Substitutes for Relationship with God
Faith Basics, part 4
Wildwind Community Church
David K. Flowers
September 16, 2007
Exodus 20:3-5
Exodus 20:3-5 (NIV)
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
Check out Eugene Peterson’s translation of that first verse. It gets right to the point.
Exodus 20:3 (MSG)
3 No other gods, only me.
Five words that say it all. I got to thinking about how succinct and powerful this sentence is, and then I started thinking about another succinct and powerful sentence – those famous opening four words in Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life. It’s not about you. What if we were to combine these two short messages? We’d have: “No other gods – only me. It’s not about you.”
Will you say that with me this morning? This is God speaking to us here. “No other gods – only me. It’s not about you.” I want to talk to you this morning about substitutes for relationship with God, and I want to get you thinking about the idea that every time life becomes about us, every time I start thinking it’s about me, or maybe not even thinking it but just acting as if that is the case, I am serving some god other than God. I have – in effect – made for myself an idol in the form of – myself. This is the slipperiest slope in all of religion, because everything good that can be done in this world can be done with wrong motives. I can serve other people with wrong motives, making it about me. I can pull somebody out of a burning building with wrong motives, wanting to get glory for myself and be a hero and make it about me. I can become a preacher with wrong motives, wanting to build not God’s kingdom, but my own little personality cult and have it all be about me. And we can serve God with wrong motives, wanting to use him for our purposes – to make our life happier, healthier, more comfortable, to get the political bounce that comes with being perceived as a person of faith.
This passage I read to you is from the 10 Commandments in the book of Exodus. Exodus was written somewhere between 1410 and 1450 B.C., about 3500 years ago. Think about that. Once upon a time, 3500 years ago, God felt the need to say to people, “Hey everybody, guess what? It’s not about you. There is only one God in this universe, and it is not you.” Does that sound like something we need to hear, something we need to remember, today? Rick Warren thought so. I think so. What do you think?
God says, “No other gods – none. Only me.” And then he gets specific.
Exodus 20:4-5 (NIV)
4 "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 below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them…
In other words, I am the only God, and you are not to worship any created thing.
The ancients were curious folks. It’s hard for us to relate to them. We can’t imagine carving an image of a frog or a bird out of piece of wood, and then worshipping that image in our home. We’d never consider something like that. We’re much too sophisticated to do something so primitive. But what did God say here? You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of ANYTHING. Not in heaven, in other words other religious entities like Zeus or Aphrodite or Ra or Baal, or even just the stars. Not on earth. Not animals, not structures, not nature, not rock bands or sports figures. And not in the sea, in other words the creatures of the sea or the powers of the sea. One God – only me. You are never to worship anything else as a god in your life. I want to give you three categories of things this morning that people in the 21st century worship other than God – three common substitutes for relationship with God. What I want you to see here this morning is that there is no difference between the ancient people who received the 10 Commandments from God and people today. They ate food and we eat food, just different food. They traveled and we travel, just different methods of travel. They loved and we loved, just different cultural ways of expressing it. They worshipped idols and we worship idols, just different substitutes for God. In fact I would say the greatest similarity between those ancient people and us today is that a loving God has sought a relationship with both of us, and we both have managed to find substitutes for that relationship.
Now here I’ll pause like usual and ask you just to look into your own heart, examine your own experience. What excuses do you use to avoid God? What substitutes are in your life? Do you see that you are not so different from those ancient people? Scripture is worthless if you cannot find yourself in it. The experiences of people who lived 3500 years ago are of no value to you unless in some ways their experiences are similar to yours and you therefore have something to learn from them.
Three categories of things we substitute for God today. First is self. Most people in America today are shameless worshippers of themselves. Now let’s not allow ourselves to get confused. Just because people aren’t going to churches named after themselves where they preach sermons about themselves and encourage others to bow down and worship them does not mean people are not worshippers of themselves. I can overwhelmingly prove to you that most people in America today worship themselves. To worship something is simply to devote your life and energy to it, and to esteem it above all else. If you go around today and ask people what they are looking for in life, what is their highest value, what is the thing they most desire, what do you think they’ll say? Watch this.
Roll video – “What are you looking for?”
Convinced yet? Let me ask you, are people devoting their lives and energy to the pursuit of happiness and esteeming it above all else? Of course they are. And don’t say, “Well, it would be different if you asked the question differently. If you said, “What or who do you worship,” people would respond differently.” Yes, they would, but that’s only because the word “worship” would signal to them that you’re looking for a religious answer of some kind. They don’t realize that in answering the question, “What are you looking for,” they DID give a religious answer. What you’re looking for in life is what you believe your chief purpose is. Christians here this morning, what are you looking for? What do you want out of life? What is your chief purpose? Any chance some of you would just shout it out?
