June 4, 2000 Exodus 20:4-6
“Chiseling away at God”
INTRODUCTION
Every time that I go into Wal-Mart, I am reminded that there is a major group of American soldiers that does not yet have a memorial in Washington, DC. This group is composed of the men and women who served our country so bravely during the 2nd World War. Many of you have probably been to Washington at some point in your life. The last time that I was there was when Victoria was not quite a year old. It was an awful day. Victoria was in one of her really crummy moods. Nothing seemed to appease her. We didn’t get to see very much that day because of V’s fussiness and because of the fact that everything closed at 5:00 that day, and we didn’t get into town until around 3:00. Thankfully, I had been there a couple of times before, so I had already seen most of the monuments. DC is a city with filled with monuments to dead people. There’s a monument to Abraham Lincoln, and to Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. There are monuments to the soldiers who served in Vietnam and the Korean War and World War I. We build monuments to these men and women to make sure that we never forget their contributions to our way of life today and so that we will not repeat the same mistakes that led to the sacrifices that they had to make. During one of my trips to DC, our tour guide directed our attention to the monument to Richard Nixon – he was pointing to the Watergate Hotel. How would you like to be remembered for that?
I would hate to be the one who was given the task of designing and building one of these monuments to soldiers who served in any of our wars. Think about the virtually impossible nature of their assignment. How in the world do you capture in a limited amount of space all of what went on in that war? How do you capture the essence of what it meant to those who fought in it, those that they left behind, and what was secured for America and the world by their sacrifice? Imagine trying to capture the fear that the soldiers faced as they stormed the beach, the sense of loss that wives endured when they received a telegram with terrible news, the exhiliration of successfully capturing an enemies stronghold, and the relief and sense of pride when you came home the victors. Imagine trying to capture that much human experience using wood, stone and metal and capturing a world-wide event only having maybe a quarter acre of land to work with. Its foolishness to even try.
Now imagine something different. Imagine trying to capture the totality of all of who God is using wood, metal and stone – things that He has created – and then trying to confine Him to an image of something that is a part of this universe. Imagine trying to put God in a box. That is the essence of the 2nd of the 10 Commandments in vs. 4-6 of Exodus 20 – “Thou shalt not make for yourself a graven image [idol]”. At first examination, it might look like this would be the easiest of the 10 to keep. I mean, after all, this isn’t India, or the jungles of Africa and South America. We don’t have little carved images of stone and wood in our homes that we bow down to every night. We can handle this one. It’s not too difficult to grasp. It’s in the other ones that we need lots of help – the ones that talk about not lying, and not committing adultery, and not wanting what my neighbor has. Those are the hard ones. Those are the ones that I need help with. This one I can handle. It must not be as easy as all that because the first commandment that the Israelites broke was not those ones that I just listed. It was this one. Before Moses ever came down from the mountain with the stone tablets, the Israelites had already made themselves an idol. If it wasn’t so easy a command for them to keep, could it be that we are weak in this area too? And could I also suggest that getting a handle on this command will greatly enhance our ability to obey the other commands as well.
I want you to repeat this after me, “My obedience to God is determined by my image of God”. Here’s what I want you to do this morning. I want you to allow the Holy Spirit to challenge your view of God this morning. I want you to ask yourself, “Is the God that I worship the God that is presented in the Bible, or have I reshaped God to be a god of my own making?” Let’s take a look at Exodus 20:4-6.
1. Idols will never measure up to God’s glory. (vs. 4)
What is an idol? It is a man-made physical or mental representation of a spiritual being / god which is meant to help the worshipper focus on that spiritual being / god. In other words, by giving you something to look at with your eyes or with your mind, an idol is meant to help you worship God. The idol was not intended to be a god; it was intended to focus attention on god. That’s what makes this command different from command #1 – “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. This command is not prohibiting the worship of more than one god. That was already taken care of by command #1. This command is prohibiting creating your own image of the true God. If it is true though that an idol of God was intended to help in the worship of the true God, then why is God opposed to idols? Let me begin to answer that question by asking the question that Isaiah, a prophet of God, asked: (Isa 40:18 NIV) To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?: If you wanted to make an image of God, physical or mental, what image could you come up with that would do justice to God’s majesty, glory and holiness? What would be an accurate representation of God? In vs. 4, even as He gives the commands, God lists 3 different possibilities for where persons might find an image for God in the physical world – the heavens above, the world around us, and the waters below us. Let’s examine these in reverse order.
