Life Group Leaders’ Notes
Series: Living God’s Way
Title: You Shall Have No Other God's Before Me
Key Text: Exodus 20:1-3
We begin our new preaching series called ‘Living God’s Way’ as we learn how to ‘Build on the best foundation’. Over the coming week’s we will be focusing on the most famous rules God has given to guard and guide the world. They are known as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments have shaped history and formed the very basis of western civilisation. They represent the core Biblical principles on ethics and worship in Judaism and Christianity.
The text of the Ten Commandments, given by God on stone tablets and handed to Moses in the Sinai desert, appears twice in the Bible in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. God regarded these laws are so fundamental for his people to grasp, that he personally inscribed them onto stone tablets – signifying their importance as an unchanging truth that will endure forever.
God Sets The Rules (Exodus 20:1)
God's Rules Are For Good (Exodus 3; Exodus 2:1-2)
God Calls Us To Live By His Rules (Deuteronomy 5:1-7; Matthew 22:37-38)
Apply
The Ten Commandments are very relevant for each and every one of us.
They apply to Christians: Just because they appear in the Old Testament doesn’t mean that they have been abolished because of the New Testament. To receive the grace of God doesn’t mean that we should not follow the moral laws of God. Jesus emphasised the importance of the Ten Commandments (Matthew 5:17). God’s law sets the standard for us to live by and shows us how much we need His help when we fail.
They apply to non-Christians: God chose Israel to be ‘a light to the nations.’ In other words, they were to be the standard bearers of God’s righteous principles showing all peoples how to live in good relationship with God and one another. John Wesley, along with a great many other Bible based Christians, understood that Old Testament ceremonial law was abolished through Christ. But he declared that the moral law, which is contained in the Ten Commandments, still stands for all times. In Wesley's Sermons, Vol. I, Sermon 25 he said: Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind in all ages, as not depending either on time or place, nor on any other circumstances liable to change.’
Today, however, all over the world there is a great spiritual battle being fought over the importance and relevance of the Ten Commandments. This battle, one way or another, will affect every one of us whether young or old and every part of life and society. So, in cultures and nations, where so many now reject all rules and restraints, we should be clear on what the Bible actually teaches about the Ten commandments.
God sets the rules
Exodus 20:1 says ‘…and God spoke all these words.
The Bible teaches that there is a God and He has spoken to human being about how to live. He gave Ten Commandments. He did not make ten suggestions. He set absolute standards that are not to be changed by anyone and for anyone’s person interest. He did this because he is far superior in His wisdom, character and power to any man or woman. He called and He calls the shots because He is the ultimate authority overall over the heavens and the earth. He sees the big picture. So do you accept there being a supreme God who has the authority who declares what is right and wrong about morality? Or do you, in effect want to become god and do whatever you want and make up your own laws?
As Charles Colson points out in his book Against the Night/living in the New Dark ages that if there is no God and no absolute standards then ‘ethical judgements become merely expressions of feeling or preference. Murder is wrong must be translated ‘I hate murder or I prefer that you not murder. Thus moral claims are reduced to the level of opinion.’1
One He decided to reject the Commandments, he felt free to do whatever he wanted. He set himself up as god and was worshipped as such for a time.
As Christians we need to see the importance of the teaching of the Ten Commandments for the wellbeing of individuals, families and nations. With them they form a sure foundation for society. Without them trouble, division and collapse will inevitably follow.
Gods rules are for our good
Well who is this God who sets the rules? Is He some mean and nasty tyrant who wants to enslave you? Actually, it is the complete opposite. He is the God who wants you to live in freedom. When human beings set themselves as God and refuse to be accountable to any absolute standards, they become self-interested oppressors and exploiters.
But they the Bible says that God saw the great misery of the Hebrews slaves under the Egyptian tyrant Pharaoh. He told Moses (Exodus 3:7). And that is what God reminds them of as an introduction to the 10 Commandments. Exodus 20:1-2 says: And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Before he lays out the Ten Commandments God reminds them of His great compassion and faithfulness towards them. When no one else cared for them in Egypt, the Lord did. When no one else could help them, the Lord intervened on their behalf. When they could see no way out of their captivity, He set them free.
The Lord wanted them to remember that all He had done for them. All that He is going to say to them with the commandments is because He, like no one else has their best interests at heart. Particularly for people who have experienced a negative religious background it is so important to understand the context of the rules God sets out for His people and the world. It all flows from a heart of amazing love.
Billy Graham stated: "God didn't give us the Ten Commandments … because He hates us and wants to make our lives miserable, God loves us, and just as a loving parent won't let their child wander into the traffic, so God loves us too much to sit back and watch us destroy ourselves."
God calls us to live by his rules
Deuteronomy 5: 1-7 says: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. Let’s just look at what we must do in relation to the Ten Commandments. We must…
Know the commandments….hear what God has said.
Learn them….memorise them
Put them into practice: obey.
And the first and greatest commandment is this…. ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ Every other commandment flows from this commandment.
In Egypt there had been many gods, gods worshipping the sun, the earth, the sky and animals of kinds. But all of them were false gods, empty gods, gods who were powerless against the intervention of the one true God. And the Lord was saying to the Israelites don’t have anything to do with any other so called god. Don’t put your trust in them. Break totally with the culture of Egypt. Just stay focussed on me. Stay dependant on me. I am your hope. I am your deliverer. I have been faithful to you now be sure to be faithful to me.
Today that challenge still rings out for every Christian. Don’t let your lives be ruled by the gods of today: sport, money, fame, sex, work, status, science, education etc. All these are false gods that will fail you. Just come close to me. (Matthew 22:37-38)
