Have No Other Gods

8/13/2019 Have No Other Gods

1/31

HAVE NO OTHER GODS

A BIG WHITE BEARD

Boom, I love that part! Thats the best part right there. Well, Mars Hill,great to be back to work. I had a good break with the family thissummer, and got some writing and research done. And you know, thecritics always like to say, Mars Hill Churchwell, its all built on oneman. While I was on vacation, we grew and beat budget because itis all built on one man. Whats his name? Jesus. And he was still hereeven though I was in a boat. So, we are very happy and glad to reportthat we had a great summer, and it is because God is a great God and you are great people.

One other thing, about three weeks ago, I got sick of shaving. I have been shaving since, like, my sixth birthday, and I finally got wearyfrom it. My mom is a Chia Pet; my dad is a Wookie. And that means Ican grow a beard in about the same amount of time it takes to make

popcorn in a microwave. Heres a fact: It used to be that wed recordthe morning services and the evening services, and Id ask t he guys,Well, could you edit those together? Theyd be like, No, we cant because you were clean-shaven in the morning and had a beard in theevening.

I spend a lot of time shaving, and I thought, How much time could I

get back for the Lord if I stop ped shaving? So, I was on break andthought, Well, Ill take a few weeks and not shave. And I noticed thatmy beard is grayer than I was hoping. It started out with the kind ofMr. Fantastic sideburns, and then after a while, it was like, Wow, if


2/31

Kenny Rogers and Santa married in Seattle and had a child, he mightlook like me.

Then I thought, You know, I should shave this off to make myself look younger. And then one of my kids said, Hey Dad, arent you startingthe Ten Commandments? I was like, Yes, I am. They said, Youshould grow a big white beard. So, welcome to my beard and the TenCommandments. Well see how long it goes and how much my wifecan endure over the next ten weeks.

A BOOK IN FIVE PARTS

That being said, if youve got your Bible, go to Exodus 20. Were gonnaspend ten weeks together in the Ten Commandments, and since werestarting in the middle of the book, let me catch you up to speed.Exodus is actually part of something called the Pentateuch, whichmeans book in five parts. So, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,Deuteronomy all written by Moses. One book in five parts. And theTen Commandments are right in the middle, tucked away there inExodus 20.

ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, AND JOSEPH

And so, really, the story begins in Genesis after sin enters the world.God picks a person named Abraham to be saved and to be used by Godto bring forth the nation of Israel and ultimately Jesus Christ. And hepromises to bring a family and a blessing through Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham and Sarah have Isaac; Isaac has Jacob. This is workingthrough the story line of Genesis. And as we near the end of Genesis, we see that this man, Jacob, has a family and has a lot of sons. And


3/31

one of these sons, the younger son named Joseph, is, well, sort of hisdads favorite. Bad things happen when dads play favorite. And hesalso a bit of an arrogant kid who likes to talk about himself, and his

brothers get a little sick of it. So, they decide to get rid of him, sell himinto slavery, and tell their dad, Jacob , that hes dead. So, he is sold intoslavery, and off he goes to Egypt as a slave. Though he is far away fromGods people, he is not far away from God because God draws near tohim.

JOSEPH, EGYPTS RESC UER

And God comes, loves him, and blesses him. Even though he isenslaved and, at various points, imprisoned, he is used by God to riseup as a very powerful, prominent, preeminent political leader.

Hes working for the godless king of Egypt. Its the most powerful,influential nation in the history of the world to that time. It was Egyptin that day; in the days of the New Testament, its the Roman Empire;

some would argue today its the United States of America. But yourelooking at this international powerhouse of a nation.

What happens is that he gets this opportunity to serve the Pharaohand the nation, and God gives him great wisdom. Well, theyre livingin the midst of this season of plenty: multiple years of just record- breaking harvests, food for everybody, home prices are on the rise, no

end in sig ht, and everybodys investment portfolio is just coming uproses. And no one knows that there is a fiscal cliff in their immediatefuture.


4/31

And so, what happens is God reveals to Joseph that lean years offamine are coming: Store up in the years of plenty in preparation forthe years of lack, want, and need. This happens and, as a result, while

other nations are starving, the nation of Egypt is flourishing because ofthe wise presence of a great leader and manager named Joseph.

Back to his family and his f ather, who thinks hes dead. His brotherscome to Egypt seeking, really, survival. Their land is in famine, andthey are starving to death. Theres this amazing reunion betweenJoseph and his brothers, and he forgives them. Its a picture of Jesus,

who, th ough weve sinned against him and threw him down in a pit,came out to forgive, embrace, love, and reconcile with us. And thenJacob finds out hes alive, reconciles with his sonits this amazingreconciliation story. And Joseph invites his father and his brothers tomove to Egypt so that they can live under his blessing and provision.

