One God (Matthew 4:8-11)
Gary McManus, 09/04/2016Part of the God's Word is Life series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
September 4, 2016 Matthew 4:8-11 (p. 957 / p. 968)
A good read: The Naked Olympics, Tony Perrottet
Pastor learned a lot about the world Paul spoke to.
[Read Paul’s address to the religious people of
Athens, Greece; Acts 17:16, Acts 17:22ff. ]
Two things stand out:
First of all, the Greeks worshiped many Gods.
Second, notice how what the Greeks did for their
gods looks awfully familiar.
There is only one God.
His name?
Can we speak it? Can we call upon Him?
Jesus said, say “dada.”
See Matthew 6:7
We claim only God or do we?
In our hearts do we claim only one God?
The real problem may be that we worship
the heavenly Father along with the other
Gods of our Pantheon of Gods.
Jesus faced that, too:
Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13
Paul’s churches had trouble understanding
this only ONE GOD thing correctly.
(See 1 Corinthians 10:25).
Jesus was confronted by the devil himself.
Jesus responded with words from the the Bible,
the book of Deuteronomy (6:13).
Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’
There are other modern problems that make
us wonder, “Are we serving only ONE God?”
--worship?
--marriage?
--job? career?
Does the Greek worship look familiar?
. . .Asking for favors.
Jesus had a favor asked of him:
(Matthew 20:14 ff., Mark 10:35-40)
Jesus said,
“You don’t know what you are asking,”
This is how Jesus talks about our relationship:
“this is my blood in a NEW covenant.”
(Luke 22:20)
Our God has already favored us.
( Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Hebrews 9:15)
A new covenant: 1 Peter 1:3
Ephesians 2:4-8. . .this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God
A reason to observe the first commandment:
Matthew 22:37
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