Reasons to Put God First
A Wednesday Evening Bible Study (1)

Exodus 20:1-7

Jim Davis

You have probably read the bumper sticker "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven." That bumper sticker gives me a tinge of uneasiness. It makes me uneasy when Christians use it for a copout for irresponsibility. As we see the moral decline in the world infecting Christians, we must realize that Christians are responsible. Too many Christians have misunderstood grace by thinking that grace nullifies the law. We are saved from the condemnation of the law through Christ, but the law holds us accountable to live lives worthy of Christ's calling. Grace saves but it doesn't make us any less accountable to God, in fact grace furthers our obligation us to God.

Romans 13:8-14
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. (NIV)

In Deuteronomy when Moses called the Israelites together for the purpose of reminding them of the Law they received at Mt. Sinai, he repeatedly used three significant words. The word "hear" is used over thirty times, the word "learn" was used seven times, and the word "observe" was used over one hundred times. Each of these words demands obedience from the people of God. When Moses records the Ten Commandments in the book of Deuteronomy just before Israel crossed Jordan to occupy the land of Canaan, Moses reminds Israel of the Law given at Mount Sinai. Moses writes, "The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive" (Deuteronomy 5:3). This indicates that the law is given to each succeeding generation.

The New Testament does not nullify our need to obey the moral precepts found in the Law of Moses. There are many reasons why Israel was commanded to be obedient to the Law of Moses. Grace multiplies the reasons why we should be obedient to these moral precepts. Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). He actually came to show us how to live by the law's moral precepts. He came to justify us through his sacrifice, which satisfied the laws demand for justice.

It is the very nature of God that sets the law's bounds. God's law is not arbitrary, but it defines the essence of his nature. God must be true to the law, or else he denies his very nature. Although the law was an expression of his nature, it was necessary for him to meet the just demands of the law through the giving of his own Son. His nature demanded justice for sin, but his nature also required that he meet the just demands of the law through the sacrifice of his Son. It was the law that demanded a sacrifice for our freedom; it was God who provided the sacrifice. It was in Christ that justice and mercy met at the cross providing the means of God's grace for each of us.

Today it is grace that motivates us to keep the law, while we rely upon Christ's sacrifice to save us from the condemnation of the law when we fail. Law needs love and grace as its driving force and it requires the sacrifice of Christ for our sins as we fail to live up to the perfect standard of the law.

The first commandment requires that God have first place or no place. The ancient world worshipped a multiplicity of Gods but none of those religions required that their gods have first place. The Law of Moses was unique in that it required Israel to have only on God. Moses informs Israel why she must worship God.

1. The reasons Israel must be faithful to God.

God is to be their God because of who He is. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible during the forty-year wilderness period. In those books Moses revealed God as the source and sustainer of their lives. God is creator of heaven and earth and they are made in his image.

Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (NIV)

Moses wanted the Israelites to understand that morality began with God. All morality begins with the person and nature of God. Moses seeks to establish the relation of the person of God and the law. The thunder, lightning and the cloud at Mt. Sinai along with all the miraculous plagues in Egypt created the relation between the person and the law, for those miracles and laws revealed the nature and person of God.

The same reason applies to those of us in Christ, because Christ came to show us the Father. He came to show us how to live according to the moral precepts of the law. The law was fleshed out in Christ.

John 1:1-3,14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NIV)

John 14:15
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. (NIV)

The law becomes the guideline for those who have been confronted by God, because the law emanates from the very nature of God. The love of Christ becomes the motivating force.

God is to be their God because of His faithfulness to them. God made a promise to their forefathers and he has held himself accountable to them. It is amazing to me how God has held himself accountable to us by the promises he has made.

Genesis 12:1-3
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (NIV)

Deuteronomy 7:8-9
But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. (NIV)

We must obey God because he has been faithful to each of us in carrying out his promise to Abraham. God's faithfulness is extended to each of us through Jesus Christ. Christ was the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham to bless all the families of the earth (Matthew 1:1ff). When we put on Christ in baptism, we become an heir of the promise to Abraham (Galatians 3:26-29).

God is to be their God because of what He has done for them. God has demonstrated his willingness to be involved in their lives.

Exodus 13:3
Then Moses said to the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. (NIV)

We must be obedient to God because he was also leading us out of bondage when he led Israel out of bondage. Our future hope of heaven was made possible because of what God did for the Israelites in Egypt. This is why Christ has become our Passover as he was sacrificed as our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7)

God is to be their God because He wishes to bless Israel. God's covenant with Israel manifest his willingness to enter into their lives to bestow his blessings upon them.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14
If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock-- the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity-- in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground-- in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you. The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them. (NIV)

We must realize that our obedience is not without the promised blessings of God. Jesus promises blessing to the faithful.

Matthew 19:29-30
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. (NIV)

God is to be their God because His love disciplines Israel. Where there is no discipline there is no love. God's willingness to discipline Israel was proof of his willingness to enter into a covenant relationship with them. Just read the following verses in Deuteronomy as God enters their lives to warn them of the consequences of disobedient.

Deuteronomy 28:14-68

God's continues to discipline his children and it is his discipline that proves that we are his sons.

Hebrews 12:5-11
And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (NIV)

2. God would test the sincerity of their effort to put him first.

They would be tested by false prophets. Nothing demonstrates our willingness to follow God more than the leaders we choose to lead us. Leaders are simply a reflection of the purpose and direction of our lives. They are a reflection of the values we hold.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5
If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you. (NIV)

1 Samuel 8:6-18
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." (NIV)

False prophets and people with less than pure motives test our faithfulness to God.

Acts 20:28-32
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (NIV)

They would be tested on the basis of how they treated their fellow Hebrews.

Deuteronomy 15:12-18
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do. (NIV)

Moses says, "Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you." This rule extends to us through Christ.

Matthew 7:12-14
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (NIV)

The Israelites faithfulness was tested on the basis of their relationship to the world.

Exodus 34:12-16
Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. "Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. (NIV)

Judges 2:1-5
The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you." When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD. (NIV)

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (NIV)

Conclusion:

Putting God first is the basis of all morality and the very basis of all human relationships. The Bible has hundreds of commands that relate to our spiritual and ethical lives, but it all begins with this first command to put God first.

How we behave is the only way we have of seeing ourselves in relationship to God. If we fail to exalt God in our lives, there will be no permanent change. Shouting commandments and threats at people will not produce change. Change begins with a vision of God in relation to our lives as we relate to others.