Four hundred and forty years pass between the end of Genesis and the

beginning of Exodus. (And yes, I think you should read it.) And whathappens there is, its a new Pharaoh, and this family of Jacobs thatentered into Egypt of about seventy people, 440 years later, becausetheir kids had kids, who had kids, who had kids, become a nation of afew million people, the great nation of Israel. And the Pharaoh is adifferent lea der who now hates, despises, enslaves, and abuses Godspeople. They are in misery. If you can think of it, your children, your

childrens children will all be slaves for hundreds of years, nothing butslaves no hope, no prosperity, no future, no love, no grace, no betterment.

MOSES, ISRAELS DELI VERER


5/31

Gods people reach a point where they cry out to him, begging fordeliverance, and God hears and answers prayer. We need to know thatparticularly when were suffering and in need. God determines that he

will set his people free, and he will do so through a mediator, a mannamed Moses, whos a prophet. And he is representing andforeshadowing the coming of Jesus, who will stand between us andGod, and speak Gods truth to us.

Moses is a man who lost his temper and murdered somebody. Mosesis a man who has a speech impediment. Moses is a man who is a bit of

a coward. And God chooses him because God can do extraordinarythings through ordinary people. And because its for his glory, when heuses someone like Moses, or me or you, everyone knows that it was thegrace of God, not the gifts of the servant.

Moses is then told, Go to the Pharaoh and tell him what to do. Ofcourse, Im paraphrasing. But no one tells the Pharaoh what to do,

because he thinks hes God. No one comes into his presence and says,I demand this, but God commands Moses, as his messenger, to doprecisely that. Go tell the Pharaoh that hes not God, that theres areal God. The real Gods not happy with the way hes treating hischildren. Go tell the false god that the real God says, Let my peoplego, that they might be free to worship me.

Thats freedom. Freedom is not the ability to do what you want;freedom is the ability to do what you were made for by God. I wantthem free to worship me, and if he will not let them go, then I will bring punishment and plagues upon him.

HARDENED HEARTS


6/31

And I want you to see that God is very loving, very compassionate, very patient, very kind with the Pharaoh, because he keeps sendingMoses. And Moses keeps inviting him to submit to the real God and to

walk away from his own sin. Yet what the Bible says is that Pharaohcontinually hardened his heart.

Let me ask you a question: do you have a hard heart? Some of us stand back in judgment of Pharaoh, but we overlook the fact that were muchlike him. He wanted to do what he wanted to do, and he didnt wantthe real God telling him what to do. Thats a hard heart.

You and I, if were honest, would admit that we at least have seasons ofhardness of heart, where God says no and we say yes, where wedisagree with God, where we defy God, where we disobey God. Thats what Pharaoh did.

The Bible says that, in addition to Pharaoh hardening his heart, Godhardened his heart. This is the first nineteen chapters of Exodus. Youcan read it for yourself. And the way that God hardened his heart wasthrough love, grace, patience, and kindness.

The Puritans were fond of saying that the same sun that melts the icehardens the clay. Some of us, when we hear from God, melt: Oh, youre right; Im wrong. I need to change. Thank you for telling me thetruth. Others of us harden: No, I will not change. I will not agree. I

will not relent. I will not repent. I will edit Gods word. I will ignoreGods word. I will find another god. I will be my own god, but I will notsubmit to that God. Thats hardness of heart. Some of you say, Idont have a hard heart. Every time we sin, its ultimately the result ofhardness of heart.


7/31

And so, the plagues become increasingly more costly. All of a sudden,its ruining their environmental well - being, its harming theireconomy, its destroying their spirituality. The nation is really

suffering, and it culminates with the killing of the first-born.

The first-born son, particularly in that culture, was the hope of thefamily. Thats the legacy of the family. Thats the future of the family.Thats the one who will take care of you in your old age and make surethat your name goes into the future. God says, If you will not let mypeople go, I will take some of your people. Pharaoh hardened his

heart, and the Bible says, In a night, death came and the first -bornmale child, the son, in every household died.

OK, how many of you are first-born sons? How many first-born sons?OK, look around the room, all dead. OK, how many of you have a first- born son? My first- born sons name is Zac. Dead in a night. See, the wage for sin is what? Death. And see, death comes one at a time, so we

dont pay a lot of attention. When death comes all at once, wereoverwhelmed by the fact that sin leads to death. And in Egypt, sin ledto death, and death came at once for all.