Let’s try finding an appropriate image for God in the water. What lives in the water? Fish primarily. This past Friday night, some of the men of the church went on a fishing adventure. Now, I don’t know a whole lot about fishing. Friday night was the first time that I had been since I was 7 years old. So when I threw my line in, I didn’t have any bait on my hook. All that I had was a spinning lure, and a hook that had three prongs on it that were clearly in plain view. The first time that I cast my line into the water, BAM, a 12 inch fish chomped down on that hook and virtually swallowed it. The third time I cast my line, BAM, another fish thought he was going to get a meal and got a hook in the mouth. Seems to me that fish are easily fooled creatures. All that they are interested in is a quick meal. They aren’t smart enough or observant enough to realize that what they think is a meal is a short trip to pain and possibly being someone else’s meal. What do you think? Do you think that a stuffed fish would do justice to the glory of God? Don’t think so.
Possibility #2. What about something in the heavens above me? I used to love astronomy – still do. I love watching the stars up in the sky. I was down at the Cooley’s house the other evening down in Lost Creek. When I left their home, it was late. Dan and I looked up in the sky, and since there were no city lights around, you could see a multitude of stars. It was glorious. The Hubble telescope has shown us some of the wonders of the universe that we could have never seen through the haze of the earth’s atmosphere. But as glorious as the skies are, there is at least one deficiency that the universe and all the galaxies and all the solar systems and every star and every planet has. There is no intelligence there. I’m not debating here whether or not there is life on other planets. We’ll save that debate for another day. What I am saying is that the planets themselves have no intelligence. They were placed in motion by God Himself, they have continued in that motion since the moment of creation, and they have no choice in whether or not they continue to spin on their axis and revolve around their sun. There is no intelligence there. There is just momentum. Is that an adequate picture of God? I don’t think so. God has shown Himself to be a very intelligent God.
There’s only one other realm of possibility in the physical world – things that dwell on the land – namely plants and animals. Plants won’t work because they, like the universe, have no intelligence. That just leaves the animal kingdom – animals and us. That’s the route that the Israelites chose to go when they constructed their idol. Turn to Ex. 32, and let’s see what happened. Aaron was in a dilemna. He had been left in charge during Moses’ absence. Aaron didn’t know anything about leading a group of people, and suddenly, he was faced with a crisis. The people were getting ready to rebel against the true God and start to follow some false gods. “. . . make us gods. . .” Aaron knew that he couldn’t let that happen, so he came up with a plan. He still wanted the people to worship God, but the people weren’t willing to follow a God that they had to accept by faith was there or a God that made requirements on them in their everyday lives. So the solution that Aaron came up with was this. He would re-shape God into something that was a little bit more palatable to the people. He would fit God to more of what they were looking for in a God. The first step would be to give them an image of God that they could see. That would bring God down to their level and fit Him into their experience. The next step was to figure out what image he was going to use to represent God. He chose to picture God in the image of a calf – a cow.
Why a calf?
Calf is a servant – his only role is to serve you either by providing you with milk or by providing you with beef. This God would have as his main reason for existing the meeting of their every need.
Calf makes no requirements – the only thing that you have to provide for a calf is a field to graze in. They pretty much take care of themselves. You keep them penned up in their part of the yard, and the only time that you have anything to do with them is when you need something from them. This God wouldn’t tell you what to do. You would be the one to tell Him what parts of your life He could walk on if you wanted Him to be involved in your life at all.
Can you begin to understand why the Israelites wanted a calf to represent their God? Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it. But remember - as far as they were concerned, they were still worshipping the true God. Look at verse 5-6a [read it] Now, look at what happened to their behavior when they substituted their idea of who God was for the way that God presented Himself. Look at verse 6b [read it]. The way that they viewed God greatly affected the behavior that they allowed into their lives.
