The 10 Commandments ~ You shall not make... bow down to or serve any idol

As we continue our study of the 10 Commandments, we want to remember that these commandments are not arbitrary laws God gave us to follow, they are guidelines or boundaries that help preserve and protect the bonds of relationship. God says worship only me because He wants our relationship with Him to be the very center of our being and that command helps establish and preserve that relationship. This second commandment also helps to protect our relationship with God by telling us not to bow down to… worship or serve any idol. Now there are two ways we can read this commandment. The first is to say that we are not to make any image or idol of God and the second is to say that we are not to turn anything in this world into an idol that we would worship, and the truth is that they are both true, so let’s start by looking at the first.


We are not to worship any physical representation of God. We need to remember that this commandment was given to the people of Israel after they had spent generations in the land of Egypt and the Egyptians worshiped many different gods, most of whom were represented in the form of animals. For example, the god Horus had the head of a falcon; the god Anubis had the form of a jackal. While the Egyptians worshipped these images of their gods, the God of Israel wanted to separate his people from the Egyptians and all the other people around them who worshipped images and idols so gives this command to not create any image of him that could be worshipped.

One of the reasons God gives this commandment is to help his people realize that they are different than the people around them. They don’t worship carvings of stone or wood, they don’t worship images of animals or people – they worship the God who created it all. God wants to set his people apart and this is one clear way of doing it. While everyone else was creating and worshipping images of their gods – God says I want you to worship me in spirit and truth – don’t be like the people around you, God says, don’t make and bow down to or worship any physical representation of me.

Now there is a good reason why we should not make any image of God, any physical representation of God is limiting. Any and every physical representation of God limits God in some way and that not only insults God because the image falls dreadfully short of the real glory and power of God, but it also misrepresents God to the world. We see this all at work in the story of God’s people disobeying this commandment and making an idol of God in the golden calf. Exodus 32:1-6.

So after the 10 Commandments were given, God called Moses back up Mt. Sinai to receive more laws which would help the people live as God’s unique people in this world. While Moses was away, the people became afraid and unsure if Moses is ever going to come back and they want to be able to see God, so Aaron takes all their gold and melts it down and forms it into the image of a calf. They weren’t worshipping a foreign god here, they were still worshipping God, but in the form of a calf which was to be for the people a symbol of strength and power. But that calf insulted God, not just because they made an idol after God said not to, but because there is no way a calf – even a golden calf – could fully represent the power and glory and strength and majesty of God. While they might be a symbol of strength, but calves die, calves get sick, calves can be overtaken and destroyed by something bigger and stronger so turning God into a golden calf is not only limiting – it is insulting. Any image of God is limiting and that limitation insults God and weakens our relationship with God.

So we need to take this commandment seriously, because we know that God does. In fact here is how serious God is, once Moses comes down from Mt. Sinai and sees what the people have done, he doesn’t just destroy the golden calf, look at what he does… Exodus 32:19-20. God is serious – he says do not make any image of him, he doesn’t want us to create any idol that we might worship.

Now a question that immediately comes up is what about religious art that depicts God? What about things like the Sistine Chapel?

Is God against all religious artwork? We need to remember that God himself is an incredible artist who has displayed his power and glory and revealed his nature to us in the works of he has created. All we have to do is look around and see the artistic nature and creation of God. Romans 1:19-20. God is the master artist who has revealed himself in the beauty of creation and God has given us artistic skills that he calls us to use in worship. In Exodus 37-39 we see that God gives detailed instructions for how to build the ark of the covenant which was to contain images of cherubim or angels, and they were to make lampstands and altar tables, and bowls and robes for the priests and all of this art was to help reflect God’s nature and be used in the worship life of the church. So God calls for the people to use their artistic talents in making things for worship that would help point people to God. So the use of art in worship must be different than creating and bowing down to an idol and the difference doesn’t lie in the piece of art – it lies in our heart. We can’t worship what we create and we can’t worship our artistic and creative expression, we have to always make sure we are worshipping the creator alone.

