1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,800 I’d like to invite you to open your bibles at Exodus 20 as we come to the second commandment 2 00:00:07,440 –> 00:00:13,040 in which God speaks to us, saying you shall not make for yourself an idol. 3 00:00:14,240 –> 00:00:19,600 Authorized Version translates that as a graven image. We’re going to look together 4 00:00:19,600 –> 00:00:26,160 at the second commandment. Now a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting some folks who 5 00:00:26,160 –> 00:00:32,160 had come to this church for the very first time. They had heard the ministry on the Unlocking the 6 00:00:32,160 –> 00:00:38,160 Bible radio program and because they had heard the ministry, they decided to come to visit the 7 00:00:38,160 –> 00:00:42,480 church. Came up at the front here to introduce themselves to me at the end of the service 8 00:00:43,119 –> 00:00:47,599 and they said it’s nice to meet you, they said. We’ve been listening to you on the radio 9 00:00:47,599 –> 00:00:54,480 and then they sort of paused and said you don’t look anything like we imagined. 10 00:00:56,799 –> 00:00:58,720 Now this raises a very obvious question. 11 00:01:01,279 –> 00:01:02,560 What on earth did they imagine? 12 00:01:03,599 –> 00:01:08,959 I was tempted to ask and then discretion was the better part of valor. I thought let’s not 13 00:01:08,959 –> 00:01:15,120 go there in case it turns out that you are a huge disappointment to these people. 14 00:01:16,160 –> 00:01:21,279 Now it is the most natural thing in the world to project an image from our imagination of 15 00:01:21,320 –> 00:01:22,919 something or someone we have not seen. 16 00:01:24,120 –> 00:01:29,720 And God is invisible and so it is therefore the most natural thing in the world quite 17 00:01:29,720 –> 00:01:35,720 instinctive for us to create within our minds and sometimes in art and craft and sculpture 18 00:01:36,360 –> 00:01:44,360 images that are intended to point to him, remind us of him, represent him in some kind of way. 19 00:01:44,440 –> 00:01:51,160 And at the very simplest level, the second commandment speaks to this issue. 20 00:01:52,680 –> 00:01:56,199 Don’t make an idol. 21 00:01:57,879 –> 00:02:02,879 The problem with any image that is intended to represent God, is that it can never do 22 00:02:02,879 –> 00:02:05,320 him justice. 23 00:02:05,320 –> 00:02:14,119 Any image will in its nature be far far far less than God is to the point where it will 24 00:02:14,160 –> 00:02:20,240 distract us from him more than it will draw us to him. 25 00:02:20,240 –> 00:02:25,979 And so, just at a very simple level, I want to commend this for your consideration. 26 00:02:25,979 –> 00:02:29,940 The second commandment speaks directly to this issue. 27 00:02:29,940 –> 00:02:38,320 I know that there are many folks who say that they find icons and sometimes beads and pictures 28 00:02:38,320 –> 00:02:41,759 as a kind of aid to devotion. 29 00:02:41,800 –> 00:02:44,639 And I want to ask you to consider this. 30 00:02:44,639 –> 00:02:48,440 Don’t try to be wiser than God. 31 00:02:48,440 –> 00:02:52,479 It’s very common for folks to say, yes, but I really worship God through this, and this 32 00:02:52,479 –> 00:02:54,699 is a thing that helps me to worship God. 33 00:02:54,699 –> 00:03:01,000 You will find that kind of language, by the way, very prominent within Hinduism, and the 34 00:03:01,000 –> 00:03:05,759 second commandment urges us not to go down that road. 35 00:03:05,839 –> 00:03:12,740 Remember that images do as much to distract us from God as to represent Him to us. 36 00:03:12,740 –> 00:03:16,080 Think of the famous piece of artwork in the Sistine Chapel. 37 00:03:16,080 –> 00:03:21,600 You know, the image of God, the finger of God coming out of the sky, gives some representation 38 00:03:21,600 –> 00:03:24,940 of his awesome power, none whatsoever of his love. 39 00:03:24,940 –> 00:03:29,279 You get that image fixed in your mind, you’ve got a distorted image of God. 40 00:03:29,279 –> 00:03:34,000 Because while it represents one thing it obscures another. 41 00:03:34,000 –> 00:03:35,399 That’s the problem. 42 00:03:35,399 –> 00:03:37,399 That is a created thing. 43 00:03:37,399 –> 00:03:42,460 It’s limited as part of the creation, it cannot represent the creator. 44 00:03:42,460 –> 00:03:48,940 Some of us were distracted by pictures of Jesus in children’s books. 45 00:03:48,940 –> 00:03:54,779 Years later in adult life we carry within us some idea that Jesus is essentially spineless 46 00:03:54,779 –> 00:03:57,679 anemic and rather weak. 47 00:03:57,679 –> 00:04:02,259 Because that was the picture that we picked up from a children’s book fifty years ago 48 00:04:02,419 –> 00:04:06,020 and it stayed with us somewhere. 49 00:04:06,020 –> 00:04:16,820 Gentle Jesus, make him mild, part of the truth, but it’s obscured as much as it has revealed. 50 00:04:16,820 –> 00:04:22,779 Many people wear little crucifixes — crucifixes are an image of Jesus on the cross. 