The Bible says that there was weeping in Egypt. I mean, just think ofan entire nation where all the first-born sons are dead and all themothers are weeping. Some lost a son, some also lost a husband. Youmen who raised your hand, dead; all your first- born sons, dead. Wedhave a massive funeral. I couldnt preach it because Id be dead, too.

There was only one exception, and that was those who, in faith,participated in something called the Passover. God pours out his wrath, and he provides provision for his wrath to pass over us. And


8/31

that was that Gods people would gather as a family, that they wouldtake a lamb without spot or blemish, symbolizing sinlessness andperfection, that they would acknowledge their sins before God, and

those sins would be imputed to the lamb, that the lamb would be thesubstitute, that the lamb would then be slaughtered, because the wages of sin is death.

And then to show publicly that they belonged to the Lord, they wouldtake the blood of the lamb, and they would paint the exterior doorposts of their home, so that when death came to every home, it would

literally pass over those homes who had their repentance of sindemonstrated in the shed blood of the lamb.

This is all pointing to Jesus. Tell your Jewish friends its all pointing toJesus. There is no Passover without Jesus. He is the one who is alonethe sacrifice for our sins, the substitute, the Lamb who was slain, andthe one alone who alleviates the wrath of God from coming upon us.

God then delivers his people. God liberates his people. He sets themfree. He parts the Red Sea.

SET FREE BUT NOT LIVING FREE

And now a nation of a few million former slaves are set free, buttheyre not living free. Theyre committing adultery. Theyre stealingfrom one another. Theyre coveting. Theyre lying. Theyre not raising

their children in the Lord. Theyre worshiping false gods in addition tothe real God. Though they are set free, they have chosen to not livefree, so Gods going to speak to them. Gods going to be loving,gracious, patient, merciful, and just as he was with the Pharaoh, as he


9/31

was with them, as he is with us. And that brings us to the TenCommandments.

And I tell you all of this because if we only start in chapter 20, we readthe Bible like those who are Jewish or Muslim, moralistic or political,Jehovahs Witness or Mormon. Do this, dont do that. If you do this,God will punish you; if you dont do that, God will bless you. Thats notit. Its in the context of God has already loved, God has already served,God has already set free, God has already adopted these kids into hisfamily. This is not about obeying him so that he will love you; its

about him loving you and helping you to obey. The context is veryimportant. We cant ignore the first nineteen chapters and launch intomorality in the twentieth chapter.

And so, then God speaks to his people, and heres what he has to say:First, he tells them that he is the God who loves to set free. Exodus20:1 2, And God spoke all these words, saying. OK, first thing, who

speaks? God. This is what God says. This is what we believe, that whatGod says, the Bible says, what the Bible says, God says. Some of youcome t o the Ten Commandments and say, I disagree. Then youdisagree with God. You say, Well, thats his opinion, and I would say,So, go with it. All right?

See, here, the Pentateuch is written by Moses. It says it in the first five books. It says it in Pa uls letters. It says it in the teachings of Jesus. Itscollege time, youre back to school, a lot of you are going to take someBible class at some loony college. The first thing theyre going to tell you is, Moses didnt write the Pentateuch. Yes, he did. He says hedoes, Paul says he does, Jesus says he does. It doesnt matter what the


10/31

guy at community college says, Moses wrote the first five books. Andthough Moses, here, is writing, its ultimately God who is speaking. ItsGod whos speaking.

Mars Hill, I need you to know this. When we open the Bible, God isspeaking to you. Youre hearing from him, OK? So, we dont believethat this is alongside a philosophy, religion, spirituality, or ideology. We dont believe that this is speculation about God. We believe this isrevelation from God. At Mars Hill Church, that is bedrock for us. Thatis bedrock for us. So, Gods going to say something. Anybody want to

hear from God? Gods going to say something. I am the Lord yourGod. Im Yahweh; its me. Its me.

This is a God whos speaking to everybody at once. Some would saythat this is the only time in the Bible that God assembled all of hispeople to speak directly to him. This is unprecedented. This is veryimportant. This is historically in a category u nto itself. Hes going to

start by telling us who he is. Heres the truth: apart from Revelation, we would not know who God is; if God didnt tell us who he is, we would not know who he is. And heres the good news: our God tells us who he is. He says, Im the Lord your God. Its very personal.

Im Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of thehouse of what? Slavery. The problem is slavery, the solution isGod. The problem is always slavery, and the solution is always God.This is not just a story about what happened, but about what alwayshappened. This is not an old book, its a timeless book so its alwaystimely.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF LAW


11/31

And what God is doing here is giving us laws. Were going to jump in amoment into the Ten Commandments, but the Bible gives us laws.Those first five books of the Old Testament called the Books of the

Law. Not surprising, theyre filled with law. Some would say 68.5percent of the first five books of the Old Testament have laws. Theycounted them: theres 613 laws. The Ten Commandments are thesummary and center of the law. Gods going to give us laws.

