Exodus 34:1-17
¶ Then God spoke all these words, saying,
¶ “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
¶ 1 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
¶ 2 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
¶ 3 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not [fn]leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
¶ 4 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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.
¶ 5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
¶ 6 “You shall not murder.
¶ 7 “You shall not commit adultery.
¶ 8 “You shall not steal.
¶ 9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
¶ 10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
The Ten Commandments from GOD
1
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Father GOD spoke these words to Moses so that Moses could share them with us. And even as Father GOD was speaking to Moses the people were creating an idol to worship. Now days man makes idols out of all kinds of things, even people.
a. The environmentalist worships the creation: The philosophy of global warming, trees, animals, fish, stars…..
b. Mankind in general worship, money, riches, wealth: The pursuit of wealth is one of the strongest idols today. It is excepted by most of mankind. taken for granted and unquestioned, the worship of this god even to most Christians is excepted as a necessity to guarantee future security. This god is also called Mammon, Jesus referred to Mammon in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. (wealth)
c. Cars: The love affair with the automobile. The automobile quickly became a symbol of money, sex and power, with a clear and identifiable, scheme of classifying a person’s rank or order by the model and price of a vehicle. A divider of the haves from the have-nots. When the automobile moves from being a means of transportation to a status symbol, and a gauge to determine one’s social states. and became worshiped by both the haves and have nots.
d. Fame: Celebrities have been around for a long time. But now printing, movies, radio, TV and the Internet, have given the god of having Fame and being a Celebrity have become prominent. Now days fame and celebrity are largely unquestioned, even among Christians. And being famous is looked upon as being desirable, better than not being, and becoming a celebrity is always something to be applauded. So many have a great ambition or goal to become well known and excepted by many Many parents will sacrifice just about anything for the chance for their child to become famous whether in entertainment, sports or even academia, teaching them that fame is a virtue. The god being worshiped here is not necessarily the god of money, but rather the god of fame and a celebrity status.
e. Sports: This god is worshiped even in the church, there are churches that will eagerly spend less time sharing the word of GOD so they can have a football party in the sanctuary of their church, this god is so worshiped that even an interruption cand be looked down on and bring the wrath of the idolator participating in the ritual of worshiping the game. These idol makers will install this doctrine into their children and the worship of this gods. This god is widely accepted among the church goers.
f. Education: Yes, education has become a god, and a status, it functions in the same manner as fame and being a celebrity.
This is just a small list of the thing’s mankind latches on to and worships rather ten turning to GOD and worshiping Him and Him alone. You need to realize what you have alowed in your life that is taking you from Father GOD.
What i want to encourage you to do is to prayerfully evaluate your life and make sure nothing has become more important to you than your relationship with God. Use this list as a guide to help. Ask yourself, what are the idols in my life?
Here are 4 questions to ask yourself to identify idols in your life:
Where Do I Spend My Time?
Where Do I Spend My Money?
Where Do I Get My Joy?
What’s Always on My Mind?
Actually, think about those questions. They will lead you to what either is an idol or what you might be tempted to make an idol. Spend more time in prayer asking Father GOD to show you what is an idol in your life. Idol worship today might look different, but it still exists. We shouldn’t let anything, even what we as mankind see as a good thing, take the place of God in our life.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and will despise the other. You cannot serve GOD and wealth.”
Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and will despise the other. You cannot serve GOD and wealth.”
1 Timothy 6:9-10 “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
But mankind will say;
Your wrong, these things aren’t our gods! We don’t actually worship these things. “I don’t love money, just like what it can do for me”. “Money provides me the time and things that provide: diversions, entertainment, leisure time, hobbies, pleasure and they are all just Innocent things not idols.” Really?
1. The test of time and attention: How much time, devotion and unquestioned loyalty do i give to this “diversion”? What about passion and intensity of devotion and depth of loyalty? How much time energy and even money go into gaining praise and admiration of others” How much time is stolen from the things of GOD?
2. The ability to step back to question and evaluate: Do you ever question or evaluate what you do and why you do it? Are you willing to step back and question your loyalty and where it lays? Have you ever taken the time to ask where the line is between being interest in something and worship it, to be aware when you cross that line? To question your loyalties and dedications by the word of Christ?
3. Take the time to check your devotion to GOD: When out in public do you take the time to pray for a meal? Do you choose to do the right thing in public even knowing that it will be looked down on and criticized by the world?
4. take the time to check your loyalty and devotion to Jesus Christ. evaluate where you spend your interests, time and money what has your attention. What is first, second, third, fourth….? Whatever is first is your functional god, and the others become filler.
5. Look at what you do and where you do it:. What you do and where you do it is what you worship Does what you do and where you do it; show and speak of the virtues and values of the kingdom of God.
6. Examine yourselves to see whether you are living by faith in Christ. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that as a believer in Jesus Christ He is in you?
1Corinthians 6:19
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?
Isaiah. 42:8 “I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols”
Psalm 81:9. “There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god”
Malachi. 3:7 “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts”
think about it. What is in your life that comes before GOD