51 00:04:22,779 –> 00:04:25,619 Well now that reveals something, doesn’t it? 52 00:04:25,619 –> 00:04:31,779 It reveals and reminds that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but it also obscures 53 00:04:31,779 –> 00:04:35,540 something — the fact that he’s not on the cross now. 54 00:04:35,540 –> 00:04:41,619 He’s risen from the dead, he’s exalted, he is triumphant, and his sacrifice for sin is 55 00:04:41,619 –> 00:04:46,760 completed, it is over, and my salvation is found by resting in this, and by looking up 56 00:04:46,760 –> 00:04:51,940 to the risen Lord and savior who loves me, and embraces with me, and walks with me every 57 00:04:51,940 –> 00:04:54,799 day of my life. 58 00:04:54,799 –> 00:04:58,519 So there’s an issue here for us to consider, and perhaps for some of us to consider in 59 00:04:58,519 –> 00:05:01,260 a fresh way. 60 00:05:01,260 –> 00:05:07,220 Art and sculpture can capture the beauty and the wonder of creation — they are wonderful 61 00:05:07,220 –> 00:05:13,480 gifts that should be used in this way — but they cannot capture the glory of the Creator, 62 00:05:13,480 –> 00:05:20,179 and when art and sculpture attempt to capture the glory of the Creator, it obscures as much 63 00:05:20,179 –> 00:05:22,119 as it reveals. 64 00:05:23,040 –> 00:05:26,019 Now, I want to suggest to you that that, of course, is one of our great difficulties in 65 00:05:26,040 –> 00:05:31,559 worship, not just in terms of art but in terms of our whole thinking about God. 66 00:05:31,559 –> 00:05:41,200 You see, my most intimate experience of love, my most wonderful experience of being loved, 67 00:05:41,200 –> 00:05:46,760 doesn’t get near the love of God for me. 68 00:05:46,880 –> 00:05:52,399 Our most awesome apprehension of power, the hurricanes we see in Florida that make us 69 00:05:52,399 –> 00:06:01,119 gasp with awe, they don’t get near the awesome power of God. 70 00:06:01,119 –> 00:06:06,359 One of the struggles that I think we experience in worship is that, too often, we try and 71 00:06:06,359 –> 00:06:14,420 shave God down to a system of thought or to the limited horizons of our experience and 72 00:06:14,420 –> 00:06:16,640 you just can’t do that. 73 00:06:16,640 –> 00:06:20,260 God says, to what will you compare me? 74 00:06:20,260 –> 00:06:27,799 There is nothing with which we can compare the incomparable One. 75 00:06:27,799 –> 00:06:31,500 And it’s for that reason that worship is one of the most difficult challenges, one of the 76 00:06:31,500 –> 00:06:36,260 greatest struggles in all of our experience, and we’re coming to look at it in the second 77 00:06:36,260 –> 00:06:37,920 commandment. 78 00:06:37,920 –> 00:06:42,619 I reckon that, at first sight, the second commandment looks pretty easy. 79 00:06:42,679 –> 00:06:47,380 It’s rather like a wall or a rock that, from a distance, makes you say, hey, I could climb 80 00:06:47,380 –> 00:06:48,940 that one. 81 00:06:48,940 –> 00:06:52,459 I might struggle with some of the other commandments, but, you know, I’ve no totem poles in the 82 00:06:52,459 –> 00:06:57,500 garden, I’m not overwhelmed by some great urge to go and create a piece of wood that’ 83 00:06:57,500 –> 00:07:01,220 whittle a piece of wood that’s going to be an object of worship, I’m just good on the 84 00:07:01,220 –> 00:07:02,640 second commandment. 85 00:07:02,640 –> 00:07:08,140 Well, as we look at what it really means, we’re going to see it goes far, far deeper 86 00:07:08,140 –> 00:07:09,260 than that. 87 00:07:09,880 –> 00:07:17,940 I want to suggest to you that learning to truly worship God, as he is, is indeed one 88 00:07:17,940 –> 00:07:22,760 of the greatest struggles of any of our lives. 89 00:07:23,500 –> 00:07:28,779 I want to give you a famous definition of idolatry given hundreds of years ago by Augustine, 90 00:07:28,779 –> 00:07:31,420 a great leader of the Christian Church. 91 00:07:31,420 –> 00:07:37,940 I found this profoundly helpful and it opens up two dimensions that are involved in idolatry. 92 00:07:38,019 –> 00:07:48,440 Idolatry says Augustine is worshiping what should be used or using what should be worshipped. 93 00:07:48,440 –> 00:07:50,299 Very important definition. 94 00:07:50,299 –> 00:07:56,540 Idolatry, what is condemned within the second commandment, idolatry is worshipping what 95 00:07:56,540 –> 00:08:03,299 should be used or using what should be worshipped. 96 00:08:03,299 –> 00:08:09,739 I found that I was helped to understand this better by a distinction that C.S. 97 00:08:09,739 –> 00:08:14,739 Lewis makes in his famous book, The Screw Tape Letters between five different phrases. 98 00:08:14,739 –> 00:08:17,859 I’m gonna give them to you and then we’ll work them through together. 99 00:08:17,859 –> 00:08:29,600 Here are the five phrases, my boots, my dog, my wife, my country, and my god. 100 00:08:30,559 –> 00:08:36,219 Now it’s very interesting that these phrases cover the entire spectrum of love. 101 00:08:36,219 –> 00:08:40,880 I can say that I love my boots, I love my dog, I love my wife, I love my country, I 102 00:08:40,880 –> 00:08:41,880 love my god. 103 00:08:43,260 –> 00:08:47,859 In fact it’s interesting, as it happens, that just the other week Karen and I were 104 00:08:47,859 –> 00:08:49,119 out shopping. 105 00:08:49,119 –> 00:08:54,460 She bought some new shoes, she’s been wearing them to school and just the other day she 106 00:08:54,460 –> 00:08:58,960 said to me, I really love my new shoes. 107 00:08:58,960 –> 00:09:02,679 She had been finding them really comfortable, great. 108 00:09:02,679 –> 00:09:08,440 Later in the day she said, I love you. 109 00:09:08,440 –> 00:09:12,280 Now this is interesting, isn’t it? 110 00:09:12,280 –> 00:09:17,359 I’m hoping that there is some kind of a difference or a distinction between the way in which 111 00:09:17,359 –> 00:09:21,000 words are being used here. 112 00:09:21,000 –> 00:09:26,719 These five statements take you all the way from ownership to worship. 113 00:09:26,719 –> 00:09:34,119 From that which is to be used as a resource to the one who is to be worshiped alone. 