Then they run into a section of Scripture that includes chapter after chapter of regulations on how to dress the priests - how many cubits long the Tabernacle is suppose to be - how many hin of beaten oil you have to heave to make atonement if your slave gores your neighbors female ox.

In the midst of this heaving and waving stuff - regulations that we usually skim through when we’re doing our devotions - be honest - in the midst of this is the 10 Commandments - what we’re going to be focusing on for the next several Sundays.

As easy as it is to skim through all those cubits and heaving things its pretty easy for us to look at the 10 Commandments and have a “been there done that” kind of attitude. We know these. These have been - at least until recently - the 10 Commandments have been the moral and ethical underpinning of western civilization. Why spend the next 2½ months focused on them?

In 1989, a man from Philadelphia purchased an old, torn picture of a country scene for $4 at a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania - simply because he liked the frame. Later when he tried to detach the frame from the picture the frame fell apart. What he found between the picture and the wood backing of the frame was a folded copy of what appeared to be an old copy of the Declaration of Independence. A friend - who collected Civil War memorabilia - suggested that he should have it appraised.

Turns out it was one of 500 official copies of the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. At that time only 24 copies were known to exist - only 3 were privately owned. This one was in mint condition - as crisp as the day it was printed to carry the news of declaration of independence to the thirteen colonies.

On June 4, 1991 - Sotheby’s auctioned off the copy and sold it for $2.42 million. In June of 2000 - Donald Sheer - who purchased the copy in 1991 - Sheer sold the copy - again through Sotheby’s - for $8.14 million. (1)

If a scrap of paper - declaring the independence of the United States - is so valuable - what value should we give to original hand-written tablets from God? These 10 Commandments that we could so easily pass by.

The God of the Bible is a covenant God not a contract God. His message to us is not, “Do this for Me. Then I’ll love you.” That’s a do this and you’ll get paid - contract. But instead God says, “I’ve done this for you as your Creator and as your Redeemer. Therefore this is the kind of relationship that I invite you to be a part of.”

Its important that we understand that. These commandments are God’s covenant with His people. That’s why they’re so valuable to us.

So many people are trying to live in a relationship with God as a contract - trying to live rightly - morally - as Christians - as Jews - trying to somehow please God - to earn God’s favor. The 10 Commandments have become a burdensome list of don’ts that we must fulfill if we’re to avoid the wrath of Almighty God.

But God never intended for these commandments to be a contract. “If you do all this stuff then I’ll give you a relationship with Me.” If they were a contract none of us could have a relationship with God. Except for Jesus every single person who ever lived has failed to keep the 10 Commandments.

God preserves these for us - what our focus will be for the next several Sundays - is to understand the wonder of what God offers to us in this covenant relationship. To come to a greater personal understanding of what it means to live in a relationship with the living God.

If you’re not there yet - please turn with me to Exodus 20:1-3. Before Jack comes to sing I’d like to have us read the first commandment together. So that we can have it fresh in our minds and be thinking about it as Jack sings and helps us picture what God is saying.

Read with me - out loud - together - Exodus 20 - starting at verse 1: Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

Pause there so we don’t miss it. Do you see the relationship side of the commandments - the covenant of God. “I am your God” - that’s relationship. “I redeemed you from Egypt.” - that’s God initiating - God caring for His people.

Then read with me the first commandment - how we can now live - verse 3: “You shall have no other gods before me.” (song) God and God alone. He is infinite and righteous and holy beyond anything that you and I can pretend to imagine. God - the Almighty - self-existent - One - speaks and creation happens. God breathes and dust becomes a living soul. God who exists beyond the bounds of time and space - knows all things - upholds all things - works all things according to His will and purposes. Without fail His promises are fulfilled.

He is the One who knows our greatest struggles and deepest hurts. The number of hairs on our head and the days of our lives - every breath - every heartbeat - every thought is known to Him. He is the still small voice that speaks to us when we’re afraid and trying to make sense of our lives. He is love and He loves us.

He alone is God. There is none greater. He’s number one.

Try that with me. “He’s number one.” Try it pointing - making this a declaration. “He’s #1!” “He’s #1!”

Two truths I’d like to share with you. First: That God is number one means that we have a choice.

Each of us has an innate instinct - a desire - to worship. God designed us that way. The word “worship” comes from the old English "worth-ship" which means to ascribe worth or value to something or someone. Everyone worships - everybody - everywhere. Atheists worship - infidels worship - skeptics worship - all people worship. Worship is a universal phenomenon. The only question is what or whom do they worship? We have a choice.

The Bible tells us that there is true worship and false worship. True worship is to attribute worth to a real Being, to the One who is truly there - who’s truly worthy of being worshiped. False worship - on the other hand - is to attribute worth to something or someone that isn't worthy of that honor - to trust people or possession or position - or ourselves - to do what only God can do. (Jeremiah 17:5)

When God gave His people the 10 Commandments they were surrounded by any number of choices of gods. They’d lived for 400 years in a culture that worshiped cats - dead things - their king. The Cananites worshiped El - father of gods - and Asherah his mistress. Surrounding them were Baal - the god of life who replenished the earth. Mot - the god of death. Dagon and Chemosh and Molech and on and on and on. That’s not too far from where we are today.

Steven Van Zandt - former guitarist with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band - was interviewed. Van Zandt said, “I’m a reformed Taoist, part-time Buddhist, Hindu, animist, pagan, Jewish mystic, and Christian. I always got along great with priests and rabbis and mullahs and gurus, even though I spend most of my life constructively criticizing them.” (2)

We live in a syncretistic society. People have all kinds of ideas about who God is and how to approach Him. “I believe in God. But, I have a hard time with a God who sends someone to hell. How can a loving God be against gays? Your God - these 10 Commandments - is just too narrow. Other people besides Christians are good people too. All religions lead to God using different paths.” Have you heard these?

“Franken-god” - a god made up of bits and pieces of gods. Put together however we want so our choices - our lifestyle - is never questioned.

This first commandment is powerful, “Have no other gods before Me.” “Before Me” is a Hebrew phrase “alpanaya.” In today’s English it means something like, “In your face.” “Don’t stick another god in my face - before Me.”

We’re face to face - nose to nose - eyeball to eyeball with God. That’s pretty intimate - an exclusive relationship. Don’t choose to honor anything that’s going to break that eye to eye contact - that’s going to come between us and hurt our relationship.

Let me put this more practically. “Putting God first means He gets Sunday morning - the first part of the first part of the week.” Is that right? He gets Sunday so we get to choose everything else. A covenant relationship with God isn't like a political campaign where if God gets 51% of the popular vote He gets to be number one. Work gets 15%. T.V. gets 22.3%. The family gets 10% and so on.

Do you remember how Jesus summed up the commandments? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your [what?] heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) Love God with all that you are.

When we wake up in the morning what’s the first thing that goes through our minds? What passion drives us to get out of bed? At work - who shapes our attitudes? As we go through the day - what occupies our thoughts? What do we dwell on? Who is the desire of our hearts? Is every breath His? Is God our passion? Are we sold out - 100% - devoted to Him?

Those are tough questions. For all of us. We all fail at this. We all have choices to make. Choose to honor God with all that we are.

Second truth: That God is number one gives us the opportunity to live within His possibilities. What might happen if we passionately love God with everything we are?

The day before Thanksgiving a newspaper’s food editor took a call from a youthful-sounding woman. “My in-laws are coming over for the first time. I need to know how long to roast a 19½ pound Turkey.”

“Just a minute,” said the editor as she turned to consult the chart on her bulletin board.

“Thanks a lot!” said the caller - and hung up.

Consider the possibilities. What are God’s possibilities?

God comes to Noah and says, “I’m going to wipe out all this evil with a flood. But you - I’m going to establish My covenant with you and your descendants. Now, here’s what you need to do to live in the covenant.” Bottom line: build the Ark and get in. (Genesis 5:9-22) It’s a great choice. Isn’t it? Which possibility would you choose? Tread water or get in the Ark and let God save you.

God comes to Abraham and says, “I’m going to give you a land. I’m going to make your descendants into a great nation. Through you all the people of the world will be blessed.”

That’s a part of God’s plan before the creation of the world. Nothing’s going to change that. Abraham’s children receive the personal benefit of that promise only when they live in faith and obedience before God. (Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5) Great choice - massive blessing - God’s care and provision - or alienation and judgment. What possibility would you choose?

In the Old Testament God makes covenants - with Noah, Abraham, Moses and the 10 Commandments, David and so on. The offer of covenant relationship and the incredible possibilities - the blessings of that relationship. In the Old Covenant that offer was made with the sacrifice of an animal - sealed by death - the blood was sprinkled on the people and the covenantal document.

In the New Testament the idea of “covenant” is the word “diathekes.” It has the idea of making an offer which the other person can accept or reject. But, can’t alter the terms. “Take it or leave it.”

God establishes a covenant through the blood of His Son Jesus. (Hebrews (9:15-17). An unalterable offer of forgiveness of sin - restoration of our relationship with God - eternity with Him that begins now. What do we gain by having no other God before the God? Everything.

People today live in fear. Fear of the direction America may go. Fear of terrorism and events the Middle East. Fear of crime and gangs. Fear of unemployment. Fear of what others think. Fear of falling behind. Fear of loosing control. Fear of the past. Fear of the future. Fear of being alone. Fear of having lived lives without purpose and meaning. Each of us could add a fear to the list.

We were created to live in a covenant relationship with God. When we step outside that covenant - when we trust ourselves - or anything else - we’re on our own. That’s a fearful - lonely - dangerous - empty - place to be.

God loves you. That’s what all this is about. Not about rules and regulations. Not about if we put in our time here Sunday morning. But about God who wants to pour out His love on us - to take the burdens off our shoulders - to bring peace to our hearts - to establish us and bless us and watch out for us and heal us and care for us and guide and lead us through life into eternity with Him.

What would that mean? How would our lives change? That possibility goes beyond anything we’ve ever experienced. But its what we desire. Isn’t it?

Last thought. It’s God who establishes the covenant - not us. At some point we have to admit that doing it that way makes sense. He’s #1 and we’re not.

Try that with me: “He’s #1 and I’m not.”

As soon as we say, “I’m going to be passionate about putting God first” - we fail. Because we can’t do this for ourselves.

At some point we need to come to the point of agreeing with God that He needs to do this in our hearts. He needs to make Himself to be #1.

As the Worship Team comes we’re going to be singing together, “Be Thou My Vision.” As we sing - make this a prayer - that you might sing to God. “Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.” “God, You change my heart. Make Yourself to be the Lord of my heart.”

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1.  sources: cnn.com & snopes.com
2.  Mary Lewis, from a sermon, “Looking Out For Number One”
3.  John Beehler, from a sermon, “Whadday Want?”

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright© 1960,1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.