What is Required in the Second Commandment?

Dear Neighbor,

What is required in the second commandment?

Firstly, the commandment should be observed carefully and taken to heart. It is not a vein thing that the Lord our God takes His word seriously; therefore, His people should take His word seriously and observe all that He commanded. The heart is the center of a person, for in the heart a person cares and holds what is most important to them. (cf. Dt. 32:46)

Secondly, the commandment is pure for it was given by the mouth of God to His servant. When a person disregards the commandment of God, he disregards the Lord. To disregard His is word is saying that His word is nothing, and therefore, makes God out to be nothing. All worship of God by man should be pure, and done as ascribed by God without bringing into worship that which He has declared in His word to be unholy. The commandment is holy because God is holy. (cf. Mt. 23:20)

Finally, the second commandment requires devotion. Devotion to God and His word, and not giving of oneself to another, or a thing created by man. Idolatry is the equivalent of a man’s wife having an affair with another man. She vowed to be solely devoted to her husband alone for life. The second commandment requires our sole devotion to God. (cf. Acts 2:42)

In conclusion, the second commandment requires us to observe the commandment carefully, take it to heart, have pure worship, and be solely devoted to God.

Michael Peek

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Dear Neighbor, 

During the week I have been writing about the questions and answers written by previous generations who catechized their children. To catechize means to interrogate; therefore, a catechism is an exam of a person’s knowledge; however, knowledge does not make a person a Christian but it does instruct a convert in the way that he/she should walk. 

In many Christian traditions, the children of believers are baptized, thus making them members of the church before conversion. I do not believe this to be a correct way of doing things; therefore, I am a Credobaptist, I believe that only believers should be baptized. Credo from the latin, meaning, “I believe.” 

However, I believe that Paedobaptist traditions do a better job of training their children in Christian religion than Credobaptist. I am not a fan of youth groups that have become part of CredoBaptist traditions in America. These groups are more American than they are Christian. I have written before and I write it again; I regret not catechizing my own children, I depended on the youth group to raise up my children in the faith; therefore, if you are reading this, and you have children, teach them and do not depend on the youth group to raise your children.

Michael Peek

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

Which is the Second Commandment?

Dear Neighbor,

Which is the second commandment, of the ten, which God gave to Israel at Mount Sinai in the desert?

Exodus 20:4-6 (NASB)

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

What is an Idol? An idol is a graven image hewn out of stone, carved from wood, or cast out of metal but an idol can also be anything that is sacred to a person. An idol defines a person’s self-worth; therefore, it is whatever becomes the controlling center of a person’s life. 

What defines you? What is the controlling center of your life? Is it the one true God, revealed to men in the word of God, and in the person of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, or is it something else? What is it that you think about the most?

Michael Peek

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

What Are We Specifically Taught By These Words “Before Me” in the First Commandment?

Dear Neighbor,

The Westminster Puritan divines said in the shorter catechism, “These words before Me in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other God.”

Psalms 44:20-21 (NASB)

If we had forgotten the name of our God

Or extended our hands to a strange god,

Would not God find this out?

For He knows the secrets of the heart.

The number one essential belief, throughout the history of the Christian Church, is that there is but one God who exist in three persons (Father, Son and Spirit) all of whom are equally God in essence. The Trinity are not three gods but one God in three persons. This was not a problem until the fourth century, when Christian beliefs became excepted in Roman society. Romans, Greeks and pretty much all cultures on the earth worshiped a pantheon of gods; therefore, the church developed the theological term Trinity in order to explain how God could be one yet three persons. To worship the Father or the Son or the Spirit is to worship the one true God who created heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them. We are to have no other gods before Him!

Michael Peek

Your Servant for Jesus’ Sake

What is Forbidden in the First Commandment?

The first commandment forbids the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying, the true God as God, and our God; and the giving of the worship and glory to any other, which is do to him alone.

Psalms 14:1 (NASB)

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

Romans 1:20-21 (NASB)

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Psalms 81:11 (NASB)

“But My people did not listen to My voice,

And Israel did not obey Me.”

Romans 1:25 (NASB)

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

What is Required in the First Commandment?

The First Commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.

1 Chronicles 28:9 (NASB)

As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

Deuteronomy 26:17 (NASB)

You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

Matthew 4:10 (NASB)

Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’”

Which is the First Commandment?

The first commandment is, “You shall have no other God’s before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Deuteronomy 6:14-15 (NASB) You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

Jeremiah 35:15 (NASB) You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the LORD your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

The preface in Exodus 20:2 has already indicated that the Yahweh is their God; therefore, the phrase “before Me” means in my presence. They were not to acknowledge any other so called god or gods except Yahweh. 

The apostle Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 8:5-6 (NASB) For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

The apostle Paul is portraying both the Father and the Son as one in the since of Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB).

“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!.