CCC Gainesville | Blog
Q: What does God require in the first, second and third commandments?
A: First, that we know and trust God as the only true and living God. Second, that we avoid all idolatry and do not worship God improperly. Third, that we treat God’s name with fear and reverence, honoring also his Word and works.
As John Lin says in the video this week, the first three commandments show how we can point to the only true and living God. The first one requires that He is to be the exclusive object of our worship, love, and desire. The second one asks that we worship who God really is, not what we want Him to be for us. The third commands that whenever we speak of God, whether through words or lifestyle, we fully respect who He is. These commandments are in place to check our motives for worshiping God. If we look to our goals in life to provide us with deeper comfort than God, we violate the first commandment. If we only worship Him because he will provide us with comfort, we violate the second commandment. John Lin describes such violations as creating a “designer” God. The first two commandments ask that we look to Him as the only true and worthy candidate of our worship. As we recently reviewed in Foundations, our chief purpose for living is to glorify God. He deserves to be worshiped for who He is, not who we think He should be. He created us to desire Him. If we constantly try to replace God or change who He is, we will never be at peace. True comfort, true significance, true joy, and true love can never be grasped without the only true God. If God is at the center of our lives, and as we seek to honor these three commandments, we can begin to know true satisfaction.
This is week 9 of 52 catechism readings from New City Catechism. Christ Community is reciting an entry from the catechism each Sunday in 2013.
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