Listen here.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” What does this mean? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

Everyone has a god. The pagans surrounding and living in Israel worshipped Baal, Moloch, and others. The Greeks had many gods – Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, etc. Today, Hindus worship Vishnu, and Muslims worship Allah. These pagan religions all give names to the false gods they worship, but even people who are atheists, people who believe there is only stuff, have a god. Their god just happens to be stuff; Ro. 1:[24-25] says they worship the created rather than the Creator. Atheists give god-like attributes to matter – they say it has always existed and controls everything. And Paul concludes in Php. 3:[19], “Their god is their belly.” When the true God is not worshipped or recognized, something – an idol, or another false god – always fills that void.

Idolatry is what sinners do. And even as Christians, we need to be aware that our hearts quickly turn to idols. We heard how quickly God’s people turned to idols in our Old Testament lesson (Ex. 32:1-35). Just like them, we grow impatient with God and doubt His promises. Rather than trusting God to provide for us, we trust our money. Rather than trusting God’s mercy and faithfulness, we trust our good works. An idol isn’t only a statue that you bow down to, an idol is anything you fear, love, or trust more than God which is why the explanation to the 1^stCommandment is an extremely helpful tool to diagnose ourselves. Anything you fear, love, or trust more than God is your idol.

So, let’s consider each of these.

First, fear. We are to fear God above all things. Too often, we think that fearing God is an outdated notion. But Jesus says in Mt. 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both the soul and body in hell.” The punishment for ignoring and breaking God’s commands is eternity in hell. But fearing God does not mean that we forget the rest of the Bible – especially the Gospel. We remember that Christ suffered the wrath and punishment of God that we deserve when He died on the cross.

Here is a helpful analogy about fearing God: Imagine that you are driving along in your car, and you worried about your finances, worried about your marriage, and worried about the huge drifts on the roof of your house. All these thoughts are swirling around in your head while you are stopped at a light. Suddenly, someone jumps into the passenger seat holding a gun and says, “Drive now! I’ll tell you where to go.” You frantically follow their directions fearing for your life. You are shaking, crying, and terrified, but you follow those directions to the letter. All the things you were worried about are suddenly gone, and you aren’t worried about anything except this lunatic in your passenger seat. After a few frantic minutes, you muster up the courage to ask, “What do you want with me? I’ll give you anything.” And the passenger says, “I don’t want anything from you. There’s an assassin after you, and I’m here to protect you.” Now, you aren’t afraid of anything, you are simply relieved. When you fear nothing but God, who alone is to be feared, the Gospel tells you that He is the God who has come to save you.

We are to fear God, and we are to love God above all things. Love of God does not come naturally to us. Instead, we love ourselves. We seek our own good, desire our own honor, and pursue our own interests. If you want to identify your idols, just think about the things that have kept you from being at a worship service, reading the Scriptures, or praying – those are your idols. Repent.

Repent and remember that God Himself is love, and He demonstrates His love in that while you were still a sinner, Christ died for you (Ro. 5:8). It is this love of God for us that motivates our love for Him and for our neighbor. If you want to be more loving, bask yourself in God’s love for you.

Finally, trust. We are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. When you are sick, do you trust your doctor to give you good treatment? When you are cold, do you trust your furnace to keep your house warm? When you are hungry, do you trust that you have enough money, and do you trust the grocery store to have food? That’s good. You should.

But you should also look behind your doctor, your furnace, your money, and the store to the God who has provided all of those things. Always remember that God is your heavenly Father who has promised to care for all of your needs – body and soul. He feeds the birds and clothes the grass, and He has fed and clothed you spiritually as well because of what Christ has done. From God alone, you receive all good things, and He has delivered you from all evil. So, trust Him remembering that He has given you a reason to trust Him.

Before God gave the first of these Ten Commandments, He said something important that we too often forget. All the Commandments are prefaced with this statement by God, “I am the Lordyour God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Now, you haven’t been enslaved in Egypt – at least, I don’t think any of you have been. But you have been delivered by God in a more important way.

The Lordyour God is the God who delivered you out of this sinful world. He has brought you out of your slavery to sin. He has already proven Himself to be a faithful, loving, gracious, merciful God by sending His only begotten Son to die for your sins. When He tells you, “Have no other gods before Me,” He is saying, “Let Me be your God, and Me alone. Don’t fear anything else; fear Me. Don’t love anything above Me because I’m behind all good things. Trust Me because I will never fail you and never forsake you.” He is inviting you to let Him alone be your God. He is, in fact, giving you Himself.

So, fear Him alone who has delivered you. Love Him alone who loves you more deeply than you can possibly imagine. Trust Him alone who is trustworthy. And you will never be disappointed (Ro. 10:11). Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.