Did you notice how Aaron formed this image of God? Look at verses 2-4 [read]. He took the gold, melted it down, and shaped it with a tool. He took at chisel, and chipped away a little bit of the gold. “Nope, not quite right.” So he chipped away a little bit more. “Nope, still not quite right. The ear is a little off” So he chipped away just a little bit more. “Perfect.” And the people brought their offerings to the God that they had re-shaped to just the image that they wanted.
Up to this point, all this has been an academic exercise in what someone else did, why they did it, and what the results in their lives were. But we here in the United States, in Bridgeport, WV don’t make golden calves or any other little statues. What does this command have to do with me? Do you remember the definition of an idol that I gave you? Look at it again. It said that an idol could be a physical or mental representation. When you think of God, what is the image that comes into your mind? [Santa Claus, a grandfather, an absent father, a mean tyrant, or maybe a calf] If you think of God in any of these ways, then you have been doing just what Aaron did. You have been chipping away at God until you have whittled Him down into something that looks good to you, something that you can handle. You pick and choose which characteristics of God that you like. You treat Him like a buffet line at Western Steer. “Ooo, God’s love – that looks good. I think I’ll have a little of that. But I don’t think I want any of God’s justice; that looks a little dry. And God’s holiness, that made my stomach a little sour the last time that I tried it. I think I’ll pass.” Folks, either you get all of God and accept Him as we would say “warts and all”, or we don’t accept Him at all. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a God that I can handle. I want a God who is a whole lot bigger than my little brain is able to grasp. Because the bigger He is, then He is big enough to take care of all my problems including my biggest problem – my sin. And the bigger He is, the more exciting it is that He wants me as a part of His life, and the more fun it is to discover more and more about Him.
How are we supposed to get an accurate picture of God? Is there anything that God has given us to enable us to get to know Him the way that He wants us to know Him? Yes, there is. His name is Jesus. (Col 1:15-19 NIV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, (Col 2:9 NIV) For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, The only way to know what God is like is to look at Jesus. Do you remember what Phillip said to Jesus on the night before Jesus died as recorded in John 14? He said, “Jesus, show us the Father”. Jesus replied, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.” And there comes the rub. A lot of people don’t like the God that Jesus showed them. When the only true and accurate image of God – Jesus Christ – came, the people did not accept Him b/c He did not fit their conception of what God was like. Do you remember how the religious leaders reacted to Jesus? They called Him a friend of sinners, and tax collectors. They called him a glutton and a drunk. Only those who had an accurate picture of God before they saw Jesus or those who were willing to change their conception of God when they met Jesus were able to accept Him as their Savior and as God Himself.
It is possible to worship false gods, but it is also possible to worship the true God falsely. It is not enough that we attempt to worship God. We must worship Him His way. After God laid down the ten commandments, He also laid out elaborate instructions on how Israel was to worship Him. He gave them instructions on the sacrificial system, the materials and design for the tabernacle where they were to worship Him and festivals and feasts when they were to celebrate God’s character and things that God had done for the nation. God was very exact on the colors of material used in the fabrics that covered the tabernacle. He was very exact on what day each festival was to begin. He was exact on what animals could be used for sacrifices and which could not. The whole book of Leviticus is a worship manual for the Jewish people. God wanted them to worship Him, but they had to do it His way. They couldn’t just throw their own system together and expect God to be pleased with it. Do you remember what happened when Cain brought His offering to God? The Bible records that God was not pleased with it. What was wrong with it? Cain wanted to worship God. Couldn’t he worship God his way? NO. He had to come to God on God’s terms even when it came to worship. My wife’s birthday is coming up next week. I could get my wife a bunch of tools for her birthday. It’s what I would like for MY birthday. Surely it will please her. Is it enough that I remember my wife’s birthday and even get her a gift? No. It is good that I remember her birthday, but I must come to her with a gift that fits her character if I expect her to be pleased with me and my remembrance of her day. It is important to do the right thing, but it is just as important to do the right thing the right way.