So we don’t create any image of God because it insults God by failing to take into account God’s full nature and it doesn’t reflect to the world God’s full power and glory. Now let’s look at the other side of this commandment, we are not to bow down to, worship or serve any other idol. Now, you may be saying to yourself that we don’t do that today. We don’t have statues of calves or birds at home that we bow down to or worship, but there are idols that can consume us and become the center of our lives if we are not careful. These idols are things like wealth and power, status and success, fame and love and we see images of these idols everywhere. Every time we turn on the TV and see pictures of people happy and fulfilled because they have a new car or new clothes or phone or house, we begin to think that we need those things to make us happy. When we see those images again and again and again we begin to believe that we really can’t live without them and so we give ourselves to acquiring whatever it is that we think will make us happy. It’s not just wealth and material possessions that can become an idol in our lives; it can also be fame and success. Think about the millions of people who each year try to get on TV shows like American Idol, Big Brother and Survivor. Think about the people who do absolutely absurd and even dangerous things on the internet with the hopes of being noticed and having their videos go viral so they can become famous. Wealth, fame and material possessions can become idols we will worship if we do not guard our hearts and lives, so how do we protect our hearts from these idols and make sure we are worshipping God alone? The answer is found by going back to the story of Moses and the golden calf.

When Moses came down the mountain and saw the golden calf he destroyed it. He smashed that idol to pieces and then ground those pieces into dust and we need to have the same zeal when it comes to tearing down idols in our own lives. If always needing to buy new or bigger and better things has become an idol then we need to cut up our credit cards and stay away from stores. If social media as become an addiction we need to cancel our facebook accounts. We need to take seriously and think creatively about how to smash the idols that tempt us today.

In 1994 I realized that I spent too much time watching TV so when I heard about a ministry that needed a TV, I gave them mine and for 5 months had no TV in my house at all. For 5 months I removed the idol from my life and while I do have a TV today, I don’t watch it anywhere near as much as I did then. We need to identify those things that are working their way into the center of our lives and those things that are becoming an idol and then we need to do whatever it takes to tear them down. Moses tore down the golden calf and worked to help people get their focus back on God. Generations later, the people of Israel again were worshipping idols and so when Josiah became king he tore down the sacred poles and stones and altars that the people set up and worshipped in an effort to get their hearts and lives back on God. If we can identify an idol in our lives, we need to tear it down and then we need to ask others to help us keep our eyes and minds and hearts on God.

Let me end this morning by sharing one of the reasons we need to take this command seriously, the Bible says that over time we become what we worship, look at Psalm 115:8. Whatever we worship is what our lives will reflect and if you think about this, it makes sense. If we spend all of our time thinking about accumulating more and more things, eventually that is all we will talk about, all we will care about, and all people will see in us and hear from us. If all we work for is fame, then when we reach a place of success – it won’t be enough and we will have to find more ways to get noticed. Whatever we focus on, whatever is at the center of our lives is what our lives will reflect and the only thing that will bring life and joy and peace and love is God. It is only when God is at the center of our lives that we will experience what is known as the fruit of God’s spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. When wealth or fame or success is at the center of our lives then what we experience and reflect is greed, pride, restlessness and self-centeredness. We become what we worship and so if we want life and if we want to reflect life and love to the world around us we need to smash any idol that has found its way into our lives and worship God alone.

The 10 Commandments ~ You shall have no other gods before me.

Today we begin our study of the 10 Commandments and I think it’s important for us to remember the context in which these laws were given. In Exodus 19:1 it says, in the third month after the Israelites left Egypt – they came to the Desert of Sinai, and it was while they were in this region that Moses went up to the top of the mountain and received the law. So it has only been three months since Moses led the people out of Egypt where they had been held as slaves for generations. While the Jewish people prospered greatly in Egypt growing both in number and wealth, because they were living under foreign rule and among the gods of Egypt they weren’t free to fully worship and live for God. So for generations their understanding of who God was and what it meant to follow him had been limited. One of the reasons God led his people out of slavery and into the Promised Land was to make them his own exclusive people. God wanted a people, a nation, which would live for him and reflect his values and his truth to the world, he wanted them to be alight to the nations, but before they could be that light and before they could reflect God’s values to the world, they needed to learn what those values were. The 10 Commandments are the foundation and the beginning of God teaching his people what it means to follow him and live for him and what kind of life they need to live to be able to reflect his life and truth and love.