114 00:09:34,119 –> 00:09:41,619 And I found it helpful to understand that spectrum and then to ask the question what 115 00:09:41,619 –> 00:09:47,159 do I mean when I say, my God? 116 00:09:47,159 –> 00:09:49,520 Let’s look at the spectrum a little more closely together. 117 00:09:49,520 –> 00:09:50,520 First of all, my boots. 118 00:09:50,520 –> 00:09:55,919 Think about this, I choose the boots that I like. 119 00:09:55,919 –> 00:10:03,200 I choose them because the appeal to me, they fit my style, they make me look good and they 120 00:10:03,200 –> 00:10:05,919 are comfortable for me to wear. 121 00:10:05,919 –> 00:10:10,659 They exist entirely for my comfort, my use and my pleasure. 122 00:10:10,659 –> 00:10:14,159 If I ever see a better pair of boots that I like much more than the ones that I’ve 123 00:10:14,159 –> 00:10:18,080 got I will feel at liberty to change them. 124 00:10:18,080 –> 00:10:22,400 If I tire of my boots, if my boots wear out I can replace them. 125 00:10:22,400 –> 00:10:28,780 My boots help me to avoid pain, which I’d experience if I walked without them. 126 00:10:28,780 –> 00:10:40,119 But if my boots ever cause me pain, I will dispose of them, of course, instantly. 127 00:10:40,119 –> 00:10:41,619 Now let’s move on to my dog. 128 00:10:41,619 –> 00:10:44,219 A dog has its uses, doesn’t it? 129 00:10:44,219 –> 00:10:48,000 A dog can be a good friend, a dog can guard your property, a dog can make sure that you 130 00:10:48,000 –> 00:10:51,799 get some exercise that we all need. 131 00:10:51,979 –> 00:10:54,200 There are all kinds of uses for a dog. 132 00:10:54,200 –> 00:11:00,880 But a man who treats a dog in the same ways he treats his boots is a disgrace. 133 00:11:00,880 –> 00:11:03,700 There is some loyalty here, there is some responsibility. 134 00:11:03,700 –> 00:11:06,799 The dog is more than the boots. 135 00:11:06,799 –> 00:11:12,320 You don’t just have a dog to use it. 136 00:11:12,320 –> 00:11:13,700 My wife. 137 00:11:14,700 –> 00:11:22,020 A man who cannot tell the difference between my boots and my wife is in big trouble. 138 00:11:22,020 –> 00:11:27,059 And actually if you think about that, it’s a pretty serious comment. 139 00:11:27,059 –> 00:11:33,659 Because isn’t that precisely why some marriages are in big trouble today. 140 00:11:33,659 –> 00:11:40,380 The tragedy is that instead of being a relationship of mutual love and support and comfort and 141 00:11:40,440 –> 00:11:46,179 strength of partnership to pursue the glory of God, that a marriage can too easily degenerate 142 00:11:46,179 –> 00:11:51,840 into a relationship in which two people use each other as a resource. 143 00:11:51,840 –> 00:11:55,380 I need him for the money to support my lifestyle. 144 00:11:55,380 –> 00:11:58,960 I need her to raise the kids. 145 00:11:58,960 –> 00:12:07,359 I need her for my image, my pleasure or whatever. 146 00:12:07,359 –> 00:12:12,320 And instead of being a relationship between two people in which there is mutual loving, 147 00:12:12,320 –> 00:12:21,320 caring, and serving, and honoring, it becomes a relationship of use, and that’s one step 148 00:12:21,320 –> 00:12:24,320 from a relationship of abuse. 149 00:12:24,320 –> 00:12:30,400 See, when I was preparing this, I looked back to what I just written about the Boots. 150 00:12:30,400 –> 00:12:34,599 Can I read you what I said about the boots? 151 00:12:34,599 –> 00:12:38,580 Probably this time we’ll put in my wife or my husband instead of the Boots. 152 00:12:38,580 –> 00:12:41,780 I find that quite revealing. 153 00:12:41,780 –> 00:12:47,419 I chose my wife, my husband, because I like the way she looks, because she fitted my style, 154 00:12:47,419 –> 00:12:50,859 and because she’s comfortable for me to be with. 155 00:12:50,859 –> 00:12:54,619 My wife exists entirely for my comfort, use, and pleasure. 156 00:12:54,619 –> 00:12:57,659 If I see a better wife, I can change her at will. 157 00:12:57,659 –> 00:13:01,500 If I tire of her, or if she wears out, I will replace her. 158 00:13:01,559 –> 00:13:06,979 My wife helps me avoid pain, and of course, if she were ever to give me pain, 159 00:13:06,979 –> 00:13:10,919 I would dispose of her instantly. 160 00:13:10,919 –> 00:13:16,719 But you see that’s not too far from where a lot of people are in our society today, 161 00:13:16,719 –> 00:13:18,119 right? 162 00:13:18,119 –> 00:13:24,520 See what happens in a society where we lose the capacity to regard another person as greater 163 00:13:24,520 –> 00:13:28,520 than ourselves? 164 00:13:28,520 –> 00:13:30,080 My country… 165 00:13:30,419 –> 00:13:33,539 We move even further in the direction of responsibility. 166 00:13:33,539 –> 00:13:36,840 We’re moving away from ownership all the time, you see. 167 00:13:36,840 –> 00:13:40,080 I own the boots. 168 00:13:40,080 –> 00:13:43,460 No sense really of owning the country, I belong to the country. 169 00:13:43,460 –> 00:13:46,679 The country is so much bigger than me. 170 00:13:46,679 –> 00:13:56,940 You don’t choose the country you like, you are loyal to the country to which you belong. 171 00:13:56,940 –> 00:13:58,840 My country is far bigger than me. 172 00:13:58,900 –> 00:14:06,280 There may be times when I am called upon to lay down my life for my country. 173 00:14:06,280 –> 00:14:14,260 You remember President Kennedy’s great words, ask not what your country can do for you, 174 00:14:14,260 –> 00:14:20,039 ask what you can do for your country. 175 00:14:20,039 –> 00:14:24,940 We’re moving away from using something as a resource to serving something that is greater 176 00:14:24,940 –> 00:14:28,200 than ourselves. 