How many of you are not particularly excited about law? OK, law, howmany of you are like, I dont like law ? How many of you, right now, if

I said, Hey, theIRS came out with new tax code. Every Sunday for ten weeks, were going to go through the fine print. Were going to look atall the details, how many of you would not be here? OK, I wouldnt behere either.

How many of you, if your boss w ere to say, Hey, come on into the break room. You know, Corporate just sent out a whole bunch more

policies and were going to go over them, how many of you dont runinto the break room, quoting the Psalms in your heart? I delight inthe law in my innermost being. Give me more rules about the coffeemachine. Right? Its just that when we think of law, we tend to thinkof law that is unhelpful.

Is Gods law like that? Many people think it is. The two mostinfluential people, in my estimation, outside of the Bible, for ourunderstanding of the law, are two guys named John Calvin and MartinLuther. I like them. I have a son named Calvin Martin, so I get a pass. Ilike them both, OK, but they were both trained as attorneys. GreatBible teachers amazing and I love what they have to say about law


12/31


13/31

Pharisees, many years later, loved the law but not the Lord, becausefor them, they focused on the law more than the lawgiver.

The Hebrew word here for law is torah. Were in the OldTestament, and its originally written in Hebrew. We have a hard timetranslating that word into the English language, so we use the wordlaw. Its not necessarily a bad word, but it can cause some problems because we think IRS tax code, speed limits, you know, cumbersomegovernmental bureaucracy, and middle management at our company.Its also a word thats used in Proverbs when the father, who lo ves his

kids, is teaching them how to live wisely so that they might flourishand have life. And the father says it this way: My son, open your earand listen to my torah. Thats different, right? Its different.

So, for parents in general, but fathers i n particular, we dont just droplaw on our kids. Sit down with them, look them in the eye, kiss themon the forehead, tell them we love them, pray over them. Tell them

that we cant love them any less or more because were wholeheartedlydevoted to them no matter what. And then tell them that we want theirlife to flourish, and we want them to be blessed, and so were going totalk about some things and lay down some rules because we wantthem not to suffer and we want others not to suffer. Thats the fath erheart of God, and if you separate the law from the father heart of thelawgiver, you end up questioning, Is God good? Does God love me?

Does God care? Is God interested, or is God just, you know, a far awaydictator who sends laws, and if I obey them, I get to be a citizen, and ifI disobey them, I get to burn forever?

A FENCE FOR PROTECTION


14/31

Ill give you an example, an illustration that perhaps will help. So, Ivegot five kids. I love them will all my heart. We moved into a housesome years ago and I m in the house studying. Ive got the window

cracked for fresh air and I hear the weirdest sound. It was like thisclunk, clunk-clunk, clunk- clunk. Im like, What? I go outside, and Ihear the noise up the street.

Now, one of my sons had one of those little Jeeps, one of those plug-in,power-them- up kid Jeeps with the hard tires on it. And hes far awayfrom our house, leaving, OK? And the clunk, clunk, clunk is him

driving on the gravel. And hes about four, so I run after him, stand infront of him, Whoa, buddy, where you going? Hes like, Im going toget doughnuts. I said, Hey, buddy, you cant go get doughnuts, andhes like, Ill be back later.

Now, in his mind, this is great freedom. Finally, a vehicle, right? Butthat much freedom will lead to his suffering. I mean, he was literally

ready to merge onto a street that has, like, a forty-mile-an-hour speedlimit. As his father, I realized that freedom will harm him.

So it wasnt very long thereafter, what do you think I built? A fence,OK? Now, you know, if my kid had gone to college and, you know,studied Kant, he could have stood in the yard, looked at the fence,Look at this oppression that limits my freedom of choice and myability to express myself. Look at the limitations that my unkind fatherhas burdened me with. As a father, I would say, Actually, this is anact of love. If you hop the fence, youre going to get hurt. If you wanderoff property, youre going to get hurt. I want you to enjoy the whole


15/31

yard, but dont leave your fathers household because it will be to yourruin.

We dont know this because were rebels. We dont remember this because we are fatherless. We didnt have a dad or we didnt have adad like God. And when God gives us laws, if we dont see him as aFather, kissing us on the forehead, sitting with us on the couch, tellingus how much he loves us, and telling us that every law is a board in thefence to preserve our life so that we can run freely without beingharmed, then we will altogether reject a loving Father who wants life

for his kids.

