{read Ex.20:1-6}

As Lutheran Christians we believe that the Bible is the only authority for all doctrine – all teaching. Only the Bible is the revealed Word of God. But we do use other books, like Luther’s Small and Large Catechism, as outlines to help us remember the teachings of the Bible. The Large and Small Catechism are not another Holy Scripture, but they contain portions from Scripture, and they summarize our understanding of those verses. During this series I will be making a lot of use of Martin Luther’s words from the Catechisms. I will also be sharing some thoughts from a book called No Other Name by Lutheran pastor Arthur E. Graf.

Each week we will look at one of the Commandments and how it applies to our life – looking at the three uses of the Law – Curb, Mirror, and Guide.

Before we look at the 1^st Commandment, I want to talk briefly about the numbering of the Commandments. You may have noticed that different denominations use different numbers for the same words. In the Bible there are no numbers given to the individual commandments – they are simply called the 10 Commandments or the 10 Words or Sayings. The numbers assigned are a human addition. For that matter, it’s probably good to remember that chapter and verse numbers were a human addition, not used in Bibles until the year 1551.

The numbering of the commandments may be different, but the Word of God covered is the same – Exodus 20:1-17. The difference in numbering goes back to differences between the Eastern and the Western Church (referring to the Eastern and Western areas of the Mediteranean world) in the early years of Christianity.

The Eastern Church – today called the Orthodox – divide verses 3 and 4 into two commandments: 1^st – no other gods, 2^nd – no graven images(no idols), and then sees v.17 as one command – the 10^th forbidding all coveting.

The Western Church – which became known as the Roman Church – numbers this way: 1^st – no other gods, and understands "no graven images" as part of that 1^st Commandment – sort of an explanation or example. V.17 is divided into Commandments 9 and 10, seeing a difference between coveting your neighbor’s house (non-living things) and coveting your neighbor’s spouse, workers, or animals (living beings).

Since the time of the Reformation in the 1500’s, we Lutherans stayed with the numbers used by the Roman church. Most other Protestant churches chose the Eastern Church numbering, but I’m not sure why. But that is the reason when we hear the words "Thou shalt not kill" they would say "6^th Commandment" and we would call it the 5^th.

Just to complicate it a little more, the Jewish faith has still a third numbering system. 1^st is "I am the Lord your God." 2^nd is "You shall have no other gods." And then they combine all the words about coveting into Commandment 10.

Our verses for today, v.1-6, include what we call "The Close of the Commandments." These words are a reminder of the importance of God’s Commands. Although connected with the 1^st Commandment, Luther used them to summarize the effects of all the commandments. All 10 are connected to the 1^st Commandment, because to break any other commandment is also to reject the authority of God – which breaks the 1^st.

Let’s read the 1^st Commandment and Meaning together, from the back of the bulletin. You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

In his Large Catechism, Luther says this:

No other gods. The first use of the Law is as a Curb – to protect the world from danger, to keep the world within limits and away from chaos. For this purpose the Commandments were written in our hearts, on our conscience. The fall into sin has spoiled and damaged our conscience, but generally there is still some memory of it. All around the world the people and societies have some "native" religion. Virtually all worship some kind of "higher power." This is evidence of the ruined remnant of Commandment 1. The knowledge of the need to worship God is still there, but because of sin – it is misdirected. Surveys in our nation continue to show a high percentage of people who believe in some kind of god or power – still over 90% in a CBS News poll in April 2006.

Even people who claim to believe that there is no god sometimes have doubts. Pastor Graf writes: In the past century a rather renowned atheist traveled all over the country denouncing the Christian religion and asserting boldly that there is no God. Yet when he was about to die, he told his best friend, "Cremate my body and scatter it upon the sea, so that just in case there is a God, He won’t be able to raise me from the dead" (as if anything is impossible for God) In spite of all his bold denunciations, he knew from conscience that there is a God." (p.81-82)

To believe that God IS – leads to an understanding of earthly authority and absolutes. There is right and wrong. This forms the basis for all law and government. Things are right and wrong because some authority – God – says so. The 1^st Commandment calls us to have no other gods. And even in our corrupted conscience this leads to some order and safety, providing some protection from chaos in the world.

No other gods. The 2^nd Use of the Law is a Mirror, to look at our lives from God’s perspective, and to recognize the sin that abounds in us. Here are several portions from the Large Catechism that touch on different ways we fall into sin against the 1^st Commandment:

-IDOLATRY IN THE HEART: Idolatry does not consist merely of erecting an image and praying to it, but it is primarily a matter of the heart, which fixes its gaze upon other things and seeks help and consolation from creatures, saints, or devils.

-TRUSTING IN SELF: This is the greatest idolatry that we have practiced up until now, and it is still rampant in the world. … . It involves only that conscience that seeks help, comfort, and salvation in its own works and presumes to wrest(le) heaven from God. It keeps track of how often it has made endowments, fasted, celebrated (worship), etc. It relies on such things and boasts of them, unwilling to receive anything as a gift of God, but desiring to earn everything by itself or to merit everything…

Do you see yourself anywhere in this mirror? I sure see me! And it is a sad and scary reflection!

