Supreme Loyalty to God

GOLDEN TEXT: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” —Exodus 20:3,4

EXODUS 20:1-6

MOSES, explained the intent of the Law, in so far as man’s relationship to the Creator is concerned, saying, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” (Deut. 6:5) To this Jesus added that a man should love his neighbor as he loves himself, thus explaining the essence of those commandments which outline just and righteous human relationships.

The injunction against making graven images reveals God’s knowledge of the fallen human tendency toward unbelief, for it is difficult to exercise faith in that which cannot be seen or visualized Those who resort to the use of images as an aid to faith and worship claim that they are not bowing down to them, or worshiping them, but merely using them as an aid to their worship of God. (These seem not to realize that by doing this the majesty and glory of God is reduced in their minds to the level of the image their physical eyes can see.

Our faith should lay hold firmly upon the fact that there exists an all-wise and all-powerful personal Creator, who is also just and loving; but it is a mistake to suppose that we are able to determine what he looks like, or that images can be made of him.(A mistake similar to this is made by many Christians when they think of the resurrected Jesus as having a body of flesh with nail prints in his hands and feet; whereas the Scriptures declare that Christ is now the “express image” of the invisible God.—Heb. 1:3

In the 5th verse of this lesson is the first mention in the Bible of the fact that the Creator is a “jealous God.” The thought is simply that as Creator and Life-giver he has the right to expect the obedience and worship of his creatures, and will not continue to tolerate any other attitude on their part. His active jealousy against a sinful social order is foretold in Zephaniah 3:8, where it is said that the whole symbolic “earth” will be devoured by the “fire” of his jealousy.

Jealousy in fallen human hearts often leads to malice, envy, and strife—works of the flesh and the devil even though to begin with one might have a just cause to be jealous. But all the elements of God’s character function without malice, and are always under perfect control. Because he knows that it will result in the eternal happiness of his human creatures, he has willed that all insubordination to his law shall be put down, and that those who continue willfully to disobey shall be destroyed. Thus his “jealousy” will result in man’s blessing. He gave Israel an opportunity to prove this as a nation, but the record is largely one of failure.

“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” This expression occurs three more times in the Old Testament—Exodus 34:6,7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9,10. The thought of visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children through as many as four generations does not imply a continuation of God’s wrath, but rather a gradual lessening of a particular hereditary disease, abnormality, or virus in the blood until it works itself out in three or four generations. Mendel’s law corroborates this statement.

LUKE 14:25-27

THESE are difficult verses to understand, for they seem to imply that for a person to be loyal to Christ it is necessary for him to hate the members of his own family. The key to the right viewpoint is in the fact that the “hate” is supposed to include one’s own life. This clearly shows that there must be another meaning to the word hate than the one ordinarily understood. Prof. Strong informs us that the Greek word here translated “hate,” by extension means “to love less,” and this, obviously, is What the Master meant.

It seems clear from other scriptures that the Lord wants his people to love their own, and to make proper provision for them. Nevertheless, he wants them to realize that their first loyalty is to him; he wants them to love him even more than they love their own lives. Indeed, he expects them to sacrifice their lives in his service.

It is this that is implied in the thought of cross-bearing. We have the privilege of being “crucified” with Jesus. The ultimate reward of a faithful Christian will be “glory and honor and immortality,” but the only means of obtaining that reward is by being “faithful unto death.”—Rom. 2:7; Rev. 2:10

An Old Testament prophecy phrases the divine call to the church in beautiful poetic language, saying, “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.”—Ps. 45:10,11

The expression, “own people,” evidently refers to the immediate members of a Christian’s family. He is to forget them in the sense of loving them less than he does the Lord.

The “father’s house” seems to be a reference to father Adam’s “house,” the earthly home and dominion that he lost through sin, and which will be restored at the end of the Millennium to all the willing and obedient of mankind. Those in this age who consecrate themselves to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, give up their hope of human “restitution,” and receive instead a hope of joint-heirship with Jesus in the spiritual phase of his kingdom, to live and reign with him a thousand years.

LUKE 16:13-15

IN THIS passage Jesus continues to emphasize the necessity of undivided allegiance to him and to the divine cause. “No servant can serve two masters,” he said, and added, “for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” The thought of “hate” in this instance is the same as it is in the 14th chapter. Obviously, a servant would not need literally to hate one master in order to love another; but it would be almost impossible not to love one less than the other.

The two “servants” referred to are “God and mammon,” or the money god. The Pharisees did not like the idea that they could not serve mammon and at the same time be loyal to God, for they were “covetous.” Their supreme love for mammon meant that they did not love God as they should, even though outwardly they professed to be very godly.

“God knoweth your heart s,” Jesus said to the Pharisees. They were highly esteemed among men, but that was because man “looketh on the outward appearance.” (I Sam. 16:7) Inwardly the Pharisees loved mammon more than they loved God. That is why, even though they made a great pretense of sympathy for those in need, uttering long and ardent prayers to be seen and heard by men, they devoured widows’ houses—that is, exploited the inexperienced and helpless ones whose interests they professed to protect.—Matt. 23:14

“A root of all kinds of evil is the love of money.” (I Tim. 6:10, Emphatic Diaglott) There are many “gods” who attempt to alienate the affections of the Christian from the Heavenly Father, such as ambition, pride, vain-glory; and mammon exerts a strong attraction with many. If our hearts are fixed on the true God, we can use mammon in his service. We should always treat mammon as a servant, not as a god.

QUESTIONS

How did Moses sum up the meaning of the Ten Commandments, and what did Jesus add to this?

What is one reason God forbids the making of graven images?

Explain the manner in which God is “jealous.”

How does God visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the third and fourth generations of children?

What did Jesus mean by “hating” our own families in order to love him?

Why did the Pharisees “deride” Jesus for saying they could not serve God and mammon?

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