THE FIRST COMMANDMENT and GEORGE WASHINGTON

FINDING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

 in the 

WORDS OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

Exodus 20:3

Washington’s First Inaugural Speech:

“…in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aide can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States…”

It seems fitting to begin with George Washington.  After all, when we think of George Washington, like the First Commandment – he is also a first, the first President of the UNITED States and the first Commander-in- Chief. But, as easily as that comes to mind, these appointments were not the first positions he held,  in fact, they were his last.

Before he was President and Commander-in-Chief, before the War for Independence, and before the decision to revolt against the monarchy of Great Britain, Washington had served in a variety of military positions and posts under the British flag.  It was during this time, his “near-miraculous talent for surviving the disaster” earned him the reputation “that he was blessed, a sense that only deepened during the Revolutionary War when soldiers died in bloody heaps all around him and he emerged unscratched.”[i] 

Washington’s military career was a bumpy road, celebrating some successes and many failures.  Joseph Ellis writes, he lost “more battles than any victorious general in history.”[ii]  Washington was not unaware of his loses nor was he ever unaware of the precarious precipice he stood on between “when republican virtue fails,[and] slavery ensues.”[iii] In other words, should he lose the battle with Great Britain, the colonist would soon fall under the harsh and unforgiving revenge of King George III and his Parliament.  Given that Washington was aware of the weight of his responsibilities, he declared openly and on several occasions to whom he was indebted.

Here is one example:  

“Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ, my merciful and loving Father; I acknowledge and confess my guilt in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness of my sins, but so coldly and carelessly that my prayers are become my sin, and they stand in need of pardon. I have sinned against heaven and before Thee in thought, word, and deed. I have contemned Thy majesty and holy laws. I have likewise sinned by omitting what I ought to have done and committing what I ought not. I have rebelled against the light, despising Thy mercies and judgment, and broken my vows and promise. I have neglected the better things. My iniquities are multiplied and my sins are very great. I confess them, O Lord, with shame and sorrow, detestation and loathing and desire to be vile in my own eyes as I have rendered myself vile in Thine. I humbly beseech Thee to be merciful to me in the free pardon of my sins for the sake of Thy dear Son and only Savior Jesus Christ who came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Thou gavest Thy Son to die for me. Make me to know what is acceptable in Thy sight, and therein to delight, open the eyes of my understanding, and help me thoroughly to examine myself concerning my knowledge, faith, and repentance, increase my faith, and direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life." - Authentic handwritten manuscript book, April 23, 1752[iv]

Given the heart-felt depth of this prayer, and after seven years on the battlefield; 25,324 dead & 8,445 wounded, is it any wonder that President Washington would give tribute to the “Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aide can supply every human defect,” for his success? 

Here are the words of his First Inaugural Speech,

 “Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aide can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes; and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge.” [v]

D.L. Moody says of the First Commandment, “Before we can worship intelligently, we must know what or whom to worship.” “When God gave the commandments to Moses, He commenced with a declaration of His own character, and demanded exclusive recognition. ‘I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’”  This clearly, was not lost on Washington. Putting it succinctly, Moody says, “If He created us, He certainly ought to have our homage. Is it not right that He should have the first and only place in our affections?”[vi]

Thomas Paine worded it slightly different,

“Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours to their deceased kings, and the Christian world hath improved on the plan, by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!

As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings”[vii]

Moody says it took “long years for God to impress” the meaning of “Thou shalt not” upon the Israelites. It didn’t take Washington that long; he knew right from the beginning, that the fate of the revolution depended on the sovereignty of the “Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations…”

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[i] His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

[ii] His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

[iii] Thomas Paine, Common Sense 1775

[iv] http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/george-washington-quotes-1.html

[v] http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/washington/earnestprayer.html

[vi]  Weighted and Wanting – Addresses on the Ten Commandments by D.L. Moody “Tekel: Thou are weighted in the balances, and art found wanting.” Fleming H. Revell Company Copyright, 1898

[vii] Common Sense Philadelphia, February 14, 1776 - Thomas Paine

Mercy - A Purifying Effect On Our Hearts

 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 

“Mercy is treating other people the way we would want God to treat us if we were in the other persons shoes."  “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy really means planting mercy.” “If we are to truly forgive others from the heart, we need the kind of mercy that only he can place within our hearts. If we allow Him to plant his forgiveness and mercy in our lives, they will have a cleansing, purifying effect on our hearts. “ (All quotes from Russell Stendal – The Beatitudes, God’s plan for Battle.)

The 4th Beatitude – A Hunger and a Thirst for Doing and Being Right Before God.

The Beatitudes, God’s Plan for Battle – Russell Stendal

A recap of the first three Beatitudes, “If we are willing to be poor in spirit and let God deal with our pride, if we are willing to mourn our own deeds and our own way, God will send us the Holy Spirit that we might submit ourselves totally [become meek] to Jesus Christ, if we chose His way, God says that the Kingdom of the Heaven is ours, and that we will inherit the earth."

The 4^th Beatitude – A Hunger and a Thirst for Doing and Being Right Before God. 