Every one of Gods laws is just a plank in the fence, and when you seeit, remember that your Father loves you. And freedom is not freedomto jump the fence, but freedom to play in the yard, amen? Thatsexactly what God is here doing with his children, and hes going to givethem the law, the Ten Commandments.

THE LAW IS ALL ABOUT JESUS

So, the next question is, how should we interpret and study the law?Before we get into the Ten Commandments, how should we view thesethings called laws? Jesus, rabbi, teacher, says this. In Luke 24:44, hesays, Everything written about me in the Law of oh, who wrote thelaw? Moses must be fulfilled. Jesus says, The law is about me.

Mars Hill, we believe that the Old Testament is about Jesus, the NewTestament is about Jesus. We believe that the whole Bible is aboutJesus. We believe that everything is foreshadowing his coming,explaining his victory, or preparing us for his coming again. The whole


16/31

Bibles about Jesus. The whole Bibles about Jesus. Thats what Jesussays.

And the law shows us our sin and our need for a Savior. As we read thelaw, we realize God is holy, perfect, and good, and he has demands forme, and I have fallen short of them, and I have failed him, and sin istransgression of the law.

And then Jesus comes as my Savior and he fulfills it all. He lives withcomplete obedience to all of the law, and he dies in my place, and hecauses the wrath of God to pass over me, and he blesses me and setsme free as a child of God to live a new life, a life that is free.

This is what the Bible calls what kind of news? Good news. The peoplein Exodus, did they save themselves? No. Could they save themselves?No. Did they participate in their salvation? No, they were set free. Thisall shows us how Jesus saves.

So, Jesus is the greater Moses and the one who alone fulfills the law.Jesus is the greater leader who did not kill his enemies like Moses, butlet us kill him. Jesus is the greater Passover Lamb who is slain toremove Gods w rath from us. Jesus is the greater firstborn Son whodied for our sin and none of his own. Jesus is the greater pillar andcloud who walks with us day and night. Jesus is the greater victor whodefeated the greatest Pharaoh ever, Satan. Jesus is the great Savior

who redeems not millions from one nation but billions from everynation. Jesus is the greater Redeemer, taking us to a greater promisedland, the eternal kingdom of God. And Jesus is the greater lawgiver,not only writing his law on stone but also on the new hearts that hegives us, hearts that want to obey his law. Thats our Jesus.


17/31


18/31

worshiping the God you see in the mirror every morning. Well, I haveto maintain my beauty, or, My spouse has to maintain their beauty. We are addicted to body image. No, youre enslaved to your

appearance. I am driven by my GPA. I am driven by my income.Im driven by my position in the org chart at work. No, youreenslaved to your performance.

Some of you say, But Im free to choose your master which is nofreedom at all. Its no freedom at all. So, when youre tempted to sinand you hear the Holy Spirit convicting your conscience of the laws

that the Father gives you, know that breaking Gods law is also breaking Gods heart.

Any fathers or mothers find this resonating in their soul right now? When you love your child and you give life-giving, life-protecting lawsto your child, and your child breaks those laws, and they causethemselves to suffer, and they cause others to suffer, they have not just

broken your laws, theyve broken your heart. It says, I believe, inGenesis 6, that God was grieved in his heart that he made man because the continual thoughts of his mind and lusts of his heart wereonly evil all the time.

Theres nothing like a ch ild with a loving father who looks them in theeye, and they see the father broken, weeping, devastated becausetheyve sinned. Because then, they not only know the fathers laws,they know the fathers heart.

So, dear friend, when youre tempted to sin, r emember this: to chooseto sin is to choose to suffer. The Father does not want you to suffer orto cause others to suffer, and when you choose sin, you also cause him


19/31

to suffer. God sets us free, but some of us choose not to live free. Howmany of you kno w Christians like that? Theyre stuck. Theyre notprogressing. Theyre not learning. Theyre not growing. Their life is a

series of laps around a cul-de- sac of folly. Theyre not gettinganywhere.

The children of God were like that. They were literally walking aroundin a circle in the wilderness for forty years, and God comes to speak tothem to help them to obey him and to walk with him, so that theymight walk from their folly into his faithfulness.

How many of you, thats your story? Youre ashamed, youreembarrassed, youre horrified, youre mortified. Maybe there aresecrets in your life that you hope nobody finds out about. And you would say that you are a Christian, that you worship the God of theBible, but there are parts of your life where you are in slavery.

Every one of us has different shackles, and the Holy Spirit canhighlight that for you. Its drugs. Its alcohol. Its sex. Its power whatever the case might be. Thats exactly the condition that thechildren of God here, at the base of Mount Sinai, sitting on theproverbial couch for a meeting with their dad, are in the condition of. What will he say? What does he say to them? What does he say to us?

