Grow In Faith

Yesterday we saw that the third commandment prohibits us from sitting in judgment over God’s commands. It forces us to ask the questions: 1) am I willing to follow God, to elevate His will over my own? and 2) do I have a true, intimate, saving relationship with God?

This week we’ve been looking at the third commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” Yesterday, we ended by saying one indication that you are misusing God’s name is sitting in judgment over his commandments – not truly submitting to them.

I believe this passage, which is a very scary passage – perhaps the scariest in the Bible – helps us look at the essence of the Third Commandment. Here are a few things that make this passage so unsettling.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the Ten Commandments. We are now moving to the third commandment, which is the last of the three governing our relationship with Him.

This weeks we’ve been looking at the second of the Ten Commandments and saw that we want a god that we can control and understand but that that god is not THE God. He is who He is, not who we want him to be, not like we think him to be.  Our image of God needs to be shaped by God’s revelation of himself. Today, I want to elaborate on that and give three reasons that God is against idols. 

This week, we’ve been looking at the second of the Ten Commandments: You shall not make for yourself an idol. 

Yesterday, we looked at the first part of the second commandment, You shall not make for yourself an idol, and saw that an idol is anything we pursue over God or love more than God. Today, we’ll look at the next part of the command: You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below .

For the past two weeks we’ve been looking at the Ten Commandments. Last week, with the first commandment, I argued: 1) we all have a little g god that we worship; 2) this god shapes us; 3) we often do not realize exactly who or what we are worshipping, and 4) life only ultimately works if big G God is our god.

Yesterday we looked at what Romans 1 had to say about the first commandment and saw that regardless of who or what you are worshipping you are most certainly worshipping. You have a God. The second point that Romans 1 makes about the first commandment is that your God shapes you.

Yesterday, we started to look at the first of the Ten Commandments and saw that it needs to be first. Today, we’ll see that the first commandment is a demand for exclusive worship.

You should know that neither the Bible in general or the Ten Commandments in particular set out to prove that God exists. They assume He does. And I want to remind you that there is a grand positive behind all ten, such as in the first commandment, where we learn that there is a God. We are not alone in the universe.  There is a holy, righteous, loving, merciful, just creator who wants a relations...

So far in our look at the Ten Commandments we’ve seen that – contrary to popular belief – 1) they are a gift from God, 2) they give us insight into reality, 3) they are helpful advice from a God who loves you, and 4) they are positive and liberating.  If that’s the case, then what do we do with them?

We’ve been asking what the Ten Commandments are and what we should do with them and so far we’ve seen that they are a gift and that they are an insight into reality.  Today, we’ll see that The Ten Commandments are Helpful Advice from a God who loves you.