So these do the same thing today, they begin to show us what is important to God and one of the things we see here is that the most important thing to God is our integrity and fidelity in relationships. These 10 Commandments aren’t just arbitrary rules or laws to follow; they are the key to establishing and maintaining healthy and strong relationships with God, and with our family, our community and even with ourselves. What will be important for us to remember as we study these commandments is that what God is most concerned about is not the letter of the law but the strength of our relationships, it is relationships that these laws seek to establish, protect and strengthen.

Clearly the first and most important relationship we need to focus on is our relationship with God, so God says; you shall have no other god before me. God is making an exclusive4 claim on his people. He wants them to worship and serve Him alone and no one else. Notice that God does not say there are no other gods. Remember that for generations they lived in Egypt where all they saw and heard about were the gods of Egypt, in fact the Pharaoh himself was considered to be a god, and after the people leave the desert of Sinai they are going to travel throughout the region of Palestine and encounter many different tribes who worshipped a variety of gods and so God makes clear that they were not to consider any of them as their god, they were to have only one God. So in this first commandment God is establishing a unique relationship with the people he first chosen through Abraham. God is the one who chose them and God is the one who now leads them and God is the one who wants to be their God.

Today this first commandment still makes clear that God wants to be our God and that he doesn’t want to share that place in our hearts and lives with anyone or anything else and he tells us that the only way this will happen is if we place God at the very center of lives. A lot of time when we talk about worshipping only God we talk about making God number one, but Mark Mitchell, pastor of Central Peninsula Church in CA says that God doesn’t want to be number one on our list, God wants to be the One and only thing in the center of it all. God wants to be the hub of the wheel that holds every spoke of our life together. If we simply place God at the top of the list then whatever is number 2 or 3 or 4 becomes a rival - ready to take on God, but God wants no rivals – God wants to be the center of every other priority and focus and ambition and goal in our lives. I like this distinction. Instead of saying God needs to come before family, country or job we need to ask how God can be the center of our family, our love and commitment to our country or our job. God wants to be the center of it all – that’s what it means to have no other god and that is what it means to worship god alone and the truth is that once we make God the primary relationship in our lives - the rest of life and the rest of our relationships and priorities can become healthy and strong.

It’s vital for us to place God at the center of our lives because we have been created to have God at the center of our lives so until we get this right, nothing else in live will be balanced or blessed. If we look at the creation story we see that human beings are unique because God breathed his life into us. Deep within us is God’s life and I don’t believe we are fully satisfied in this life until we are in fellowship with God. If we look at the world today, I think what we see bears this out. Even though we may see the world as an increasing secular place where people are not interested in a relationship with God, the truth is that most people in the world today do connect with a god in some way. In 2009, 73% of the world identified themselves as being part of one of the worlds 4 largest religions, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. In fact, only 12% of the world identified themselves as being non-religious, which shows us that most people feel this need or desire to have the presence a god in their lives. The French philosopher Blaise Paschal calls this a god-shaped hole that we all have and we simply aren’t satisfied in life until we fill that hole or connect with God in some way. So we were created to be in a relationship with God. We were created to worship God and part of what this means is that we need to give God our adoration, our trust and our thanksgiving.

God wants our adoration. God wants to be the One we can’t stop talking about, the One who captures are attention and imagination and the one who captivates our heart. God also wants our trust, which means God wants to be the One we depend on for everything and the One in whom we find security and peace and the One we turn to in times of need. And God desires our thanksgiving, he wants to be the One we thank when we have a little or when we have a lot because we know that no matter what we have it all comes from him. When all this begins to happens, when we begin to truly adore and trust and give thanks to God in all circumstances, the God we know God is making his way to the center of it all. And it’s important for God to be at the center because if God isn’t there, then something else will be.

If God doesn’t fill the hole in our lives, then something else will. Deuteronomy 11:16 says, take care, or you will be seduced into turning away and serving other gods and worshipping them. I have to say that Dtr. 11:16 has not been a passage that I have often thought about, but I now find it very profound and maybe one of the most important passages in the Bible. If we aren’t worshipping God we will worship something else and no matter what it is, no matter how good it is, if it is not God, in time it will destroy us.

