DUMB IDOLS

Text: Ex 20:4-6, Heidelberg Catechism LD 35
Readings: Deut 4:15-31,39-40, Col 1:15-20.
Theme: We are not to worship God through idols but only as he has revealed himself to us in His Word.
Purpose: To explain what is wrong with worshipping God through idols and images and to have our worship of God directed by His Word.

The first commandment tell us whom we are to worship, the second tells us how to worship him. 
The first tells us to worship God, the second tells us to worship God in the right manner - that is, we are not to worship God through idols or images but rather as he has commanded us in his word. 

Christians today worship God in a great variety of ways. 
Charismatic churches emphasize freedom and spontaneity and a contemporary style of music.  
Other churches are going back to a very traditional style of worship in what is known as the liturgical renewal.  
Still other churches have changed their worship services to make them 'user-friendly'. They have adopted what they call a 'seeker service' to make the church attractive and understandable to unbelievers who are seeking.
Roman Catholic and High Anglican churches worship God with images and incense, bells and smells, candles and the crucifix. 

God is very concerned about how we worship him. False worship will dishonour God and eventually destroy the church. True worship will glorify God and will build up the church. 

The second commandment addresses this matter; how are we to worship God? We will consider what is forbidden, what is commanded, and the reason given for this.

1. WHAT IS FORBIDDEN?
 
The Lord does not want us to represent him in any physical way. We are not to make any idol, image, picture or statue of him as an aid in worship. 
The Lord here does not forbid all art, carving, sculptures and painting. The people of Israel were commanded to make cherubim on the ark, and a bronze snake on a pole, as well as many decorations for the tabernacle. All of that was permitted then and is permitted today. But these were not to be used as aids or as objects of worship. Why not? There are three main reasons.

a. First, God cannot be represented by any physical form. 
God is a Spirit. He has no body. Moses reminded the people of Israel that when God gave his laws they “heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.” Therefore he warned them not to make “an idol, an image of any shape,” whether a man or woman, an animal or bird or any other creature. (Deut 4:12, 15ff)
It is understandable that people want to make some physical representation of God. They want to be able to see God; they think that would make it easier to believe and to worship. 
This is why people have made images and idols; they wanted something tangible, physical, real. That made worship easier for them. But God cannot be represented in this way because he has no physical form; he is a Spirit. 

b. Second, an idol will limit God. 

i. No image or picture can properly represent God. Nothing we make can cover the full scope of who God is. Any image of God is going to limit Him in some way, reduce him down and restrict him; it will subtract and detract from him.
Cf. Sometimes you are out in God’s creation and you see a spectacular panoramic view of a long and beautiful coastline, or of mountains stretching into the distance as far as your eye can see; but you know that no photo, even with the best of cameras, can capture this view; nothing can do it justice. It is the same with trying to picture God. 
Cf. Making an image of God would be like trying to play Beethoven's ninth symphony on a kazoo, or asking someone to explain the history of the world in one paragraph – it is impossible! So too it is impossible to represent God faithfully in an image. 

ii. This is also true of our mental images of God. People sin against God when they do not think of him as be has revealed Himself; rather they think of Him as they want him to be or as they imagine him. Sometimes you hear people say; “This is how I like to think of God”, or, “This is how I imagine God”. When they do this they are making God in their own image. They think of God as they want to think of him, not as the Bible describes him. 

Some think of him as a kindly old man in the sky, a grandfatherly type, who will look kindly on everyone and forgive all their misdemeanors. 
Others think of him as a vague life force, an impersonal all pervasive spirit in the universe.
Still others think of themselves as god. This is the god of Eastern mysticism and of the New Age movement; you are god and you have god within you. 
Others think of God as a doctor, someone to call on when they get sick; or as Superman to help them when they are in trouble.
None of these are biblical ideas of God. 

How do you think of God? Are you making God in your own image? Do you picture God as you want him to be? Are you limiting God by your mental images? Are you thinking of God as he has revealed himself in the Scriptures or as you imagine him to be?

We cannot make an image of God because God is a Spirit, and because any image or idol will limit God, whether a metal or mental image. 

c. Thirdly, idols distract attention away from God. 

We all know what a distraction is. You are trying to do your homework, or prepare for exams, and you get distracted by the conversation in the dining room or by the TV program someone is watching. 
Or you are listening to the sermon and someone gets up and walks out and you lose your concentration. 

