerously low over the United States in his flying saucer, Zligorth scribbled furiously with his writing tentacle. He had chosen an ideal morning for taking notes-a fine summer Sunday, with all the natives coming out of their houses and obligingly spreading themselves around for his observation.
How would such a thesis describe our Sunday activities?
Surely Joy Davidman is wrong. She imagines an alien like Zligorth would assume that humans are sun worshipers… rushing outside on Sundays to worship in local roofless arenas while priests perform rituals with different spheres (and sometimes wooden sticks). Could someone so misinterpret our sporting events?
Trips to the beach are seen as religious excursions to worship in the waves – representing a belief that the waves give birth to the sun every morning… or put it to bed at night (depending on which coast you find yourself)… anointing ourselves in “holy oils” and laying in the sun’s rays to come into contact with our god.
What a dumb mistake of the alien!!!
But that is not the disturbing mistake Davidman imagines the aliens making.
The disturbing mistake is the alien’s view of church goers. The alien’s report goes like this:
“There exists, however, a small sect of recalcitrants or heretics that does not practice sun worship. These may be identified by their habit of clothing themselves more soberly and more completely than the sun worshippers. They too gather in groups, but only to hide from the sun in certain buildings of doubtful use, usually with windows of glass colored to keep out the light. It is not clear whether these creatures are simply unbelievers or whether they are excommunicated from sun worship for some offence -we have not been able to discover what goes on within their buildings, which may perhaps be places of punishment. But it is noteworthy that their faces and gestures show none of the joyful religious frenzy with which the sun worshippers pursue their devotions. In fact, they usually appear relaxed and even placid, thus indicating minds blank of thought or emotion.”
Surely no outsider looking in would assume such a thing…
that the truly religious are the ones who don’t seem to enjoy their worship!
YAHOO ANSWERS: why is church so boring?
“Well if god had some video games with His relationship it would not be boring”
“Because you haven’t walked through the doors yourself. You’ve been pulled through them every Sunday by the ear.”
“I know Right!? The pastors drone on and on about the same things, repeating themselves about 20 times until they finally get to some new information, and then start repeating that over and over, maybe tell a few stories about their childhood and rant furiously over how "GOD IS THE AWESOMEST". I'm glad my parents have stopped forcing me to go.”
Why is it so hard for my church to grow…
While south padre island is expanding its hotels and bars…
even in spite of a recent hurricane and current recession?!
but what are we supposed to do?
try and compete with the beach?!
(Exodus 20:9-11 ESV)
Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
we have to keep the Sabbathholy!!!
We can’t try and make it fun or entertaining!!!
but what did God mean when He said, “keep it holy.”?
here are some holy times commanded by God in the Old Testament:
sabbath day – seventh day of every week: sacrifices, holy convocation (get together, read, worship), no work
passover / unleavened bread – came together as an 8 day celebration with various feasts and offerings celebrating the Passover in Egypt and the Exodus.
Firstfruits – celebrated the first of the barley harvest and recognized the Lord’s bounty in the land.
weeks – a festival of joy; mandatory and voluntary offerings, including the firstfruits of the wheat harvest to show joy and thankfulness for the Lord’s blessing of harvest.
booths – a week of celebrating for the harvests… memorialize the journey from Egypt to Canaan.
There was also Purim, the Day of Atonement, a Sabbath year (to give the land a rest), and the year of Jubilee (where indentured slaves were set free and a degree of redistribution of wealth was celebrated).
Oneof these times called the people to fast. (the day of atonement)
To remember their sin and solemnlyseek God’s forgiveness.
the rest were generally times of celebration and rest
so what does God mean by keeping something holy?
Deuteronomy 14:22-29 is just crazy.
it outlines how to handle tithingholy (of grain, wine, and oil, etc)
they were supposed to take their tithe to a certain place
and eat it.
But if the place where they were to take the tithe was too far away to carry the tithe,
they were to convert their tithe to money, and take the money to the place…
“and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.” (v26)
does God seem to generally want people to remember His holiness by being miserable?
what does God expect from His people when they gather?
solemnity or celebration
?
there are strict guidelines about alcohol… Don’t get drunk, none in the sanctuary.
This is not a license for carousing.
but it might make us rethink our expectations for Sundays…
rethink holy
Are the commandments subtracting joy from life?