Let’s look at Israel, the other gods they were tempted to worship were the gods of other nations. There was the god Ba’al that we read about a lot in the Old Testament, but there is also the god Molech and the god Mammon. These were three of the most common gods that Israel encountered as they traveled through the wilderness and what is interesting is that each of these gods represented forces or powers that are still strong today. Ba’al was also known as the god of fertility, or sex. Moloch was the god of strength or power, and Mammon the god of money. Sex, power, money – three forces that are still with us and three forces that can destroy us if they become the center of our lives – if you don’t believe this, ask New York congressman Anthony Wiener? He is an example of what can happen when sex or power becomes the center of our lives. We end up doing things we would never do otherwise because at the center of our lives isn’t God but a force or a drive or a false god that will destroy us.

So we need to place God at the center of our lives and God has promised that when we do this, all other relationships will grow stronger. It is not a coincidence that this is the first commandment, it all flows from this – if God is at the center then we can move on to other commands and other relationships, but if God is not at the center then none of the rest of these commandments really matter because the strength for life and faith and obedience comes from God and God alone.

So we need to place God at the center because we were created for this primary relationship and it is the foundation on which everything else is built, but if we go back to Exodus 20, we see two other reasons why we need to worship God alone. Exodus 20:2 Now remember, Egypt was the dominant world power at this time and Pharaoh was considered to be a god, but then the God of Israel comes along and shows the Israelites and the people of Egypt and Pharaoh himself who is really in charge and who is really all powerful. God sent 10 plagues on Egypt and humbled the nation; God led his people out of Egypt and then parted the Red Sea to really set them free and overcame his enemy in the process and through it all God reminded Israel, and us, that he is the one true power in this world – there is no greater power than God and that alone should be a good reason to worship him above all other gods, but there is another reason here. When God says, your God, the word your is singular. God is talking to individual people here, God doesn’t just want to be a power of a people – he wants to be the savior and shepherd of our souls. God is not an impersonal king standing far away, He is a personal loving God who wants to know us and wants us to be known by us. So the most powerful force in all of creation and only true God wants to know us and love us and simply wants us to love him in return.

Jesus talks about the personal nature of God when he says that every hair of our head is known and numbered by God and that every aspect of our lives is known and cared about by God. There is nothing we go through that God doesn’t know about and God loves us more than we can possibly imagine, so why would we worship anything else when God is all powerful? Why would we worship anyone else when God is the most loving? And why would we worship anything else when life won’t be complete until God is at the center? So we know we should have no other god at the center of our lives, but is God there?

To answer that question and reflect on the place God has in our lives, Win Green encourages us to take the three book test. What does our date-book, checkbook and the good-book say about God’s place in our lives? What does our date-book or calendar say about how and where we spend our time? If we spend no time with God then how can God truly be at the center? Do we set apart time for God each day? Do we set apart time for God each week? (now obviously all of you do this because you are here today – so that is a good first step, but can we go deeper?). And it’s not about giving God our left over time; can we give God our best time and some of our undivided attention?

To see if God is at the center of our lives we also need to look at our checkbook. Remember, one of the gods of the Old Testament was Mammon, or wealth and money. If someone where to look at our spending habits for a month would they be able to see that God is at the center of our lives? Do we tithe, or give 10% to God? Do we support the work of God in the church and around the world? Do we spend money wisely and not accumulate huge amounts of debt? Do our purchases reflect the values of God’s kingdom? What does our checkbook, or our spending habits, say about the place God has in our lives?

And then there is the good-book test, how often do we read our Bibles? If the Bible is God’s main way of communication with us then we have to ask ourselves if we are spending time listening to him. Can we really have any healthy relationship with God if we don’t take the time to listen? Can we have healthy marriages without listening? Can we be good parents without listening? Can we be good neighbors without listening? Can we be good children of God without listening? Can we really say God is at the center of our lives without taking the time to listen to his word?

