In this series, I take our law homily from our church gathering each week (The law homily is where we read from the law of God and let His law examine our hearts so that we can be a tender-hearted and repenting people), and I post them here for your edification. Here is this week’s law homily on the prohibition against mental idolatry. 

You shall have no other gods before Me. - Exodus 20:3

THE HIGHEST CALLING

The scene was Mount Sinai. A bumbling people with little exposure to God were whisked powerfully out of the handcuffs of Egypt, ushered through a divided sea, and brought safely to the base of a mountain, where God would descend and teach them how to live in His presence. When the Almighty came down and thundered that little ant hill from Heaven, the first command reverberating throughout the plain was that His people were to have no other gods before Him. In this, God demands something profound - the undivided allegiance of our entire being. To truly honor God is not merely an outward show of reverence but a complete surrender of heart, mind, and soul to His unparalleled majesty.

WHAT IT MEANS TO HONOR GOD

In the ancient tongue, the word "honor" (in Hebrew it is "Hadar") develops the concept of what allegiance, honor, duty, and loyalty to God means. It is not just of placid respectfulness but of awe-inspired reverence that compels us to bow before the One who reigns supreme. It is the humbling acknowledgment that we are but dust before the Eternal, the Uncreated, the Source of all that is good and true.

To honor God is to be delighted by His resplendent glory and enthralled by His limitless perfections—His infinite grace that embraces even the most wretched sinner, His blinding purity that exposes our filthy rags, His tender love that pursues the lost, and His righteous fury that confronts the unrepentant. And, in the face of such breathtaking attributes, our souls can only cry out, "Beautiful! Beautiful is the Lord!"

Yet honor is more than an emotional swell; we have only covered half of it thus far. Honor is not only the acknowledgment of God's limitless perfections but also the reciprocal outpouring of willing, whole-bodied loyalty and submission. It is to love God down to the deepest recess of the guts, to worship Him in every nook and cranny of our material and immaterial selves, and then to turn all of that kinetic energy into joyful obedience to His commands without compromise. In that sense, honor simmers in awe and is plated through humble, joyful, allegiant obedience.

THE TRAGEDY OF DISHONOR

On the other hand, dishonor is the tragic perversion of our created purpose. It is to squalor our love for Him, repudiate our duty in worship, and rebel against His righteous decrees. Dishonor is the duplicitous heart that praises with the lips while harboring idols within. The soul exchanges the Incorruptible God's glory for corruptible desires, be they lust, greed, or pride.

O wretched beings that we are! For in every sin, we not only transgress the law but also dishonor the Lawgiver Himself. Our lies defile both truth and the Truth-Giver. Our lusts profane not only the temple of our bodies but dishonor the Holy One who sanctified us and called us to be holy. Our disobedience scorns not merely the command but the Commander Himself. So in that sense, every time we sin, we sin not only in what we did, thought, felt, or did not do, think, or feel… But we also add dishonor to the one we should have been honoring! This means everyone in this room has dishonored the Lord this week! No one is guiltless. No one is free of blame!

THE MARVELOUS GRACE OF CHRIST

You may be asking yourself, How can we, who are so prone to wander, honor the Lord as He deserves? Ah, but herein lies the marvelous grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ! Though we could never accrue the honor befitting our King, He, the radiance of God's glory, has shared His perfect honor with us.

By His obedience unto death, even death on a cross, the Lord Jesus has clothed us in His righteousness so that we might stand accepted and honored in the Father's sight. And by His resurrection power, He has granted us new hearts to love, new minds to worship, and new wills to obey the One true God so that in Christ, we are honoring the Lord, even while still warring against the flesh.

With this in mind, let us flee from all that dishonors our Lord since He has bled and died for us! Let us cling to Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who bestowed honor upon us before the Father. For in Him alone can we render the complete allegiance, the undivided worship, the uncompromising obedience that hallows the name of our Eternal King.

Brothers and sisters, if you have dishonored the Lord by harboring idols in your heart, loving this fleeting world more than your Creator, or living in disobedience to His commands, I plead with you - repent! Turn from your sins and run into the embrace of the Savior. For though your offenses are great, His grace is more extraordinary still. Surrender your whole being to Jesus Christ, the faithful Lord and the only one worthy of all honor, glory, and praise forever and ever. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria