The First Commantment Quandry

I preached a sermon entitled "No Other Gods: 21st Century Idolatry" out of Exodus 20:3 this pas Sunday. You can check it out for yourself at the above link. It was a straight forward exposition of the grammar of the verse & the history of the time. Two words were interesting to me in the grammar: 'have' - means to own or be in possession of. And the word 'before' - literally means 'in my face' or presence. As I explained in the teaching: "This is not about PRIORITY but PRESENCE" It's NOT OK to have gods as long as they are less loved & served than GOD. There was also an interesting polemic on the plurality of gods. I let you check that out for yourself.
As is our custom at CWW, we engage in a Q&A after we eat lunch together every week. This week's Q&A was probably the best we've ever had. It went well over an hour & nearly everyone had something to say. One young man in our fellowship, Art, asked the best question of the day. "How do you know when something has become an idol?" That question gave birth to 45 minutes of dialogue. I don't really know how many people read this blog but I'd be interested in your answer to Art's excellent question.
I find we tend to list things in a priority list but remember that this is not what God was commanding in the 1st commandment. It is about presence not priority. No other gods in my face! That is his clear command.
I believe the starting point to answer this question is understanding God's Lordship, His ownership of our lives - "Lock, Stock, & Barrel" as they used to say. If we can embrace a biblical paradigm of God's ownership of all that we ARE & HAVE...then from that starting point, it becomes a matter of management of blessings that are not mine but His.
I'm studying it further for myself this week. I believe we'll have a part 2 on Idolatry in the 21st century this next week. Then on the following Sunday, my brother Jim will address the congregation regarding 'carving on God'.
By the way...I love our Church! We have some of the saltiest believers that I've ever met.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Grace & Peace...

Junior Camp

Run John, Run the Law demands

But gives us neither feet nor hands

Far better news the Gospel brings

It bids us fly & gives us wings

-John Bunyon-

We spent a busy & fun week with 120 folks at Junior camp last week. I taught on "Law & Grace". Really I taught 90% on the Commandments & 10% on Grace which is a good rule of thumb when you think about it. Below is the hand motions to commandment #2 - no graven images. I taught these hand motions 2 years ago & some of the children still remembered them. Amazing! One of the 'Great Finds' before camp was a DVD by a group called the Go Fish Guys. I was searching for a great 10 commandments song. I found some real hinky songs but one called "The Ten Commandment Boogie" was a hit with my son Sam. Below is a pic of my girls & Emily doing the motions to it. I encourage you to check their music out at http://www.gofishguys.com/

Here's Sam doing the motions as well - This is to the line..."...the 10 commandment boogie, gonna dance it till I die..."

The material was from John Piper's church & it was excellent. http://www.childrendesiringgod.org/ I had to combine the commandment teachings as each commandment was a stand alone lesson. Due to only having 10 chapel services, I had to combine 2 commandments per lesson. As a result, I couldn't go near as deep as the material did. I had to carve a lot of good stuff out.

The lesson on commandment #7 had me in knots. How do you teach 3rd - 5th grade kids about adultery & why its a bad idea. How do you even define it? God was gracious. Camp Definition: Adultery is treating another person who isn't your husband/wife like they were your husband/wife.

Would you believe it was that lesson that broke the hearts of many of the kids?! They are living with the fruit of unfaithfulness & I never really gave that a thought. I took an egg & dropped it on the floor to illustrate how being unfaithful destroys a family. When I looked back up from that, many children & even some of the teen counsellors were wiping away tears.

Several children came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit & confessed Christ as Savior. My little cousin Becky being one of them.

Some of the most dear & lovely Christians I know are Camp Eunice regulars. I praise God for the opportunity to invest a week in the lives of those young people.