This three book test can help us begin to see what is really at the center of our lives, and if it isn’t God then we need to make the decision today to place God at the center. If you are thinking that God is not the center of all you do and all that you are, then you can do something about that today, right now, you can simply ask God to be the center of your life. If you have been reflecting on your life and realize that God has kind of slipped out of the center and you want him back there, you can do that today with a simple prayer. The good news is that we don’t have to put God at the center once everything else is worked out, in fact, the only way other issues in our life will get worked out is by asking God to be the center. I want to invite you to do that today. Let us take this moment, at the beginning of this series and this summer to make God the center of all that we are and all that we do. If you want to experience this new abundant life, if you want to experience the power of God and the wonder of God and the blessing of God, then I invite you to pray with me…

God, I confess that you have not always been at the center of my life. I have chased after and loved other gods who have enticed me away from you. I have allowed my time, attention and treasure to focus on inferior practices, but today I come to re-commit myself to you. You alone are God. You alone are the one who breathed into me your life and spirit and today I know that I will not be satisfied until I place you at the center. So I ask you, almighty God, to be the center of my life. Be the center of every priority, every goal, every dream and desire. I place you at the centre because you alone are worthy because you alone are God. AMEN.

Honor, Care, Restore ~ GOD WILL!

There are a lot of storms raging today, and I’m not talking about the deadly tornados that devastated communities like Joplin MO and Tuscaloosa AL, I’m talking about storms like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ongoing unrest in Egypt and Libya, high unemployment, low housing values, a growing national debt and shrinking state budgets. We live with a lot of turmoil, a lot of suffering and uncertainty and while it is important for us to learn how to stand faithful and strong during these difficult times, it is maybe even more important to remember three promises God makes with us during these times: God will exalt us, God will care for us and God will restore us. That is what we heard from 1 Peter.


Look at 1 Peter 5:6. The word’s lift you up are also translated – exalt, God will exalt us and raise us up above the storms that rage around us. Now what’s interesting about this passage is that we tend to spend more time talking about what it means to humble ourselves than what it means for God to exalt us. It’s always easier to talk about what we need to do then to fully understand and accept God’s promise, but let’s focus on this promises for a moment. What does it mean for God to exalt us? The word, exalt, means to be elevated in position, status or power. It means to be honored. So when we are being beaten down, unappreciated, suffering for doing good and not recognized for our achievements and hard work we need to remember that not only does God see who we are and what we are all about, but God will recognize us and celebrate us. God wants to lift us up to places of honor and glory because we are special to him.

The promise to exalt us is not just a promise given to us today, this has been God’s desire from the very beginning. Turn back to the creation story for a moment and look at Genesis 1:26-27. God created human beings to be exalted above all of creation. This doesn’t mean we are better than everything else in creation, because we aren’t, think about it, we need water and air and trees and plants and fish and animals if we are going to survive – so we aren’t better than the rest of creation – God calls it all good, but God has put us into a special place in his creation. We have been exalted, or lifted up and given dominion over the rest of creation. So from the very beginning God’s desire has been to exalt us, or lift us up to places of honor and God does this not because we did anything to deserve this – look back to creation, we were given this place from the very beginning, before human being did anything, so we don’t earn this place we simply receive it because of God’s grace and love. God delights in exalting us because we are his children, created in his image called to walk with him and work with him in this world.

So it’s always been God’s desire to lift us up and honor us which means that we don’t have to do this ourselves. If God promises to exalt us then we don’t have to spend time and energy trying to exalt ourselves – we simply need to trust God to keep his promise. I know I have talked about him before, but there was a little boy I met at a church camp many years ago when I was a counselor and this boy was in trouble for fighting from the moment he arrived. It wasn’t until one afternoon when he was grounded in our cabin that we talked and he began to share how his father never put his report card on the fridge because he didn’t get straight A’s like the rest of his family. The reason he kept fighting everyone was because he was constantly trying to exalt himself, trying to make himself feel important and special because no one else did.

I wonder sometimes how much we are all like that little boy. We fight to be heard, we fight to be noticed, we fight to show people that we do have value and worth because so many times we feel beaten down and left out; we fight to exalt ourselves and yet what we forget is that God has already exalted us. Our Father in heaven has our report card on his fridge, he has our picture in his wallet and he has our lives in his hands and in his heart so we are already exalted – but God goes one step further and promises to exalt us even here and now so we don’t need to exalt ourselves – we just need to wait and allow God to lift us up in due time – or better yet – in His time.

