Exodus: Little 'g' gods

 

You must love the LORD your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5

 Have you ever thought that you ought to be able to earn heaven on your own merit? You look around and see the evil in this world and, by comparison, you look pretty good! You don’t see anything particularly awful in your life. You don’t kill people, and apart from that pen you walked away with from the bank, you really don’t steal things. You live by the golden rule and generally treat people the way you want to be treated. Surely God wants a heaven full of people like you, right? Hmm…

 Shortly after parting the Red Sea and rescuing the Israelites from the Egyptians, God gave them a short list of laws, rules to live by. These were to maintain their relationship with Him but also to provide a good place for them to live. We all have laws we have to live by and they are primarily made to keep us safe and healthy. You need to wear your seatbelt and drive *about* the speed limit. Without these guidelines we’d be in constant danger and stress. When we look at the Ten Commandments, the first thing I notice is that there are, in fact, ten of them. Obvious I know, but that doesn’t seem like very many. In fact, the Jews didn’t think so either and went about adding to them, fleshing them out so to speak. I wrote about that in a previous post about the Sabbath. Backing up a bit, when man was in the Garden of Eden, he only had one rule, one law to live by, and he still messed it up! I chatted with CoPilot about Washington State’s Revised Code (RCWs) which is the listing of all the laws in our state. There is no official count published as to the number of them, but CoPilot estimates that there are tens of thousands. You see, we have more than 60 different Titles, or headings under which there are multiple chapters and sections. Title 9A alone has over 100 sections, each of those full of laws in themselves. I’m guessing that I regularly break more than a few of these, especially since I have no idea what they all are!

 Even if you simplify it down to the Ten Commandments, eschewing the additions from the Jews or any extras laws we’ve created in recent history, I don’t think any of us can measure up. “Wait!” you say. “I haven’t killed anyone or stolen any cattle!” Maybe not, but are you reading the letter of the law, or living by its Spirit? You see, in Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 21, Jesus breaks down what the law actually meant. He says that murder doesn’t only apply to actually, physically killing someone, but hating them in your heart as well. He goes on to say that thinking sexual thoughts about another person’s wife is just as bad as sleeping with her. When we start to examine our lives against the Law in this way, we don’t measure up as well. While I have felt justified in it because of what they did, I’ll admit I have hated a few people in my heart. And, you see, the Law doesn’t say, “Don’t kill anyone unless they deserve it,” it says, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), and by “murder” Jesus makes it clear that we are not to hate or kill anyone in our hearts.

 When you look at it this way, Ten Commandments seems like an awful lot! But what if we just took the most important one? In Matthew 22:31-40 Jesus had a conversation with an expert in the law who asked Him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus responded with, “Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." So we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Ok, so what would breaking that look like? When God originally gives this rule, in Exodus 20, He goes on to say that we are not to make images and worship them or misuse His Name. While most of us do not pray to statues in our homes or temples, how many of you are familiar with the phrase OMG? Every time I hear someone use that, or Jesus’ name as a curse word I flinch. It’s become such an ingrained part of our society that “everyone does it.” Those who are more sensitive might adjust it to “Oh My Gosh,” but you’re really saying the same thing…

 What’s the first thing God says when He is giving the Ten Commandments? “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3). Do you have any other gods in your life? You may not have a bobble head ganesh on the dashboard of your car, but have you allowed anything in your life to take precedence over your relationship with God? This can be different for different people, and it can even be “good” things. It could be work or your marriage or something less complex like football or your beauty routine (ok, so maybe your beauty routine is more complex than my work!). Is there something you have to do before you spend time with God or do what He has called you to? Is there something you do instead of those things? I’m not talking about missing church one Sunday to go to a football game, I’m talking about a pattern of behavior or thoughts that shows that something is more important to you than God is. These little ‘g’ gods can be deceptive and insidious. They can masquerade as good things, maybe even things you have been called to by God, but ultimately they are pulling you away from Him. Yes, God has told me that I am to be a good mom, but if my kids become more important to me than God, they are a god. Yes, God says I am to become one with my husband and honor him, but if he becomes more important to me than God, he is a god.

 So how do we avoid this? It seems insidious, infiltrating every aspect of our lives! Yep, that’s sin! That’s how it works. Apart from God, we are helpless to its power, but praise Jesus, He made a way for us! First, we have to acknowledge that we are sinners, we have sinned, we are sinning (Romans 3:23). But, thankfully, God knew this about us and while we were still dead in our sin, Jesus died for us on the cross, taking our punishment (Romans 5:8). What do we need to do to receive this gift? Do we have to embark on a pilgrimage or stop cutting our hair or any other manner of absolution? No! Romans 10:9 is very clear that the only thing we are to do is confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts in Jesus and what He did for us. Romans 10:13 and 5:1 confirm that by doing this we are saved and have peace with God through Jesus. Once we have made this choice in our lives, we are no longer under the condemnation of our sin, but we can walk in freedom (Romans 8:1-2). Together these scriptures make up what theologians have called the “Romans Road” or a path to living in right relationship with God that was laid out in the book of Romans in the New Testament.

Here's the Thing: It’s not about measuring ourselves against the rest of the world, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, but measuring ourselves against Jesus and His perfect sinlessness. Compared to Him, all our good works are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). I’ll paint an even more graphic picture for you, in that verse the phrase “filthy rags” actually referred to those used by a woman during her period. Eww, right? Compared to Jesus, we can never measure up, but with Jesus, we are justified and have peace with God.