To know God. To serve God. To glorify God. To make a difference for God. To tell others about God. The Westminster Catechism states “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” The Amplified Bible renders the end of the book of Ecclesiastes this way:
Ecclesiastes 12:13 (AMP)
13 All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man.
If in response to the question, “what are you looking for,” the answer does not involve God, then something is substituting for that relationship with him. It has to. Man is a spiritual being. Ask an atheist where he gets his sense of awe. He’ll tell you, “nature,” “love,” “diversity,” evolution,” – what he will not tell you is that he is never in awe over anything. We stand in awe of whatever we worship, and whatever we worship gives us a sense of awe. And most human beings are in awe of the idea of being happy. Why do you think celebrity culture is so ridiculously popular? Because celebrities usually have the financial resources and the fame to go to any and every extreme in the pursuit of what? Happiness. I tell you, most human beings worship themselves, in other words they have substituted self-worship for a relationship with God – they have become their own gods.
Let me tell you another way you can realize that people worship themselves. Worship can be understood as the thing your life revolves around. And how do you know what your life revolves around? The easiest way to tell what your life revolves around is to ask the question, “Who do you try to satisfy when making critical moral decisions?” The one you’re trying to satisfy/please in those most critical moral decisions is the person you worship. If you ask most people this question what will they tell you? I’m trying to please myself – I’m trying to make myself happy. Why are they trying to make themselves happy? Because happiness is always the goal in everything they do. It’s what they’re looking for, what they are pursuing, what they most want in life, what they stand in awe of, therefore what they most highly value, therefore what they give their lives to, therefore what they worship. See the connection? You worship whatever you are giving your life to.
Non-Christians, seekers here this morning, what are you looking for? What do you want out of life? The answer to that question tells you who, or what, you worship.
The second thing people substitute for relationship with God is society. And when I say society, you can think of that in terms of country and culture as well. Instead of relating to a personal God who knows and loves people on a personal level, many people are comfortable just saying, “I’m a good person.” When they say that, what do they mean? They are a good person compared to whom? Well, compared to their idea of most people, or society, or the world around them. Why do people do that?
I think the main reason is that it’s far easier to measure yourself against other human beings who screw up than it is to measure yourself against God, who is perfect. Ever notice how when people say, “I’m a good person,” they seem to be comparing themselves to people who are terrible? I mean, I’m a good person next to Hitler. I’m a good person next to Edi Amin, or Stalin, or Osama Bin Laden. But what if we turned the standard around a little bit. Let’s say we had to measure ourselves against, say, Billy Graham. How would we do then? How about Mother Theresa or Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu, or Gandhi?
No, we leave out the really good ones. I think when most people say, “I’m a good person,” what they really mean is “I’m a good person, compared to every person who isn’t as good a person as me.” Or maybe it means, “I’m a good person because the bad things I do aren’t really any worse than the bad things most other people do.” I think that’s it. In either case, we have made society the standard for our behavior. We take comfort in comparing ourselves to others when others don’t compare favorably, or at least when we don’t compare too unfavorably. All of this is just another way of saying that we substitute society for a relationship with God. When we are in a relationship with God, when we are learning what God would want for our lives, God is the standard for our behavior. When God isn’t the standard, something else is. Everybody has a standard for their behavior. You have probably heard that even in prisons, there is a standard. In that environment, child molesters at the bottom of the pecking order. “Hey, we know we’re rapists and murderers, but you – you’re REALLY sick.” The ability of human beings to make themselves feel superior by comparing themselves to someone worse is endless.
What standard are you using to compare yourself to? Is it a moving target? Think about a hundred cows in a pasture. Isn’t it not only possible but perfectly likely that even though every cow in that field may be very much like every other cow, very few if any are actually high quality cows? I mean ones destined for the animal shows and not the slaughterhouse. Any cow who would think he’s good because he’s just like all the other cows is seriously wrong! The truth is that he and all the other cows aren’t much good at all. So it is with human goodness. Being as good as everyone else is meaningless! If we don’t have a fixed standard, we can always make sure that no matter what we do, we find someone else worse than us – or maybe about the same – to compare ourself to, can’t we? When people don’t adopt some godly standard of behavior, they substitute society instead.
I had said society can include culture and country as well. Some people say, “Of course I’m going to heaven, I’m American, dang-it. I bleed red, white, and blue. I have every album Toby Keith has ever made.” Or “Al Franken is my hero.” Or, “I’m a card-carrying member of the Republican (or Democratic) Party.” Or, “I’m okay – I grew up in a religious family. Lutheranism is in my blood.” I must admit that as a pastor I’m floored by things like this when they are used to prove that spiritually we’re okay. These things don’t even appear to make sense on the surface, much less if you look into them a little bit. But I believe it shows how little thought many people really give to things like this. Why? Because spiritually most people assume something very dangerous. “I’m okay.” “I’m okay. I’m okay compared to other people. I’m okay because of my family or because of my reputation or because I was baptized.” The values and standards of society, culture, and country substitute for relationship with God.