But here is Good News! God has come to us through His Word so that we may recognize Him as the True God, so that we may know what He has done for us. In love, this true God created the world and us. In love, He still takes care of our needs day by day. And most of all, in love, He sent His own Son to die for us to win our salvation.

Luther says the same things: We are to trust in God alone, to look to him alone, and to expect him to give us only good things; for it is he who gives us body, life, food, drink, nourishment, health, protection, peace, and all necessary temporal and eternal blessings. In addition, God protects us from misfortune and rescues and delivers us when any evil befalls us. … Although much that is good comes to us from human beings, nevertheless, anything received according to his command and ordinance in fact comes from God. Our parents and all authorities—as well as everyone who is a neighbor—have received the command to do us all kinds of good. So we receive our blessings not from them, but from God through them. Creatures are only the hands, channels, and means through which God bestows all blessings.

The close of the commandments includes the threat of God’s wrath for all who break these commandments, so we should take them seriously. Yet it follows with the beautiful promise of mercy to those who love God and keep His Commandments.

Keep the Commandments! What we could never do on our own, Christ Jesus did perfectly for us. He perfectly obeyed this Commandment. He perfectly pushed away all temptation to trust in or bow to any other god. He did it all perfectly, and then offered His innocent life in exchange for our sin. His innocent body carried all our sins to the cross. He bore the full weight of God’s wrath so that we could be covered with forgiveness, and He rose from the dead so we can share in the new life eternally.

Because of all this we can come back to this Commandment for the 3^rd Use – A Rule or Guide for our thanks-living. The 2^nd use shows us our sin, the 3^rd use begins by making us able to confess our sins. When we know God as a loving Father and Savior, it gives us the courage to confess our sins. Then it leads us to begin to live a new way, asking ourselves in every situation: "What is pleasing to my Heavenly Father?" We find that answer in the Bible. We see Jesus always obeying His Father in Heaven, always keeping the 1^st – and all Commandments, always letting God be God in His life.

Why do we need a guide? Pastor Graf writes: Some say "simply do what is the loving thing to do and forget those outmoded rules of the Bible." This sounds good until we remember that due to our sinfulness we don’t know what the loving thing is without a study of God’s Commandments. Sin has corrupted not just our nature and attitudes, it has also corrupted our judgment.(p.78) It reminds me of a speech by Ted Turner some years ago, when he said the 10 Commandments were out of date and needed to be replaced by 10 suggestions. In this fallen world, 10 human suggestions just won’t work, because they will be based on sinful hearts. We need a guide that has God’s authority. St. John writes in his 2^nd letter: And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His (the Father’s) commands.

No other gods. Luther’s explanation tells us to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. FEAR: fear can mean to be afraid, or it can mean to respect. A portion of afraid-type fear is a good thing. It can keep us out of danger. We teach our children to fear strangers offering gifts. This kind of fear is connected to the 1^st and 2^nd Uses of the Law. But afraid-type fear can also become idolatry. If we let this kind of fear of God become terror of God that paralyzes us or keeps us away from Him, we have made Him into a false god. Or our fear of other things might become more important than our fear of God. Remember Peter in the high priest’s courtyard, afraid for his life, cursing and swearing that he didn’t even know Jesus.

Proper fear of God is a careful mixture of trembling and respect. God want us to come before Him in each moment of our daily life with humble trembling, with holy awe, with overwhelming respect because of Who He Is and what He Has Done. He is the Almighty God, and He has acted in love to save us. To this we can respond: "Because He loves me so much, I never want to do anything that hurts or shames Him."

LOVE: love is not created by force. You see that truth in the story of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty is imprisoned by the Beast, because the Beast needs her love to become human again. But her love only begins when he is kind to her, and becomes true love when he sets her free.

WE all need to love God. But we can’t love Him just because He commands it. St. John tells us in his first letter (4:19) We love Him because He first loved us. Knowing God’s command will not make our love grow. Only knowing His love for us – and that it cost Him His own Son – only that can make our love for Him grow.

Finally, TRUST: we all need to trust many things every day. We need to be able to trust our doctor, our neighbor, our banker, our government, our parents, even our air conditioning repair man. But it surely would be idolatry to trust any of them more than we trust God. Finally there will come a time when none of them can help us, when our only help is the Lord. It’s good to know that God can be trusted.

Pastor Graf wrote this account: A young man wanted to be a doctor. The 2^nd year seemed exceptionally tough. He was barely making his grades. While he was cramming for his final exam, another student came in and offered to sell him the exam questions which had been stolen from the professor’s desk. … After praying and asking, ‘What would Jesus do?’ he refused the offer. … The next day he failed the exam. He never became a doctor. He now owns a small business, is happily married, and finds much joy in serving Christ in his church. Things didn’t work out as he had hoped. But they did work out and he is happy. This is the confidence that we can have in God that, when we trust Him, He will do that which is really for our good.

Let’s read the commandment together again. You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. When we are tempted by other gods, what will we do? We can remember what Jesus did for us in His life and death and resurrection. We can give thanks for His love and forgiveness. We can ask God to use His Word – His Command – to guide us to rightly fear, love, and trust Him above all things, because we know how much He has loved us. Amen.

We sing 331 verses 11-12.