Does one keep a day holy by making it unpleasant and restrictive… and boring… or by making it joyous… by making it as much as possible like hell, or as much as possible like heaven?
This is the day when man can return to Eden. The day when we remember that everything God made was good…
Man is commanded to enjoy himself.
of everyone on earth, we have reason to celebrate…
especially when we come together in His name.
how do we keep it holy?
In the end, it isn’t going to be livelier services… or losing preaching for super bowl parties…
We have to remember that churchis not the goal.
God is the goal.
In the end, the church must stand or fall by the church people.
Will we be joyful?
Let us behave like Christians seven days a week, and it is likely that the Sabbath will take care of itself.
how do you make a day holy?
By seeing that it is holy already,
and behaving accordingly.
we take ourselves too seriously
the world will not stop working simply because you did.
trust
that God can work while you rest.
the law of sabbath speaks to us more than once a week
Biblically speaking, perhaps it began as Adam named all the animals… acting as the ruler of creation God created him to be.
Perhaps it began when man realized he could control his fellow man simply by calling out his name. Just by uttering a few syllables one could make another human stop in his/her tracks and turn around.
There is power in a name.
And so the black magicians call on the names of deities to conjure up power for their purposes. They speak incantations to grant magical effects. If they can name the deity, they can harness its power and authority.
Who knows where it started…
but we know where it was called to an end. Exodus 20:7
It is said that Rome had a secret name… only shared in mystical rituals. It was kept secret unless an enemy of the state would learn of it and speak it against Rome… because to speak the name of a thing was to share in its authority… its power. (or to take it)
God was not… and is not… afraid of that
He shared His name with us.
“Who shall I say is sending me?” Moses asked.
And God answered.
GOD WANTS HIS NAME KNOWN
but He wants it known in truth
FOR WHO HE IS
leviticus 19:12: Don’t swear deceitfully in my name and defile the name of your God… I am YHWH.
The first two commandments reshaped the Hebrews ideas of deity, worship, commitment, and authority. The third commandment sealed the deal…
and acted as a warning.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,
for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
God’s name shall not be upon your lips for empty ends. AND there is a danger in neglecting the holiness of His name.
Unlike the priests of the various gods in other nations… the one true God has standards on how we should use His authority… His power… His works.
He’s a live wire
You had better be careful how you handle Him
In 2 Samuel 6 Uzzah touched the ark of the covenant… and dropped dead.
In Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit… and dropped dead.
In Acts 19 seven sons of Sceva conjured up the “name of Jesus whom Paul preaches,” to exert power over a demon…
the demon knew the names of Jesus and Paul
but the sons’ vain use of the NAME was powerless
the demon beat all 7 up and sent them running… naked.
And then in Isaiah 6
Isaiah sees God in His throne room,
“Woe is me!”
“I am ruined!”
“For I am a man of unclean lips in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for I have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts!”
God is terrible.
He is not safe.
He is powerful and majestic and pure and HOLY.
He is not ok with the abuse of His power… of His holy name.
He has offered us community with Him.
He has not offered Himself as a tool for us to use in pursuit of power and authority.
So what did they do? t h e y d i d t h e i r b e s t … b e t t e r
t h a n a n y o n e b e f o r e t h e m
They protected the name with all their might… YHWH
It was not to be spoken lest it be taken in vain.
Only by the High Priest, and only once a year.
until we forgot how to say it.
in fear of using the name toward empty ends, we lost it
b y t h e t i m e o f J e s u s t h e y w o u l d s w e a r b y t h e t e m p l e a n d
l i e …
s w e a r b y t h e a l t a r a n d l i e …
in the letter of the law the Lawgiver was lost
vanity
the 3rd commandment breeched
So what do we do? w e d o o u r b e s t … b u t n o n e b e t t e r .
We shudder when the word “God” is used as a profanity.
a s i f G o d i s i n s u l t e d ?
In our fear of making the name empty, have we represented God as a pouty child upset at the mispronunciation of his name?
is he that small?
are there worse ways of wasting the Name we should be wary of?
He is not ok with the abuse of His power.
“Do not defile my Name.”
Wherever science has given one man control of another,
science has broken the 3rd commandment.
Creation is the work of God.
