Church, I want to begin with the big idea instead of ending with it.
God doesn't do roommates.
God’s not looking for the biggest room in your heart. He’s not applying to be one tenants along with your career, your marriage, your comfort. He's not interested in first place among many. He wants sole occupancy. Whether that sounds like good news to you this morning, or sounds like an invasion depends entirely on what or who, you’ve already let move in.
That's what the first of the Ten Commandments is all about.
But remember Church, where the Ten Commandments begin. In Exodus 20:1-2 we read, “And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.’” Before ever commanding a certain activity from His people, God gives His people a sure identity in Him. God begins by announcing that He is the great I AM, their Redeemer AND that Israel is His redeemed people.
In this gracious redemptive context comes the first commandment. Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
This first commandment is first, not only in order, but first in importance as well.[1] Why? Because it sets the stage for every other commandment. When this first commandment is rightly understood and lived out, you’ll get all the other commandments thrown in with it as well.
To mine the depths of this first commandment, I’d like to work through two headings. These two headings not only show us the substance of what God warns against in the first commandment, they show us what God calls us to in the first commandment. They are, 1) we must have God for our God, and 2) we must have no other god than God.[2]
We Must Have God for our God
This is where we must begin. Those that God has redeemed must have, must embrace, and must affirm that God is our God. I think upon first reading this commandment, hearing God speak of other gods, misunderstanding might abound. It might sound like God is saying that other gods truly exist, and that as long as He is first in line we are free to worship as many lesser gods as we please.[3]
This is not what’s being said here, not at all. When God commands to have no other gods before Him, He means: 1) that there are no other gods like Him, 2) that there is no god besides Him (2 Sam. 7:22), and 3) that He alone is God. In theological terms, the first commandment teaches us that God is against all idols. In more common terms, the first commandment teaches us that God doesn’t do roommates.
To have God for our God means we must acknowledge God alone. In other words we must affirm not only that God is God, but that anything and everything else claiming to be god, claiming to be divine, is an idol. Only God is God.
To have God for our God means we must adore God alone, bow to Him alone, revere Him alone, and worship Him alone. We must maintain an ever-growing awe and wonder of God, for who He is, for no one is like Him.
To have God for our God means we must fear God alone, recognizing that He is Judge over all, and that in the end all will come face to face with Him to give an account. Thomas Watson said, “The wicked sin and fear not; the godly fear and sin not.”[4]
To have God for our God means we must trust in God alone. At the end of the day, in the deepest places of the soul, we must trust in God and none else. Only God is a rock, only God is a strong tower, only God is a mighty fortress for His people. “Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we trust…” whatever the day may bring “…we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Psalm 20:7).
To have God for our God means we must no longer play with half-hearted religion. Pagans and heathens abound all around us worship and devote themselves to their false gods with far more serious and commitment than some Christians do who claim to know the true God! What must we do? We must go all in. We must turn away and repent of our half-hearted devotion to the true God, and give God our absolute and total allegiance.
In a very real sense, as it was back in Israel, so it is today. There were many so-called ‘gods’ around back then. Baal, Chemosh, Dagon, Molech, Ashterah, etc. Israel was saved out of Egypt, after all, a polytheistic nation with many gods. Today is no different. We live in one of the most godless times in history, but interestingly enough we live in one of the most spiritual times in history where gods of all kinds are being propped up and displayed to us. Think of it. Only in a culture captivated with the divine, can movies like The Odyssey and super hero movies bring in billions of dollars. We’re obsessed with greatness, with significance, with god-like strength.
