WORSHIPPING THE WRONG GODS
Posted by: rabuening <rabuening@...>
WORSHIPPING THE WRONG GODS
God’s Top Ten #2
Exodus 20:1-3
I.Intro.
A.the first commandment can be summed up in three words: “no other gods”
B.one of the most stupid things people can do to mess up their lives is to worship the wrong god
C.why does the Ten Commandments, which is basically a moral code, begin with our perception of God
1.what is the big deal about how people worship; can we not have good values without God or religion
2.our public schools have promoted "situation ethics,” while at the same time removing God
D.how successful has the new morality effort been
1.there is more crime and immorality exhibited by young people than ever before in human history
2.the lesson that should scream out at us is that moral principles must be based upon theology
3.no concept of right and wrong can be effective and long lasting, unless it is based on a right concept of God, but why is this
a)because people inevitably become like the gods they worship
b)if a man worships an immoral god, like Baal of the Philistines, he will become an immoral
c)if we worships a cruel and harsh god, like Allah, we will become unloving, unkind and intolerant
d)if we worships the god of humanism and individualism, we will become a slave to our own appetites and impulses
e)a man’s god will dictate his conduct; consciously or subconsciously
II.what does the First Commandment assert - 3
A.the First Commandment is stated as a negative, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"
B.the underlying intent of this commandment is, "You must have Me, the one and only God" - 2
C.the statement, Thou shalt have no other gods before me" is a clear claim of monotheism: a belief in one God
III.what does the First Commandment forbid
A.there are several views besides monotheism that have been held by tribes and nations, throughout history
B.all of them should be rejected because of the first commandment
C.the first is atheism, the notion that there is no God
1.some would have us think atheism is the product of an enlightened society or the scientific age
2.they say that ancient man needed to believe in a God in order to explain the wonders of nature, but we know better today; we have Darwinism, therefore who needs God
3.the fact is, atheism has been around for thousands of years
4.we do not have to be a modern intellectual to be an atheist, all we have to be is a fool; and there have always been plenty of those around
5.the Psalmist wrote 3,000 years ago, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no god" – Psalm 14:1
6.a detective who ignored the fingerprints at a crime scene would be a foolish detective
7.the atheist is a fool because he ignores the clear fingerprints of God on this universe – Romans 1:19-20
D.the second view is agnosticism, which holds that there is not enough information to know whether there is a God or not
1.on the surface, agnosticism is a more rational position than atheism
2.the agnostic does not claim to know absolutely that there is no God
3.most agnostics are practical atheists, because while they acknowledge that they are unsure whether there is a god, they generally live like there is none
E.the third view is deism, a view that God created the world, but never interferes with it
1.He set in place immutable laws of natural, and now nature provides all we need to live by
2.deism is renounced in the verse that precedes the 1st Commandments – Exodus 20:2
F.the fourth view is henotheism, the belief in a national god or a tribal deity
1.henotheists worship only their own god, but acknowledge that the gods of other nations are as real as their own
a)when an ancient tribe conquered a neighbors, they not only seized their possessions and women, but also their gods
b)they believed such an action would give them continuing dominance over their enemies
2.there is a rebirth of henotheism among many mainline church liberals today
a)they profess to believe in the Christian God and pay lip service to Him
b)they tend to view the Christian God as the tribal deity of white, Anglo-Saxon capitalists
c)in an effort to be tolerant and broad-minded, they grant equal status to Allah, Buddha, Confucius
G.the fifth view is polytheism, which is a belief in many gods
1.most ancient cultures of the world were polytheistic, and many still are
a)the best known is Hinduism, which worships many gods
b)Mormonism is also polytheistic in that it teaches that men are able to become gods
2.in OT days the prophets were particularly concerned about a certain kind of polytheism
a)when Moses delivered the Ten Commandments, the Israelites had just escaped from the polytheism of Egypt, but they were heading for an even worse polytheism in Canaan called "Baal worship"
b)the most dangerous aspect of Baal worship is that it was a fertility cult, practicing sacred prostitution in the temples of Baal
c)it turned sexual immorality into an act of worship, and gluttony and drunkenness into a way of praising the gods
d)if there were to be any chance for God’s people to survive morally and spiritually in that kind of world, they had to begin with a solid and clear view of God
e)this is why the Ten Commandments open as they do
f)if we follow and worship the wrong god, our lives will get really messed up
H.monotheism was not first introduced by the Ten Commandments
1.Adam and Eve and their early descendants knew there was only one God
2.as the human race multiplied and spread, these other views developed and were propagated
3.by the time of Moses, God deemed it necessary to put in stone, literally
4.there is only one God, and all the other so-called gods are false imposters
I.this is very exclusive view, and it doesn’t fit very well with our concept of tolerance today
1.tolerance no longer means respecting people with different opinions; it means accepting their ideas, no matter how absurd, as equal in value to our own, and accepting their gods as equal to our own
2.we could probably add a sixth "ism" to our list, which would be forbidden by the 1st Commandment, and that is ecumenicalism
a)the ecumenical movement is an effort to focus on what different faiths have in common
b)the ecumenicalism pushed by the National Council of Churches claims there are many ways to God
c)they refuse to call any faith false, except for the faith that claims Jesus is the only Way
IV.how does the First Commandment apply today
A.it calls us to undivided loyalty to the one true God
1.it is common for us to have loyalties divided between God and other priorities: success, science, health
2.celebrity idolatry is incredibly widespread in our society
3.church members want a god that requires no commitment, and one they can manipulate
a)they will go through the Sunday rituals because they hope to appease God; to stay on His good side, just in case they ever need His help
b)don’t ask them to break out of their rituals in order to have a serious personal relationship of love and obedience
c)this is idolatry
B.everybody worships something or someone
1.people chart the course of their lives based on what they believe really matters
2.we worship what we value or admire most
3.God wants that place in our hearts and lives, and He wants it all to Himself
Ron Buening
Beacon Baptist Church
http://www.angelfire.com/nd/baptistpreacher