My Most Precious Faith (Part 6) Our Dury To God

Our Duty To God – Commandments 1-4

The first commandment – Who To Worship? Exodus 20:2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

The first commandments directs us to worship the only one living and true God, to acknowledge him to be thus and to worship him giving glory to him. I am to trust in him alone for every good thing. My heart is to praise, honor, adore, and fear him so as to not ever go against the will of the almighty.


That which is forbidden is a trust in anyone or anything other than the Creator. Also it is forbidden to deny God and / or not to worship the God of the Bible as the only true God. This is at the heart of this command.

God who is all knowing and everywhere present sees any sin that we would commit. In this commandment it is understood that to break any command is the an act that denies him worship. In that we resort to the worship our "own man made god". With our "own god's" we become guilty and with that the God of the Bible is angry and displeased and we fall under his displeasure. On the other hand to worship him alone is to please him and with that there are many blessings from him to us.

The second commandment – How To Worship? Exodus 20:4-6 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. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.


This commandment calls the believer to the keep worship pure and worship only as directed by his word. We are forbidden to have images of any kind that would represent God or his deity for God cannot and may not be portrayed other than by his character which is given us in his word. We may not in any way worship him other that prescribed in his Word.


We are obligated to worship purely because God is sovereign and he is desirous of pure worship an is zealous to be worshiped alone.


To worship an image or idol is to worship a "thing" that cannot speak or is dumb. To worship as some of the cults and false religions do is to worship an idol of gold, silver, works, or dead men at best. To worship falsely is to bring judgment upon you and your family. But for the true worshipper there is blessing not only for the worshipper, but for his family as well. The Christian worships the all wise, all powerful, everywhere present, living God who sees and knows all things and bestows blessings upon families. He is active in his creation knowing who and what they worship!

The third commandment – Honor in Worship Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.


This commandment requires us to reverence God's name, word, and works. Even though we do not understand the happenings in our life or the world around us many times we are to give thanks to God for his guiding all things by his Fatherly hand. There is no room for "chance" or "luck" but only room for God's decrees and providential guidance. We are to pray to him in all things with thanksgiving, reverence, and awe. We are never to use his name in any unholy manner whatever may befalls us.

We are called to control our thoughts, words, and actions so as to uplift his name in honor at all times. There is no room for a slip of the tongue in this commandment. To blaspheme makes God angry and commands the death penalty. Our love and devotion is to be toward him in the utmost at all times and in everything. To break this commandment is to suffer the righteous judgment of God, for the Lord will not hold any man that breaks this command guiltless.


The fourth commandment – The Day To Worship Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord thy god: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.



This is the commandment which most Christians ignore, or are unsure of, or do not believe exists for the New Testament believer. This is very sad for it is a creational command. The sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath. The sabbath was kept from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to the Lord Jesus, and then he, the Christ, took away all the false teachings that surrounded it and showed that is a good non-burdensome command.

The requirements of the commandment is a day in the week, after six days of labor, to worship the Lord, to learn God's worship, and to rest from all the normal worldly activities. It is the day to do works of worship reading the word of God, pray, self examination and partaking of the sacraments. It is a day to give of yourself to works of love in the areas of mercy and necessity. It is a day sanctified to the pious duty of our true, pure and peaceful religion.


The New Testament sabbath is the first day of the week, commonly called the Lord's day. This day is to be kept holy until the end of the world. It is the Christian sabbath. It is this day that our Lord rose from the dead. The early church met for worship and alms giving on this most holy day. It is this day that the psalmist said to rejoice and be glad in.

The commandant is a call to remembrance. In our labor in six days with the "thorns and thistles" of life we may often forget to prepare for and keep this day set apart from all others. The commandment is to all the heads of institutions ie; families and businesses. They are bound to keep the commandment themselves but also they are to see that is observed by all those under their authority. In other words the employer is to so run the business so that the employees are in no way hindered from keeping the Christian sabbath. In the same way all the family is to keep the sabbath and the father's must never direct their wives and children in any other way other than observing the Lord's day and keeping it holy.


It has been rightly said that "as goes the observance of the sabbath so goes the spiritual life of the family and the church". This is a statement I agree with for if we do not set this day aside for our worship and reflection we will forget the other commandments and holy duties as Christians. We will forget to be thankful, our worldly employments and pleasures will overtake us, and we will forget the God who bought us with his own blood.


In not keeping the sabbath we greatly sin for we do not do the works and duties of pure worship, we think on the things of this world and we do not examine ourselves in our walk with the Lord .in essence we go about living in our on way.


We are at a point in looking at the rules of life that we need to be reminded that the first four commandments speak to us of our duty to God . Next we enter into thinking about the last six commandments and understand that they teach us our duty to our fellow man.