Sermon Tone Analysis

#. *The nature of idolatry*

Have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant?

Or an Indian one?

Or another Asian one?

Chances are you’ve come across an idol.

From my experience most of those restaurants have idols in them – usually little carved statues, sometimes of a temple, or of Buddha, or another god, sometimes with a candle in it, or rice or money.

Sometimes not.

But it’s an idol.

How are Christians to respond to idols?

And are we in danger of idolatry?

Are you an idolater?

Let’s pray as we begin.

PRAY

* *

#. *Idols and Israel*

‘You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them’.

So states the first half of the second commandment.

Why is Israel commanded not to have any idols?

If you were here last week you’ll know we looked at the first commandment – to have no other gods before me.

That is to have no gods other than God, the God who made heaven and earth, the God who formed Israel as a people, and had saved them, by bringing them out of slavery in Egypt by miraculous acts and a powerful hand.

This God, the one true God, had brought them to Mt Sinai and had now come down to the mountain top in an awesome display, come down to speak to his people, by speaking to Moses and laying down the principles of how the people were to live now that they were God’s people.

Remember these commandments were not given as a means for the Israelites to be saved – they were already saved – but they were given as a way to respond to grace and live God’s way, to live the life of faith, and grow in holiness as God wanted.

And so they were commanded not to have any other gods, and now not to make any idols.

And idols would be a very real threat to the people’s relationship with God.

What is an idol?

It is a visual representation of a god.

Now we don’t read about idols in the Bible before this prohibition, but the Israelites would have known about idols.

In both Egypt where they had come from and Canaan, where they were going, human and animal forms played an important role in showing the character of a deity.

But Israel are told not to do this.

Why?

Because it is folly and futility.

It is folly when we stop and think about what an idol is, and futility when we think about what an idol does.

a)                          Think about what an idol is.

Just turn with me to Is 44 where Isaiah writes about what is involved in the making of idols.

Is 44:12-20.

How stupid - to think that a piece of metal or a lump of wood is divine.

How stupid to think that this piece of wood represents in any way, shape or form the God who made the heavens and the earth with a word, who flung the stars into their right positions in space, who knows them by name, who created the birds and animals and fish and insects and people, from nothing.

You’ve got to be kidding.

Talk about misrepresenting God.

God has no visible form, and so any idol intended to represent him must be a less than adequate image and therefore sinful.

Moses reminds the people in Deut 4:12 – ‘the Lord spoke to you out of the fire.

You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.’

And again in v15 – ‘you saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire.

Therefore watch yourselves very carefully so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape.’

God has no body, he is an infinite spirit.

You cannot capture that in an idol, in a piece of created material.

No idol can portray God in the way that he has revealed himself to us.

To think that you could somehow is just absolute folly.

Only Jesus is the exact representation of God’s being, according to Hebrews 1.

b)                          But not just that – did you see what people hope their idols can do in v17b – READ.

People trust that idols will save them.

But they cannot.

Only God can save – and if we turn back to Exodus and Israel’s recent experiences – they know that only God can save, because he has just done it.

The idols and gods of Egypt were powerless, because they are not gods.

It is futile to think that an idol could save them.

Again only Jesus can save us.

And yet that is precisely what the people of Israel do.

Again turn with me to Ex 32:1-4 – READ.

This golden calf, made by Aaron out of ear-rings, is given the credit for bringing the people up out of Egypt.

It is unbelievable, but such is sin’s deceitfulness.

People want to have a god they can see, a god they can touch, a god they can feel.

And because we cannot do that with the true and living God people turn easily to idols.

And idols become dangerous for they then lead us away from the true and living God.

And that is why in 1 Cor 10 Paul can write that idolatry is essentially demonic – it is a lie which turns people away from God.

People think they can then manipulate the god represented by the idol.

I can control god by the way I use my idol.

I can harness the power of god for me.

I have my god with me here in my pocket or my house or my restaurant, and provided I treat it the right way I will be blessed.

And if I treat it wrongly it will be angered and then I’m in big trouble.

The danger in making some religious symbol out of metal or wood or any other material is not in the making of the thing – remember God actually sanctioned Israel in making a number of religious tokens - figures of cherubim, brazen serpents, and so on, and it was never condemned.

The mere making was no sin — the sin lay in making such things with the intent to give idolatrous worship, as if it were a god.

The danger lies in thinking it has a power of its own.

Idols have no power of their own – they are mere lumps of metal or wood.

#.

*Idols and Christians?*

Now surely this commandment is given only to Old Testament Israel.

We would never be so crass as to make idols out of wood or metal are we?

The Israelites were so unsophisticated – we Christians wouldn’t be like that, would we?

I know other religions do it, but they’re just unenlightened pagans, so Peter writes in 1 Pe 4:3, but we know better don’t we?

We wouldn’t have idols.

Would we?

            Let me offer you 3 verses to show that the commandment against idolatry still applies to Christians – Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:1-14 – READ.

Note that last verse -  ‘therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry’.

Why – because it is still a temptation for us.

Consider Gal 5:19-21 as Paul lists some of the acts of the sinful nature – READ.

Idolatry is still an issue.

Or John ends his first letter with this warning – 1 John 5:21 – ‘dear children, keep yourselves from idols.’

The commandment still has great relevance for us to day.

If anything it is expanded beyond metal or wooden forms to cover anything which becomes the focus of our desires, worship and trust.

So what sorts of idols might Christians be tempted to embrace?

We don’t have statues in this church to which some may be tempted to pray, but some do.

We don’t have religious artwork in our church which will always misrepresent God, but some do.

And many of us have images in our minds of what Jesus looks like  - perhaps that meek, mild blonde-haired blue eyed Anglo-looking shepherd with a lamb over his shoulders.

That’s not the true Jesus who is Lord of heaven and earth.

Watch out for the dangers in such images.

We can very easily fall into the trap of making God in our own image and making him too small – and we often do that to think we can control him.

And whilst we don’t have candles and incense, we do have symbols in this church – can you see any? Altar.

Cross.

Table of sacrifice.

Communion.

The danger is when they take on a life of their own.