“In Spanish, Greek, and Hebrew the words for righteousness and for justice are the same word. God wants us to hunger and thirst for what is right [His justice]; what He approves of, and He promises to fill us.” “Remember, righteousness means both doing what God desire and what God designed us to be.”  Of course, doing this does not come without doing the tough stuff. You have to be prepared to stand in the fire which is a Beatitude which comes later – ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake..., (more about this in a couple of weeks.)

“Don’t settle for second best. Don’t settle for just a superficial experience with the Lord. Don’t settle just for hearing from somebody else who’s heard from the Lord. Don’t let anybody else get between you and God. Don’t live on borrowed revelation. Don’t shy away from the fire. Don’t be like many in America in this day and age; they want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, they want to speak in tongues, they want to have emotional experiences, but they don’t want the fire because the fire might burn something up that they hold dear.  John the Baptist said: 

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matthew 3: 11-12

“We have taken the message of John and cut it in half…We have decided to let God be the God of what’s wrong. He can tell us what’s wrong…then we will repent. But we are still going to decide what is right. [BUT] We refuse to expose our ‘good’ plans and our ‘good’ desire to his fire,…”  “When it comes to the Holy Spirit, there are those who only want the fun things…We want baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they don’t want the fire.”  

The Church has lost God’s fire. The fire is not there like it was before. We have got to get back to the fire, we have to go back up that mountain and hear from God. We need to plunge right into the middle of all the fire and lightning that the children of Israel wanted to shy away from. “Oh, no. we don’t want to hear any more from God! We don’t want to be near that fire lest we die.” That is what it is all about: in order to be effective for God we have to die. We have to participate in the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “

This is what the Beatitudes were teaching – the Gospel of Jesus.  “…he taught…about those who are poor in spirit, the ones who have chosen to let go of their pride. [He taught about] Genuine repentance is the only way into the kingdom of heaven. [He taught] Those who mourn with a contrite heart will be comforted…The meek; those who will totally submit to the Master, are the only ones who will truly inherit the earth.”  Once we have successfully walked this path, “God starts giving us the desires of His heart; we start hungering and thirsting for His righteousness, because this is what God yearns for in us. He will give us that same longing, that same hunger and thirst for doing and being right [before Him]. He promises to fulfill and satisfy us.”  (All quotes from Russell Stendal – The Beatitudes, God’s Plan for Battle.)

3rd Beatitude – The Definition of Meek

 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “ The meek are those who submit themselves to God. PraÜs, the Greek word translated “meek” is a very interesting word.  It is the word the ancient Greeks used to describe their war horses among other things.  The horse that was perfectly trained and ready for battle, that would go into battle and actually trample enemies underfoot, that would participate in the war along with the rider: this was called a meek horse. The word meek and praÜs are not identical, [but] the translator did the best they could.”  [The Greeks called the horse meek when the horse got to the level of training where it would obey the …rider, that no matter what was going on, …it could be trusted in the heat of battle not to do something stupid or foolish,  that the rider knew that he could trust the animal,  that it would obey him no matter what, … even though it could have been a powerful, thoroughbred stallion, capable of killing enemies in the battle.” “It has tremendous power, capacity, and ability; but this horse has given up its own way, and is allowing itself to be guided and ordered by the master. That is what the word praÜs means; it means submission to the master. “

God’s description of the meek horse from Job 39:

19 “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? 20 Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. 21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms. 22 He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword. 23 The quiver rattles against him, The glittering spear and javelin. 24 He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. 25 At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.

The meek live “listening for the call of that trumpet. It is his life to go charging into battle, submitted to the master who is on his back. This is what Jesus is talking about when He says:  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. He is talking about people who are waiting for the sound of the trumpet blast, waiting for their orders;” “These people have no fear because they are totally submitted Christ. When we are totally submitted to Him, God says that perfect love casts out fear, and He is perfect Love.”

But, “if something causes you to fear and dominates you…; if your fear is so strong that it is changing your behavior to the point where you are making decisions based on fear; I can tell you for a fact that you are not totally submitted to Jesus Christ.” “There may be something that you think you have submitted to God, [but]  maybe [you really haven’t]."

Consider Job, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come up me and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I never had prosperity, nor did I secure myself, neither was I at rest; yet trouble came.” Job 3:25,26. “God delivered him of all his fears by taking him through the middle of his worst nightmare and bringing him safely out the other side.”

“If you truly wish to submit in all areas to the Lordship and Authority of Jesus Christ, He will train you for war so that you can win the victory over wrong desires, over fears, over the world, and over our enemy the devil.” Are you willing to be trained for war AND for victory; to become the ‘meek’ WAR horse?

“If we are willing to be poor in spirit and let God deal with our pride, if we are willing to mourn our own deeds and our own way God will send us the Holy Spirit that we might submit ourselves totally to Jesus Christ.  If we choose His way, God says that the Kingdom of the Heavens is our and that we will inherit the earth.”  Russell Stendal – The Beatitudes, God’s Plan for Battle.