Such is our time, such is every time really. So called ‘gods’ abound. Hinduism offers a million choices of gods. Buddhism and Mormonism offers a way to become like the gods. Deism offers an absent god. Scientology offers a technological god. Islam offers a militaristic god. And Atheism, believing themselves to be god, proclaims that there is no god. Standing over and above all of this is the ONE TRUE GOD who commands in v3, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Israel was commanded to a strict religious worship here. They were to have sole allegiance to Yahweh. This would have made them stand out from the world around them because almost all the other nations at that time didn’t practice monotheism they practiced polytheism. And just as Israel stood out for their worship of the one true God, and so too Christians must as well. A sole allegiance to the LORD lies at the heart of true religion. This is the foundation on which everything else rests.
We must have God for our God.
We Must Have No Other god than God
I once had the privilege of visiting one of the largest Hindu temples in the world. It’s in Nairobi, Kenya, and as our group approached the temple I was in awe. The architecture was stunning. Every detail, every nook and cranny was planned and purposefully put together to form the whole of this amazing structure. Then I went inside and my astonishment vanished. Right there before me was an idol, 20 feet high, 10 feet wide, so large I didn’t immediately see the activity going on at its feet, but when I looked down I saw people bowing down to it, lighting incense, chanting, bringing fruits and foods of all kinds to place at its feet. I stopped in my tracks. At that point in my life I had never seen anything like that before. I had seen Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom but I thought scenes like that were merely exotic Hollywood type scenes and not a representation of what really happens.
Seeing this before me in the temple in Nairobi angered me and saddened me. My heart was grieved because here were men and women, made in the image of God, worshipping a false god.
A few years later Holly and I visited India. There we saw similar things. On almost on every street corner there was a collection of gods: Krishna, Ganesh, Brahman, etc. with all sorts of food and candles spread out before them. Again, I felt angered and saddened to see such idolatry.
Would it surprise you if I said I often feel the same way here? Now, some of you are thinking, ‘That's not us. We don't bow to statues.’ No, Church, it is us. We're just better at hiding the altar. Far too many of us read v3, “You shall have no other gods before Me” and think we’re doing ok so long as we don’t bow down to statues. But upon a closer examination we find that you and I are just as guilty of idol worship as these others are.
You want to know what our idols are? We can easily find our idols by asking a few questions:
What do you live for? Who do you live to please? How you answer these two questions reveals a lot about your worship. Worship is far more than an activity we do on Sundays. All of us have a built in condition, you’ve heard of OCD, well, all humanity has OCW (Obsessive Compulsive Worshipper). We can’t help but worship, 24/7/365. Whatever we’re into, whatever we enjoy and love, we have a knack for turning hobbies into passions, and passions into idols. Perhaps for you this looks like constantly checking your social media feeds because what others think of you defines you, revealing that you worship at the altar of man’s opinion. Or maybe for you this looks like going to the doctor constantly for every ache and pain, revealing that your worship at the altar of health and comfort. Perhaps your more sneaky, perhaps you leave this place and return home so you can complete your honey-do list, and you want to do it in record time so your wife gives you the attention/praise you’ve always wanted from her, revealing that you worship at the altar of spouse.
You fill in the blank here: marriage, children, promotion, acclaim, achievement, home, beauty, body, sex, pleasure, comfort, leisure, sport, peace, friends, opinion, etc. Notice this list isn’t filled with bad things, they’re all good things in their proper place, given to us by God to enjoy rightly. BUT when good things become ultimate things, we cross the line into idolatry. When we cross that line, in our hearts these good things dethrone Christ and set themselves up as gods and we worship. While we’re critical of those who bow down to statues or have idols out in their homes, ironically, we do the same thing.
Here's more questions: where do you run to in times of need? When work is stressing you out, when children aren’t behaving, where do you turn for relief? Alcohol? Sports? Fox news? CNN? Pay attention to how you try to numb your disappointment and pain and you’ll likely find an idol.
Or ask other questions. What does your schedule or bank statement reveal about your priorities? What emotions rise up in you when something takes you by surprise? What could you not live without? Or lastly, what do you talk about the most?