The third thing people frequently substitute for relationship with God is religion. Now Christianity is often referred to as a religion, and it is, but it is a religion in a different sense than all the other religions. Christianity is subversive. See, religion is a system that tells you how to get to God. The system involves doctrines, practices, rules, and rituals. Christianity is unique because the religion of Christianity teaches that religion (even the Christian religion) will not save you. In fact, what’s cool about Christianity is that it didn’t start out as a religion. It became a religion gradually.
Christianity began with a Jewish carpenter who happened to be the greatest teacher who ever lived. He didn’t teach anything looking like a system of religion, but instead he taught about relationship. Jesus was the first to ever claim that God wanted to know human beings personally. In contrast to Mohammed, who taught five things you had to do to be accepted by God, Jesus taught that you were accepted and loved already, that God had a special place in his heart for the weak, the poor, and the sick, for those of us who know how much we need God, for people like me who struggle to keep their cheese from falling off their cracker. After the death and resurrection of Christ, the apostles continued with these teachings, developing little enclaves of people all over Europe and Asia where they met together, not to learn a religion or set of rules, but to hear that it was possible to have a relationship with God, because God loved each of them. Christianity really didn’t become a codified religion until the fourth century when devotion to Jesus was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Now Christianity, like every religion, claims to teach you how you can relate to God. All religions do that. But as I said, Christianity asserts that you can’t come to know God through a religion. There are no rules you can follow, no system that will earn it for you. Christianity teaches that we come to God through relationship with Christ, through learning to live life the way he lived life, and allowing him to change the kind of people we are. And of course the instant you say this, you are talking about some kind of Christianity!
Religions are just the systems people have come up with as ways of getting to God. People often get confused about this. They say, “How can you believe Christianity is the only way to God?” The truth is that we don’t believe Christianity will get us to God any better than Buddhism or Hinduism – any better than sex, drugs, and rock and roll, for that matter. But we do believe in Jesus. We do believe what he taught us, and he taught us that no system will do the trick. Not only that, but no human being is good enough to get to God on his own.
My friends, if we understand Christianity, we realize that anyone looking for God but not through Christ is trying on his own somehow. He thinks maybe if he keeps the five pillars of Islam (belief in God and Mohammed; daily prayers; giving to the poor; self-purification through fasting; and pilgrimage), he might become good enough to get to God. Or he thinks if he keeps the 10 Commandments (Judaic laws), he might become good enough to get there. Or if she keeps getting reincarnated and becoming better and better she’ll get there eventually. Christianity says no way. Christianity says religion is no substitute for God. Religion is the attempt of man to reach God. Relationship is God reaching out to us in the person of Jesus.
Is anything substituting for God in your life? Is it self-worship? Is it society or culture, thinking you’re okay because you’re not any worse than most? Is it religion, thinking all is well because of how much you know about the Bible, or how long you have attended church, or how well you know some really spiritual people?
My friends, nothing runs deeper in human beings than our tendency to worship idols, to set other things in place of God. I want to encourage you to be sure this morning that you are worshipping God and God alone.
God says in the Bible, “No other gods – only me.” That’s the most basic command in the Christian faith, and it’s probably the one we screw up on more than any other – always finding something else to substitute for God. Next week is a special day. Next Sunday we are beginning our Alpha program. Alpha is an eight-week program that focuses on the basics – on whether and why God should have your allegiance – on why the Bible matters and what it means – on why Jesus died on the cross for you – on who the Holy Spirit is. Alpha is a course that will teach you why Christians believe it’s important to honor God as the only God in your life. Alpha is a place you can go if you are struggling to let God be God. It’s a place for those of you who aren’t sure if God IS God, and whether you ought to let him be. It’s a place for those of you who are new Christians, to help you understand God a little better. Mostly it’s a place for those of you who aren’t Christians at all – who are maybe serving the god of happiness, or the god of money, or power, or alcohol, or sex, or any other god besides God. It’s a place where you can go and ask questions and get honest answers – even when it’s “I don’t know.” It’s a place where you can belong before you believe, and can belong even if you never believe. Alpha is an eight-week investment in your own spiritual journey and I encourage you to make that investment. Our greeters are passing out Alpha flyers right now, along with a card where you can mark if you’d like to sign up for Alpha or ask more questions about it. Fill this out and drop it in the gray shoebox on the back table with a slot in it, and somebody will contact you this week – be sure to leave an email address or phone number for us. Let’s pray.
God, set our eyes on you. May we not be distracted by the infinite numbers of other gods out there. Show us the modern versions of idolatry that we fall prey to, and call us to belong completely to you. Some are sensing right now they should attend or at least ask a few questions about Alpha – they know that may be the next step for them. May they move forward faithfully. Amen.