177 00:14:28,260 –> 00:14:31,419 Here we come to My God. 178 00:14:31,419 –> 00:14:39,559 Here we come to the relationship of worship in its purest form, and here’s the problem, 179 00:14:39,559 –> 00:14:47,460 some folks can’t tell the difference between My God and My boots. 180 00:14:47,460 –> 00:14:49,599 That’s idolatry. 181 00:14:49,599 –> 00:14:57,679 If you say My God, with the same sense of wanting to try and use Him as a resource as 182 00:14:58,159 –> 00:15:04,760 mean when you say My boots, you are an idolater. 183 00:15:04,760 –> 00:15:06,440 That’s what idolatry is. 184 00:15:06,440 –> 00:15:09,640 It confuses the creation with the Creator. 185 00:15:09,640 –> 00:15:15,039 It takes Yahweh who invites us into a personal relationship, and it regards Him as being 186 00:15:15,039 –> 00:15:20,080 there for my convenience and my pleasure. 187 00:15:20,080 –> 00:15:23,359 So let’s go back now to Augustine’s definition of idolatry. 188 00:15:23,359 –> 00:15:24,940 Remember two parts. 189 00:15:25,179 –> 00:15:29,299 Idolatry is worshiping what should be used, in other words, taking stuff like the boots 190 00:15:29,299 –> 00:15:34,200 and putting it in the place of God, or it is using what should be worshiped, taking 191 00:15:34,200 –> 00:15:38,880 God and regarding Him in the same way as you regard the boots. 192 00:15:38,880 –> 00:15:41,500 Think of these two things. 193 00:15:41,500 –> 00:15:44,299 Worshiping what should be used. 194 00:15:44,299 –> 00:15:50,760 Of course, that’s what Paul talks about in Romans chapter 1 and verse 25, replacing the 195 00:15:50,820 –> 00:15:59,919 creator with created things, and there’s only one way to dethrone created things, and that 196 00:15:59,919 –> 00:16:05,400 is to ask the question what are they for? 197 00:16:05,400 –> 00:16:07,960 Take marriage. 198 00:16:07,960 –> 00:16:11,020 Marriage is a created thing. 199 00:16:11,020 –> 00:16:13,179 It is not eternal. 200 00:16:13,179 –> 00:16:18,500 It is a good gift of God given for a purpose. 201 00:16:18,500 –> 00:16:23,280 If I’m to avoid it taking the place of God and making an Idol out of my marriage, I need 202 00:16:23,280 –> 00:16:26,479 to start asking the question what is my marriage for? 203 00:16:26,479 –> 00:16:31,900 That’s the most important question a young couple can ask before you get married. 204 00:16:31,900 –> 00:16:33,039 What is marriage for? 205 00:16:33,039 –> 00:16:37,820 It’s the most important question for me or for any other married person to be asking 206 00:16:37,820 –> 00:16:39,640 now. 207 00:16:39,640 –> 00:16:44,000 And the answer of course is that marriage is a partnership of mutual love and support 208 00:16:44,020 –> 00:16:48,840 So that two people together may serve God more effectively. 209 00:16:48,840 –> 00:16:53,880 If I have discovered that this is what it’s for, then I will be prevented from making 210 00:16:53,880 –> 00:16:58,159 it an Idol and putting it in the place of God. 211 00:16:58,159 –> 00:17:04,300 Same with a family. 212 00:17:04,300 –> 00:17:09,680 What is a family for? 213 00:17:09,680 –> 00:17:12,239 The family is a created thing. 214 00:17:12,239 –> 00:17:13,239 Created for a purpose. 215 00:17:13,280 –> 00:17:15,280 What is it’s purpose? 216 00:17:15,280 –> 00:17:20,180 So that children may be raised in the knowledge of God and an experienced of his love reflected 217 00:17:20,180 –> 00:17:24,880 through parents and be given a good establishment for life itself. 218 00:17:24,880 –> 00:17:31,859 If that’s what it’s for, then I will understand how to pursue family life. 219 00:17:31,859 –> 00:17:35,199 It’s the same with money. 220 00:17:35,199 –> 00:17:39,160 I’ve got to ask the question what is money for? 221 00:17:39,339 –> 00:17:46,819 Remember that money is a resource to be used, not a God to be worshipped. 222 00:17:46,819 –> 00:17:51,560 I am a steward of whatever he places into my hands, but what he places into my hands 223 00:17:51,560 –> 00:17:55,020 is given to me that it be used. 224 00:17:56,560 –> 00:18:00,239 If I don’t use it, I’m making a God of it. 225 00:18:00,239 –> 00:18:05,819 So the question is, Lord, how do you want me to use what you have given to me? 226 00:18:05,819 –> 00:18:07,939 Don’t let it become a God to me. 227 00:18:08,520 –> 00:18:13,239 And maybe the most important question that any individual has to ask is, what am I for? 228 00:18:14,560 –> 00:18:19,660 I mean, am I just a machine to kind of be fine-tuned for physical performance? 229 00:18:20,699 –> 00:18:26,400 Am I a temporal soul to be expanded for endless experiences of pleasure? 230 00:18:27,920 –> 00:18:32,000 No, you and I are special creations of God. 231 00:18:32,819 –> 00:18:37,900 We are made intentionally by him in his image for his glory, 232 00:18:37,900 –> 00:18:44,699 and that is why you cannot find the fulfillment of your own self or purpose apart from becoming 233 00:18:44,699 –> 00:18:47,579 a worshipper of him. 234 00:18:49,920 –> 00:18:51,439 That’s the second commandment. 235 00:18:54,680 –> 00:18:56,760 You’re worshipping what should be used. 236 00:18:57,859 –> 00:19:00,400 Taking my boots, my music, 237 00:19:00,579 –> 00:19:05,699 my money, my marriage, my family, my career, my cause, my country, my ministry, 238 00:19:05,699 –> 00:19:12,660 and placing them in the place of God – that’s idolatry. 