Lay Down the Law 1: "No other gods."

Duh.

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.

----------------------------------

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."

Lay Down the Law

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 it this 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 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

Why God!? Why!?

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?

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.
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.

Part of real, honest love is choice.  Some would say that choice is the very definition of love.  Of all the women in the world who want me (as large or small as that number may be) I have chosen my wife.  And she chose me.  I don't like her sometimes... my emotions tell me to hurt her or leave her.  But I don't.  I love her.  With all my heart I choose her.  She is a part of who I am.  I've chosen to give myself to her.

God will not rob us of the key ingredient of his image... the choice to love him... the choice to love each other. 

When we rebelled against God's image (sin) the created order was disrupted.  We chose to make our own way, and disrupted his way.  Even in the beginning he showed himself as the humble, loving God who allows humans to cause him suffering.  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.