Exodus 20:1-26

God has come down to the mountain in order to tell His people His will.  It must have been an amazing experience to hear the voice of God echoing through the valley and to see the mountain covered in smoke and seeing the lightning flash with thunder all around.  If there was any doubt about God’s presence with them it should have been done away with at this point.  The experience was so terrifying for the people that they told Mosses that they feared for their lives and would much rather that he alone hear the voice of God and then they would know God’s will from what he told them to do.  Knowing the will of God is a precious gift that the people were given.  They heard it in a voice and we have it in writing.  There is no question about the blessing we have of knowing God and His will.  The question that must be constantly asked is if we are obeying God’s will.

GOD COMMANDS HIS PEOPLE TO LOVE HIM: The first four of the Ten Commandments tell us how we are to love God.  He demands exclusive allegiance and adoration from us.  He will not share His authority or right to be worshiped with any other deity or object of worship.  When we worship God, we are to worship Him alone and not make objects that are meant to represent Him out of an excuse to “help” us in worship.  God is a Spirit and He demands that we worship Him for who He is and not try to substitute Him in any way.  His name is to be kept holy and not used in vain repetitions or in blasphemous ways.  God is to hold the highest place in our hearts and is to be the only person we worship.  He has made us to be worshipers and we all worship but we must be very aware of the fact that our hearts are very prone to create false idols as objects of worship in the form of people, things and most often ourselves.  We must learn to be in awe of God and His name.  We must guard our hearts from false gods and guard our lips from flippantly using the holy name of our Lord.

GOD COMMANDS HIS PEOPLE TO LOVE OTHERS: The last six commandments tell us how we are to love one another in a way that it pure, holy and consistent with the character of God.  Our parents are to hold a special place in our lives and we are to obey them as children and honor them as long as we live.  Submission to the people God places in authority over us is a key to living in accordance with His will and being happy and blessed by God.  We are to be honest with our words and our actions.  We are to be satisfied with God’s provision in our lives and not lust over that which God has given to others.  Human life is to be honored as men bear the image of God.  God calls us to respect the people around us and reflect His character in our relationships with them.  We cannot truly worship God if we do not purely love people.

GOD TEACHES HIS PEOPLE HOW TO WORSHIP HIM: We are not free to worship God in the way of our choosing.  He has told us how to worship Him.  We must not make objects of worship.  The altars on which sacrifices were made should not be the center of attention.  God demands that He alone be the focus of our worship.  Satan constantly tries to distract us from true worship by trying to make us worship other object or focus on the places of our worship.  The point is that we are not to worship God in ways that make us “feel” like we are worshiping.  We are to worship God just as He has commanded us.  His person is to be the only focus of our affections and the people who bear His image are to be treated with respect and honesty.  Worship is not about us it is about Him.  

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