3rd Sunday in Lent – March 15, 2009

Exodus 20:1-6 - And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

When our nation launched the war against Iraq, they described their swift and powerful entry as “shock and awe.” The title was released to the public even before our troops entered Iraq in hopes of driving fear into the hearts of the enemy. Then the plan was unleashed in hopes that the enemy would be so shocked by the display of power that they would rather give up than fight. That is part of being in awe, to have fear and/or respect for someone or something.

But awe doesn’t always have a negative connotation. We can be in awe of something or even someone without being terrified. If you have ever met a famous person like a professional athlete, entertainer or politician, or perhaps your hero, you may have stood before them with awe. Awe in the sense you had emotions of excitement or respect or joy or all of them at once.

It is with awe that the Children of Israel stood before the One True God at the base of Mt. Sinai those many years ago. Truthfully they were in awe in the sense of being terrified and at the same time in awe at the sense of standing in the presence of someone great. My dear Christian friends, we gather together this morning in the Lord’s house to learn what it means to Stand in Awe before our God.

When it comes to studying the Bible, one thing that can be helpful in our comprehending of it, is to read with imagination. So this morning, I want you to put yourself into this text, to picture these events in your mind, and imagine that you are an Israelite. If you have ever seen the movie “The Ten Commandments,” perhaps you can use that to help you get into character.

Here is the scene. It is the 3^rd month since you have left Egypt, and you and your fellow Israelites have come to a mountain in the desert of Sinai. At this mountain Moses, your leader and mediator, is given instructions by God. He repeats them to your nation. Among them are this command and promise, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5). In awe at the mercy and grace of God you respond with the rest of the people “We will do everything the LORD has said” (Exodus 19:8). Moses takes your answer back to God, and God promises that in three days he will descend on Mt. Sinai in a dense cloud and speak so that everyone can hear him.

It is now the third day, and all of sudden in the morning there is thunder and lightening. A thick cloud comes over the mountain, and out of the cloud comes a very loud trumpet blast. You and your fellow Israelites move closer to the mountain, but not to close because God said if you touch it you will die. As you get closer the trumpet gets louder. You notice that the whole mountain is shaking violently. And then you hear the voice of God.

If you were there that day, how do you think you would feel? Terrified!?! Awe struck!?! Full of humble respect!?! If so, you would not be alone. In Exodus 19:16 we are told, “Everyone in the camp trembled.” There they stood in awe. In presence of God. The whole setting made it clear what their attitude was to be. It was to be the true, trembling, respect filled awe that comes from knowing the almighty God means what he says and says what he means.

You see God was giving to the children of Israel His holy Law. The Ten Commandments. His eternal will. And he told them what would happen to those who broke His commands. He tells them flat out, he will punish all who transgress them. How that put fear and awe into their hearts and souls. It was one thing to witness the awesome power of God – even though it was just a glimpse – but it was another thing to know and feel in their hearts that God must punish sin. So what we have here are the Children of Israel standing in awe of God by being mindful of his just wrath to punish sin and the sinner.

It is, of course, not popular to speak of God in this way. To speak of this side of God – His holy and just side – is not what people want to hear. People do not want to hear about Law, about sin, about punishment, damnation, hell, or anything that has to do with the negative consequences of sin. People do not want to hear that there is an absolute standard of right and wrong and that someone is actually keeping inventory of what they do and expects them to do what he says – or else. In fact, in one poll taken by Fox News (10/2005) it showed that more Americans believe in heaven then believe in hell.

But our God is serious, dead serious, about following His commands. In the very first commandment God lays down the foundation for following all of His commands. He – and He alone – is to be God. Oh, what a simple statement that is, but how hard it is to follow! If God is not God in our hearts, minds and lives then the other 9 commandments are impossible to even comprehend – let alone keep. And keeping His commands is what God is saying we are to do. And we are to do it perfectly. Not just to the best of our ability. Not simply better than the next guy. Perfectly. There is a reason God repeated his command when he gave His Laws to the Children of Israel, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Lev. 19:1) In other words, we are to stand before Him in total perfection or we are unable to stand at all. There is no middle ground.

God is serious when it comes to our relationship with Him. He wants to be first. He tells us that He will not stand for anyone placing anything or anyone first in his/her life other than Him. God is serious about not wanting us to make idols for ourselves, whether those idols are out in the open or whether the idols are hidden in our hearts so that only we can see what we love most and hold dearest.