LIVE FREE

That is the first commandment. He tells us hes the God whos set freeso that we can live free. He says it this way: Exodus 20:3, You shallhave no other gods before me. First commandment, right? Gods got


20/31

to teach his kids first things first, the most important thing. Kids,dont forget this: one God. Thats where he starts.

The commandments are in order of importance, one through ten, andtheyre in a progression where this enables this, contributes to that,results in this. The first four are a relationship with God, because therelationship with God is most important. And then, the last six are ourrelationship to neighbor, how we treat others in light of how Godtreats us. Its why when they come to the Lord Jesus, he says, Here itis. Heres the summary. The 613 laws, the 10 that I had written down

on tablets of stone, really its two big ideas: love who? God. Andlove neighbor. Its the whole Ten Commandments summarized,right? Its Jesus tweet for 613 commandments. Its the summary bigidea.

Now, the issue is, OK, weve been set free. Were not living free. Werein s lavery. We left Egypt, but were committing adultery, and were

stealing, and were lying, and weve thrown in a little weird spiritualityand false gods, and somebodys got schematics for a golden calf. Like,this is really not going well.

OK, Dads here, going to sit all the kids on the couch. Kids, listen tome. First things first: theres one God. Im God. Youre not God.Theyre not God. Nobody else is God. Nothing else is God. Im God.

You cant live free until you realize theres only one God, and yourenot God. This is going to blow your mind: Youre not the center of theuniverse. Youre not the most important person. The reason youremiserable is because youre worshiping yourself and you were notmade for that. You were made to worship him. You were made to


21/31


22/31

God. No, God says, I made the world. This answers all thephilosophical, theological, spiritual questions: one God.

And in that day, they had tons of gods. It was very common to havetons of gods. You can read the Bible. Theres all kids of false gods andgoddesses. Theyre really demons who bless people. But theres Ashterah, theres Baal, theres Molech, theres Chemoshtheres a whole list of them.

And some of us will practice what C.S. Lewis calls chronologicalsnobbery. Well go to the Bible and say, Oh yeah, back in the day, they were very primitive people, and they worshiped these gods with weirdnames. And thankfully, were not like that. Heres how it works: thereason they had multiple gods is because the gods promised to give you different things, this god or goddess sex, fame, money, pleasure,comfort, fertility, children, power, promotion.

Do we worship those things? Anybody here sexual problems,financial problems, relational problems, employment problems? Anyone? OK, anyone made a real shipwreck of their life chasing afterthose things? Youre worshiping false gods. Now, we may call itsuccess, and they called it Molech. Same thing. All Satan has done is just rebranded old demons. God says theres one God him alone, himat the center.

WERE MARRIED

And theres a debate here. Lets do a full circle. No other gods beforeme. The theologians all debate, What does that mean? A nd thereare four basic perspectives. Ill share them with you. In front of me, or


23/31


24/31

could say that you have an ac tual God while youre following afunctional god. They would have said, We worship Yahweh, whiletheyre committing adultery, stealing, and lying.

You and I are prone to have functional gods that are different from ouractual God. And the way it works is this: we have some concept of ahell, we have some concept of a heaven, and then we run to some godto save us from our hell and put us in heaven.

To quote the great theologian, Beyonc, All the single ladies, all thesingle ladies, all the single ladies , raise your hand. OK, OK, OK, singlemen, make note, OK? Single ladies, you can put your hand down now.OK, now, Im going to use some of you ladies as an illustration. So,maybe youre a single lady and your view of hell: single lady. No boyfriend, no potential husband, no children, just cats. OK? So, your view of heaven: boyfriend, going to be fianc, fertile, hates cats, OK?So, your thought is, Ive got to get out of hell, and Ive got to get into

heaven. So, you run to a functional god called Boyfriend. You throw your arms around him, Save me! Never leave me! Never forsake me!Bless me! Be the center of my life! Make my life worth living!

How many of you guys met that gal? It seems like a lot. You want meto be God? Im going to fail you. This relationship is doomed. Youvethrown your arms around the wrong man. Only Jesus, only Jesus hasthat rsum. So, a woman can say, Jesus is my God, but herfunctional god can be somebody else. A man can do the same thing with a girlfriend, with a wife, with kids, with a job, with his health. Werun to functional gods and false saviors, gods that are not God andsaviors that dont save.


25/31

So, dont read this, Mars Hill, and say, You know what? Yeah, its along time ago. Foolish people picked false gods and went into slavery.God never changes, people never change, the problems are always the

same, the solutions are always the same.