It’s those last three words that is the hardest part – in his time. The hard part is waiting. Like the little boy at camp, we try to exalt ourselves because we are impatient and yet it is when we take matters into our own hand that the trouble starts. Think back to the story of Abraham, God told him that he was going to lift him up. God was going to make Abraham into a great nation whose descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach, but Abraham and his wife didn’t have any children and they were already advanced in age and so as each year passed and children didn’t come they questioned God’s promise. Their questions and doubts grew so strong that finally Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands and decided that Abraham could at least have a child with Sarah’s maidservant Hagar so there would be a child. Instead of waiting for God, they tried to exalt themselves and what they created was a mess. Instead of one strong family, when the promised child finally did arrive they now had sibling rivalry, strong jealousies and divisions that not only divided the family but divided nations and continues to plague the middle east with conflict today. It is hard to wait for God to lift us up when we feel neglected or taken advantage of, it’s hard to wait on God when we feel like nothing is ever going to change, but that’s what it means to be humble and when we are humble God says that his mighty hand will lift us up.

God not only promises to exalt us, he promises to care for us, 1 Peter 5:7. Again, many times we focus on what it means for us to cast our cares on Jesus and we will look at that in a moment, but first let’s stop and consider this promise, God cares for you. The God who created the universe cares for us. Now when we say God cares for us, we aren’t saying God feels favorably toward us, the word care implies action like a parent caring for a child. Just as a good parent knows what their child needs and works to provide that, so God knows what we need and provides it for us. But let’s be clear that God is a good parent and being a good parent doesn’t mean that God will give us everything we want, he gives us what he knows we need. God always has our best interest at heart and God’s ultimate intent isn’t to give us all that we want but to make us into strong faithful children who reflect God’s life and love.

This means God may not simply give us more money when we are in need but teach us to live on less, or be thankful for what we do have. He may not give us that special someone we think we need in life but teach us to live in a deeper relationship with him. God may not bring us the healing we want but instead teach us compassion, empathy and mercy through our suffering. God really does have our best interest at heart – which doesn’t always mean we get what we want or think we need, but it does mean God will provide what He knows we need. When things don’t seem to go our way, when the storms of life come (and they will come), maybe what we need to do is stop and ask ourselves how God is caring for us in this moment.

God has promised to care for us if we will cast our cares on him and so we do need to learn what it means to cast them away to God. Peter uses this image of casting because he was a fisherman and what casting means is that we have to be willing to toss our cares out and really let them go. You have to let the net out of your hands when you cast it into the sea and the same is true with our anxieties and concerns. We have to be willing to let go of our anxieties. We can’t ask God to take things away and care for us if we hold on to the problems and try to take care of it ourselves. I’m not sure God is interested in playing tug of war with us, he wants us to learn how to cast – to toss to him and let go of our burdens so that he can take them up and bring us the blessing of his care – his provision.

The third promise is that God will restore us. 1 Peter 5:10. Peter says that after we have suffered for a little while, God will restore us. Now my guess is that we have all experienced some kind of suffering or set-back in life, it may have been financial, or in a job, or in a relationship. No matter what the set-back’s are, they are painful and difficult, but here is what we need to remember, we don’t go through these times alone. God is with. God has not only made the promise to be with us but he says here that he will be the one to restore us, and give us the strength to stand firm, but let’s be clear about what this restoration is. God is not saying that he will give back to us all that we lost, the word restore means to make solid. God wants to give us a firm foundation during difficult times from which we can move forward.

That is why I love this picture. It was taken just last week in Joplin, MO. Just a week after the tornado we see that God is already at work restoring the people. They won’t get the lives back that were taken from them, they won’t get there homes and all their possessions back, but look at what we see here – God is with them and God’s presence and the presence of the church gives the people a firm foundation from which they can move forward. God is already working to restore the people of Joplin and Tuscaloosa and Springfield MA. God is faithful to his promise!

We find this idea of restoration all through the book of psalms
Psalm 27:5. Psalm 18:16-19.
What I love about Psalm 18 is that it clearly tells us why God restores us and it’s not because we are good, or have been faithful and obedient, it is because God loves us. Psalm 18:19. In fact, the reason God makes and keeps all of these promises isn’t because we are humble or faithful or disciplined or even good at letting go of our worries – it is simply because God delights in us. It is God’s grace and love that moves him to make and keep these promise. Look at 1 Peter 5:10. Do you see anything in here about our faithfulness or that God helps us because of how good we are? No, it’s all because of God’s grace and God’s call – it’s all because God loves us.

