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\u201cYou shall not make for yourself an image 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 parents 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\u201d (Deuteronomy 5:8-10).

God\u2019s first word of covenant, which Pastor Anthony reflected on yesterday, addressed who we worship. This second word considers how we worship. It draws us deeper into the covenant relationship between the saving God of Israel and his saved people. Only this context of the covenant relationship of salvation enables us to draw appropriate applications for ourselves from this word.

The prohibition against creating an image of God addresses two concerns. First, any idol eventually limits our belief in God\u2019s power and ability. That is why the prophets constantly harassed Israel about worshipping idols that couldn\u2019t speak or hear or see or move. She was attributing such limitations upon God (cf. Isaiah 40). Second, idols were used to control the gods. Recall the story in 1 Samuel 4 in which Israel took the ark of the covenant into battle. Even the Philistines believed they were in trouble because Israel had brought her God into battle with them. God says, \u201cOh no, you cannot use me for your own purposes.\u201d

When I used to teach Catechism classes to the youth, I would take along a variety of pictures representing Jesus. I asked the class to describe how the artist was depicting Christ. What was being communicated about him? After some time, I would ask, \u2018So, what is missing?\u2019 None of the images could portray the fullness of our Lord. All of us have mental images of God. If we are to take this second covenant word seriously, we need to do a mental inventory of our images of God. How do they limit him? What aspects of God are we ignoring? Is he great enough to save? Is he truly worthy of our worship?

The wonder of this commandment is often missed with two mistakes. One, we think about jealousy with negative connotations. Yet, if we consider what is here, jealousy is quite appropriate. God has demonstrated his profound love for Israel by freeing her from Egypt and bringing her into the promised land. If Israel in return, goes chasing after other gods, does God not have a right to be jealous?

In Israelite society, three to four generations lived together. If the oldest generation has abandoned God, the others follow in their footsteps. God will punish that household. This was culturally appropriate. The only recorded example of this is the Babylonian captivity. Here is the second mistake we sometimes make. We miss the contrast that God will show love to a 1000 generations of those who love and obey him. God\u2019s love and commitment to Israel is littered throughout the Bible. This contrast highlights his love.

The ancients worshipped idols to stay in their god's favour. Their sacrifices were given in hopes that the gods would do nice things for them. They worshipped their gods out of fear. Fear that their gods would turn against them or just forget them. Think about Baal\u2019s priests up on mount Carmel. In contrast, God had committed Himself to Israel and there was no way in heaven or on earth that God would forget them. God did not want to be worshipped out of fear; theirs was a love relationship.

How do you worship God? Out of fear? Probably not. But maybe out of tradition. Maybe in the hope that he will reward you in some way. Maybe in the expectation that he will ensure the good life for you. We often make worship about style of music, type of instruments, liturgies, time, etc. These are trivialities. When worship is reduced to such things, we break this second covenant word. Its about passion. Its about God\u2019s passionate love for us which he has demonstrated in Christ\u2019s suffering and death. He has paid the ultimate price so that we might be his children. The only way to respond is with our own passionate love and commitment to God.

On Sunday many of us joined a worshipping community, whether in person or through technology. How much passion did you see? How much passion did you bring? The thrust of this covenant word is the preservation of the relationship between God and his people which is characterized by love. Did you see that love? Did you bring it? Consider the line, \u201cLove is as strong as death, its jealousy as unyielding as the grave\u201d (Song of Songs 8:6). I think it adequately describes this covenant word.

Last week, in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Americas, we worshipped with three different Christian churches. There was passion there. It made me wonder: has our affluence robbed us of our passion for God?