FINDING YOUR FUNCTIONAL GOD

So, I want to help you find your functional god. I do love you. I have afathers heart. I do want to help. Ill you some questions for you toconsider and discuss in your Community Group this week.

Finding your functional god. You ready?

Who or what do you live for? Marriage, children, promotion, house, beauty, sex, pleasure, comfort, leisure, spor t, peace. Pastor Mark,those are not bad things! No, but when good things become Godthings, theyre bad things.

Who or what can you not live without? I have to have them. I have tohave it. Do not take them. Do not take it!

Who or what do you run to i n times of need? Its been a horrible day.I just need to get to my chair, pour a drink, turn on the TV, and be inheaven for a while.

What causes your highest joy and your lowest grief? Our emotions

betray us. Yes, I got it! No, I lost it! Was it God? Was it the functionalgod and not the actual God? Who or what is at the center of your life? What does your schedule orbit around? What does your budget orbitaround? What does your emotional life orbit around? Its a functionalgod.


26/31

God loves to set free, and then we have to live free. We see this inExodus. He set them free, but theyve got to walk with him. Thats theliving free. God does all the setting free. God leads and helps us in the

living free. But we have to walk with him in the freedom that h es set before us.

One of the most emotionally devastating parts of what I love, and Ilove being your pastor, and Ive been doing this this is going to be oureighteenth year this fall. Eighteen years of Mars Hill. Eighteen years ofme being your pastor. Ive earned all my gray. Ive earned it all, all

right? And what destroys this fathers heart and what certainlydestroys the Fathers heart is when the children of God who have beenset free do not live free. I dont want any of my children to live assla ves. I dont want any of Gods children to live as slaves. But myobservation over the years is that some do and some do for a season.

And so, the last question I want to delve into is, why do people who are

set free not live free? And dont think about yo ur friend, think about yourself something in your life where you say, No, that would fit inthe category of slavery, not freedom to worship God.

Paul, looking back at the law, says this in Galatians 5:1: For freedomChrist has set us free; stand firm th erefore you dont need to go back and do not submit again to a yoke of what? Slavery. Dontstick your head through the yoke and carry that burden that Jesusalready carried.

WHY DO PEOPLE WHO ARE SET FREE NOT LIVEFREE?


27/31

Here are five things that I have heard from people I love who are stuckin slavery. Though they have been set free, they have chosen not to livefree.

Number one, I believe the lie that I cannot change over the truth that Iam already changed. This comes from a woman who came to me andsaid, Pastor Mark, I cant change. I said, Thats a lie. Do you knowJesus? She says, I know Jesus. I said, Then youre alreadychanged. You need to know that Jesus changes you, and then you andJesus can change your life. You dont need to change yourself; Jesus

changes you, amen?

I fear change more than slavery. I know what slavery is; I dont know what freedom is. I know what its like in my past; I dont know whatits like in my future. I would rather go with what I know than trust theLord who knows the future.

I am shackled by loyalty to my personal and family history. I have anidentity. My friends see me this way. My family sees me this way. Mycoworkers see me this way. If I start worshiping God and I change, Imgoing to get criticized an d theyre going to belittle me. Maybe theylleven disown me. I need to be true to my family. I need to be true to myhistory. I need to be true to my race. I need to be true to my culture. Ineed to be true to my cause. I need to be true to my tribe. And theanswer is no, theres one God, and we live coram Deo in the face ofGod. And when we do, nothing else matters.

I return to enslaving habits. I get stressed out, I download porn. Isucceed and I allow myself a little sin as a bonus. Something bad


28/31

happens, I pour a stiff drink. Something good happens, I haveCommunity Group with Ben & Jerry. You know, its bad habits.

And number five, I practice self-deception about my past slavery. Thisis what theyre going to do. Read the rest of Exodus, read all ofExodus. So, here they are in slavery. God, get us out! Its horrible, itsterrible, right nows a good time! He does it, parts the Red Sea, Yay!Theyre out in the wilderness, having a little meeting, right?Remember the good old days when we wer e slaves? Yeah, rememberthat? That was I miss those days. Thats the conversation theyre

having in the book of Exodus, looking back on their slavery as if it were freedom.

Any of you ever do that? God gets you out of a situation, you get awayfrom the s ituation, look back, and youre like, Oh, those were goodtimes. No, they werent. They were not good times, and they wont begood times if you revisit them, right? You get out of some crazy

relationship, somebodys nuttier than a Snickers bar. You sho uld havenever even gone out for coffee. You finally get the knot out of your life, you run away, and then you look, and youre like, Well, that wasnt so bad. Yes, it was. Theyre crazy, theyre insane, theyre horrible!Theyrerun! You know, run!