239 00:19:14,260 –> 00:19:21,140 But it’s only the first part of idolatry, and the second – if anything, I find is 240 00:19:21,140 –> 00:19:25,079 an even greater temptation and struggle for me. 241 00:19:25,280 –> 00:19:27,079 Let’s look at it. 242 00:19:27,079 –> 00:19:32,719 Not only is it taking what is given to be used and putting it in the place of worship, 243 00:19:32,719 –> 00:19:38,500 but it’s taking the one who should be worshipped, and it’s attempting to use him – that 244 00:19:38,500 –> 00:19:40,699 also is idolatry. 245 00:19:40,699 –> 00:19:46,900 Now, God comes to us, and he invites us into a personal relationship. 246 00:19:46,900 –> 00:19:50,780 And this is a wonderful thing, but you know, there is something instinctive within our 247 00:19:50,959 –> 00:19:57,579 fallen nature that when God invites you or me the relationship with him, something within 248 00:19:57,579 –> 00:20:05,319 us says, ah, this could be useful. 249 00:20:05,319 –> 00:20:12,319 If we have a relationship with God, we could get him to protect our country. 250 00:20:12,319 –> 00:20:15,920 We could get him to bless our family. 251 00:20:15,920 –> 00:20:19,260 We could get him to give the things that we don’t have and the things that we very much 252 00:20:19,260 –> 00:20:20,260 want. 253 00:20:20,359 –> 00:20:25,699 We could ask him to keep the Dao Jones going up. 254 00:20:25,699 –> 00:20:31,199 We could ask him to have a great big church and multiply ministry. 255 00:20:31,199 –> 00:20:41,560 Yahweh invites us into a relationship of worship and there’s something instinctive within us 256 00:20:41,560 –> 00:20:49,920 that sees him as a resource to be used. 257 00:20:49,959 –> 00:20:53,619 We begin to come to him rather like Aladdin’s lamp. 258 00:20:53,619 –> 00:20:56,000 Remember Aladdin and his lamp? 259 00:20:56,000 –> 00:21:01,359 Great thing to have the lamp, you see, you can get anything you want when you rub the lamp. 260 00:21:01,380 –> 00:21:06,400 If you or I approach God like that, that is idolatry. 261 00:21:06,400 –> 00:21:14,199 It’s taking the one who is to be worshiped and it’s attempting to use him. 262 00:21:14,199 –> 00:21:18,920 I have to tell you that this is my biggest struggle with worship. 263 00:21:18,920 –> 00:21:26,040 I want to worship God authentically but there is something within me that wants to use him 264 00:21:26,040 –> 00:21:28,619 more than worship him. 265 00:21:28,619 –> 00:21:30,660 I want, of course, that he’ll forgive my sins. 266 00:21:30,660 –> 00:21:32,219 I want him to get me into heaven. 267 00:21:32,219 –> 00:21:37,719 I want him to give me good health, long life, an intimate marriage, success in my career, 268 00:21:37,719 –> 00:21:40,339 healthy children, multiple grandchildren… 269 00:21:40,339 –> 00:21:45,579 the list is unending and if I find that I go without one of these things, I then have 270 00:21:45,579 –> 00:21:48,619 a problem with God. 271 00:21:49,599 –> 00:21:57,380 See, that’s why we keep coming back to this truth that the greatest worship you ever offer 272 00:21:57,380 –> 00:22:07,319 to God is loving him in the middle of something you don’t understand, loving him in the middle 273 00:22:07,319 –> 00:22:14,219 of a pain you would rather be without, because what that is saying is, 274 00:22:14,560 –> 00:22:18,060 Lord, I love you. 275 00:22:18,060 –> 00:22:27,119 And I will come as a worshipper, not as a user, but as one who offers myself to you 276 00:22:27,119 –> 00:22:36,160 in the pain, in the disappointment, I love you still. 277 00:22:36,160 –> 00:22:37,160 That’s worship. 278 00:22:37,160 –> 00:22:41,900 Remember the whole of the 10 commandments are an exposition of what it means to love, 279 00:22:41,900 –> 00:22:44,260 to love God and then to love our neighbor. 280 00:22:44,260 –> 00:22:51,540 One writer puts it very helpfully, the explosive power of the living God cannot be harnessed. 281 00:22:51,540 –> 00:22:59,140 He is never at our disposal, we cannot bargain with him, he is there to be worshipped, not 282 00:22:59,140 –> 00:23:00,579 to be manipulated. 283 00:23:00,579 –> 00:23:07,800 And you see ideolity tries to bring God under my control, worship places myself under his 284 00:23:07,800 –> 00:23:08,800 control. 285 00:23:08,800 –> 00:23:11,540 There’s all the difference in the world. 286 00:23:11,540 –> 00:23:17,599 But of course there’s no area where this is more sensitive to us than the area of prayer. 287 00:23:17,599 –> 00:23:21,599 Somewhere deep within us there often lies this idea that if I really pray, if I pray 288 00:23:21,599 –> 00:23:26,719 for a year, if I have a half night of prayer, if I pray all night then God must come through 289 00:23:26,719 –> 00:23:27,719 for me. 290 00:23:27,719 –> 00:23:34,400 And if he doesn’t we get very frustrated. 291 00:23:34,400 –> 00:23:39,099 Prayer is not a tool for manipulating God. 292 00:23:39,099 –> 00:23:44,859 Prayer is not an Aladdin’s lamp to get everything that I want. 293 00:23:44,859 –> 00:23:49,719 True prayer is offered in the name of Jesus Christ, that means in submission to him, that 294 00:23:49,719 –> 00:23:57,739 means that it is subsumed under his purpose and that is always the spirit in which I come 295 00:23:57,739 –> 00:24:03,459 to the one who loves me, and for that reason I’ve come to begin to love him. 296 00:24:04,459 –> 00:24:12,160 Idolatry, then, is very much closer to home than we often think, taking what’s to be 297 00:24:12,160 –> 00:24:23,020 used and worshipping it, taking the one who’s to be worshipped and attempting to use him. 298 00:24:23,020 –> 00:24:26,300 Now, that’s the second commandment. 299 00:24:26,300 –> 00:24:27,560 Why is it so serious? 300 00:24:27,560 –> 00:24:33,300 Why would this issue be the one that God would single out for the second commandment? 