“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:2-3

Jehovah got it out there first, clearly and without exception. This is WHO I AM, and this is WHAT I EXPECT. The first message, I am the Lord your God who brought you out…wasn’t theological, philosophical, or mystical speculation. Only a few months prior the entire nation of Israel had witnessed not only the power of God but that his power was used for the specific purpose of freeing them from Egyptian slavery. There was no denying it. It was a nationally shared firsthand experience. This was the epistemological basis for the Egyptians and for Israel to know who God was.

“And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”Exodus 7:5.

The second, “stake-in-the-ground” Jehovah planted firmly “You shall have no other gods before me!” Exodus 20:3

But why is this so important?

Because what you, what we worship changes us. What we consider god in any form changes not only a belief system, a set of values, it changes our behaviors. 

A short version of this paradigm is to ask the question, “What does what we worship allow us to do and compel us to do?” The constraints and the permissions given and granted by what we idolize and worship. This makes all the difference for an individual and for a culture.

Later in the Exodus story as Moses is being drawn deeper into the leadership role for the nation of Israel, he asks to know who God is. “Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight” Exodus 33:13 and “And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Exodus 33:18-20
God’s glory and power is His goodness. It is Right, Good and Beautiful. And it had just been manifested in His deliverance from Egypt. He had kept, delivered on the promise He made to Abraham.

What then does God, allow us [His people] to do and what does He compel us to do?

The first law, the one God gave after delivering His people contains the “shall” and the “shall nots” The “shalls” are further elaborated in the word and concepts of His “commands”. “Therefore, know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;”Deuteronomy 7:9

What God “allows” us to do is defined by His constraints not by global permissions. It is the “thou shalt nots”. These are the “unspotted”, “undefiled” and “blameless” commands and explanations.

What God “compels” us to do is defined by His “thou shall” commands, examples, and expectations. The examples of both, the limit of permissions and the expectations of compelled are found in teachings such as: The definition and limits of greatness:

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.” Matthew 20:26

The Golden Rule​ “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Loving Your Neighbor​‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Pure Religion. ​Before God…you know the “religion” that God accepts is this: “to visit the fatherless and the widow (the compelled part) and “to keep oneself unspotted from the world”. Caring for the fatherless is a perfect example of grace, goodness, and justice. Being moved with compassion.

The one that challenges me: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

There are two ways to find ourselves “spotted by the world” To do what we “SHALL NOT” and to not do what we “SHALL”.

I can’t help but come to the conclusion that God’s people (collectively in one way or another) are compelled to care for the fatherless. And to help when needed those who bring these children into their homes.

There is a story…so the story goes, that once Ernest Hemingway was challenged with a $10 bet to tell a story in only six words. Hemingway took a sip on whatever he was drinking, looked briefly off into space and said, “FOR SALE, BABY SHOES, NEVER USED.”

The famous science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke in a 1991 letter to a friend related this six-word story and said, “I still can’t think of it without crying…FOR SALE, BABY SHOES, NEVER USED.”

Here is another, much older six-word story, “FOR GOD…SO LOVED…THE WORLD. You almost certainly can finish the verse…”That he gave His only…begotten Son.” This story isn’t sad from our point of view. In fact, all over the world for the past 2,000 years it has been proclaimed to humanity as “Good News”…the gospel. 

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1

The sad part of this story is how few people listen, respond or love Him in return.

This is an ADOPTION STORY. Every adoption story has an element of sadness and love.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.+ Ephesians 1:3-6

Another one of the apostles, Peter, tells us, “ 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,” 1 Peter 1:3-4

The sadness in this six-word story is how so many reject the Fathers love and many of those who take His name, deny Him in their walk, in their lack of trust in the Father’s promises and provisions and in their disobedience to the Father’s commands.

Some call it “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” I still can’t think of it deeply without crying.

“Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?”

This was a painful question posed to the Son of Jonah. Not simply because of their three-year, deep, dynamic and devoted relationship but because of the time and place, where and when it occurred.

When Jesus first met Peter, three years earlier, it was at or close to this exact place on the shore of Galilee. Simon was fishing. Three of the four gospels tell us that Jesus met and called Simon Peter when he was fishing. [Matthew 4, Luke 5 and John 1]. And…Luke captures for posterities sake, that at the first calling, Jesus advised Simon and the others to cast their nets one more time. Just trust me, and Peter obeyed.

“⁴ When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.” Luke 5:4-5

Matthew states matters more succinctly, “for they [Andrew and Peter] were fishermen.” It was who they were, what they did and apparently what they loved. Jesus took this love and vocation and said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Combining for the kingdom, Peter’s passion, love and way of life.

John in the last chapter of his gospel, tells us that Jesus meets Peter again. Once more at the same place and under the same circumstances: By the sea and fishing.

There had been two other encounters where Jesus had shown himself to the twelve [the disciples], this was the third. John tells us that between the last and this appearance, Peter told the others, “I am going fishing.” [John 21:2] Peter was going back to what he loved and what he did.

Jesus, meets Peter at the place and under the circumstances of their first encounter, when Peter and the others, “brought their boats to land, they ^[a]forsook all and followed Him.” Luke 5:11.

This third encounter with Peter was deeply symbolic, emotional, and powerful. It had to draw up painful, troubling memories of love, devotion, triumph, passion, glory and of course the most recent, a test of character and loyalty about which Peter bragged but utterly failed. All of these complex emotional experiences were in the confusing context of a resurrected Jesus and what all that meant.

Included in the deeply symbolic mixture was the number three. This was Jesus’ third appearance with the disciples. He asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” This on the heels of the three times Peter had denied him. After Jesus spent three days in the tomb. Peter among the three closest of Jesus’ disciples. The three, Peter, James and John saw at the transfiguration, Moses, Elijah and Jesus. And the three years of Jesus “active” mission proclaiming “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

There is a deep tenderness and lesson for us recorded in this seaside meeting between the Master and his disciple. Jesus knew all of the relationship dynamics between him and this close friend, both past, present and future. Jesus takes all these complex experiences and starts with Peter from the beginning. At the shore, watching Peter do what he loved, who he was [a fisherman] and how he worked, wrestled and struggled with hard days fishing. There would be hard days ahead fishing for men.

Jesus even goes back to the first name he used when calling Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah” three years ago. Jesus knew Peter loved fishing and that way of life in spite of its hardness and days of failure. Jesus remembered how Peter left all to become a “fisher of men”, so he asks, “Do you [still] love me more than these?” The sea, the boats, fishing for fish, fishing for a living, this vocation and calling?

It was a hard question to hear, and Peter heard it three times. The first two times Jesus’ uses ‘agape’ for love [the unconditional, sacrificial love] to which Peter responded, “You know that I “phileo’ you” [like a good friend or brother] After all Peter had just failed his previous and braggadocios claims of unfailing agape love. On the third asking, “Do you love me?” Jesus meets Peter where he’s at in their relationship, “Do you love me [phileo] as a brother and friend?” To this Peter says, “LORD you know I love you [as a friend and brother.] Jesus accepts this love, and he still calls Peter to be that friend and “feed my sheep.”

I find a few lessons and personal applications:

1. Love whether agape [unconditional, unfailing] or phileo [brotherly, friendship] is at the CORE of our relationship with Jesus, the Father and the Spirit
2. Love has definitions and expectations. At a minimum they are TRUSTING and OBEYING
3. Love is more than a feeling, it is MANIFESTED
4. Whatever else [good or bad] that we love in this world, we must love God MORE.