I hope you squirm a little in your seat when you think about God’s wrath. I hope you get an uneasy feeling in your stomach when you are reminded of God’s punishment for sin. I know I do. I hope when you look at the very first command of God that you truthfully ask yourself, “Is God always first in my heart, my thoughts, my actions? Or is there somebody or thing I put before him, including myself?” If you and I are truthful, we don’t have to go any farther than the first commandment to know that we have broken God’s holy commands. Take a close look at your life. If you were not in a church and somebody asked you a simple question, “What is most valuable to you?” what would be your response? What would automatically come rolling off your lips? Where would God be? Truthfully, where would God be? Would you even think to include him on your list of most valuable and important in your life, let alone let him be first?

Oh, I think if we stood before the holy God on that day on Mount Sinai, you and I would be shaking in our sandals as well. On our own, we stand before God in terrified awe of His holiness and justice. Yes, when we are truthful and look into the mirror of God’s holy Law, we have to confess in terror that we deserve the just punishment of hell for our crimes against God.

The children of Israel as sinners were in terror of this holy God. They stood in awe of Him, mindful of his just wrath over sin. But that is only part of the story. Yes, like you and me they were sinners, yet, at the same time, like you and me, they were not terrified because they were more than sinners. They were sinners who had been shown mercy and who stood forgiven before God.

God showed this mercy when He addressed Moses and the people. He does this by reminding them who He is. He says, “I am the LORD, your God.” If you look at this phrase in your Bible, you see that the name LORD is in all capital letters. This name is YAWEH, where we get our English name Jehovah. It is the name God used to reveal himself to Moses when Moses asked who He was. Remember that section of Scripture, God said, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14)? It is the name God used to describe himself when he gave Moses the two stone tablets the second time, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6,7). It stands for the Savior God. He is the LORD of the covenant who promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to send a Savior. He is the LORD who promised and delivered them from slavery. That is what LORD means.

Now look at the two words that follow: “YOUR God.” The LORD says that He is their God. And in turn they are His people. What a powerful statement! He is their Savior God. He is the one who will rescue them from sin and death just like He promised to rescue them from slavery in Egypt. Even though all have sinned against Him, even though all have broken His Law, even though all rebelled against Him, the LORD in mercy promises grace and gives forgiveness.

The LORD, YOUR GOD, forgives you. Think about that. You and I need to stand in awe before our God because of His mercy. The God who promised the world a Savior, who found us lost in slavery to sin, death and the devil, bought us with his own blood. We come before our Lord with heads hanging in sin and disgrace, deserving His just wrath. But instead of condemning us, He reached down with his mercy. He punished his Son instead of us. He provided a substitute to endure our hell. He supplied the perfection we need. Now you and I stand before him not in terror and shame. But we stand in joyful awe. We stand holy, perfect in the sight of the Heavenly Father through faith in Jesus, our Lord. We look into His face and do not see an angry God but OUR God who says, “I forgive you.” We see the nail scared hands that took our punishment upon himself; that paid the price of our disobedience by giving His perfect life as payment on the cross.

Seeing and receiving such love and mercy, we stand in grateful awe before our LORD. We didn’t earn this and we certainly did not deserve it. But the Lord, our God, has had mercy on us. And so we stand in awe before our God and we worship Him.

He deserves our worship. Notice I said worship. Worship is derived from the old English word “worthy.” God is worthy of our praise and thanks. He is worthy to have the #1 position of respect, honor and love. He is worthy of being feared, loved and trusted above all things. Since our God is such an awesome God, worship Him. Come before Him and give Him praise, honor His name, regularly and faithfully hear His word. Love Him with your whole heart, soul and mind. Then, after we do that, we can comprehend and understand how to love our neighbor as ourselves.

That is the worship our awesome God deserves. Not because we have to or because we want to earn something from God, but simply because we love Him who first loved us. Not out of slavish fear, but because we know, and we have felt, and we have been changed by his grace.

Today you and I gather before our LORD and we stand in awe of Him. We stand in awe as changed people. No longer do we stand in terrifying awe of an angry, holy and just God but we stand with reverent, loving awe of the LORD our God who forgives us and is worthy of our worship. You see, we are like an army who stands before their commander and are given their marching orders. He says to us, “Come to me, daily, and lay your sins at the feet of my Son. Receive the unconditional forgiveness he won for you there. Then go, empowered by my love to carry out my commands as you worship me without fear.” Amen.