Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for
being with me today.
The Old Testament
lesson for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is from Exodus 20:1-17. It is the Ten
Commandments. I will read it from the English Standard Version Translation.
The Reading:
Exodus 20:1-17
And God spoke all these words, saying, 2
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of slavery.
3
"You shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make
for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the
LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6
but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
7
"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
8
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you
shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a
Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your
son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your
livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six
days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and
rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made
it holy.
12
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land
that the LORD your God is giving you.
13
"You shall not murder.
14
"You shall not commit adultery.
15
"You shall not steal.
16
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your
neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his
donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."
Comments
Did you notice
the first point God made in this reading. It was not, “You shall have no other
gods.” It was, “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of
the house of slavery.” That verse is important. It establishes God’s
commandments in God’s love and grace. He is saying, “I saved you, now this is
how my saved people live.” This same logic follows for us when we approach the
Commandments. We don’t come to them trying to figure out how to make God love
us. We come to them as revelation from God who loves and wants us to know what
a life of love – love for Him and love for our neighbor – looks like.
Now, in light of
our Gospel lesson this week, from John 2, when Jesus drove out the sellers and
moneychangers from the temple, it is tempting to focus in on the Third
Commandment, which urges us to remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.
There is much that deserves our attention there: the need to gather for
worship, the crisis of anxiety and depression in our culture that is, at least
partly, rooted in the need for rest, current trends in worship attendance, and
what it means to hold preaching and God’s Word as sacred and gladly hearing and
learning it.
I believe,
however, there is a prior commandment that must be focused on: The First
Commandment. “You shall have no other gods.” This Commandment is really at the
root of all the other commandments. Why should we worship? Because we have no
other gods. Why should we not kill? Because God is our God. Why should we not
bear false witness? Because we have no other god, and we fear, love, and trust
in Him above all things. (In a sense, you could say there is only one
commandment, and nine sub-points beneath it.)
So when we look
at Jesus driving out the money changers, part of what He is dealing with there
is that another god had been erected in the temple. It was not an idol or a
statue, but people there were worshipping wealth, and placing the business of
changing money and selling sacrifices over God’s purpose for the place they
were in. They were in a house of prayer, but what the money changers and
sacrifice sellers were praying about was their finances and those who allowed
them to use that space were complicit in setting God’s agenda to the side so
they could make money.
The first and
most important of all the Commandments is, “You shall have no other gods.” Gods
are where we place our hope, they are where we turn when things go wrong, they
are where we look for comfort when things go wrong, and they take many forms to
seduce our hearts. So we must be on the lookout for them.
Meditate on this
today: Imagine your heart like that temple court. Jesus stands to the side,
whip in hand. What idols would he drive from your heart? What hinderances to
prayer would he flip over and command that they be removed? Confess them to
him, and ask the Holy Spirit to forgive you and purify you so the only god in
your heart is the one true God.
Prayers
The prayer today
is rooted in Luther’s Explanation to the Close of the Commandments – which is
actually part of the First Commandment when we read it in Exodus 20.
O God, You
threaten to punish all who break these commandments. Cause us to fear Your
wrath so that we do not do anything against them. But You promise grace and
every blessing to all who keep these commandments. Therefore, grant us Your
Holy Spirit so that we also love and trust in You and gladly do what You
command for the sake of Jesus, Your Son, our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Joel 2:13 - Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents
over disaster. (Joel 2:13 ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
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God bless you!
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