So if you are going through a difficult time today, if you feel beaten down, anxious or suffering through some set back in life, remember that God makes these promises to you – God will exalt you, God will care for you and God will restore you in his love. And as we look around at the world and see all kinds of storms raging, instead of giving in or giving up, let’s stand firm in this truth – God will exalt us, God will care for us, God will restore us – GOD WILL.

Willing... Ready... Able... Are You?

Memorial Day weekend needs to be the time that we as a nation stop and remember all those heroes who have been willing to serve our country, and especially those heroes who have given their very lives in our struggle for freedom and the freedom of others around the world. As I was thinking about the different branches of the military this week, I wondered what the motto of each branch was – do you know? The easiest one to come up with is the Marines because we hear it and see it a lot – Sempre Fi or actually Semper Fidelis which means…always faithful. What about the Army? Does anyone know what the official motto of the Army is? It’s - This we’ll defend. And there is only one other branch of the military that has an official motto and that is the Coast Guard, whose motto is Semper Paratus which means Always Ready. Now the Navy and Air Force have slogans and core values but no official motto. The Navy has the core values of Honor, Courage, Commitment and the Air Force has Fly, Fight, Win.


As I thought about thee three official mottos I thought of one word that could correspond to each motto:
Always Faithful. -- Willing
Always Ready. -- Ready
This we’ll defend. -- Able

Willing, Ready, Able, this could also be the motto for the church according to Peter. If we look at the passage from 1 Peter 3, I think we hear these three ideas articulated pretty well. 1 Peter 3:13 says who will harm you if you are eager to do good? Are we eager to do good for God? Are we willing to live for God and serve God?

1 Peter 3:15 says, always be ready to make your defense… Are we ready, equipped and trained to always give a defense for why we have hope and why we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ?

And then 1 Peter 3:15 says, do it – with gentleness and reverence. It’s not enough to be ready, we have to be willing to act – able to serve God when he calls us to. So willing, ready and able could be our motto, but are we living this out. Are we willing, read & able? Are we willing to live for God and serve God and bet he people God is calling us to be? Are we ready to give a defense for why we have hope and faith and trust? Are we ready to tell people how God has led us out of darkness and into the light of his life? And are we able to act today, tomorrow and in all the days to come? Can we leave here today and just do it? If you aren’t feeling willing or ready or able, it’s ok because Peter doesn’t just give us mottos or commands and then send us on our way. Peter gives us guidance on how to become willing, ready and able.

Let’s start with willing, are we willing to live for God? Are we willing to share with others what God has done in our lives and give a defense for our faith? Are we willing to suffer for doing the good work God has for us? It’s ok to answer this question honestly and say, no I’m not real willing to suffer or sacrifice. It’s ok to be honest and tell God where we are, but then the question becomes do we want to be willing? Do we want to have a fire and passion for God? There is a way to develop this passion and become more willing and eager if we want it, look at 1 Peter 3:15. In your hearts revere Christ as Lord. What makes us not only willing to serve God but eager to is when we begin to realize just who Jesus is, not as Savior and Lord but as OUR Savior and Lord. When we begin to understand the fullness of who Jesus is and what God has done for us, our passion and love for God will grow and our willingness and desire to live for God will also grow. So let’s take a moment and just remember who Jesus is and what he has done for us.

Look with me at Colossians 1:15-20 because this tells us so clearly who Jesus is and what he has done.

So Jesus is the fullness of God, he is the power of God, he is the love of God, he is all the goodness of God and the full force of God’s creative power and grace. So Jesus is God, and because he is, he is the only one who is able to reconciled the world to God. It is through Jesus and Jesus alone that the world has been brought back into a relationship with God. While sin severs our relationship with God – Jesus works to restore it.

The death of Jesus paid the price for our sin and the resurrection of Jesus shows us that the power of sin and death have been overcome and so now all of creation can step back into that relationship with God. Now the reason God sent Jesus to reconcile the world to himself is simply this - God loves us. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish – shall not be separated from God forever, but have eternal life – live with God forever. So in love and grace and with great power God forgives us and restores our broken relationship with him and really with all of creation. But that’s not the end, look at Colossians 1:21-22.

