He is Jealous for You Exodus 20:4-6

David Crowder “He is Jealous for me. Loves like a hurricane I am the tree, bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy. When all of a sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory. And I realize just how beautiful you are, and how great your affections are for me.”

Is Jealousy always a bad thing?

Exodus 20:4-6  “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[a] who love me and obey my commands.”

That’s a Stumbling Block to Many Erik Reece, Professor of Environmental Journalism at the Univ of Kentucky in his book An American Gospel: On Family, History, and the Kingdom of God, said this after quoting Jesus: Matthew 10:37-39 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” “Well, it just struck me as ‘Who is this person speaking 2000 years ago, a complete historical stranger, saying that we should love him, (who we are really incapable emotionally of loving) more so than we should love our own fathers and sons?’ It just seemed like an incredibly egomaniacal kind of claim to make.”

A Stumbling Block to Many Michael Prowse in the London Financial Times “Worship is an aspect of religion that I always found difficult to understand. Suppose we postulate an omnipotent being who, for reasons inscrutable to us, decided to create something other than himself. Why should he . . . expect us to worship him? We didn’t ask to be created. Our lives are often troubled. We know that human tyrants, puffed up with pride, crave adulation and homage. But a morally perfect God would surely have no character defects. So why are all those people on their knees every Sunday?” CS Lewis in Reflections on the Psalms that one of the great obstacles in coming to believe in the God of the Bible was that when he read the Psalms, the constant demand from God to praise him seemed (to him) to picture God as craving “for our worship like a vain woman who wants compliments.”

3 Questions What is the Meaning of God’s Jealousy? Why is God Jealous for me? Why is God’s Jealousy the Greatest thing in the World?

What is the Meaning of God’s Jealousy? “Qanna”- Intensely Red Exodus 34:14 “You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.” 3 ways Jealousy is used in Scripture: I. As intolerance of rivalry or unfaithfulness II. As being suspicious of the accomplishments of others. 1 Samuel 18:7-9 ““Saul has killed his thousands,     and David his ten thousands!” 8 This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!” 9 So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. III. As anger towards a rival or one who is thought to have an advantage. This is envy

Meaning of God’s Jealousy This leads many astray Oprah said in a webcast on Jan 14, 2009, ‘I was in my 20’s and I remember sitting in a church…the minister was preaching about how God ‘the Lord thy God was a jealous God and the Lord thy God would condemn us for whatever,’ and I remember I had a spiritual aha! There. And I was in my late 20’s, and I suddenly thought, ‘How can this God who is all loving and all powerful, why would God be jealous of me?’

Meaning of God’s Jealousy We often think of jealousy as envy Jealousy can be good or bad depending on object of jealousy Envy is always focused on self True love always involves jealousy

Why is God Jealous for Me? Because of His Great Name John Piper ““Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.” Exodus 20:5 ““You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.” Deut 4:24 “The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.”

Why is God Jealous for me? What’s an Idol? Anything that rivals the devotion that belongs to God Why didn’t God abandon His people? Why doesn’t He abandon us? Because of His overwhelmingly great love! John Piper ““The jealousy of God for your undivided love and devotion will always have the last say. Whatever lures your affections away from God with deceptive attraction will come back to strip you bare and cut you in pieces. It is a horrifying thing to use your God-given life to commit adultery against the Almighty.” God loves us too much to share us

Why is God Jealous for Me? We’ll never be satisfied until we are satisfied in Him 1 Peter 1:18-19 “1 Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” I Cor 6:20 “for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” CS Lewis ““Christ says, “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here or a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think are innocent as well as the ones you think wicked- the whole outfit.”

Why God’s Jealousy is the Greatest thing in the World It means that God want’s the very best for my life Romans 8: 38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” It means that God will see me through until the end John 6:37 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 10:27-29” My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”

God’s Jealousy is the Greatest Thing Brennan Manning “My trust in God flows out of the experience of his loving me, day in and day out, whether the day is stormy or fair, whether I'm sick or in good health, whether I'm in a state of grace or disgrace. He comes to me where I live and loves me as I am.

Conclusion A. It’s a good thing, because unlike us, His jealousy is not mixed up with weakness or sin. It’s not insecure, selfish or suspicious. He wants us all and always because He is worthy of it, and we will never be happy until we give it to Him. B. And, it’s something to be treasured because it demonstrates how much God loves me and you. He will protect us from other suitors, He wants the best for us, and He’ll see His work through until the end.