The artistry of His hands.
That we should take His works and use them toward empty or evil ends…
h o w d o y o u u s e t h e i n t e r n e t ?
empty?evil?
T.V.
Music
the Media
etc.
even our intelligence (given to us by God)
we use to exert control over others.
are we using the work of God for
empty or evil ends?
We break the 3rd Commandment
“I have a word from God…”
Do you dare disobey at the end of a gun?
The name of God is loaded.
It inspires people to be convinced…
of our opinion.
“If we object to meat-eating, we declare that God is vegetarian; if we abhor war, we proclaim a pacifist Deity. He who turned water into wine to gladden a wedding is now accused by many of favouring that abominable fluid grape juice. There can hardly be a more evil way of taking God's name in vain than this way of presuming to speak in it…
For here is spiritual pride, the ultimate sin, in action-the sin of believing in one's own righteousness.
The true prophet says humbly,
"To me, a sinful man, God spoke."
But the scribes and Pharisees declare,
"When we speak, God agrees." They feel no need of a special revelation, for they are always, in their own view, infallible.” <-joy davidman->
“It is this self-righteousness of the pious that most breeds atheism,
by inspiring all decent ordinary men with loathing of the enormous lie.”
we defile the name of God when we make use of it
we break the 3rd commandment
We speak in His name and defile it.
We take His name in vain.
And it is this sin that causes others to break the 3rd Commandment as well.
His name becomes nothing to them… because of us.
We who have used the Name for unhallowed ends,
We who have taken the work, the very artistry, of God’s hands and used it to control others… or used it toward empty ends.
We who have “called upon the Name of God to bolster up our own vanity”… our own opinions…
We who have neglected to call upon His name because of our prejudices.
We are all black magicians who misunderstand and misuse the name of God.
HE IS HIGH VOLTAGE… HE IS HOLY.
Remember… God gave us His name. He doesn’t want it hidden under a bushel.
The God who died for us does not want us to live in fear of Him continually.
He wants us to understand His holiness so that we will understand the depth of His love and sacrifice…
It’s just that the vast majority of people in my life would never think of sculpting or purchasing an object in order to worship it.It’s like Nicky Holt said last night
“If I can make it, shouldn’t it worship me?”
We just don’t “get it.”
So when we read the 2nd Commandment, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”Exodus 20:4-6
Most of us feel relieved.We feel kind of like Forest Gump after Lieutenant Dan invested in a “fruit company” for them.Forest knew he didn’t have to worry about money anymore...“That’s good… one less thing.”
We read this commandment and think, “That’s one less thing God asks me that I have to worry about… I got this one nailed.”but
Joy Davidman asks,
What shape is an idol?
Smoke on the Mountain, An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments, The Westminster Press; 1954.
She suggests that early idol makers weren’t trying to blaspheme, and they weren’t so barbaric to think that they could create a god.
She suggests that they were “doing theology.”
Early man did not have the long history of theological discussion to draw on that we do.They were pioneers.We use words to describe God… they used idols.
This god is strong like an elephant… not weak like a mouse… so the idol has an elephant head.
This god sees life from a bird’s eye-view… he is wise like the sight of a hawk.He is not dumb like a donkey.So the idol has a hawk head.
They were steps in the right direction.To realize that god is like this and not like that… it’s a good practice.
But things got bad.
Like some early Christians who lost sight of Christ in worshipping holy artifacts, the idols became the object of worship.The idols were the source of salvation.
Perhaps it was salvation from drought, or salvation from infertility.Whatever the salvation, there was likely an idol to supply it.
And the thing about an idol is…
You can hold it in your hand.
salvation can be in YOUR hand.
God said, “no.”
“You cannot hold me in your hand.I’ll hold you in mine.”
“You cannot contain me in your images or words.”
“I’m bigger than your theology.”
“You will worship me as I choose to reveal myself to you.”
The Hebrews stood dumbfounded.
How do we worship a god, the God, we cannot see.
(so they screwed up and made a gold YHWH bull)
Again, this commandment changed the way these people saw reality… the One True God was going to lead them step by step… they weren’t going to create an image of Him and practice trial and error, or cut and paste from other religions, to discover how to worship Him…
God is in control.
They are in HIS hands.
And so it is with us… right?
