Sunday Sermon Snippet Oct 26
“I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God…” Exodus 20:5
This week’s posting of the Sunday Sermon Snippet comes from yesterday’s sermon on Exodus 20:4-6, entitled, “The Beauty of Jealousy Breaks the Power of Idolatry.”
My aim in the sermon was to make central the aim of the text; namely, that properly understanding the jealousy of God — for that word means something different in the Bible than how we commonly use it today — is what empowers our ability to break the power of idolatry in our lives. And to see this beautiful character attribute of our Father in a way that we likely haven’t pondered much.
See the sermon snippet below on my attempt to unpack what it means that Yahweh is a “jealous God.”
And if you’d like to check out the whole sermon, just click here.
The Beauty of Jealousy Breaks the Power of Idolatry
Brothers and sisters, the central point of the text and the sermon this morning is that the beauty of jealousy breaks the power of idolatry.
Ex 20:5 Do not bow in worship to idols, and do not serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God,…
Now remember, jealousy - in the Bible - is a fierce desire for something that rightly belongs to you. And we must consider God’s jealousy for his people from his perspective. Remember where we are in the story. Yahweh has carried his people as on eagle’s wings out of Egypt, he has brought them through the Red Sea, he has provided all the food that they need, and he now meets them on the mountain to tell them what?
That he is a jealous God. That due to what he has done and who he is, he will not “greet his people building idols or worshiping foreign gods with anything but fierce jealousy? [For] that is how lovers act when they are betrayed. And don’t miss this — the greater the love, the greater the betrayal, the greater the jealousy.” (Andrew Wilson)
Imagine how you would feel as a spouse if you, as a perfectly faithful lover, were jilted by your spouse. Think of the level of your love, the level of that betrayal, and the level of your jealousy. Now power that with the divine, with the character and fierceness of the faithful love of God himself. Can you imagine the intensity of such a jealousy? Can you imagine, for God, how that jealousy feels?
Brothers and sisters, this should not surprise us at all, when we consider the biblical idea of jealousy. I mean, think about this. How much would I love my wife if I did not feel jealous about someone else having an affair with her? If I felt no jealousy, I would show I feel no love, no commitment, no fidelity, no sense of belonging to each other, of being fiercely protective of the other.
And so God. As is recorded in Deuteronomy:
“Be careful not to forget the covenant of Yahweh your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol…because Yahweh your God is…a jealous God.” (4:23,24)
As C. Wright insightfully points out:
“The jealousy of Yahweh is a vital function of his covenant commitment to his people. Having committed himself totally to Israel, Yahweh requires exclusive loyalty in return. The covenant relationship is built on exclusive reciprocal commitment. In the context of mutual loving commitment such as marriage, the exclusion of rivals is a perfectly proper stance…it is, in fact, a powerful evidence of genuine love.”
Family, this jealousy is so central to the character of God — of who he is, and who he is for us and towards us — that it is actually said to be his name.
Exodus 34:12-14, NLT “Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped. 13 Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 You must worship no other gods, for Yahweh, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.”
How reassuring is this, brothers and sisters? How comforting. I mean, imagine if you had a spouse who didn’t give a wit if you were committed or not to them, didn't care if you played around, spent your time elsewhere, cared about others more than you cared about them. What kind of spouse would that be?
Rather, what we see here is a God who is utterly committed to us. If our eyes move towards idols, he is passionate in his response. If we set our affections on other gods that we have made, bending our will toward them, giving them our worship and service through our commitment to them, it arouses his jealousy and his fury (Prov6:34), it enflames his love which is “strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.”
Family, do you see him? Do you understand the depth of his jealousy, and what that means about how he thinks about you? I mean, stop, ok. Focus. Behold your God. See his character. What does this draw out from you? When you see the beauty of his jealousy, does it not move you to forsake all others, and hold him and him alone to you, as long as you shall live?
If you’d like to check out the whole sermon, just click here.