301 00:24:33,300 –> 00:24:37,319 It’s clearly a big issue, much bigger than we normally realise. 302 00:24:37,319 –> 00:24:41,859 Let me just offer three comments and the time that remains, all of them from the text here. 303 00:24:41,859 –> 00:24:48,579 First, idols are offensive, they are deeply insulting to God. 304 00:24:48,579 –> 00:24:49,660 Look at verse 5. 305 00:24:49,660 –> 00:24:52,959 “‘You shall not bow down to them or worship them. 306 00:24:52,959 –> 00:24:59,520 For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.’” 307 00:24:59,520 –> 00:25:02,560 Now here, we can use something that we learned last week. 308 00:25:02,560 –> 00:25:04,359 Notice that the word, Lord, there. 309 00:25:04,359 –> 00:25:08,839 If you look in your Bible, you see Lord is printed with four capital letters. 310 00:25:08,839 –> 00:25:12,859 Remember, we saw last week that if the word, Lord, is printed in four capital letters, 311 00:25:12,859 –> 00:25:16,439 it means that the Hebrew word Yahweh, the named that God gave to Moses, 312 00:25:16,479 –> 00:25:22,199 is being used, and that name means, I am who I am. 313 00:25:22,199 –> 00:25:25,319 So let’s put that back into the text and read it again. 314 00:25:25,319 –> 00:25:29,959 “‘You are not,’ verse 5, “‘to bow down to them,” that’s to the 315 00:25:29,959 –> 00:25:34,119 idols, “‘or worship them for…”‘ 316 00:25:34,119 –> 00:25:35,359 So he’s going to give us a reason. 317 00:25:35,359 –> 00:25:38,560 Here’s the reason coming on why you’re not to bow down to idols. 318 00:25:38,560 –> 00:25:44,119 “‘You’re not about down to them or worship them for, I am who I am.’” 319 00:25:44,439 –> 00:25:45,640 “‘I am.” 320 00:25:45,640 –> 00:25:47,760 That’s what the text says. 321 00:25:47,760 –> 00:25:50,079 That’s what God literally said. 322 00:25:50,079 –> 00:25:54,400 “‘You’re not to bow down to idols because, I am who I am.’” 323 00:25:54,400 –> 00:26:00,319 “‘I am not whoever you want me to be.’ 324 00:26:00,319 –> 00:26:07,359 And loving God means embracing him as he is, and any attempt to pretend that he’s something 325 00:26:07,359 –> 00:26:13,280 other than he is is profoundly insulting and offensive to God. 326 00:26:13,280 –> 00:26:18,839 Now, maybe we can get a handle on just how offensive and insulting this is from a human 327 00:26:18,839 –> 00:26:20,859 analogy. 328 00:26:20,859 –> 00:26:24,920 We all know that trying to reshape another person according to your fantasy is just about 329 00:26:24,920 –> 00:26:31,760 the most insulting thing that you can do, but let me paint for you an imaginary scene. 330 00:26:31,760 –> 00:26:36,660 I’ve chosen two names here, Hamish and Heather. 331 00:26:36,660 –> 00:26:42,420 This is a Scottish proposal of marriage that we’re going to describe here, and I want you 332 00:26:42,420 –> 00:26:48,540 to imagine, get in the romantic mood here, a candle lit restaurant, nice table. 333 00:26:48,540 –> 00:26:54,339 Hamish has saved up all his money and he’s bought the ring, and he’s about to propose 334 00:26:54,339 –> 00:26:56,099 to Heather. 335 00:26:56,099 –> 00:27:02,880 With the candlelight flickering in the restaurant, Hamish gets down on one knee. 336 00:27:03,800 –> 00:27:10,439 Heather, he says, will you marry me? 337 00:27:10,439 –> 00:27:17,680 You’re not what I was looking for but you’ve got potential. 338 00:27:17,680 –> 00:27:21,020 I’d like you to lose a little bit of weight. 339 00:27:21,020 –> 00:27:26,859 I need you to change your wardrobe, it’s dreadful. 340 00:27:26,859 –> 00:27:34,199 Your laugh really irritates me and you’re going to have to do something about that appalling 341 00:27:34,199 –> 00:27:37,219 accent. 342 00:27:37,219 –> 00:27:40,680 What will she say? 343 00:27:40,680 –> 00:27:46,959 She will arise from the table slapping him roundly in the face. 344 00:27:46,959 –> 00:27:55,500 She will say Hamish, you don’t love me at all. 345 00:27:55,859 –> 00:28:00,640 You’re in love with a glittering image that exists only in your imagination and I cannot 346 00:28:00,660 –> 00:28:04,579 and I will not fulfill your fantasy. 347 00:28:04,579 –> 00:28:07,520 You almost want to applaud for her, don’t you? 348 00:28:07,520 –> 00:28:13,119 Of course she would say that because she has been insulted in just about the deepest way 349 00:28:13,119 –> 00:28:15,819 a person ever could be. 350 00:28:16,780 –> 00:28:24,479 I am who I am, Heather would say, not whatever you want me to be. 351 00:28:27,099 –> 00:28:29,280 There’s an old love song that puts it well. 352 00:28:29,280 –> 00:28:33,060 I don’t want to get too mushy here, but I think it gets it just right. 353 00:28:33,060 –> 00:28:38,160 You’ve got to love me for what I am, for simply being me. 354 00:28:38,160 –> 00:28:42,479 Don’t love me for what you intend or hope that I will be. 355 00:28:42,479 –> 00:28:47,199 And if you’re only using me to feed your fantasy, you’re really not in love, so let me go, 356 00:28:47,199 –> 00:28:48,540 I must be free. 357 00:28:48,540 –> 00:28:54,800 Now can you imagine God saying that to you, because that’s precisely how some of us are 358 00:28:54,800 –> 00:28:57,280 treating him. 359 00:28:57,280 –> 00:29:03,000 Our post-modern culture is saying to us, God is whoever you want him to be, and nothing 360 00:29:03,000 –> 00:29:07,260 in all the world could be more offensive to the God who says, no, no, no, no, I am who 361 00:29:07,260 –> 00:29:09,800 I am. 362 00:29:10,439 –> 00:29:16,040 Secondly, idols are destructive. 363 00:29:16,040 –> 00:29:20,099 They’re offensive to God, but they’re destructive, look at verse 5 and 6 again. 