Dads, it is our task to pursue the hearts of our children—will we teach them the truth and point them to Christ? Will we model godliness and faithfulness for them? Will we pray with and for them? Will we ensure that we are with them in that place God has ordained, Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day, to hear His Word proclaimed? Will we strive to have them in a household of faith that worships God in the ways that he has prescribed? This is our great calling.

Hopefully, we are familiar with the Second Commandment, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Ex. 20:4). Furthermore, in our Reformed circles, we understand that we have a more robust understanding of this commandment than most other traditions, especially when we consider what this commandment requires and forbids. It is not only that we are not to make any modern-day “golden calves” to worship (Ex. 32), but the Second Commandment commands us to only worship God in the ways prescribed in his Word. This is commonly called the regulative principle of worship.

The Westminster Larger Catechism, question 109, states, “The sins forbidden in the Second Commandment are, all devising, counseling, commanding, using, and anywise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself.”

In considering the duties commanded and the sins forbidden in the Second Commandment, though, we would also do well to note the promise accompanying the command. 

Consider Exodus 20:5-6: “I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” There’s a promise of both judgment and grace. 

We often struggle with this commandment, especially the promise of judgment, because it seems unfair. Notice that four generations are visited with the iniquity of their fathers. And yet, despite our discomfort, we must admit that we have seen its reality play out. Some of you have seen this in your own families, or maybe in families of your relatives or neighbors, where patterns of rebellion crop up, generation after generation. This commandment reveals the heart issue behind this generational sin – false worship.

When we read this command, we should feel a healthy fear and trembling.

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