不可有别的神 No Other Gods
出埃及记 Exo 20:1–3
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
News
Hook
Recite the Ten Commandments!
Try to recite the Ten Commandments. It’s good to know them by heart.
Here they are. You don’t have to use the exact same wording.
Are the Ten Commandments still relevant to us? YES!
Please don’t say that “Now we’re under grace!”
This would like saying since we’re under grace, the law doesn’t apply.
It’s also like saying that since the OT period is “law,” there is no grace.
Every commandment, except #4 (keeping the Sabbath), are repeated (and even made more stringent) in the NT.
Passage
This is the Hebrew letters that we translate as Jehovah (or I usually write as YHWH).
We look at only 3 verses today: the prelude and the 1st commandment.
Actually, #1 and #2 are closely related, so we’ll look into them in more detail next month.
Note the important detail: They were first saved, then the commandments were given.
They didn’t get saved because of obedience to the law.
This shows the grace of God!
There is only ONE God, YHWH.
Anything else, anyone else, are forgeries, not real gods. And note also the lower-case “g” when referring to anyone other than YHWH God.
This concept is entirely foreign to the people of that area (including Egypt) and period.
Israel was the only monotheistic people around.
YHWH wants Israel to be separate, to be different from others.
They are to represent YHWH to the nations, and to bring them to worship YHWH.
Buddhism, a very popular religion for the Chinese.
This is the Wat Sam Phran in Tailand (Wat means temple): Wikipedia article here.
Most people no longer worship these gods (maybe with the exception of Hinduism and Buddhism).
But, we still have many gods today.
Even worse, we see ourself as god.
Who do you think is the first person to see himself/herself as god?
It was Eve, way back in Genesis 4.
Note her two reactions when she gave birth to Cain, then later to Seth.
With Cain, she was in fact saying, “I have created a man, just like YHWH!”
With Seth, she realised her mistake, she said, “God has given me an offspring.”
Are we quite often like Eve?
How do we identify modern gods?
Here are some things to think about…
与我有什么关系? So What?
YHWH saved them from slavery in Egypt.
In the same way, Jesus Christ saved us from slavery to sin and death.
Today we’re baptising two people.
They know whom they worship: YHWH.
They will be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
and become part of the universal church,
and a member of our church.