By Rev Bill Stewart
[Marilyn] "Paula, do you think there’s a God?"
[Paula] "Of course, there’s a God. What do you think I’ve been on about all these years? God is in everything and everything is in God. You are God, darling, if only you could see it and understand it."
[Marilyn] "No, I’m not God and I don’t want to be God. My life’s a disaster area—if I’m God then there’s no hope for any of us. I’m sick of all this, Paula. I want a God who is different from me, who is not me, who is somehow better than me."
[Paula] "Well if that’s the God you want, then that’s the God you’ll get."
[Marilyn] "That’s no help to me at all. I don’t want a God I’ve created, for Christ’s sake. I’m talking about a real God who is alive separately from me. Someone I can talk to and who might think differently from me. Is that too much to ask for?"
(from Mike Riddell’s book alt.spirit@metro.m3, 1997, pages 131-133)
IDOLS
1. Australian idol?
Were you surprised when Christian performers seemed to have no problem competing in a show called Australian idol? Are Christians now so unconcerned about idolatry, or so unaware of our idolatry that being called an "idol" does not seem to bother us at all? Was God’s commandment ambiguous? Was it just a piece of friendly advice – take it or leave it, whatever you please? "That colour doesn’t suit you darling!" The second commandment says:
"4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."
I don’t know about you but I find it very hard to read that commandment without thinking there would be something very wrong with me being called an Australian idol or an American idol or any other kind of idol. Would you feel comfortable with that? Thankfully, I don’t have the vocal talent to ever find myself in that particular situation. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a problem with idolatry. But where does the danger of idolatry lie for me? for all of us? And how do I avoid, how does each one of us avoid the temptation to worship false gods? Gods we have made for ourselves to set up in the place of the real, living God. Augustine, one of the great teachers of the early church taught that idolatry means either "worshiping what should be used or using what should be worshiped" (quoted in Smith 2006, p. 31).
2. Worshiping what should be used
As today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 44, makes clear, the "idols" made in the world of the Bible were made from metal or stone or wood. People made them with their own hands before worshipping them. That is why in the King James Version they are called "graven images". They were made to be visible representations of invisible gods, like this statute from Syria of the goddess called "Asherah" in the Bible. But, as Chris pointed out in last week’s sermon, it is impossible for us to make a visible representation of God that doesn’t in fact distort our understanding of God – to make God more like us and less like God, or not like God at all!
Probably none of us believe in idols of metal, stone or wood – at least not that crudely anyway. But, if anything, that just makes them more dangerous, doesn’t it? None of us are in danger of worshiping what should be used are we? We don’t idolize our physical appearance, or the appearance of our home, or our office or our car, or our clothes? This sort of idolatry involves "putting the things we love in the place of God" (Smith 2006, p. 31). And there is no shortage of potential "substitute gods" in our world today. Last week we were challenged about conflicts between our commitment to God and God’s Church and our commitment to:
our financial prosperity or
our professional advancement or
our family or
our home or our health or
our kids’ social development.
If we are honest to God then I suspect all of us are tempted in at least one of those areas.
We were also reminded last week that in the church there is a temptation for us as Christian people to turn aids to worship such as beautiful architecture, or music, or art into the object of worship without us even realising it. One example has always stuck in my mind. I remember several years ago when I was working with students at Ridley College being confronted by a very devoted Christian, who had been a CMS missionary for many years. This person had often held church services overseas in grass huts and under trees. But back in Australia this person wanted to know why the Christian students weren’t using the "beautiful" Ridley chapel as their meeting place any more? The answer was, in fact, very simple. The students wanted to share the good news with their friends and many of their friends wouldn’t come to the chapel. So the students wisely decided to take their worship to a place where they might come and hear the good news about Jesus. I’m not sure he was convinced by my explanation as his reply was "I just think it’s a shame to waste such a beautiful building that’s all." He was a person of great faith and commitment to ministry but in this case I think the priorities were wrong.
3. Using what should be worshiped
The other category of idolatry – using what should be worshiped – involves "seeing God as a means of getting what we want" (Smith 2006, p. 31). This is especially true when they are and disguised as images of the real God dressed up in the language of the Bible.
One example which I personally find very disturbing indeed seems to have taken hold in many American churches and be spreading into many Australian churches. It is what is called "prosperity theology" but should be called "prosperity idolatry". It is the idea that all I have to do is say the right prayers and God is bound by some kind of "spiritual law" to give me what I want: health, wealth and happiness, or "affluence and influence" (Wells 1994, p. 88), as one Christian writer put it. If this sounds like New Age thinking that is because it is. God is really just like a giant snack machine and if I put in the right "coins" then God has to spit out the house or the job or the car or the relationship or whatever it is that I want, or think I need. But God is not just "a resource to be used" (Smith 2006, p. 29).