At haVen we discussed two ways we may be in breach of the 2nd Commandment.
1. Set YOUR theology aside
If we can settle our theology once and for all, then we can set the Bible and the Holy Spirit aside.
All we need to do now is to refer to our boxed and packaged systematic theology… it will lead us.
Our theology has become an idol.
If you have enough faith, God will heal you.
WHAT A THEOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH!!!
We used to think that God had His own Will which He was in control of… but now we know that if we can just conjure up enough “faith”, we can make God do whatever we want!!!
He becomes our genie in the sky.
Salvation is in our hands.
God won’t give me anything in life that I cannot handle.
I suppose Daniel was capable of handling the lion’s den?Israel was in total control between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea?I guess we don’t really need Jesus’ forgiveness through the cross, because after all, we can handle this sin situation… God won’t allow anything in our lives that we can’t handle.
Our theology can lie.
God warned Israel… I’m bigger than the theology your idols allow for me.You cannot box me into YOUR theology…
God warns us… I’m bigger than the theology your best thoughts allow for me.You cannot box me into YOUR theology.
But God has provided us with a standard for knowing Him.His Word.Is the theology that guides you through life formulated by what others have told you… or is it founded on God’s revelation of Himself.
We must immerse ourselves in the Word.
And submit ourselves to it.
We can feel like we own our theology…
God’s revelation defines us and our actions.
what is the shape of an idol?
Your theology may be an idol.
2. Salvation is not in your hands
Do you look to God for your salvation?
That means more than a golden ticket to heaven when you die.
Is Christ your source of fulfillment?Is He your security?Does He define your identity?
The idol worshippers of the Hebrews day believed that, in the end, they could control their idols.Sure they worshipped the idols… but they had a set of rituals that would sway the intentions of their deities…
As they performed their religious activities… as they held their idols… salvation was in their hands.
Tom’s elephant godling will protect Tom from Frank… but it won’t help Frank.Frank’s turtle warrior god will help him in battle, but it won’t fight for Tom.Salvation is in their hands…
what is the shape of an idol?
*It’s in the shape of the car I’m going to get when I turn 16… just like Tom’s elephant god gives strength to Tom and not Frank, my car will bless ME with security, freedom, and status… not Joe.
what is the shape of an idol?
*It’s in the shape of my boyfriend/girlfriend who makes me feel good about myself.
what is the shape of an idol?
*It’s in the shape of my next gadget that will entertain me –because real life is so boring; that next gadget that will fulfill my life- I’ll have whatever I need at my fingertips… that next gadget that will bless me with status.
what is the shape of an idol?
*It’s in the shape of me.Because freedom… salvation… they come when I get to do whatever I want to do.
what is the shape of an idol?
It’s in the shape of whatever takes salvation – fulfillment, identity, hope, security – out of God’s hands, and places them in our own hands.
“Do we, in our hearts, believe that Christ is the Son of God and that we must follow him even at the cost of renouncing this life and all it’s pleasures?We say little about that, much about our need for Christianity to protect our treasures.Yet surely Christ was not meant to save the world for us; it was meant to save us from the world…” –Joy Davidman
and perhaps… to save the world from us.
“The real horror of idols is not merely that they give us nothing, but that they take away from us even that which we have.By the act of imagining power in the thing, we rob ourselves, and the Holy Spirit within us, of that much power.If our car alone can rush us away from danger, we have lost the power of saving ourselves by our legs.An idolater is always a spiritual paralytic.The more we look to material objects for help, the less we can… ask help from the grace of God.If we are to be saved, it will not be by wood, however well carved and polished, nor by machines however efficient; nor by social planning, however ingenious.If we are to be saved, it must be by the one power that” built man at his beginning “and that [power] he [cannot] make with his hands –the power of the Holy Spirit, which is God.”
If you believe in God at all you are most likely to believe that there is only one of 'em.
Even those old toga touting guys like Plato and Aristotle figured the multitude of gods who acted like immature humans were probably just myth. There could only be one "unmoved mover." Everything is created except for the One who made it all... and what do you call that volitional essence that exists on his own authority... what kind of perfect power is that!?
We call Him God.
It is old news.