But what happens is we get a little far away, were like, Well, its not well, he was a nice guy. Yeah, he hit me, but he was a nice guy. A niceguy who hits you? Hey, hey, hey, replay the tape. Those were bad days, bad days. Any of you non-Christian become a Christian, honestly look back and say, Those were good old days. I miss those days. Boy, I wish nothing changed. It was all great until Jesus showed up.


29/31

I would never say that, but sometimes we do that. We exchange realityfor fantasy. How many of you, you have old friends like this? You gettogether and youre like, Remember when we were in high school?

No, I dont, because we were alcoholics. I blacked out from mysophomore year to graduation. No, I dont remember high school. It was awesome. Remem ber that time you threw up? Yeah, it wasntthat awesome, right? Some of you have friends like that, and they only want to talk about the old days and romanticize and fantasize aboutthe old days.

The Holy Spirit just brought to mind a verse from Ecclesia stes. Donot ask, Why were the old days better than these? Because its foolishto ask such questions. See, thats a slave mentality. Before I had God,I had good. Thats a slave mentality.

SELF-EXAMINATION

Have you been set free? Here are my last two points. Do you knowJesus? Have you given him your sin? Is he your Passover Lamb? Is he your Exodus? Is he your God? If not, you give yourself to Jesus now. And you walked in here apart from him, but you walk out of here withhim. He goes before you like the pillar in the cloud. He walks with you,never to leave you nor forsake you. Let him set you free and let himlead you to live free. If youre not a Christian, your biggest problem isnot your behavior, not your conduct. Its your God. Its your God! T hatissue has to get settled. Give yourself to Jesus and be set free, and thencommit to a life walking with him, living free.

Number two, for those of you who are Christians, you have been setfree, and today, by the grace of God, through the power of the Holy


30/31

Spirit, you can live free. You can leave your sin here. You can leave your folly here. You can leave your rebellion here. You can leave yourdeath here, and you can walk with Jesus, and you can walk together.

And you can walk into Community Group, and you can pray for oneanother, and serve one another, and help one another. Thats why Godspoke to all of his people. Grab a small group study guide. Text in, letus know how to connect you. Take the Ten Commandments that Iveput together for you, put them in your wallet to remind you of who your God is and the advice and counsel that your loving Father gives to you every day for the practical affairs and matters of your life. And the way that we grow in freedom, the way that we walk in freedom isunders tanding that were free towhat? Freedom, Mars Hill.Freedom is for what? Its for the worship of God. Its for the worship ofGod.

Guess what youre going to do? Worship God. Were going to do that by giving our tithes and offerings, because a lot of times we vote for

our God with our debit card. We give to the Lord who has given all tous. Its our Fathers way of inviting us to grow in generosity to be morelike him.

As we collect our tithes and offerings, I want you to know were alsogoing to take Communion, remembering Jesus, the Lamb of God whotakes away the sins of the world, our Passover Lamb who was slain.

Gods wrath is removed if were covered by his blood, shown in thedrink and in the bread, his broken body and shed blood. And weregoing to sing. You ever seen a nation that was oppressed and then they were liberated? The people run into the streets and they cheer andsing.


31/31

Mars Hill, we are those people. Jesus has conquered our pharaoh,Satan. We have been set free. We can live free. We have a Father King who loves us and adores us. And we get to take to the streets, and we

get to sing and shout his praises. We get to worship and enjoy him,and when we get together in song, thats exactly what were doing.Free people have someone to celebrate.

PRAYER

So, Father God, as we come to worship, were coming to do that which you created us to do. Help us to realize that freedom is not to do what we want, but to do what we were made for. Jesus, thank you for beingthe perfect worshiper. Thank you for humbling yourself. Thank you for being God, come down to live a life in perfect obedience to the law.Thank you for dying in our place for our sins, satisfying therequirements of the law. Thank you for rising to conquer our greatpharaoh of Satan. Thank you for giving us freedom and walking withus in that freedom. Thank you for calling us to sit on the couch, kissingus on the forehead, talking to us about how much you love us, andputting a fence around us, because we dont want to sin, because wedont want to suffer, because youve written your law on our hearts,and deep in our hearts we want to obey the Father who adores us.

Lord God, help us to get this message in our lives, in our relationships,in our sexuality, in our finances, in our families. Help us to understand what it means to be set free, and by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,help us to live free. In Jesus good name. Amen.

Note: This sermon transcript has been edited for readability.

Have No Other Gods

Documents

Transcript of Have No Other Gods