The First Table

Series on Exodus

V. The Conscience of God’s People

A. Worship in Love

1-5. Text: Exodus 20: 1-12

Title: The First Table

Introduction

In our last study we looked intensively at the first commandment of the ten commandments because it is the foundation of all the rest. If we get the first commandment wrong, it does not matter what else we believe or do. All the commandments rest on the premise that they are what our covenant God wants and His name is Jahweh and none other. I propose in this study that we consider the first table of the law. The law is usually divided into two tables, more often than not, into 4 commandments in the first table and 6 in the second. I believe this is an incorrect division, and that will be explained when we get to the fifth commandment. I think the push to place the ten commandments in public view is a good thing. God’s law is really the only foundation for right and wrong because it is absolute. Men’s laws may vary from time to time and clime to clime, but God’s law is eternal and unchanging because it is an expression of His holiness, and how it must be displayed in our behavior. We must be careful, however not to think that the mere publication of the commandments is what God wants. He does want them published, but they are the covenantal requirements that our Creator and Redeemer has imposed to be obeyed or disobeyed at our on peril, and that peril is not just eternal, but also temporal. Societies that ignore these commandments suffer the consequences here and now. Maybe some people should listen to that old agnostic, Mark Twain. A Christian businessman well known for his ruthlessness once announced to Twain, “Before I die I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the 10 Commandments aloud at the top.” “I have a better idea,” replied Twain. “You could stay in Boston and keep them.” I also want to point out that there are Christians who actually believe that the ten commandments were for the Jews and they take Paul’s statement that we Christians are not under law, but under grace as a reason to completely dismiss the law and be guided by some inner light or voice instead. But what Paul is saying is that we cannot be justified or saved by the law because grace alone saves, but the law is still our guide for righteousness, and all of the commandments are repeated to Christians in the New Testament. This is why all the great Reformed confessions and catechisms have sections on the law of God. I especially recommend the Westminster Larger Catechism which has the best exposition of the commandments I have ever seen and is, by the way readily available in print or on-line. You will not be able to read this without feeling profoundly convicted of sin in your life. So now we consider the first 5 commandments.

I The Sole God

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. Having already examined this commandment in detail, I have but one brief reminder. If one single theme for the entire Old Testament, were stated, a good one would be that it is essentially a witness, an argument, indeed, a polemic to demonstrate that there is only one God, and His name is LORD or Yahweh, meaning the God who is there. The law and the prophets have one overarching theme and that is that all other gods are pretenders. Living in these post-modern times, the theme we most often confront is the concept that one religion is as good as another. You have yours, and I have mine and never the twain shall meet. Let us be clear that our greatest challenge is to maintain the utter uniqueness of the Bible and Christianity. We have no other choice than to say that we are right and all other religions are wrong, and false.

II The Sinful Image

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. Let us clarify at the outset that God has a right to be jealous because He is the only true and living God. Moreover this commandment should be taken very seriously because God here equates idolatry with hating Him. Yet it is not often taken seriously in our time because we tend to think of it as antiquated. Who in the world, other than primitive people, actually worships gods of wood and stone? However, idolatry itself is quite common today. First it is common because Christians do not realize that this is a command to regulate worship. Worshipping God in any way that He has not prescribed is a violation. This commandment proscribes any visual representations because they are not true, and they convey ideas and sentiments that are better transmitted through God’s Word. This is why God gave us a Bible and not a picture gallery. The second reason that idolatry is commonplace is that people do not realize that virtually anything can be an idol because the root of idolatry is in the imagination. Before the flood in Noah’s day, we read in Genesis 6:5, The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time, or as the Authorized Version translates it, And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Idolatry is ultimately in the allegiance of the heart. Are we satisfied with God’s self-revelation in the Bible or must we concoct other ideas about Him, either in art or philosophy, that are false gods.

III The Solemn Name

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. The most common misunderstanding of this commandment is that it only refers to cursing. The language of the King James Version says that we should not take the name of the Lord in vain. This is apropo because taking it in vain means uselessly, foolishly, and without good purpose. If you swear in court on God’s name, or take any oath, and then lie, you have taken his name in vain, but if you sit in Church and mouth the lyrics of a hymn without even thinking about what you are saying, you have also taken His name in vain. I am amazed, even staggered by the way in which profanity has been restricted in the entertainment industry although it is increasing, yet the name of God has long been constantly uttered with impunity. Even Christians who would not think of saying some of the less acceptable profanities will mindlessly utter God’s name without even thinking that they are breaking His commandments.

IV The Sabbath Day

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. This commandment is most likely the one that carries the least weight in our modern society. The dechristianization of our culture can be fairly measured in the progressive deterioration of “Blue laws” that once regulated commercialism on Sunday. Part of the problem is that some Christians believe that the sabbath is only begun with the Mosaic law and mistakenly think that we are not under the law. The sabbath began with creation, and in Genesis 2:2 and 3 we read, By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Other Christians dismiss the sabbath ordinance because they say that it is fulfilled in Christ. However, the sabbath is a picture of our eternal rest, and although we have that assured in Christ, we are still looking forward to a new heavens and earth in which righteousness dwells, or an eternal sabbath. We should be more happy to celebrate than those in the Old Testament. Let us rid ourselves of the foolishness of nitpicking over what we may or may not do on the sabbath. The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath, says Jesus. It is to be a time of joyful worship, kingdom work, and heavenly anticipation.

V The Submission Principle

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. I said earlier that I would explain why this commandment should be included in the first table of the law. Simply put, it deals, in essence, with our relationship to God. All of the first table has to do with worshiping the LORD. Our parents are the first representatives of God in our lives. Later, teachers, civil and religious leaders, bosses, and others assume that role, but all are actually in loco parentis, that is, in the place of parents. In order to submit to God, we must submit to those whom he has placed over us in the church and society. Worship without submission is empty. Once, according to Matthew 8, a Roman centurion came to Jesus on behalf of his sick servant. Jesus said I will come and heal him. The centurion said “I am not worthy to have you come to my house, just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I am man under authority and those under authority to me, obey my orders. Jesus was astonished and he said, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. Please understand that the real essence of faith is submission. True worship can only come from a submissive heart and mind. So this commandment has less to do with our view of our parents, or teachers, or elders, or civil magistrates than it does with our view of God and His authority over us. If God in His providence places someone over you, obeying them is obeying God.