The Second Word - Exclusive
- Brian Ballinger
- Jun 27, 2010
- Series: The Ten Words
Second Word: Exclusive (The Ten Words)
Reconnect – June 27, 2010
Text: Exodus 20:1-2, 4-6; Psalm 115:1-8
Key Thought: God loves us so much that He refuses to share us with anyone or anything else.
“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. 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. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. Exodus 20:1-2, 4-6, NLT
Intro: “Idols are all around us”
Q: What do all of these pictures have in common? (have celebrities, idols, sports, etc.) – they’re all idols
Q: What’s an idol? What makes an idol? What do you associate with that word?
- Idols come in all shapes and sizes, in every culture – things that inspire devotion, objects and people that are worshiped, followed, things we seek to please and use for our own purposes
- We naturally drift towards idols as people – things that we can see and feel and touch, and control – things that we believe we can count on
- Much of the world worships with idols – visual representations of their gods that they offer reverence and devotion and offerings to, whether at home or at a temple
- In the west, we have taken it a step further with “American Idol” – where our “idols” are people – famous celebrities, people that are idealized and closely followed – “idolized” – where other people want to be exactly like them, and they are devoted to them
- Idols don’t only depend on what they represent, but they also reflect the people that worship them – your idol says something about you – something you want, something you feel you lack, something you aspire to, something that goes along with what or who you want to be – i.e. sports, celebrities, gods of wealth and power
- An idol is something you give devotion to, that you pursue, that will take you further down a path if you let it – something that draws you towards itself, that wants to change you, that would alter your path if you would let it
- It can be a distraction from what’s actually happening in your life – a diversion, a sideshow, something that’s not real or practical, something that you wish you were or that you wish for yourself – and they are common all around the world
At Sinai: no distractions
- It’s probably no wonder, then, given human nature, that God, once he has brought his people out of Egypt by defeating all of their gods and idols, would address the “idol” issue when he is laying out his ten words – his ten overarching, guiding principles to his people
- He does it very early on, in the second commandment:
“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. 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.
Idols and gods
- If you’re wondering how this command is different from the first one – what was the first one again? – you’re not alone
- In fact, Jewish commentary sees our first and second words as just one word – a single commandment
- God’s not just hard on idols – he is extremely hard on idols – why?
- He’s trying to clear the decks for his people – to give them a fresh start in the way they “do” faith – in the way they give their devotion and their passion to something or someone bigger than themselves
- If worshiping other gods meant leaving behind YHWH once and for all, then idols are more a little by little leaving out the door – the end is the same, only the method is different
- “God is bigger and greater than any other idol – you can’t represent Him or replace Him
- Idolatry – did the ancients equate the idol with the god, or was it just a representation? (the god was in the idol – a direct line to the god – Stuart’s Exodus – feed it and you could control it – like a video camera link to the god, a direct line to try to control the god through food and devotion to do your wishes
- Idol – Heb. “pesel” – something carved out/cut out – a paper doll
- Sky, land, sea – just like Genesis 1 – you can’t worship any of that stuff because God made it all, back in Genesis 1 – it’s all made by God, inferior to Him and under his command – Moses is telling the people about WHO they are and WHOSE they are
- St. Augustine said 1600 years ago that “Idolatry is worshiping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshiped” (as quoted in Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, p.203)
- Mocking idols and idolaters was like a sport for the prophets – Psalm 115. Isaiah – cutting down a block of wood, using half of it to cook your food and then carving the other half as an idol and bowing down and serving it – and then idolaters having to “carry their idols” with them in times of trouble – “honey, grab the idol, we’ve got to go”
- No idols of God, no images of Him, no idols at all
- God is a “jealous” God – wanting to hang on to what is rightfully his – not mixed up with envy, where someone wants what someone else has – “We may understand the jealousy of God as his fervent and passionate protection of what is rightfully his” (Rooker, The Ten Commandments, p.42)
Why is God so jealous, anyway?
- Because idols are a “gateway drug” – if pursued, they eventually lead to heartache and destruction, spiritual, physical, emotional, the whole works
- Any of the distractions that we enjoy, if we start to give our devotion to them, have the power to consume us – we play with fire when it comes to idols, at our own risk and the risk of those around us
- Ill. – Nadya Suleman – who is she?
- Octomom (have them tell me about her) – a fetish for celebrity, a desire for wealth and fame, leads to plastic surgery, fertility treatments, 15 minutes of horrid fame and now a family of children that face an uncertain future in the public eye
- God has no desire to see us destroy ourselves for the sake of what He knows is worthless
- I said a minute ago that we not only put ourselves at risk when we tolerate idols, but we put others at risk as well – namely, our families, and especially our children
- Listen to the rest of the commandment:
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. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
- It’s like an inheritance that can bless a family in an ongoing way – a godly heritage versus the difficulty of family breakups, addictions, hurts, etc. – it’s either an inheritance or a liability, something that makes it harder and harder for them
- Third and fourth generation – you could see them in their old age – grands and great grands – and still living, they would continue to affect you – but now you can find your way to God – the good kind lasts an eternity – God passes it on and on and on
- “sins of the fathers” – is God fair to do that? It’s a domino effect – and we’re always affected by the sins of our fathers and mothers... always – there are lasting consequences for the Israelites, lasting to the fourth generation, like a domino effect – it’s not their personal responsibility, but they are affected by what others have done
- “What do we do to our children with our idols of sports, porn, facebook.. . what else?
- But showing hesed to a thousand generations – God longs for us to be around that table with Himself – the biggest number that they had...
Key Thought:
God loves us so much that He refuses to share us with anyone or anything else.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory
for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.
Their idols are merely things of silver and gold,
shaped by human hands.
They have mouths but cannot speak,
and eyes but cannot see.
They have ears but cannot hear,
and noses but cannot smell.
They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk,
and throats but cannot make a sound.
And those who make idols are just like them,
as are all who trust in them. Psalm 115:1-8, NLT
Conclusion: what is holding you back?
- What is distracting you? What is taking you away from the incredible life that God has for you? What is keeping you on the fence? AND, what kind of a legacy are you leaving for your descendants to come? Godly or not godly at all?
- What is holding you back, and what would it take to let that thing go
- Idols – the continual stumblingblock that kept God’s people from being effective – in life, with God, with the nations around them as advertisements for God and channels of God’s favour
- Again and again you read in the Bible that people’s hearts were turned away by idols – that they started to give themselves to idols, their devotion, their worship – and it all would go downhill after
- One of the authors in my basement made the point that likely at no point in their biblical history would an Israelite have denied that YHWH was their God – but He would have been held alongside with idols, as just one of the gang, rather than the only one, good for every need and fulfillment
- Idols – “what holds you back?” – in your life, in your spiritual journey with God, in terms of getting and staying closer to God in your life?
- Baptism – “how can you be here next year?” What needs to change – what idols do you need to “put away”? How can you get to “nothing held back”?
- Baptism – I Corinthians 10:2 – the Exodus through the Reed Sea was like a baptism, because they went in as Egyptian-owned slaves and came out the other side as free Israelites called by God
Response: Baptism
