Faith,
This Sunday, we will finish our three-week exploration of the first commandment: “I am the LORD your God: You shall have no other gods before me.”
What if I were to tell you that there is not a day that goes by that your life is not affected by the first commandment? What if I were to tell you that you can’t understand the Old Testament or the New Testament without the first commandment? What if I told you that you can’t understand human history or even the United States of America without the first commandment? There’s certainly a reason the first commandment gets top billing. All the other commandments flow from it, and we are a product of its importance.
Following the commandment, thus, compels responsibility. If our top priority is God, and if our worship flows to Him, then our allegiances in this life cannot look like those of the rest of the world. Christians have a responsibility in culture, and that responsibility flows from the first commandment.
This Sunday, we’re going to tell the story of the first commandment’s influence on history, and we’re going to get practical about how it shapes our responsibilities in culture. God has seen fit to love us by clarifying His commands. We love Him and others by following those commands.
“This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.” 1 John 5:2-3
In Christ alone,
Pastor Brad
Downloadable message notes are here.
Here are this week’s deeper dive videos:
Are the 10 Commandments just Rules? (5:05)
1st Commandment: No Other Gods (5:54)
Tom Holland: Why I changed my mind about Christianity (4:49)