We could keep going all day long, but the point is clear is it not? We’re an idolatrous people, who go around prostituting ourselves before all kinds of altars like an addict needing another fix, which only leads to another fix, then a bigger fix, and on and on. It’s a deadly cycle to get caught up in, and we’re all in it. John Calvin rightly said it, “Man's nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.”
Anything we trust in more than God, rest in more than God, and runs our life more than God…practically speaking, is functionally a god to us.
Standing before, besides, behind, and all around this display of idols in our lives is God. The One true God who is no statue or idol, who has no equals, who’s glory is infinite, who’s worth is unsurpassed, and who’s beauty is beyond compare.
We not only must have God for our God, we must have no other god than God!
Church, this is why He redeemed Israel, that they would worship Him alone. And this is why He has redeemed us in Christ, that we would worship Him alone.
Conclusion
Let me wrap up like this.
The first commandment is clear. God doesn’t command to have first place in our lives, He commands to have the only place. God doesn't want a pantheon in our souls, where He’s at the top and all other allegiances arrange themselves beneath Him. No, no, He intends to have His throne set up in us, with no competition. God isn't negotiating for the largest share of our devotion. He's commanding that He alone occupies our soul. The moment we allow something else to move in, be it anything else, He hasn't been demoted to second place; He's been evicted from first. Church, our faith isn’t ‘God plus something else’ it’s ‘God and God alone, our heart for His throne.’
When I say ‘God doesn’t do roommates’, see in that not just exclusivity, see protection as well. Only God can bear the weight of being our ultimate treasure without being crushed by it or crushing us in return. Anything else pressed into that role, a spouse, a career, a cause, even family, will eventually buckle under an expectation it wasn’t built to hold. God's command for sole occupancy isn’t Him being insecure, it's Him protecting us, by commanding the only arrangement in which our hearts can truly flourish.
So Church, examine your hearts, any of you got loads of roommates in there? Yeah, join the club. What do you do when you find you’ve got loads of roommates in your heart alongside God? Let me encourage to do one thing: evict them.
I mean that. Don’t give them a notice. Don’t give them a warning. Don’t do it later. Do it today. Do it right now. Kick them to the curb. But hear the truth, evicting idols isn't a one-time event, it's the lifelong pattern of a true Christian. You will do this a thousand times before you die. That’s not defeat. That’s what repentance actually looks like.
As discouraging as it may be to look within and see all those idols you need to evict, you can be hopeful. How? Your hope this morning is not your ability to keep this commandment. You've already broken it. If eviction depended on our strength, none of us would have a clean house, ever!
But there is One who never let a roommate in. One whose heart was, from the first breath to the last, God's alone. He was undivided, wholly His Father’s. And when He hung on a cross, He didn’t hang there for His own idolatry, He had none. He hung there for yours and mine. Galatians 3:13 says Christ, “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
Here is our hope, Church. Evict your idols, yes. But know that you don’t do this alone, and that you don’t do this by sheer will power. The Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead now lives in us, and He is not idle. He is, even now, at work renovating our hearts. It was never a fit place for Christ to begin with, so the Spirit, after redeeming us, begins His work of tearing out what doesn’t belong, room by room, over the whole course of our lives.
This renovation isn’t a project you complete before God moves in. He’s already moved in. He's already made your heart His home in Christ. And now, as the rightful owner, He’s doing the slow, patient, often painful work of cleaning the house up. That's what sanctification is, not you cleaning yourself up so God can come stay, but God in grace kicking down the door, moving in, and staying put, so that, little by little, the house gets cleaned.
Evict all idols, yes! Not to earn more favor from God, but because the Spirit who already dwells ins us is already doing the work of eviction.
By His grace, we get to join Him in it.
[1] J.I. Packer, The Ten Commandments (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1983) 31.
[2] Thomas Watson, The Ten Commandments (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2000) 49.
[3] Stephen Spinnenweber, Loving the Law: The Law of God in the Life of the Believer (Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2025) 30-31.
[4] Watson, 51.