But not to the Hebrews when they trembled at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
When YHWH fell on the mountain in fire and left it in a cloudy haze... when He answered Moses in thunder and lightning, and the trumpets of heaven grew louder, and louder, and louder... and louder...
As the child peaked around his mother's leg... terrified... but too scared to not look...
A nation held its breath.
And God said.
"I'm it."
it was staggering.
There will be no more offerings to the river gods, the rain gods, the fertility gods, or the unknown god.
"I am your only God. I am THE only God."
It changed everything.
For Israel to move forward with this belief, they had to conform their minds to a totally different reality than they had ever known... and a totally different reality than the world around them believed in.
but we say, "duh".
We've got this commandment down.
right?
Joy Davidman says we need to hear the commandment like this:
"Have only Me."
We may not sit up at night convincing ourselves to not run to the Baal temple in the morning, but it is likely that most of us live lives of divided focus.
We say that we believe in God, but besides attending church and an occasional "quiet time" with God, our lives look no different than the lives of the atheist. It doesn't matter if the atheist is moral or not... he does not see life through the lens that an all powerful God loves him and has ultimate authority over his life. That is the lens we see through all too often.
We may pray and ask God to bless our lives... but we still believe the life is ours... We don't hear scripture when it tells us, "You have been bought with a price, you are not your own."
So what are the gods of our age that divide our focus on Him? Here are a few that I chose to discuss with haVen:
god 1: Cupid
In spite of this picture.. Cupid is alive and well... and in control of many lives in America.
Cupid whispers in the ears of hormonal adolescence... he taunts the lonely adult... he destroys the widow and widower.
Cupid: "You are incomplete without that special someone."
He is very convincing. He has the double power of hormones and hollywood on his side. With every veggie-vampire movie and romantic comedy his wings' reach expands and the aim of his bow sharpens.
Cupid: "You will be unhappy in life unless you find him/her." "There is a mystery in life that you will miss out on unless you have sex." "You can find intimacy in lust."
I wouldn't mind it if Cupid would be found on the street, shot in the back with his own bow.
Joy Davidman: "No pleasure vanishes so soon and leaves so much weariness and heartbreak behind [than Cupid's]. Sexuality can become a lasting joy only by becoming a sacrament in intention, a means to the service of God - a form through which men and women can feel for each other some slight prefiguring of the divine love." (Smoke on the Mountain, Westminster Press: 1954.)
God may have someone special for you... but you cannot pursue that person apart from your pursuit of God.
Otherwise you are breaking the first commandment.
God comes first.
"have only me."
god 2: iFashion
There he stands in all his glory. The strength and persuasion of American consumerism is his.
Richard Foster: "The mass media has convinced us that to be out of step with fashion... [technologically out of fashion, outdated clothing, or listening to the wrong music, etc.]... is to be out of touch with reality."
iFashion: "This new gadget will make you happy." "Get into this TV show if you want to be 'in'." "These are the right books to read." "Look at her clothes!"
iFashion persuades us that happiness is found at the end of a check-out line... or inside a circle of "friends" looking out at the out-dated mob who just doesn't "get it."
In the end, iFashion leads to the worship of stuff and self.
Richard: "It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick."
Even though some of iFashion's followers claim to worship the God who left His throne to be clothed in flesh and crucified...
Their "modern hero is the poor boy who becomes rich instead of the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor." -Joy
Jesus tells us to seek first His Kingdom.
(Matthew 6:25-33)
God may want you to use stuff to further His Kingdom.
But you cannot pursue fashion for fashion's sake.
Otherwise you are breaking the first commandment.
God comes first.
god 3: Progresseos
Science will find a way!
If evolution doesn't get us there first!
Progresseos: "We no longer need God. He was useful to fill in the blanks of our ignorance when we were ancient and uncivilized, but now we can turn to the scientific method to measure and discover all things. Utopia is on the way. And human technological advancement along with unconscious evolution will take us there!"
And yet the better our technology gets, the more evident the sickness in the human heart.
We have invented incredible new ways to kill each other. To rob from each other (Identity theft anyone?). Lust is digital.
If we put our faith in Progresseos, we will find ourselves progressing along a cycle of human nature... always doomed to repeat history with fancy new gadgets and a head full of knowledge.
Scientific advancement is a gift from God. If we pursue it as a praise to the creator, we will find joy. If we pursue it as a replacement, we will be in breech of the first commandment.