Images of God are a distraction - they take our attention away from God. They start out as an aid to worship but then become the end of worship. They are used as a means of worship but end up as the object of worship. 

i. That was true of the golden calf that Aaron made while Moses was on Mt Sinai. He gave that to the people and said: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." (Ex 32:4) In other words: This is a representation of your God. But instead of worshipping the Lord the people worshipped this calf, this image.
This also happened with the golden calves king Jeroboam had made for Israel in Bethel and Dan. 

Even objects that God commanded Israel to make became objects of worship, such as the bronze serpent which Moses made and put on a stick.  
Later king Hezekiah had to destroy it because the people were worshipping it instead of God. It had become a distraction. (2 Kings 18:4)

ii. This also happened in the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. The popes and priests introduced many aids to worship: candles, incense, relics, the crucifix and the veneration of saints. However, as time went on, people began to worship the symbols rather than God. 

iii. The same thing can happen in protestant churches. Anything or anyone can be a distraction in worship: the worship leader, the preacher, the choir, the band, the singers up the front, the drama presentation, the mime, the liturgical dance or the movie. The problem with many of these is that they are not commanded by God; but even things commanded in worship can take our attention from him. 

We cannot make an image of God because God has no physical form, and because any image or idol will limit God, and because idols distract our attention away from God. 

2. WHAT THEN IS COMMANDED? 

How should we worship God? As "he has commanded us in his Word" (HC A 96) This is the positive intent of this command. We must think of God as he is and we worship Him as he has instructed us in the Bible.

a. God has revealed himself to us in the Scriptures and has told how we should worship him. 
In the Old Testament those commands were very specific and detailed, covering every aspect of worship.
In these New Testament times we are no longer bound to the elaborate laws about sacrifices and feasts and festivals. But the principles of Old Testament worship carry through and there are clear New Testament commands for our worship.

That we must worship God as he has commanded is known as the regulative principle of worship, that is, worship must be regulated by God's Word. The catechism says, "He wants his people instructed by the living preaching of his word - not by idols that cannot even talk." (Q&A 98)
(Cf. Belgic Conf. Art 32; WCF 21.1) This is why our Reformed churches place a strong emphasis on the reading and preaching of God’s word. 

b. The clearest revelation God has given of Himself is in his Son, the Lord Jesus. We don't need to make an image of God because Jesus is the "image of the invisible God." (Cols 1:15). "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being." (Hebs 1:3).
"No one has ever seen God, but God the Only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." (John 1:18). He is all we need.

c. The only two pictures Jesus has given us to help us in worship are the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These help us understand what he has done for us; they are pictures of his death and resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins. 

3. This brings us to consider THE REASON FOR THIS COMMAND

a. In verse 5 God described himself as "a jealous God." 

We usually think of jealousy in a negative way, as when someone is jealous of the looks or clothing or car that someone else has. Jealousy like that is a sin.
But jealousy can also be a good response. A husband and wife ought to be jealous of their love for each other because that helps them protect their marriage. 
In a similar way God is jealous of our love for Him. He doesn't want us to love or serve or worship anyone else, but only Him.
   
b. God is "a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me." (v 5b)

Sin is often passed on from one generation to another. We see that in our own society where sinful patterns of alcoholism, child abuse, gangs and crime are passed on from one generation to the next. 
These sins are associated with people who hate God and don't care about his commands. Yet the Lord warns that he will punish those who hate him, to the third and fourth generation. This does not mean that children are being punished for the sins of their fathers, rather for their own sin because they also hate God!

c. Yet this same God will show “love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." (v 6)

i. Just as God's wrath is passed on from father to son, so too God's mercy is passed on through the generations. The emphasis is on the breadth and scope of God's love. His wrath may go to the third and fourth generation but his love goes out to thousands. The Lord is generous in his mercy.
His mercy and love are even greater than his wrath and judgment. "Mercy triumphs over judgment." (James 2:13)

God's love is based on his covenant with his people where he promises, "I will be your God and you will be my people." He promised Abraham; I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” 
This relationship is possible because of who Jesus is and what he has done. God’s promise in the old covenant is fulfilled in Jesus. 

ii. But every covenant has two sides. God will show his love to thousands of those "who love me and keep my commandments". There are two conditions here.
In response to his love to us, we and our children must love God and continue in this love. This is our part. 
This love must be expressed in obedience to God. Jesus said; "If you love me you will obey what I command". (John 14:15) God continues to love those "who love me and keep my commandments." (Ex 20:6b)

Are you doing that? Children? Young people? Don't rely on having believing parents; don't depend on growing up in the church; don't depend on being baptised. You must respond to God by loving him and obeying his commands. 

One of these commands is, “You shall not make for yourself an idol”, physical or mental, but rather worship God as he has commanded in his word. 

Amen