Overview
of the First Four Commandments
An
outline from last Sunday, as we looked at the first four commandments
concerning our duty to God, (Exodus 20).
That duty is summed up in the
requirement to love God with the totality of our being. Love demonstrates itself in obedience. The first four commands are essentially
concerned with the worship of God. We therefore show our love by keeping God’s
commandments regarding his worship.
1
WHY we
worship – v1, 2. He is our personal
God and powerful redeemer.
2
WHOM we
worship – v3. There are to be no other
gods before God’s face. This excludes the worship of false gods, (paganism),
the worship of a god of our own imagination, (pseudo-christian liberalism), and
the worship of those less than God, (Mary and saints).
3
HOW we
worship – v 4 – 7.
3.1 Not by the use of images or icons, which can not
represent the infinite God. Icons of
Christ fail to truly represent his deity – we worship the whole Christ, not
merely his humanity.
3.2 Not by insincerity in worship. We use his name in vain
when we do that in worship that he has not commanded.
4
WHEN we
worship. This is a principle imbedded in
the very heart of the moral law. For
Christians the day has changed but the principle has been preserved.
5
Conclusion
– we view these four worship commandments
through the lens of Christ, his person and
work. He is the reason why we worship, our personal God and powerful
redeemer. He is the one whom we
worship alongside the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Triune God. He is the one who directs us how to
worship, in spirit and truth, and in simplicity and sincerity. We need no visual representation because
Christ, the reality is present by his Spirit. He is the one who dictates when
we worship, on the Lord’s Day or Jesus’ Day.
When we preach the commandments we guard the purity of
the worship of God. Ignorance of the
first four commandments is the reason that so much evangelical worship is
sub-biblical.
This is simply a skeleton. Personal application was imbedded throughout.
