You’ve got a text.

Are you doing it? I bet if you could, you’d be doing it. More than 4.1 billion people are doing it every day. (Shame on you.) I’m talking about texting—4.1 billion a day. That’s 17 texts per person. I bet you’d if you had a connection and a smart phone, you’d doing it right now. That’s ok. But just because you have a smart phone and you can do it, it doesn’t mean you know what you’re doing:

…like this dad: “You left your phone”

But you have to have some smarts to text because it required mastering a whole new language of abbreviations like: lol (laugh out loud); omg (Oh my god); and XOXO (hugs and kisses). Let me add one more: NOG. It stands for No other God. It’s from the Ten Commandments. Since Moses climbed the mountain to receive the law, God has been texting man with a word that blesses. The problem is, far too much and much too often, His text is not been part of your social media mix. You’ve got mail. You’ve got Facebook. You’ve Instagram, but you don’t have Commandgram where God texts.

In these dark times, when social media dominates every part of our lives—too often to our detriment—God’s word can be a lamp to your feet and light to a better path, if only we make His text a part of our daily social media mix for the “s-o-u-l”. This morning God’s has a text for you: NOG. Why have no other God. Exodus 20:1-17 is our link to Commandgram—God’s text of the Ten Commandments. Commandgram has also been resent from Deuteronomy 5 to override any spam blocking software.

We will see in the first commandment in Commandgram, what NOG means. First, N.O.G. means no other God is going to love you like the one God who frees you for something better. Second,NOG means: any other god you love and obey is a lesser god who will put you in bondage. This is the first installment of our Ten Commandment series: Commandgram—God has sent you a text.

So, as soon as you can, do it. Text a friend: “NOG… more later.” When they hit you back, explain to them that this command from Commandgram—like all ten—is not about rules. It’s about relationship. It’s God’s love letters to you.

First, NOG means: no other God is going to love you like the one God who frees for something better. This Commandgram is more than a command, but part of a covenant of love, a ontract between God and His people that affirms: I am yours; you are mine. Freedom is the contract terms God has already provided—proof of his love. We see the terms of agreement in Exodus 20:1-2.

Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Exodus 20:1-2

If anybody says they love you and but never prove they love you by doing something that puts in a better place, don’t sign up. But God has always been in the loving and freeing business.

• God loved and freed Joseph from prison to promote him to the palace.

• God loved and freed the woman at the well for a better relationship than all the ones she had before that bound her. Now she could worship Him in spirit and in truth.

• God loved and freed the woman caught in adultery from the judgment of men so she could “go and sin no more.”

God has loved and freed you free from your own Egypt:

• Remember when your Egypt was that abusive relationship. Godloved and freed you to love someone who sincerely loves you back.

• Remember when your Egypt was that addictive behavior—that pipe, pint, that perversion. God loved and freed you to pursue a higher passion. Like AA, freedom from lower living begins a higher power.

• Remember when your Egypt was oppressive, unjust laws that treated you as less than. But a greater-than God loved and freed you. He opened a path to equal rights to life, liberty, and your own pursuit of happiness.

God is in the freeing business today. And He will use whoever, wherever He chooses, even the often wrongly demonized. He will use as divine agents of liberation, to set you free. Need proof? Look no further than in the recent news accounts of the “Good Samaritan” Georgia high school football players who rescued a woman trapped in a burning car. The truth is: love has no color. So, delete messages from people who are not about the truth that comes from the “no-other-God” God, who loves you and frees you with his word.

Make Commandgram—the word of God—part of your daily social media mix for the s-o-u-l. Then forward it to someone who needs the message NOG: no other God is going to love you like the one God who frees.

Second, NOG means: any other god you love and obey is a lesser god who will put you in bondage. Out of love, God warned Israel not to put anyone or thing before him. Look at verse 20:3:

3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.

The key phrase that often gets ignored is “before me”. In Hebrew it is “al- paniym”. It literally means “before the face of God”.

To have any other god is to flaunt in God’s face that you have another god, another lover. Has anybody here ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend that openly disrespected with their “dime piece”—their other lover. How did you feel? Image how that makes God feel to know “you and Mrs. Jones’ got a thing going on.” Jealousy is God’s middle name according to Exodus 34:14. You don’t want to cheat on Him.

Having a “thing going on” with another god has always been an invitation to bondage. You will find yourself in a bad place doing despicable things. The list is long of Israel having a thing going on with other gods. Things did not go well:

Ahaz—the king of Israel—had a thing going on with Baal the Babylonian god of child sacrifice.

He (Ahaz) walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 2 Kings 16:3

• Israel had a thing going on with the Ashtart, the Canaanite goddess of temple prostitution. A father and son were found having sex with the same girl in the Lord’s house in Amos 2:7.

• The Corinthian Church had a thing going on within their congregation. They turned a blind eye to a son having sex with his self-mother in 1 Corinthians 5.

• The first Church had a thing going on within their congregation with the god of greed where two members lied and withheld the promised proceeds of a real estate sale. They were rolled out feet first, struck dead by God who will have no other “Mrs. Jones”.

May I ask you a question: who’s your “Mrs. Jones” god with whom do you have a thing going on? Philosopher and Theologian Paul Tillich puts it this way:

“one’s ultimate concern is one’s god.”

In other words: Who are you flaunting in the face of God as your ultimate concern above God? That lesser god can be so innocuous—so harmless looking—on the surface, yet be so deadly under cover.

• Your jobs can become a lesser god. If you take no Sabbath days off, and take no second thought to doing the unethical to close the once-in-a-lifetime deal, that job might be your god. And it can enslave you.

• Relationships can become a god. If you’ll do anything for your lover, even abandon church, that relationship might be your god. Warning: that boo has the potential of a “boo-hoo”. He or she can enslave you.

• Even worship can become a god. If getting your praise on supersedes winds up getting your freak on, when your lip service that doesn’t match your lifestyle, that strange fire can be a god—an unacceptable worship to God. Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, offered unauthorized incense in the temple and were struck down with fire.

In contrast, your love for the “no other God” should be reflected in how you treat others. Uncle Bob got this Commandgram love text. It showed up in the life of famed rapper Little Wayne. When Lil Wayne shot himself in the chest at the age of 12, Officer Bob Uncle Bob aka Robert Hoobler carried Lil Wayne to his cruiser and drove him to the hospital when no ambulance was available and no one else on the scene would help save his life.

Church, you may be few in the pews and have no pastor. The temptation may be to replace what you don’t have with the things and people of the lesser god to be church. Check your text: NOG. Any other god you love and obey is a lesser god who will put you in a bad place. So, stay open and affirming of the one God.

When you get the Commandgram text—NOG—the first of the Ten Commandments—open it and do it. It means no other God is going to love you like the one God who will free you, and blesses you. NOG also means: any other god you love and obey is a lesser God who will lead you away from blessings and into bondage.

Make God a part of your social media mix and share it with those who follow you as soon as you get a connection. Text a friend: “NOG.” When they hit you back, explain to them that this is a Commandgram—a text from God like all the Ten Commandments. It’s not about rules. It’s about the relationship God wants with you. It’s God’s love letters. Think of it as God’s XOXO—His big, old fat love and kisses to you.