LENT 3 – March 7, 2021 – Exodus 20:1-17
“A JEALOUS GOD”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Old Testament Lesson just read, from Exodus 20. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Generally speaking, the word “jealous” denotes something evil. When we are jealous we are begrudging another person some good thing that he/she possesses. We may even begin coveting that thing, and thinking malicious thoughts. Jealousy is a very dangerous sin.
- However, as is the case with many words, the word jealous can also have a neutral or even positive sense. I can “jealously” guard a secret, meaning I put the utmost effort in keeping a secret. In this sense, jealous means “vigilant in guarding a possession.” It is in this sense that God identifies Himself as “A JEALOUS GOD.”
- There is a common origin for the word “jealous” and the word “zealous,” and as you can see, also a common meaning. Vigilant in guarding a possession might also be “zealous” in guarding a possession. So we see Jesus in the temple being “zealous” for God’s house, God’s Word, and God’s Name!
- So, now that we know that God is “vigilant in guarding a possession,” and we are that possession, what do we think about it? Is it a good thing that God is “jealous” for us? Absolutely! For:
I. God Is Ever Jealous For The Good Of People
A. He Delights To Have Mercy On Those Who Are Repentant And Grateful For His Love
Deut. 7:7-9 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set His love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations.”
B. But He Is Also Zealous To Punish The Wicked – For The Good Of All People
Text: “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.”
Statement: Just as our parents are “zealous” for our good and blessedness, so too God is jealous for the good and welfare of mankind. He hates sin primarily because of the hurt and harm it inflicts on people! So He is eager to bring us to repentance – a change of heart and mind toward sin. So He is also eager to protect us from the sin of others, and even our own sins which are self-destructive!
Application: So the “jealousy” of God is born of His great love for us! And obviously, this is of huge benefit and blessing for us! We are His treasured possession, and God is jealous for us, “vigilantly guarding His possession.” And as we see throughout Scripture:
II. God Is Also Zealous For His Good Word And His Houses Of Worship
A. So That All May Come To Know Him And Have Reverence For God
Gospel: “Jesus told those who sold pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.’”
John 20:31 “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Jer. 23:28 “Let him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully.”
Rev. 22:18,19 “I warn everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the Words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
John 17:3 “This is eternal life, to know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent.”
B. So Also That All People May Possess A Right Knowledge Of Good And Evil – The Ten Commandments
C. And So, Most Importantly The Sabbath Commandment – That God May Bless Us Through His Word And Sacraments
Text: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all you work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work you or your son, or your daughter, your male servants, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
2 Tim. 3:14-17 “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Statement: Again, God wants all of the best things for us, His treasured possession! The best things come to us through His Word, by which He reveals Himself to us so that we may know Him, and Jesus, and have eternal life! He wants us to know the best ways to live, how best to love, and this knowledge is imparted to us in His Word, the Holy Scriptures. Everything to make our lives good is imparted through God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures. And to have time God has instructed us to set aside a day, a whole day for everyone! What a blessing!
Application: So let us by all means heed His Word and take advantage of His gifts! And let us remember that God is jealous for us, zealous that we should have these good blessings! It is an awful part of our sinful nature that we are so easily tempted not to “remember the Sabbath” as God Himself has instructed us! We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together! This is God’s Word to us! And when we do fail and we submit to our sinful nature, God’s Word to us is to repent – to change our heart and mind, to receive His forgiveness, and then to “go and sin no more,” to commit ourselves once again to what is good and right and of greatest blessedness to us.
Conclusion: Sometimes our sinful nature wishes others wouldn’t love us quite as much as they do. We are comfortable with our sinful nature – its spiritual laziness, and its sinful amusements. So perhaps we may wish that God didn’t love us so much, that He wasn’t so “jealous” for us. But God is jealous for us, zealous for our good and blessedness.
We may not always appreciate it that He cares so much, but it is certainly a great and tremendous blessing! We have no good apart from God and His love! It is not evil, but good that God is “A JEALOUS GOD.”
Hopefully, as we continue growing in the knowledge of Who God is, we will come to be as genuinely concerned with our own good and welfare! In fact, we should pray that we become zealous to have the blessings that God is eager to give us! May He grant it to each of us. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.