ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES-DON’T IDOLIZE ANYTHING
Ten Commandments That Build Strong Families - Part 2
Exodus 20:4-5
Last week we started a new series called the Ten Commandments for Building Strong Families.
Today we're going to look at the 2nd commandment and how it will build our families and make
them stronger.
Exodus 20:4-5 "You shall not make any idols, you must never bow to an image or worship it in
any way."
Jews, Moslems and Christians all agree the Ten Commandments are the values God wants us to
live by. The second commandment says two things: don't idolize anything and worship God
only.
I. DON'T IDOLIZE ANYTHING
What is an idol? An idol is anything that takes the focus off God and puts it on something else.
Even a good thing can become an idol. What does it mean to idolize? In this sense it means to
value something more than God.
Archaeologists tell us in every culture there have been idols. Statues, little gods, goddesses.
There is the desire of man to turn objects or people or things into objects of worship. God says
don't do that.
In Bible times there were three primary idols. There was Baal who was the god of sex. There
was Mammon who was the god of money. And there was Molech who was the god of violence.
We don't have those idols today, we just pay billions of dollars to go to the movies to watch sex,
violence and money. In the old days, idols were made of stone, rock, clay, wood or metal.
Today, the altar we worship is the TV. Every night when we turn it on we see our idols on TV.
We don't worship objects as much as we worship images, images of success, images of wealth,
images of status, images of sex.
It's very difficult to raise your kids in an environment where the society is saying, these are the
most important things in life and you're trying to say, no there are other values that are more
important. So you have to teach your kids the disadvantages of idols.
In Deut. 4 "For your own good don't sin by making an idol in any form at all." God says for your
own good don't idolize anything or anyone. Why?
1. Idols will disappoint me.
They always promise more than they can deliver. Jeremiah 10:14 "Those who make idols are
disillusioned because the gods they made are false and lifeless." On TV it says Wear our label
and you'll be popular, buy our product and you'll be successful, drink our beer and it doesn't get
any better than this, buy our toothpaste and you'll have sex appeal. They always promise more
than they can deliver.
Have you ever ordered something through a mail order catalog and when you got it you were
disappointed with what you got? Anytime you put any person, any thing, any product in the
place of God, anytime you expect any one to solve all your problems or guarantee all your
happiness you're going to be disappointed. Idols will always disappoint you.
2. Idols will dominate you.
If you don't watch out they end up controlling your life. "Before you knew Christ you were
controlled by dead idols, who always led you astray." It says there are two inevitable effects
when you love something more than God:
1) The thing you love more than God will begin to control you. The word we use today for
idols is the word "addiction". You can be addicted to your work, to sex, to sports, to
numerous things besides alcohol or drugs. But eventually it runs your life when you love
something more than you love God. People say "I can give it up at any time." But they
struggle to do so. Why are habits so hard to give up? Because we have allowed them to
dominate our life and distract us.
2) You will be led astray, you lose your perspective when something takes place in your life
that ought to be where God is. How many people sacrifice time with family to get a
promotion? Or for the profit motive they threw their convictions out the door. God says if
you don't watch out, an idol, anything that you love more than God will distract you and you
will lose your values. It will dominate your life. If you allow a person in your life to control
your life by their approval or disapproval, that's not just co-dependency, that's idolatry. It's
making that person god. The number one way to break co-dependency on someone is 1) put
God first in your life and 2) give your ultimate devotion to Him and not to anybody else.
3. Idols will deform you.
They will change you. They'll warp you, you will lose your uniqueness that God gave you
because you become like what you value most. Psalm 115:8 "Those who make idols become like
them and so will those who trust in them." An idol will end up shaping us. You will become
like whatever is first place in your life. So you better reserve that spot for God or you're going to
get deformed from being what God meant for you to be in the first place.
One time a rich young ruler came to Jesus. He said "What must I do to follow Christ? What
must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus says, "Go, sell everything you've got and give it to the poor
and come follow me." Jesus knew what was the idol in his life and that was his bank account.
He went straight to the heart of the issue and said, You've got another god in your life and if you
really want to follow Me, give up what you've got and come, follow Me. Be willing to let go of
anything for Me to be first in your life. It says that this guy counted the cost, decided it wasn't
worth it and walked away sadly and did not follow Him.
What do you need to give up? What is it that you're holding on to that's keeping you from being
all God wants you to be? "I don't want to let go of this relationship; I know it's not right but I
don't want to let go of it." "I know this career is not right but I'm going to hold on to it." "I know
this habit isn't right, but I'm going to hold on to it." It's an idol. If God tells you to give up
something and you can't let go of it, you don't own it, it owns you.
