The First Commandment

Exodus 20: 3 (“You shall have no other gods before me. “)

If you remember our last discussion about whether the Ten Commandments seem narrow to you, we did find out that they point the way to a happy, fulfilled life if stated in a more positive way. Someone has said, “You may do what is wrong, but you never will make it work.” That’s a profound truth. The Ten Commandments are given by God to show us “what works.” 

What Does the First Commandment Demand of Us?

With that background we turn to consider the First Commandment—"You shall have no other Gods before me.” Note that the Commandments begin with God—not with man. We start with the vertical—not the horizontal—because until a man has a right relationship with God, his relationships with other men will never be right.

Even the order of the Commandments teaches us that God must come first.

We sum up this Commandment in three simple statements:

1. You must have a God.
2. You must have only one God.
3. Your God must be the God of the Bible.

God must be first. That’s where the Ten Commandments begin. Joy Davidman puts it this way: “Whatever we desire, whatever we love, whatever we find worth suffering for, will be Dead Sea fruit in our mouths unless we remember that God comes first.”

But what does this mean in a practical sense? What is demanded of us?

1) Loyalty. A man purchased a statue of Christ at an auction and put it in the living room. The next day his wife decided the statue belonged in a different room. When their five-year-old daughter saw her mother moving the statue, she blurted out, “Where are you going to put God?”

Great question. Where are you going to put God? That’s what the First Commandment is asking you: “Where are you going to put God? Will he have the first place in your life? Or will you stick him in some out-of-the-way place where he won’t cause any trouble?”

God must be first! That’s the message that rings out from Mount Sinai. He won’t play second fiddle. He won’t take second place. He must be first in your life. And that means loyalty to him.

In one of his books Chuck Colson tells of speaking to a group of Hindus in India. As he shared his testimony about Jesus Christ, he found them extraordinarily attentive. They smile and nodded and agreed with everything he said. Afterwards he commented to his hosts on how receptive his audience had been to the Christian gospel.

“Oh no,” they explained, “You don’t understand. To the Hindus Jesus is just one among many gods. To them, you “accepting” Christ is like them accepting another god into their list of gods. Jesus is just one of many gods to the Hindus.”

A few days later Colson spoke to another audience of Hindus and had a similar experience. But this time a Hindu scholar came up afterward and said, “I believe exactly what you believe.” Chuck decided to put him to the test. “I don’t think you really believe what I believe. When I say Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I mean he is God come in human flesh. He is not just one among many or even the best of many, but he is the one true God who appeared on earth in human flesh. You must give your complete and supreme allegiance to this Jesus Christ who came from heaven—to him and to no one else.”

The Hindu thought for a moment and said, “You’re right. I don’t believe what you believe. Now I must go home and think about the things you have said.”

That’s the issue, isn’t it? Jesus Christ must have the first place in your life. He will not share his glory with anyone or with anything. He must be first—not simply the first among many or the best of the rest—but he must be pre-eminent in all things. 

2)  Honesty. The First Commandment calls us to personal honesty concerning our ultimate allegiance. Here’s a simple test. Take five minutes this week to get alone in a quiet place and answer these questions: Who or what is my god? What am I dedicating my life to? Where have I placed my ultimate allegiance? What things in life are most important to me?

If we are honest, some of us will not find it easy to deal with those questions because they probe at a difficult and deep level. You say, “Jesus Christ is my God.” Is he really? Does he have your full allegiance? Is it possible that while claiming to worship Jesus Christ, you are in truth worshiping an entirely different set of gods?

—Your business could be your god.
—Your career could be your god.
—Your education could be your god.
—Your social set could be your god.
—Your family—yes, even your children—could be your god.

Think about the way you spend your money, the way you spend your leisure time, the things you daydream about when life gets dull.

What’s a god? It’s anything that provides your ultimate source of meaning and happiness in life. How easy it is for everyday concerns to be elevated to godlike status, even by religious people who go to church every Sunday!

Everyone has a god! Even the atheist has made a “god” out of his belief in no god. Everyone looks to someone or something for meaning and happiness and fulfillment in life. The First Commandment is God’s way of saying, “Make sure you look at me first. Give me first place in your life.”

3) Repentance. Repentance! What does repentance have to do with the First Commandment? Everything!

—"No other gods”     —"No substitutes”      —"No cheap imitations”        —"No silence”

No silence! Yes, this commandment demands not only inner loyalty, but outward allegiance.

What is there to repent of? 

—Our moral cowardice                                            

—Our complicity with evil
—Our tendency to substitute human gods for the true God
—Our failure to speak out when God’s name is blasphemed
—Our silence in the time of crisis.

We kill babies in America. Where is the church of Jesus Christ? If He were here, would He be silent? Would He look the other way? How can His people remain silent while the unborn are slaughtered?

“Repent,” says the Lord. “Change your evil ways. You are my people, yet you have turned away from me. I must have first place in your life.”

4) Courage. It wasn’t easy for Moses to bring these words to Israel. The people lived in a world filled with false gods:

—Isis               —Moloch        —Baal       —Astarte        —Ashtoroth

Ancient names to us; daily realities for the Israelites. They lived in a world that offered them a god of fertility, a god of the harvest, a god of the sun and a god of the moon. To them, this call to pure monotheism was a call to reject the world they saw around them every day.

Courage! That’s what it takes to say no to the false gods.

We take these words so lightly. But God is deadly serious when he says “No other gods.” He means it!

Exclusive? Yes!         Intolerant? Yes!         Non-pluralistic? Yes! Jealous? Yes!       

Biblical religion is all of those things. Thus it is that true religion always runs against the spirit of the age. Here in America we have made a trinity of false gods:

Diversity          Tolerance       Pluralism 

These are false gods! And we have bowed down before them!

Writing in the aftermath of World War II, Elton Trueblood looked back to those few brave German Christians who had the courage to oppose Adolph Hitler. When so many others went along or simply kept silent, a few, a courageous handful, would not go along with the majority. Trueblood asked the question, “What made these people different? Why did they say no when everyone else said yes?” His answer was simple: “They had the First Commandment.”

That made all the difference. When you have the First Commandment, when you take it seriously as a way of life, you find the courage to stand against the crowd.

Let’s wrap up this first message with four simple points of application.

First Steps to New Life

1. We desperately need the Ten Commandments because we have drifted far from God’s design for life.

2. Because the drift has been personal, the return must be personal.

3. The return begins with a personal commitment to put God first in everything.

4. When we contemplate our lives in light of the First Commandment, we are driven to the cross of Jesus Christ. We understand our primary reliance on God’s Grace.

Romans 10: 4 says that “Christ is the end of the law for all who believe.” There are many ways to understand that verse, but it means at least this much: When we read the Ten Commandments and when we begin to examine our lives in light of God’s high demands, we are driven to the cross of Christ.

Life begins when you come to Jesus Christ. Until then you are merely existing. The First Commandment says, “Put God first and you will find life.”

St. Augustine put it well when he said, “Our hearts are made for Thee, O God, and we will not find rest, until we come to rest in Thee.” The First Commandment says, “Put God first and you will find rest.”

The first step to life is to take the First Commandment seriously. And the first step in the First Commandment is to consider your life in light of the cross of Christ. Embrace the cross. Put Christ at the center of your life. Confess him as Lord and Savior.

There are nine other commandments but they will do you no good unless you remember that Jesus Christ comes first.

Amen.