“YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS”

a 10 Commandments series - #1 a
Daniel 3:1-18

“You already have one, you don’t need another one!” I find myself as a parent saying that to my children
on occasion. “I want a new baseball glove,” William says to me. “You already have one, you don’t need another
one.” “I want a new matchbox car,” my kids beg me in the store. “You already have one (several in fact), you don’t
need another one.” Of course, it isn’t just my children that need that reminder. “I need a new family vehicle,” I
think to myself, only to have that little voice in my head whisper, “You already have one, it’s perfectly fine. You
don’t need another one!”
We’re going to spend the bulk of our summer, well into August, in catechetical review, as we break down
and meditate upon the 10 commandments, the first chief part of Luther’s catechism. Perhaps it has been a while
since you have spent time in such a review. But as we move forward this summer, it is important for us to
understand why we ought to study the commandments in intimate detail. The commandments are not just a list of
do’s and don’ts. This isn’t going to be a series that just seeks to shape our morality. We want to see ourselves in
these texts. We want to identify with the Biblical personalities, like today, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, with
the prayer that we value the gifts that God has freely given us and, thus, protects for us through these
commandments.
In the 1st commandment, “You shall have no other gods,” God is protecting his glory! Do you remember
the explanation of the commandment from the catechism? “We should fear, love and trust in God above all
things.” In other words, you already have a God who loves you, created you, redeemed you and sanctified you in
grace. You already have a God who serves, as Luther once put in his large catechism, “as an eternal fountain who
overflows with pure goodness and from whom pours forth all that is truly good...because this Divine Majesty approaches us
so graciously, invites us so warmly and promises so richly.” Have no other gods. You already have one, a perfect one.
You don’t need another one, an inferior manmade, handmade one, because the true God is the supplier of all that is
good and gracious, a God who has proven himself worthy of glory and honor and praise forever and ever.
A professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary once took an entire class period to discuss the idolatry of Israel
in the Old Testament, and made the assertion that idolatry, in its grossest forms and practices, and really even in its
more subtle forms, really exposes the fool-hearty nature of man, and that such fool=heartiness still exists and perhaps
is exponentially worse in our day and age. It’s mind-boggling, baffling the kinds of things that man will attach their
hearts to and call or consider “god”: coins, statues, saints, dead relatives, a tree, the wind, the government, the
president of the United States, in fertility cults - male and female genitalia, the list could go on and on. And, as if
the things themselves were not ridiculous enough, the practices associated with them have often proven just as
ridiculous. Worship of the pagan god Molech in the Old Testament required child sacrifice with the hope that the
family sacrificing their child to Molech would be blessed with more children.
If you boil it down to the simplest of terms, idolatry is revering, loving and trusting in something or
someone above the one True God, whether it is done in ignorance or in defiance. The faith-challenging question
presented to the faithful Judeans, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, was this: Do you love your life, do you love
yourself, and do you trust in the earthly King Nebuchadnezzar for life and preservation, more than the invisible God
you claim to know and worship?
Verses 4-6: “4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations
and men of every language: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of
music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall
down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” 
How tightly the fists of men clench in defiance of the divine Majesty! How utterly despicable, and yet a
pattern that has followed mankind since the first man clenched his fists in defiance, giving full ear and full attention
to the serpent’s promise, “You will BE like God!” Has the siren sound of Satan’s voice, his tempting lures, has that
sound faded into the background here in the 21st century? Hardly! He continues to present us with limitless “god”
options, a plethora of gods in which we CAN put our trust, to which we COULD cling with all our hearts, which
we COULD love wholeheartedly, and from which we would expect every good thing. Just imagine how often we
have found ourselves thinking that all of our problems would be solved if we just had more money...no, not more
gospel, not more of God’s Word which can reveal to be sinful people, drive us to the cross of forgiveness and
motivate us to better stewardship practices and use of God’s blessings. No, if I just had more money, then
everything would be great, then all of my problems would go away. Of course, that’s just one example.
The question we have to constantly be asking ourselves as Christians is: what does my heart cling to? What
do I run to with unquestioned and unmitigated loyalty? Where do I find refuge? Where do I receive confidence for
the future? Do a survey, a census of your heart today. Look closely at your own life and spiritual habits and see if
you don’t come to the same conclusion that every repentant sinner must come to if they truly examine themselves in
the light of the holiness of this commandment: that we fear, love and trust in OURSELVES above all things rather
than clinging to the God of all grace, the fountain of goodness from whom flows all things good for body and soul.
I suppose that’s why this portion of Daniel is so shocking to us. The faithful Judeans, Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego, officials in Babylon by Daniel’s recommendation, exhibit a faith in the true God that breaks the
mold of sinful man’s natural spiritual behavior, a faith that refuses to give any level of honor or glory to anything or
anyone that is not the True God of Holy Scripture, the God whose powerful arm brought the Israelites out of
Egypt, preserved them in the wilderness, drove out enemies in the promised land, and made his presence known
among the people constantly in the tabernacle and the temple in the cloud and pillar of his Glory. The faithful
three didn’t even give the hint that they would be willing to even fake allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar or his gold god,
because they knew by faith that only the True Triune God was worthy of reverence in the form of divine worship,
that only the True Triune God, on the basis of his merits was worthy of the heart’s total alliance and allegiance, and
that only the True Triune God was trustworthy in his promises to salvation.
Listen to their shocking response to the king, when their lives were on the line: “16 Shadrach, Meshach and
Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we
are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O
king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of
gold you have set up.”
What a testimony, one that puts all of us to shame when we recognize how we wither under much less! And
yet, a striking picture not only of faithfulness to the 1st commandment, but of the faithful One that was to follow
them, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as man’s substitute, never once raised his hand in defiance of his Father. Think
back to our gospel lesson for today, the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Once again, that ancient father of
lies, doing what he does best: working his mightiest to convince the Son of God that physical nourishment, folly
and the world’s kingdoms were worthy of his love, to which Jesus responded with Scripture: “Man does not live on
bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Father...you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Jesus
did not love his earthly life more than you. He did not love himself more than the world. Every moment that he
was in this world, he had you in mind, your eternal welfare, your soul, your salvation. Not once did he revere, love
or trust in anything above the Heavenly Father, and the plan from eternity ordained for him to save the world from
sin, the road of the cross. Not once did he stray from utter and complete trust, completing all things necessary,
being crucified, dying and rising gloriously on the 3rd day so that you, the defiant, the perpetual chaser of perishable
gods, might be brought into a blessed fellowship with the True God through holy and innocent blood, and through
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the gospel.
With a God like that, we don’t need any other gods! With a God who freely forgives through the atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, with a God who invites us warmly through the gospel to be in his presence forever, with a
God who promises so surely that we are right in his sight through the merits of Jesus, with a God like that, there is
no need for other gods!
There is yet one thought I want you to glean from our meditation today, one that pertains to all the
commandments, and therefore, our entire study of them. The Ten Commandments are not just a list of do’s and
don’ts. And thus the 1st commandment is not just a prohibition against idolatry in all of its gross and subtle forms.
It is a protective and motivational commandment so that we recognize by grace and through faith, that there indeed
are NO other gods...there is one Lord, one God and Father of all – one gracious eternal fountain who overflows
with perfect goodness, from whom pours out all that is good, one divine Majesty, who approaches us graciously,
invites us warmly and promises so surely and THUS is worthy of our reverence, love and trust above all things.
Amen.