God comes first.
god 4: Wirks
Wirk's mantra is, "God and... "
The "and" is almost always something that sounds good.
"God and Missions."
"God and feeding the hungry." "God and church."
"God and pacifism." "God and country."
Wirks' followers forget that the first commandment says, "Have no other gods in my face... in my presence... nothing but me."
Wirks convinces us to marry our faith in God to some other idea... some other spirit... and we burn the candle at both ends.
"God and Country"... to defame the country is to defame God... and so Nazi Germany begins cleansing humanity.
"God and pacifism"... and so we demand submission to Stalin and Hitler and close our eyes to the blood stains on our peace.
"God and insert your cause here"... You are not called to champion a cause, unless your pursuit of that cause falls under you passionate pursuit of God.
The cause is a tool to honor God... not God Himself. And you must be sure that God has called you to that cause... or it is not His cause... and you are in breech of the first commandment...
God comes first.
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We may not find ourselves at the foot of a smokey, trumpeting mountain on shaky ground, but the blare of the first commandment is still deafening and terrifying.
It is not given to subtract something from life... we need not hear "Don't have those other gods..." but in our world today we must hear God's words, "Have me. Have only me."
Only He is worth the having.
Joy: "Hold to this, and the beast in the heart has no power. The present loses its confusions, the future its terrors, and death itself is but the opening of a door:"
"Thou shalt have no other gods but me."
"That is the law of life and happiness and courage. Courage himself, God the Lion, stands beside us to help us live by it. Whatever we desire, whatever we love, whatever we find worth suffering for, will be Dead Sea fruit in our mouths unless we remember that God comes first."
They are not outdated. They are not opposed to grace. Jesus did not divide his original teachings in Torah from his teachings while he walked the earth. In Matthew chapter 5 he distinguishes between what his teachings in Torah really meant as opposed to the popular interpretations of his day...
So how do we look at these rules and regulations?
Like Joy Davidman in her book, Smoke on the Mountain, I'm afraid we look at these rules like a certain old African cannibal reportedly did.
"You mean I should not take my neighbor's wife, or ivory? I should not make the war dance and kill my enemy's tribe?"
That's right. Christians do not do such things.
"I cannot do those things anymore anyway. Being a Christian and being old... they are the same I think."
Are the Ten Commandments, for the most part, statements of negation... subtracting from what life can be?
The Israelites were descendants from a rugged nomadic people and lived in a brutal time.
How would people react in our day and age if we knew there was an entire race of people enslaved in Egypt?
Working themselves to death.
Even in Jesus' day times were different. Crucified criminals
would cry out until they lost their voices and hang there...
for days...
rotting pieces of meat
swarmed by flies and birds.
In our day we expect security. And as long as it isn't too inconvenient for us... we expect this security for everyone in the world too.
The Israelites did not have this expectation. Their world was filled with brutality and the worship of many gods... specifically which ever god might help further their immediate purpose (crops, battles, etc).
We read the ten commandments in Sunday School like this
1. Have no other gods.
2. Don't worship images.
3. Don't take the Lord's name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Don't murder.
7. Don't commit adultery.
8. Don't steal.
9. Don't bear false witness.
10. Don't covet.
The Israelites likely heard the following way... and it forced them to change their culture.
1. There is a PRIORITY in life - Yahweh.
2. There is a SOVEREIGNTY in life - Yahweh is bigger than idols.
3. There is SINCERITY in life - worship of Yahweh must be real.
4. There is SANCTITY in life - life is more than material.
5. There is UNITY in life - beginning in the home.
6. There is RESPONSIBILITY for life - respect the lives of others.
7. There is FIDELITY in life - be faithful in relationships.
8. There is HONESTY in life - be trustworthy and trust others.
9. There is INTEGRITY in life - be true.
10. There is SECURITY in life - protect the property of your neighbor (and enemy).
You see... the decalogue (ten commandments) was not given to take away a piece of life... it gave a framework for the best possible life.
We hear the words: "rules"; "laws"; "statutes"; "commandments" - and we want to run!!!
But the Psalmist of Psalm 119 knew the life embedded into God's Ten Words:
"Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors." Psalm 119: 17-24
May this Psalm ring true in the coming weeks as we investigate how the life-breathing commandments of God call us to radically transform our lives.What has been your experience of (or thoughts on) the Ten Commandments?