Again, probably most of us don’t believe that idea. But that doesn’t make us immune to idolatry. There was an article recently in The Melbourne Anglican about whether we should pray for a car parking space at shopping centre? It points us in the right direction here. How many of our prayers are requests related to our personal needs or wants, and often quite trivial personal matters in reality? In the Prayer Book (see pages 172-173) we pray together publicly for the nations, for the church, for those in need, and give thanks for those who lived lives that honoured Christ. How much are these priorities reflected in our personal prayers?
4. How can I know if I’m worshipping an idol?
But, you might well ask, how can I know if I’m worshipping an idol? Let me suggest that one way is to honestly ask ourselves really hard personal questions about our lifestyle (or even dare to ask others those questions about ourselves). The specific questions will vary for each person depending upon our circumstances, but I’m thinking of questions like...
Have you ever taken a pay cut for God?
Have you ever put your ministry in the church ahead of a career change? (Have you ever decided that your work with the youth group or the playgroup or your Bible study mean it’s not a good time to move? Or have you ever decided that the relationships you’ve formed with your work colleagues or your sporting team which are allowing you to talk to them about the gospel are more important than moving house and getting that extra bedroom?)
(Of course, the God could also be calling you to move from somewhere you are comfortable). Have you ever moved home, suburb, city, state or country to answer God’s call on your life?
Have you recently stopped watching a TV show you like to spend some more time in Bible study or prayer or visiting people in need?
If we ask ourselves a range of questions like this and find the answer is "No" to all of them, or even most of them, then maybe there’s a problem.
THE IMAGE
5. Who can help is in our struggle with worship?
But who can help us in our struggle with worship? The New Testament teaches that we need to keep our hearts and minds focused on Jesus – the true and perfect image of the invisible God. As Chris said, any image we make of God is bound to be a distortion – we are distorted people! But this was not the case with Jesus. This point is made several times in the New Testament.
Colossians 1:15, 19: "He is the image (icon) of the invisible God, the first born of all creation; for in him all things on heaven and on earth were created… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell."
The "image", or in the "icon" as its called in the original language, which is referred to here is like the replica of a person’s face which you find on a coin. It is an accurate representation of the king.
Hebrews 1:3: "He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint (character) of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word."
Jesus, Hebrews says, is the "character", that is like the impression made by a stamp like this one. The impression it leaves is exactly like the original. In today’s reading from John, Jesus makes the same point to his disciples:
John 14:9: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"
So the fundamental question which the second commandment put to us as Christians is this: is my image of God like me or like Christ?
6. The God who saves
So why not just follow Jesus and forget the Old Testament with all its "Thou shall nots"? The answer can be found in today’s reading from Isaiah. Remember what Isaiah said about the idol maker who "makes [wood] into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, "Save me, for you are my god!" (Isaiah 44:17).
Are you a God? As the character Marilyn said in that dialogue I read out at the beginning of the service said: "That’s no help to me at all. I don’t want a God I’ve created, for Christ’s sake. I’m talking about a real God who is alive separately from me. Someone I can talk to and who might think differently from me."
For nearly ten years now I have been involved in a mission to followers of the New Age or alternative spirituality. We have our next mission over the Queen’s birthday weekend next month. And I can honestly say I am very sympathetic to many of the concerns of "New Age" people. I think the New Age is in many respects a product of the failures of the churches. Many New Age people left churches where Christianity was all about our head and the Christians there had forgotten that it is also about our heart and our hands. Many of them are women who wanted to do more than make cups of tea and arrange the flowers. But the great tragedy is that the alternative they haven chosen is effectively self-worship. "But having put ourselves in the place of God, we are left with no place to turn in times of trouble. We are alone with no hope or help beyond ourselves" (Smith 2006, p. 35). Isaiah asked: "Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good?" (Isaiah 44:10). "In contrast to the loneliness, isolation, and ultimate futility of having no one to turn to but yourself, the Bible tells us about the living God who came into the world in Jesus Christ so that you could know him and share in the triumph of His risen life" (Smith 2006, p. 35).
This is why the commandment against idolatry is "good news". It was not given because God enjoyed saying, "You can’t do this" and "you can’t do that either". The commandment against idol worship is at the top of the list after worshipping God because idols are counterfeits, rip-offs, of the worst possible kind – the kind that can rob us of God and of our salvation. They separate us from God who the Old Testament says saved his people by bringing them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery ... (Exodus 20:2); and, the New Testament tells us, this is the same God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead for our justification (Romans 4:24-25; see also Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 15).
For more sermons from this source go to http://www.stthomasburwood.org.au
