1st Commandment

Sermon by Rev. Ray Silverman

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image — 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 nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:2-4)

Sermon: The first commandments focuses our attention on the Lord our God, Who has brought us out of the house of bondage. It is given to help us remember how He has freed us from the bondage of self–worship and the worship of the things of this world. In this commandment we are reminded that nothing is real, nothing is permanent, nothing endures except the Lord’s tender mercy, and that is forever. It was this commandment which Jesus referred to when he was asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered and said, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.” (Mark 12:30)

Not many of us worship golden calves or bow down to graven images any more, but we still break this commandment whenever our aim and focus in life shifts away from the Lord and heaven and returns to lesser loves of self and the world. Jesus says that the first commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, to worship Him as the center and source of our life. It would be well with us if we could do this. However, as Emanuel Swedenborg has pointed out, “Whatever a person loves above all things, this is what he/she worships.” (Apocalypse Explained 950:3)

We must subordinate our love of self in order to truly love the Lord. We must subdue our self–will in order to do the Lord’s will. We must rise above the allurement of natural pleasures in order to come into the spiritual delights that await us, the noble thoughts and benevolent emotions that pour into us when we focus on the Lord, and on heaven. Whatever we love above all things, that is what we worship.

Let’s focus first on the love of self. Self–love is not always easy to detect. Sometimes it even looks like love to the Lord. For example, we sometimes come into states where we feel self–satisfied, self–reliant and self–sufficient. In our exalted state of mind we may find ourselves saying things like, “God has been so good to me. He has given me such a fine mind, such a compassionate disposition.” But hidden away in this apparent song of praise to God is the ugly beast of self–love, pride and conceit.

Jesus refers to this disguised form of self–love in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It goes like this, “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men ‐ extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.” (Luke 18:10-14) The Pharisee in this story represents that attitude of vanity and conceit where we acknowledge God outwardly but inwardly we worship ourselves. It is a state of mind in which we rely on personal power, rather than God’s power; where we trust in ourselves and our own prudence, rather than give ourselves entirely over to God’s providence and protection.

We are told as this parable opens that it was spoken to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” Even as the Pharisee prays, his self-righteousness and contempt for others form the content of his prayer. “God, thank you that I am not like others.” And to whom does he actually direct the prayer? We would expect that it would be directed toward God, and that’s probably what the Pharisee thought as well, but notice what Jesus says about the manner of the Pharisee’s prayer. He says, The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself. He prayed with whom? He prayed with himself. The Pharisee represents that state of mind which is so contrary to the first commandment. It is a state of mind full of self–praise, self–glorification, and self–worship. He prayed with himself.

In the first commandment we are instructed to have no other gods before the Lord. “I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” In order to truly worship the Lord, we must come into a state opposite to that of self-love, a state of profound and tender humility. Emanuel Swedenborg writes that “humility is the essential of all adoration and all worship, for without humility the Lord cannot be worshipped and adored. The Divine of the Lord cannot flow into a proud heart, that is, into a heart full of the love of self, for it is harsh; but it flows into a humble heart, because this is tender.” (Arcana Coelestia 9377:1)

The Lord has given us a divine example of self–worship in the story of the Pharisee. But this story is about two men who went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector. The tax collector, although despised in the eyes of the Pharisee, found favor in the eyes of God. Feeling unworthy to even approach God, the tax collector stands at the back of the temple. He compares himself to no one, but rather confesses his own sinful condition and asks for divine mercy. ”God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” he says. Jesus concludes the parable by saying that the tax collector’s prayer was heard, but not that of the Pharisee. The Pharisee exalted himself and despised others; the tax collector, however, stood afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” The tax collector, unlike the Pharisee, was profoundly aware of his sinfulness and his need for the Lord’s mercy. Jesus says of him, “This man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The first commandment calls us to come out of self–worship and into true worship, to focus our attention on Him who alone is worthy to be praised. It also bids us to shift our gaze from the things of earth to the things of heaven. “You shall not make for yourself any 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.” The things of this world allure us and tempt us. We sometimes are tempted to buy into the illusion that earthly possessions, power and glory will give us peace. In the most famous example in the Word, the devil offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth and their glory, but Jesus, who sets his gaze continually upon a higher kingdom, responds, “Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” Imagine, for a moment, the power and the glory that would be yours if you possessed all the kingdoms of the world. You would be admired, honored. Kings and queens would bow down to you. All this would be yours if you would simply bow down and worship Satan. Again and again our response must be, Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall love the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.

The lure of the world and its sensual gratifications, the carved images that glitter and gleam, these are the things that moth corrupts and rust destroys. In comparison to the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, all that the world has to offer us is but waxed fruit that cannot satisfy, and painted pictures that cannot love. The Lord calls us to a better, fuller, richer kingdom. Satan seems to offer us all the kingdoms of the world, and the satisfaction of every sensual craving, but Jesus calls us to another kingdom. He turns us away from Satan and the temptation to worship him. He reminds us to keep our focus, not on Satan, but on God; not on the natural world and its sensual pleasures, but on the spiritual world and its heavenly delights. Through His divine example, He gives us the words of reply whenever Satan comes crashing and barging into our life: “Away with you, Satan, for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.”

God indeed wants to turn our attention away from self–love, as represented by the Pharisee, and away from the world and its sensual allurements, as represented by Satan. He wants to free us from an inordinate love of self so that He can fill us with His own glory, His own love, His own wisdom. He wants to free us from an inordinate love of the world and material blessings so that He can fill us with a love for heaven and spiritual blessings. “My kingdom,” He reminds us, “My true kingdom is not of this world. Do not exalt yourself. Trust in Me. Do not be puffed up with pride, but humble yourselves like little children. Remember, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for an inflated ego to enter the kingdom of God.”

Our Lord yearns to turn our attention away from self and the world so that we might re–focus upon Him and heaven. He yearns to bless us with His love, His peace, His wisdom. In the Hebrew language, His tremendous desire to do this is described by a word that means both zealous and jealous. This divine jealousy, this heavenly zeal, is not one that compares itself to other gods and has hurt feelings if we choose another, for there is no other. “I am the Lord your God,” He assures us. “Besides Me there is no other. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God.”

There is only one God, who loves the whole world like a mother loves her only child — even more so. This one God is a divinely jealous God, infinitely concerned for every hair on our heads, ready to protect us from all harm, and eager to lead us into all good. He warns us not to worship self or the world, not to worship false images of any kind, not to bow down to them or serve them. We are to clear our minds of any and all false images of who God is. We are to see Him as a God of infinite love and wisdom, divinely human and full of compassion, a God who is divinely jealous for our welfare, continually calling us to come to Him. He calls to us, asking us to remember what He has done for us, how He has delivered us from bondage. He calls to us, asking us to turn away from self-worship and self–reliance so that we may come to Him, trusting solely in Him.

He calls to us, asking us to rise above our fascination with the world and all that perishes. In the first commandment, the Lord calls to each of us, reminding us that the first and foremost thing of all religious life is to love the Lord with all one’s heart, mind and strength. He calls to us, asking us to lift our gaze toward Him, and toward heaven. The first commandment turns our attention to the only object worthy of our complete devotion, our Father, which art in heaven. It concludes with the promise of His perpetual mercy to thousands of generations. That mercy is offered to all; His tender mercy is over all His works, but is only received and experienced by those who strive to keep the commandments. “I am a jealous God,” He says, “showing mercy to thousands who love me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:5, 6) This is the promise of our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name.

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