Series: The Ten Commandments
The First Commandment: No Other Gods
Exodus 20:1-3, NRSV
Matthew 22:34-40, NRSV
Reflections
Anything can serve as a counterfeit god, especially the very best things in life… A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living. [It] has such a controlling position in your heart that you can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial resources, on it without a second thought… [It] is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” There are many ways to describe that kind of relationship to something, but perhaps the best one is worship.
— Tim Keller
Counterfeit Gods
- We have so many gods to please, to serve, in our lives
- The more we try to please, to serve, we get so little back in return
- How the Israelites tried to please and serve the Pharaoh in Egypt during the time of famine, and ended up being slaves in Egypt
- The First Commandment is to establish God’s identity, identity of God’s people
- Sometimes we think the misery we know is better than the mystery we don’t know
- Sometimes we stop short of exploring and knowing more about God, once we hear something we like or not like about God
- God exposes other counterfeit gods, that they are needy, that it is a dead god until you start serving it
- “If I give you this, I’ll get what I need from you”