364 00:29:20,099 –> 00:29:25,479 I the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers, to 365 00:29:25,479 –> 00:29:31,479 the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations 366 00:29:31,479 –> 00:29:34,699 of those who love me and keep my commandments. 367 00:29:34,699 –> 00:29:38,119 What on earth does that mean? 368 00:29:38,119 –> 00:29:42,339 Well this is certainly not saying that God punishes children for sins they didn’t commit, 369 00:29:42,339 –> 00:29:46,079 I’ll be absolutely clear about that. 370 00:29:46,079 –> 00:29:50,300 God makes that clear in Ezekiel 18 and verse 20, if you want to follow it through, the 371 00:29:50,300 –> 00:29:54,300 Son shall not be charged with the guilt of his father, nor the father with the guilt 372 00:29:54,300 –> 00:29:55,300 of the son. 373 00:29:55,300 –> 00:30:04,060 God does not impute sin to other sinners, but the reality is that while the child may 374 00:30:04,119 –> 00:30:10,900 not be punished for the father’s sin, it is an observable reality that time and time and 375 00:30:10,900 –> 00:30:17,900 time again the child follows the father’s sin, he copies it, he repeats it, the father 376 00:30:20,180 –> 00:30:24,619 hates God, the son hates God. 377 00:30:24,619 –> 00:30:30,680 It is an observable reality in any society that a community reaps what it sows, that 378 00:30:30,680 –> 00:30:36,920 the more we replace the living God with idols as substitutes for him, the further and further 379 00:30:36,920 –> 00:30:43,920 we end up in the cauldron of the effects of our own departure from God. 380 00:30:46,439 –> 00:30:51,160 Look at how our society has changed in the last 40 years with the release and multiplication 381 00:30:51,160 –> 00:30:58,160 of promiscuity as something which is to be used as being put in the place of God. 382 00:30:58,560 –> 00:31:05,719 You see, the break up of family life, the multiplication of disease, we reap what we 383 00:31:05,719 –> 00:31:12,719 sow. No one sins in private. Every sin has a domino effect on those God has placed around 384 00:31:15,819 –> 00:31:20,560 us. The Bible faces up to the reality that all 385 00:31:20,560 –> 00:31:24,839 of us know, that we are affected by the sins of others. You go to any counsellor, you present 386 00:31:24,959 –> 00:31:29,339 a problem, in all likelihood they will ask you about your past experience. Why? Because 387 00:31:29,339 –> 00:31:34,079 they recognise that there is an influence that comes into our lives from our past experiences 388 00:31:34,079 –> 00:31:41,079 and from the sins of others. And that is why I am so grateful for the privilege of being 389 00:31:42,479 –> 00:31:48,400 a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because the good news of Jesus Christ says 390 00:31:48,880 –> 00:31:48,880 391 00:31:48,880 –> 00:31:55,880 that the grace of God can reach into these otherwise continuing lines. And some of us 392 00:31:56,339 –> 00:32:03,339 have known that. We’ve come from incredibly dysfunctional backgrounds. We’ve suffered 393 00:32:03,880 –> 00:32:10,880 from the example and perhaps the actions of others. But God’s grace has touched you, 394 00:32:11,859 –> 00:32:17,359 and because God’s grace has touched you, a new line begins with you. Light comes into 395 00:32:17,359 –> 00:32:23,780 a dark place because of you. A different kind of example touches your neighbours, your friends, 396 00:32:23,780 –> 00:32:30,459 your children, because of you. And it’s the grace of God bringing an entirely new beginning. 397 00:32:30,459 –> 00:32:35,959 He breaks the power of cancelled sin we sang earlier. He sets the prisoner free. He forgives 398 00:32:35,959 –> 00:32:41,359 sin and he breaks it’s power, so that in Jesus Christ as we embrace him and he embraces 399 00:32:41,359 –> 00:32:47,979 us, we no longer need to live under, the power of a bad example. 400 00:32:47,979 –> 00:32:57,219 It’s the release of the gospel and notice that while the breaking of God’s commandments 401 00:32:57,219 –> 00:33:04,719 sows weeds that afflict society for ongoing years and generations, it is also true, that 402 00:33:04,819 –> 00:33:10,199 a person comes to know and to love this living God, the influence of that spreads into the 403 00:33:10,199 –> 00:33:18,560 lives of others and it will never, never, never, never end. 404 00:33:18,560 –> 00:33:26,140 Idols are offensive, idols are destructive, that’s why we need to flee from them, and 405 00:33:26,140 –> 00:33:29,660 lastly idols are useless. 406 00:33:29,660 –> 00:33:34,339 The idea of course of inventing your own God seems very attractive because I could then 407 00:33:34,339 –> 00:33:37,079 invent a God who endorses everything that I want to do. 408 00:33:37,079 –> 00:33:38,280 Wouldn’t that be wonderful? 409 00:33:38,280 –> 00:33:43,719 Yes, except that such a God exists only in my imagination, and therefore is unable to 410 00:33:43,719 –> 00:33:46,140 do anything for me. 411 00:33:46,140 –> 00:33:48,459 He lives only within my mind. 412 00:33:48,459 –> 00:33:52,380 He’s produced as a figment of my own creativity. 413 00:33:52,380 –> 00:33:57,900 He dies with me. 414 00:33:57,900 –> 00:33:59,780 Listen to this from Shirley MacLean. 415 00:33:59,780 –> 00:34:07,780 I quote her because she has done so much to popularize the new age religion that is sweeping 416 00:34:07,780 –> 00:34:12,540 our culture in many, many subtle ways. 417 00:34:12,540 –> 00:34:18,899 I want you to see clearly where that thing is comin from and where it is going to. 418 00:34:18,899 –> 00:34:22,580 This is Shirley MacLean and I quote. 