*the Ten Words Priority, Sovereignty, Sincerity, etc. were taught to me by Dr. Ron Lyles at STSCS(.org). *much of the above content is summary and paraphrase of Joy Davidman's introduction to Smoke on the Mountain
So of course I look at things like - www.chicken-yard.net, which actually has some pretty interesting information... if it is all true.
One piece of info that stuck out to me was this: "There is a special, important pecking order in the chicken herd. It determines which chicken may eat first, where which chicken is allowed to sit on the perch and other things. You can often see that one chicken pecks another one without any obvious reason, just to show that it is stronger. The most pecking takes place on the perch, but only if there are rank differences, as mentioned. The other ones peck especially strange or young chickens and so it can take 15 minutes until everybody has found a place."
Aren't you glad we've evolved beyond this nonsense!...
We usually know where we stand. If we are talking with someone, we usually know if we are "above" or "below" them. And yet we claim to serve the King who stepped off his throne to die for the peasant. The Lord of all creation who took a towel and a basin and cleaned the dirt and camel poo from his disciple's feet.
There is amazing freedom in living in the Kingdom of love. The discipline of service can be the gateway...
Interested? Download this month-long study on Service: Service Study.
What is God doing? Children are starving. Women are raped. Sons and daughters are killed in war and on the streets of the ghetto and of the middle-class suburbs.
Look to the left here... Is this picture correct? Are we just the latest expansion pack on God's favorite MMORPG(video game) - "Smite the Humans."
God is all-good. God is all powerful. Why doesn't he, in his goodness, come down in his power, and put a stop to pain, suffering, and evil?
Maybe he has.
I'm not sure if we can do better in our answer to the questions above than the ancient Jews did. Habakkuk (one of the prophets in the old testament with his own book - pg 1719 in my bible :)) asked:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? (Habakkuk 1:2)
What was God's answer?
"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4)
God acknowledged Habakkuk's complaint and agreed. Mankind is violent and creates evil and suffering. But I'm not sure I like God's answer: "If you want to be one of my righteous ones, live by faith in me." That doesn't answer my questions... even if doing it will bring peace and purpose to my life.
God says something similar to Job. God doesn't deny that suffering is sometimes beyond our understanding, but he tells Job: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined [the earth's] measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the measuring line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38: 4-7)
Humanity lacks knowledge to understand it's own evil. But God reminds Job who created all things. Though the suffering is beyond our understanding, it is not beyond God's. We shouldn't be too puffed up. We need to submit to God's knowledge.
What is the lesson from these two books in the Old Testament? I think it is this: We can become puffed up like those in Habakkuk, or we can take God's advice and live by faith in God's goodness, knowledge, and power.
And we have a sure sign of God's goodness. For whatever reasons he does not snap his fingers and put an end to suffering (some reasons will be discussed below), at least he takes his own medicine. God became a man, Jesus of Nazareth, and he suffered a horrible death - taking the sins of the world into himself. He prayed to God to alieve his own suffering, and he went to the cross anyway... for us.
If this is a video game to God, "whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can [take] nothing from man that he has not [taken] from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was man, he played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwile." -Dorothy Sayers, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged.
Jesus took into himself all the pain and suffering from all the sin of all humanity. On the cross he experienced it all. So now we know where to find him. He is in the hunger pains of the starving child. He is wounded by the fear and humiliation of the abused. He takes every beating. He is murdered every day. That is the God of goodness.
Perhaps the real question isn't, "Why do bad things happen to us," but, "Why is God so humble and loving to submit himself to such humiliation, suffering, and pain for us?"
And let's not forget the hope that this good God promises us. His suffering brought salvation to the world. He turned his torture, humiliation, and death into hope, joy, and life for all generations. He is able to take the worst things of our lives and turn them into real joy... if we'll let him. We have hope.
Yeah. OK. But why won't he just stop the evil? Why?