Have you ever thought of how big a fifty dollar bill looks in church when you're giving an
offering and how small it looks at the grocery store? Why does it look so big when I'm going to
give it to God?
Do you remember the 3rd in the Indiana Jones series, the Last Crusade? In the last scene they
find the holy grail. Then there is an earthquake, the earth splits and the lady who's been trying to
get the grail through the whole show, falls down into a crevice. She's either got to grab the grail
or let go. They're saying, Save your life! But she reaches after the wrong thing and loses her life.
She couldn't let go. Idols will distract you, dominate you, disappoint you, and will eventually
destroy you if you don't watch out. So God says, "For your own good don't let anything get first
place in your life -- career, girlfriend, dream, not anything, keep Me first."
II. WORSHIP ONLY GOD!
How does this apply to our families?
We are to love our families but Worship God!
Worship means give my highest love and devotion. Only God deserves my highest loyalty. Not
any person, any career, any thing, only God deserves that because He made me. Unfortunately,
most people are like the people talked about in Romans 1 "Many exchange the truth about God
for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself."
Keep the boundary of church attendance in your family life. Resist sport and recreational
activities on church meeting days. Invite your family into your worship of God. Put Him first
but still take care of your family. Don’t cause competition between God and your family, but do
give them lots of your time and interest so they feel your love for them as well as your devotion
for God.
There are benefits of worshiping God only, by putting Him first in our lives:
1. IT WILL DELIGHT ME – Give me Fulfillment
When you put God first in your life and you love Him first, God says you will experience all the
fullness you've been looking for in other places.
Ps. 37:4 "Seek your happiness in the Lord and He will give you your heart's desire." Look at that
promise. That is a guarantee. He says, Try it; put Me first, and love Me first and worship Me
first and watch if I don't bring the fulfillment you've always wanted in life.
So many people I've talked to have said, "My only regret is that I wish I had given my life to
Christ sooner because all the things I was looking for in fulfillment were there in Him and I was
just looking in the wrong places."
Romans 10:11 "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." Accept no substitute. Don't
settle for an image of God. An image is a shadow of the real thing.
2. IT WILL DELIVER ME – Give me freedom
The bible says you will experience freedom like you've never felt if you will put God in first
place in your life. Incredible freedom.
Jesus said, "If you obey my teaching you will know the truth and the truth will set you free."
"If the Son sets you free, you will be really free."
Why is it when I put God first in my life and in my family it sets my family free?
1) I no longer have to worry bout the approval of other people cause I'm only focusing on
pleasing God. "God, I'm going to live for an audience of One. You're number one in my life
and I will focus on doing what You say because that will always be the right thing." It's so
relaxing. It sets you free from the expectations and approval of others.
2) It sets me free from my past. I've been completely forgiven. I don't carry those regrets
any more. I'm set free in the present, I have a new power to break the habits I couldn't break
on my own. I'm free in the future, I'm not afraid of dying, I know where I'm going. I'm free
in the past, present, and future. That is real freedom.
3) It will develop me. When I put God first in my life, it helps me develop my potential,
become the unique person God met for me to be in the first place. You will become like
what you love.
"As the spirit of the Lord works with us, we become more and more like Him." Whatever
you love you're going to become like. If you love money you're going to become
materialistic. If you worship yourself, you're going to become more selfish. If you worship
Christ, love Christ, you're going to become like Him. That's what God wants you to become.
He wants you to develop the characteristics of Christ -- love, joy, peace and all the other
characteristics of Jesus Christ.
It develops you to your full potential. You can't become all God wants you to be and your
family can't be all you want it to be without putting Him first in your life.
3. You Will Know The True God-Give me Knowledge
So who is the true God? God wants you to know Him so clearly that He came to earth in human
form so we could know what He is like. Two thousand years ago He came so we could relate to
Him in the form of Jesus Christ. When I look at Jesus I can say, "that is what God is like."
"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God." Do you want to know what God is like? It's
real simple. Look at Jesus.
One day a guy named Philip came to Jesus and said, "Show us what God is like, show us the
Father." Jesus said, "If you've seen Me you've seen the Father." It's that clear. When you look at
Jesus and His life that's how you get to know God.
So in building a strong family that's going to last, settle these first two issues.
One, put God first in every area of your life and two, today, get to know the real image of God by
getting to know Jesus Christ.
