The Ten Commandments describe the way God wants his human creatures to look and act as his image bearers. And the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” provides the foundation for the other nine. But what does it mean for modern people who don’t worship idols? Martin Luther’s explanation of what this commandment means can help us here: “we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.”

First, all of us are afraid of losing the important things in our life, like family, money, home, job, etc., but anything we fear losing more than we fear losing God is our true god. Second, while it’s understandable that we love friendship, money, romance, hobbies, etc., if we love something more than we love God that is our true god. And third, lots of people trust in money, or in a loved one, or in their own intelligence, but if we trust any of these sort of things more than we trust in God then that is our true god.

So even though we might not bow down to idols these days, we are tempted to worship other parts of God’s creation, and the Ten Commandments call us to repent of these idolatries and worship only the one true God in Jesus Christ.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Death is a scary reality, and many parents struggle with when to talk to their kids about it. Should we wait until a loved one dies before talking about it? Or should we prepare our kids by talking about it in advance? Thankfully, Christianity’s unique and redemptive perspective on death gives us a way forward in navigating this discussion.

At the heart of Christianity is the God who became a human being in Jesus Christ in order to take our sin and brokenness on himself. He does this through his own death and resurrection, and for the Christian story these two realities cannot be separated. So, long before they know much else about the world, the children of Christian families have repeatedly heard the story of God’s own death and resurrection. And on top of this story, Christian children have been taught that through faith in Jesus, his death and resurrection conquer our death and resurrection. So ideally, there will never be a time when a Christian child hasn’t heard about death, but he or she will always understand that death has been conquered by Jesus and therefore has no sting.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep0154.

Everyone agrees that some sins are worse than others, but the Bible also teaches that every human being is guilty before God. How can nice, seemingly innocent people be equally as sinful as violent, hardened criminals?

The biblical answer can best be understood by outlining the difference between the legal and the moral nature of an act. In God’s legal economy, all sins are equally wrong–God has told us not to murder, but he’s also told us not to gossip, and while murder is more damaging than gossip, both are violations of God’s rules. So, while murder is worse than gossip, it is not more wrong.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep0153.