Vaughn Weatherford’s Post

Transcript

Only God deserves our worship. Find out why in this episode of 5 Minutes Closer. I'm Vaughn Weatherford and this is 5 Minutes Closer. For the next 5 minutes, let's explore some biblical truths and apply them to your life. No podcast, including this one, can transform your life or give you what you really need. Only Jesus can do that. You can find out why and what I've called the first five, the first five episodes of 5 Minutes Closer. Each following episode explores scriptural truths that, if you follow them, will bring you. 5 minutes closer to the person God created you to be. Let's see if we can get you 5 minutes closer. My daughter wanted me to help her with her 5th grade math homework. I took out the textbook and studied the 4th chapter to remind myself of my own 5th grade math. I went to my daughter and told her I was ready to explain every concept in the 4th chapter. That's great, dad, she told me. Except we're studying chapter 6. Nothing like reading the wrong chapter. The 2nd commandment warns about a much more significant mistake. It reminds us that God alone is worthy of our worship. It's found in Exodus chapter 20 beginning with verse 4. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God. I'm a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the 4th generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Idols were common in the Old Testament day. Most of these false gods were represented by some sort of statue. The 2nd commandment reveals that nothing made by human hands could ever fully represent the one true God. It's essential to understand the phrase in the commandment describing God as a jealous God. If you saw your child about to eat rat poison, what would you do? Pat them on the head and tell them rat poison and sugar? It's all the same deer. You just go right ahead and do what you think is right. Well, of course you wouldn't do that. You would take the poison away, and you would make sure that your child understood just how dangerous eating something like that is. Is that being a mean, horrible parent? Of course not. You don't want your child to die. That's the meaning of the term jealous in this passage. God doesn't want his children to die. Worshiping the created is exactly that. It's worshipping that which cannot give life. It's more than just a waste of time. It directs us away from the One who can provide us with life. There is only one God. That's it. God is not a tyrant because he calls us to do the only thing that is right, the only thing. Where we will find life. He would be uncaring an evil if he did not demand that we worship him and Him alone. But God realizes even more our faults. Worship effects more than just us. It is vital to understand the warning in the second commandment. The warning doesn't mean that God punishes children for their parents sin. Where do you think the children of the Old Testament day learned to worship idols? They learned it from their parents. Children learn much of what they learned by example. They see Mom and Dad walking, so they walk. They hear Mom and Dad talking, so they talk. When they see Mom and Dad worship, they will want to worship too. God knows that He made us that way, so He tells us to be careful what we worship. If our children see us worshipping our job, our bank account, our hobby, they're going to want to do the same thing. The 2nd commandment simply reminds us to let our children see us worshipping the one thing that is worthy of worship. Nothing on earth will ever compare. Worship the one true God. Teach your children. To do the same, you can and now you're 5 minutes closer. My prayer is that these 5 minutes have challenged you, inspired you, and caused you to consider applying God's message for your life from His Word. To find out more, visit our website at 5 Minutes closer.com. Join me next time to see if we can get you 5 minutes closer.