God doesn’t just reconcile the world, God reconciles us. God forgives me, God forgives you and God restores us into a lasting eternal relationship with Him. It is this reality of a personal forgiveness and grace that I believe helps develop a willingness and eagerness on our part to live for God. If God has done all this for us when we didn’t deserve it and when we can’t repay it, if God loves us so much that he is willing to lay down his own life for us –how can that not touch our hearts and make us eager to live for him.

I know in my own life, it was when I finally began to understand the reality of God’s forgiveness, grace and love that my heart became more willing to live for Him. I was in college when this happened and I have to say that my whole perspective on life and dreams and goals changed and it suddenly became more important to me to share this good news than to simply get an education, find a job or make a lot of money. I felt like my life had a greater purpose which was to help others understand the fullness of God’s love for them. If you want to be more willing to live for God and if you want to experience that eager excitement about living fully - then revere Christ as Lord, honor Jesus in your heart and life. Maybe that step starts today by simply accepting Jesus as savior and lord and asking God to forgive you and open you eyes and the eyes of your heart to exactly who Jesus is and how his death and resurrection really does bring forgiveness and life.

Once we are willing we can them move on to ready - 1 Peter 3:15. Are we ready to tell people why our lives are different? Are we ready to share with them why we have hope and why we trust in Jesus and how God’s grace and love has changed our lives? We talked about this last week, and I hope you have spent some time thinking or writing down how God has brought you out of darkness and into light. How does Jesus give us hope day after day? Are we ready to answer that question? If we can’t aren’t then we need to prepare ourselves and last week we saw that we prepare ourselves by coming to Christ and craving the pure spiritual milk which is the word of God.

It does take some energy, time and effort to prepare ourselves. Think back to our armed forces again, when men and women join the army, navy, air force, marines or coast guard they are willing to serve and sacrifice but they aren’t ready to at that moment. They have to go through some kind of basic training or boot camp, and if you have ever gone through that experience then you know that the process of training is rigorous. It takes energy, effort, commitment and courage to get ready for military service and the same is true for training ourselves in the faith. Growing in our faith doesn’t just happen, we have to commit ourselves to it, we have to be courageous and take that first step or the next step to growing stronger and we have to give it some energy and effort. Sometimes I’m afraid that we simply settle for an ordinary faith and trust in God instead of going all the way to extraordinary. We are satisfied with just a little bit of God instead of going for all the fullness of life and joy that God has to offer. When we step out in faith and begin to learn how to really trust God and live for God – God will more than meet us in return. When we step out in faith, God will surprise us, God will overwhelm us, and God will fill us to overflowing.

Sometimes I think of God as having this huge storehouse of life and power that he just wants to give us, but we never ask – or we never open our hands or hearts to receive. God has so much he wants to give us, he has some much he wants us to experience if we would just be willing to stop trusting in ourselves and trust in him. The more we open ourselves up to God, the more we ready we become to live for God and make a difference in this world.

Willing, ready and able. All the preparation means nothing unless we act when the time comes, but let’s be clear that putting our faith into action will not be easy. Both at the beginning and the end of this passage, Peter tells us that suffering will come when we step out to do God’s work which is why he specifically says, do not fear the suffering that will come and do not be intimidated by the forces that will work against God. Many times obstacles and even persecution comes when we start to live for God. We can’t let these hard times keep us from moving on. People may not understand our new outlook, they may question our hope and joy, they may just think we are crazy – that’s ok, Jesus family thought he was crazy so we would be in good company. We can’t let our fear of what people might say about us keep us from doing what God is calling us to do. With boldness and courage we need to step out in faith and act.

We are able to live for God. The spirit of God is in us and so we are able to live for God and make a difference in our world, so with gentleness and humility let us live for God and allow the world to see the light of Jesus burning within us.

This weekend I hope we will take time to remember the heroes who have fought for our freedom and those heroes who continue to serve and protect people around the world, but I also hope that we will wrestle with this idea that God is calling us to live as heroes of faith as well. May we be willing and ready and able to serve God and even sacrifice and suffer for him.