American Idol Series

American Idol

June 29, 2014

Isaiah 44:9-20

As I was doing my Bible reading this week, I read Psalm 115 and I immediately thought of Isaiah 44. We’ll read these passage in a bit. I had a different topic and scripture planned for today, but I felt the Lord leading me to talk about this passage. Honestly, I tried to go back to what I already had mostly written, but I kept hearing God say “No!” So, I changed my thought process and wrestled with this passage for the past days.

Now Psalm 115:4-9 tells us ~

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

5 They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

6 They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

7 They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

8 Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!

Guess what we’re talking about? Idols. We’re going to look at the different things we worship, adore, are devoted to — — those things and people which come before our relationship with God. There’s so much potential to put other things ahead of God, yet, at the same time, we have to find that balance so that we don’t end up making God and our worship of God into an idol. We’ll talk about that in 2 weeks.

When we think about all that we can worship, all the things which move us away from God, we have to start with the major culprit in all of this . . .

Of all the many ways we partake in idolatry, one thing is front and center . . . and the culprit is OURSELVES. Yup, we can’t move away from the fact that we’re the ones who are making the decisions about our lives and our families. Obviously, we don’t bow down to idols and images as they did centuries ago. Our worship consists more at the altar of the god of self. And this type of idolatry takes so many different forms. It’s what God said through Isaiah in Isaiah 44 ~

9 All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.

10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?

11 Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.

12 The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.

13 The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.

14 He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.

15Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.

16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!”

17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” – Isaiah 44

So, what are some of the altars and forms of idolatry we practice?

Well, we worship at the altar of materialism. We often put our desire to accumulate stuff as our motivation for what we do. Why? It feeds our ego. The more stuff we have, the better we feel about ourselves. But, it’s a false sense of security.

We build bigger and bigger houses with more closets and storage space in order to house all the things we buy . . . and consider the fact that much of it hasn’t been paid for. As we pay it off, our new treasures become more and more obsolete. And at the same time so much of our stuff has a “planned obsolescence” built into it. We’re happy when it lasts longer than we thought. Yet so much of our stuff is out-dated within no time, so we have to put it in our garage sales and get pennies on the dollar.