I don't know... that's why I like the Bible's answers to the question! But here is my best shot: The answer rests on two statements of faith:
1. Humanity was created in God's image.
2. Humanity has been recreated in God's image through Jesus Christ.
1. God created everything, and then he made humans in his own image. God has revealed to us, by becoming a man and sending us the Holy Spirit, that He exists as a relationship of love. God is not a singular glob of deity... he is Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three persons united into a perfect unity of love. He is not three different gods. Only one God. This is where God's questions to Job come in handy... we cannot fully understand God. We cannot comprehend how 3 can be 1. He is beyond our understandings of measurement. What could be heavy to a God who created all measurements? What could be big to a God who stretched out the universe?! Though we can measure the atom and the quark and DNA and discover exactly what makes up our physical bodies... we cannot fully comprehend the make-up of the Creator God. But we can think about what his make-up means for us!
We are created in the Trinity-God's image. That means that humanity is supposed to be the image of this God who exists as perfect relationship. We are the part of the created order that is supposed to represent God. We should exist together in perfect relationship. In perfect love with each other and with him.
We don't.
When we rebelled against God's image (sin) the created order was disrupted. Things aren't the way they are supposed to be now. Things went bad becuase the image of the God of creation rebelled against God.
2. But God is good. He didn't leave us here to destroy ourselves. He began a relationship again with humanity through the Hebrew people to begin teaching us about his holiness, faithfulness, grace and love. He was patient with humanity's ignorance... And then he became a man himself. He took the punishment for our sin on himself, took it to the grave, and then he left it there when he was resurrected.
Now, if we will accept him as God in our lives again and accept his forgiveness through Jesus' work on the cross, we can begin operating as his recreated image. We can come together as his body.
And that is the answer. Why doesn't God come down and alleviate suffering? He has. We are just spoiling it again.
Those of us who have been recreated into his image should act as his body here on earth. We should do his work of loving on people, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, etc. And although we are doing soooo much good around the world... we need to do better.
If you haven't accepted Jesus as your saviour and God because you don't understand why God doesn't do more to stop suffering... take a lesson from God and don't be a hypocrite... take your own medicine... start alleviating suffering yourself. Start living for others even at the cost of great self sacrifice.
And you'll find that this life that you know you are supposed to live sounds mysteriously familiar. It is the kind of life that Jesus lived as an example for us to follow. And deep down you know you need to live that life, because you have been created in the image of the one who lived that life first... Jesus Christ. You can be recreated into that image if you will not puff yourself up and if you will live by faith in his goodness. Give your life to him.
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Mat 9:35 ESV)
Wouldn't you like to see people through Christ's gut?! Through His gut???!!! Just a fun bit of biblical trivia... the greek word translated “had compassion” is a word that means “to be moved as to one’s bowels” - Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. - or: “to have the bowels yearn” - Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.
We see the heart as the seat of emotions. Not so in Jesus’ context... for them, the seat of the emotions was the gut. This word implies a deep emotional response that is followed by action. It's more than just butterflies in Jesus' belly.
So what?! The point is that Jesus was not some sort of emotionless sage or monk who only taught from an intellectual standpoint or only served out of duty.
Jesus was moved to His core in compassion for people.
Oh that we could see every person the way that Jesus does.
Do you want Jesus’ gut? You know what I mean. Do you want your inner self to reflect The Holy One? It does not come easily. There are depths of conceit in us that we are not aware of. We do not know ourselves. Only God does. The kind of compassion that Christ had for people does not come from a gut stuffed full from feeding on selfishness.
This kind of Gut comes from a strict diet.
No self-preservatives allowed.
Step by step we must nourish our guts with Service and prayer. With submission and worship. With meditation and solitude.
Add a healthy serving of service to your diet. Have a “gut check” today.
The early Christians were Jews. They were operating from the same story we've been discussing, and Jesus' entry into the scene made them re-evaluate many parts of their story. They were expecting a Messiah to overthrow earthly governments and establish Israel as a kingdom again. Jesus showed them that his Kingdom was not of this world, but this Heavenly Kingdom is at hand and can change things on this world... here... and now.
And their most important creed consisted of the words, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." How could God be "one" if Jesus and the Father were God?! And now they were experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit as God as well. Being true to the past story and present circumstances, they were led by the Spirit to develop an understanding of the Trinity. But what is the importance of the doctrine of the Trinity? What does the Unity of God have to do with us? Watch this video to get a persepective:
“kabed”
“hadar”
“yaqar”