419 00:34:22,979 –> 00:34:29,739 I know that I exist, therefore I am. 420 00:34:29,739 –> 00:34:36,459 I know that the God Source exists, therefore it is. 421 00:34:36,459 –> 00:34:44,780 Since I am part of that force, then I am that I am. 422 00:34:44,780 –> 00:34:49,459 Wow! 423 00:34:49,459 –> 00:34:59,459 And if Shirley is the I am, I feel sorry for the rest of us. 424 00:34:59,459 –> 00:35:09,899 And more than that, if Shirley is the I am, I feel dreadfully sorry for Shirley, because 425 00:35:09,899 –> 00:35:14,020 who can she turn to? 426 00:35:14,020 –> 00:35:19,780 Who can do her any good? 427 00:35:19,780 –> 00:35:25,939 The history of the last 50 years in the western world has been the story of an attempted dethroning 428 00:35:25,939 –> 00:35:30,899 of God in order to enthrone the individual. 429 00:35:30,899 –> 00:35:37,260 And I want us to see with stark clarity where that leads. 430 00:35:37,260 –> 00:35:43,060 In God we trust becomes we trust in ourselves. 431 00:35:43,060 –> 00:35:49,540 One nation under God becomes one nation pleasing ourselves. 432 00:35:49,540 –> 00:35:54,080 God bless America becomes hey let’s all bless ourselves. 433 00:35:54,080 –> 00:35:59,260 See that’s the tragedy of what we saw on the video earlier isn’t it? 434 00:35:59,260 –> 00:36:03,979 That intelligent people in the early 21st century asked a simple question about who 435 00:36:03,979 –> 00:36:05,439 you worship in the street. 436 00:36:05,439 –> 00:36:11,219 You could seriously say, I worship the air. 437 00:36:11,260 –> 00:36:13,120 I worship my little dog. 438 00:36:18,100 –> 00:36:23,520 There is a world of a difference between the post modern idea that is all around us says 439 00:36:23,520 –> 00:36:29,000 God is whoever you want Him to be and the revelation of the Bible that says he is who 440 00:36:29,000 –> 00:36:30,100 he is. 441 00:36:30,100 –> 00:36:34,780 And I tell you I’m so glad that I can speak about the living God who is there, who is 442 00:36:34,780 –> 00:36:35,459 the creator. 443 00:36:36,320 –> 00:36:40,600 The God with whom we sometimes struggle, but the God who is able to reach out to us in 444 00:36:40,600 –> 00:36:42,179 love in Jesus Christ. 445 00:36:42,179 –> 00:36:46,840 And if you want to know the ultimate reason why the second commandment is so important, 446 00:36:46,840 –> 00:36:55,580 surely it is this, that God is jealous, he uses that word he is jealous to guard against 447 00:36:55,620 –> 00:36:58,399 all images. 448 00:36:59,860 –> 00:37:09,419 Because he wants nothing and no one to distract attention from the one true image, by which 449 00:37:09,419 –> 00:37:12,000 he has made himself known. 450 00:37:12,000 –> 00:37:18,159 Jesus Christ is the one true image of God. 451 00:37:18,159 –> 00:37:22,919 That is why Christian worship must always centre around the word and must always focus 452 00:37:22,919 –> 00:37:29,659 on Jesus Christ, because this is how the God who is, has made himself known, not through 453 00:37:29,659 –> 00:37:34,300 a projection of our experience, not through a cultivation of our imagination, but in the 454 00:37:34,300 –> 00:37:41,280 word and in the flesh of his son who is the image of the invisible God. 455 00:37:41,280 –> 00:37:44,560 The exact representation of his being. 456 00:37:44,560 –> 00:37:52,260 And that is why he could say, he who has seen me has seen the Father. 457 00:37:52,260 –> 00:38:00,340 You will not find God through an endless exploration of spiritual experience. 458 00:38:00,340 –> 00:38:07,540 That is a labyrinth from which you will find no exit. 459 00:38:07,540 –> 00:38:13,719 You will find God through Jesus Christ. 460 00:38:13,719 –> 00:38:18,060 This is why he has come into the world. 461 00:38:18,060 –> 00:38:24,860 The one eternal God reaches out to you in Jesus and if you will embrace him as he is 462 00:38:24,860 –> 00:38:30,139 in Christ, he will embrace you as you are in Christ. 463 00:38:30,139 –> 00:38:34,500 And that is the beginning of worship. 464 00:38:34,500 –> 00:38:39,639 It’s the beginning of eternal life. 465 00:38:39,639 –> 00:38:43,580 Let’s pray together, shall we? 466 00:38:44,199 –> 00:38:52,419 Father, some of us thought a second commandment to be easy for us. 467 00:38:52,419 –> 00:38:59,739 Right now, we bow before you and confess how much we are idolaters. 468 00:38:59,739 –> 00:39:13,300 Not just in worshiping what should be used, but in seeking vainly to try to use you who 469 00:39:13,300 –> 00:39:18,419 we should be worshipped. 470 00:39:18,419 –> 00:39:23,419 Forgive us for the endless agendas that have become the center of our relationship with 471 00:39:23,419 –> 00:39:33,020 you, the shopping list that runs so endlessly, that would seek to make us master and you 472 00:39:33,020 –> 00:39:36,739 our servant. 473 00:39:36,739 –> 00:39:43,239 The very notion as it stares us in the face is repugnant to us, and we repent of it. 474 00:39:43,760 –> 00:39:57,159 We lift the unanswered questions, the unsolved problem, the unrelieved pain, the ongoing 475 00:39:57,159 –> 00:40:00,639 mystery. 476 00:40:00,639 –> 00:40:09,520 We offer it to you as worship, because we say we want you to know, O Lord, that we love 477 00:40:09,520 –> 00:40:10,520 you still. 478 00:40:10,520 –> 00:40:18,000 Thank you that the Holy Spirit has lit that flame of love for you within our hearts, that 479 00:40:18,000 –> 00:40:24,159 it has ignited because you have first loved us. 480 00:40:24,159 –> 00:40:35,100 Lord teach us, in deeper measure, what it is to worship for these things we ask, in 481 00:40:35,100 –> 00:40:38,179 Jesus name, amen.