Episode 43: The First Commandment
The First Commandment
You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
What does it mean to have a God?
· A god is whatever you fear, love, and trust in.
· What is an idol? An idol is a false god.
· Large Catechism: “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress. So, to have a God is nothing other than trusting and believing him with the heart. I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and idol. If your faith and trust is right, then your god is also true. On the other hand, if your trust is false and wrong, then you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God [Hebrews 11:6]. Now, I say that whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god.”
· Because whatever you trust in is your god, virtually anything can become your god. Mammon/money is a common false god warned against in Scripture (Matthew 6:24; Luke 12:16-2; 1 Timothy 6:10). However, anything that you trust in can be your idol.
o “So, too, whoever trusts and boasts that he has great skill, prudence, power, favor, friendship, and honor also has a god. But it is not the true and only God. This truth reappears when you notice how arrogant, secure, and proud people are because of such possessions, and how despondent they are when the possessions no longer exist or are withdrawn. Therefore, I repeat that the chief explanation of this point is that to ‘have a god’ is to have something in which the heart entirely trusts.” LC 1:10.
o “For no people have ever been so corrupt that they did not begin and continue some divine worship. Everyone has set up his special god whatever he looked to for blessings, help, and comfort.” LC 1:17
The Lord God is the only true God.
· Isaiah 44:6: Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
“I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.”
· “Let the following point be made to the simple; then they may well note and remember the meaning of this commandment: We are to trust in God alone and look to Him and expect from Him nothing but good, as from one who gives us body, life, food, drink, nourishment, health, protection, peace, and all necessaries of both temporal and eternal things.” LC 1:24
· Who is the only true God?
o I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. (Isaiah 42:8)
o And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:18-19)
o yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Cor. 8:6)
o The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)
o The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three Persons, yet one God.
Do not confuse the means by which God cares for you for the source of your goods.
· “Even though we experience much good from other people, whatever we receive by God’s command or arrangement is all received from God. For our parents and all rulers and everyone else, with respect to his neighbor, have received from God the command that they should do us all kinds of good. So we received these blessings not from them, but through them, from God. For creatures are only the hands, channels, and means by which God gives all things. So He gives to the mother breasts and milk to offer to her child, and He gives corn and all kinds of produce from the earth for nourishment [Psalm 104:27-28; 147:8-9]. None of these blessings could be produced by any creature of itself.” LC 1:26
· “For this reason also, the way we receive good gifts through creatures are not to be rejected. Nor should we arrogantly seek other ways and means than what God has commanded. For that would not be receiving from God, but seeking for ourselves.” LC 1:27:
o This precludes stealing and any other cheating, being lazy or an enthusiast. See also how Jesus deals with this temptation in Matthew 4 regarding the turning rocks into bread.
The First Commandment is the First and Greatest Commandment, which rules the First Table (and the Second!)
· “Let everyone, then, see to it that he value this commandment great and high above all things. Do not regard it as a joke!” LC 1:28
· This is indeed the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37-38; Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This commandment not only rules the other two commandments under the first table of the Law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. But it rules every commandment in the Ten Commandments. This is why Luther begins the explanation of each commandment, “You should fear and love God, so that…”
God threatens to punish those who break this commandment.
· God has added a terrible threat and a beautiful, and comforting promise regarding this commandment. He also commands that we impress it on our children (Exodus 20:5-6; Deuteronomy 6:7).
What does it mean to fear God above all things?
· The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. (Proverbs 8:13)
· And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
(Psalm 96:4-13)
· But with You there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:4)
· Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.” (Exodus 20:20)
· “As a father shows compassion to his child, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.” Psalm 103
· The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments; his praise endureth forever (Psalm 111:10)
· The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
· The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility. (Proverbs 15:33)
· To fear God means to recognize him as the ultimate judge, to fear God’s wrath for doing wrong, and to hate what is evil. The fear of the Lord is to look at God for all good and to desire to learn from him.
What does it mean to love God above all things?
· Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)
· In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. … We love because he first loved us.If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:10, 19-21)
· If you love me, you will keep my commandments. … Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:15, 23-24)
· To love God means that we worship Him alone as our God and dedicate our lives to Him.
What does it mean to trust God?
· Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
(Matthew 6:25-34)
· To trust in God above all things means to depend on God for all things and expect every good thing from him.
What is the first table of the law?
· (Matthew 22:37-38)
· You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
Bible Stories to Teach the First Commandment
· Golden Calf: Exodus 32
· Three Men in the Firey Furnace: Daniel 3
· Consider the lilies of the field: Luke 12; Matthew 6:24ff
· Literally every chapter of the Bible…
The Implicit Promise in this Commandment
· The Lord God is worth fearing, loving, and trusting in! Matthew 6:24ff.
Conclusion
· The First Commandment is the first and greatest commandment.
· Whatever you fear, love, and trust in most is your god.
· All are guilty of breaking this commandment. If you break any of the commandments, you have broken this one.
· The Lord God is worthy to be your God. You can trust in Him.