How many of us try to worship God on our terms and in our own way? We say, “God, so long as you fit within the confines of my understanding of you, I will worship and serve you. As long as you don’t make any requirements of me that are too demanding and as long as you behave in a predictable manner, we can be on good terms with each other. But as soon as you do something that doesn’t fit with my preconceived notions of you, I’m outta here!” The moment He allows some pain into our lives or the moment that He starts to convict us about some change of heart or change of action that needs to happen in our lives, we begin to question whether or not we really want to follow Him. “God, I might be willing to worship you on Sunday morning from 10:45 – 12:00. But don’t you expect anything beyond that. You are a 10:45 – 12:00 God aren’t you? You’re not the kind of God who expects 100% commitment 100% of the time, because I just couldn’t serve a God like that.” We try to box God
2. Idols will take God’s place as the object that is worshipped. (vs. 5a)
God told the Israelites not to bow down to worship the idols [read 5a]. God knew that images that man made to point him to God would eventually steal the worship that He deserved. A short time later in Israel’s history, the people made God angry with them, so He sent snakes among them to punish them. But He also sent a way for them to find healing. He told Moses to construct a bronze snake and hang it on a pole in the center of the camp. Whoever looked to it would be healed from the venomous bite of the snakes. It was not the snake that saved them. It was the placing of their faith in God’s way as evidenced by their looking that saved them. Do you know what happened to that snake after that event? 2 Kings 18:4 “. . . He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up that that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan).” Do you remember the story of Gideon? He was the one that set out the woolen fleece at night time and asked God to make the fleece wet and the ground dry if God really wanted him to lead Israel against their enemy. After God had confirmed His will to Gideon and Gideon had successfully defeated Israel’s foe, the people all gave him portions of gold which he made into an ephod. An ephod was an object of clothing used in worship which God somehow used to help communicate his will to the people. Only this ephod that was supposed to aid in man’s worship of God became an object of worship itself. (Judg 8:27 NIV) Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. God knows that we are creatures that have a much easier time grasping things that we can experience with our senses, rather than things that we experience with our spirits. He knew the temptation it is for things that we can see and taste and touch to take the place of things that we have to see with our faith.
We as Baptists criticize other religious groups for practicing idolatry in their churches. But could it be possible that we as members of the Southern Baptist Convention, and of the Monongahela Association and we here in Bridgeport and a part of New Life Baptist Fellowship – could it be that we are prone to practicing idolatry? Could it be that we have allowed some of the objects of our faith to take the place of the God that those objects are supposed to point to? What are some of the things that have the potential to do this?
People (Deut. 4:15-19, 21-24)
Church
The Bible
Baptism
Is 45:20 “Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save.” People cannot save you. People cannot save themselves. Moses told the people. “I’m getting ready to die. Don’t follow me. I’m not your god.” The church cannot save you. No matter how many times you sit through my messages or the messages of some other pastor, if that’s all you have when you leave this world behind, it will not be enough. The Bible cannot save you. You may have memorized the whole thing from end to end and be able to quote chapter and verse, but that will only increase your punishment because you knew the way of salvation but chose not to take it. Baptism cannot save you. All that it can do is get you wet. Baptism is an act of obedience after your salvation. It is a picture. That’s all. The only God that can save you is Jesus Christ.
Idolatry is about trying to worship God in my own way. Eventually, it degenerates into worshipping the image that I originally used to point me to God. I forget the “why” of the image. I substitute the means for worship – the image – and put it in the place of the end for worship – God Himself. Do you remember why you come to church? “I come to church for the sake of being in church. It’s something that I’ve always done ever since I was a little kid. I come there because that’s what everyone is supposed to do. Church is good. I give in the offering plate because we have to keep the church going. I cut the grass at the church because we want the church to look good. We’re going to be doing construction on the church next week so that we can make the church even bigger and look much better so that we can be proud of the church.” NO! I don’t come to church for the sake of church, to benefit the church, or to make the church grow! I come to church for the sake of God. I come here to worship Him! If all those other things aid me and others in my worshipping of God, then fine. But I must always remember that the focus is God, not the church. Do you remember why you study the Bible? “I study the Bible because I love it so much and because of the beautiful way that it teaches me.” NO! I study the Bible because it points me to God. Your Bible should be precious to you, but not because of the beautiful bonded leather covering on it or all the notes you have in it or because it is a particular translation that you like, but only because it points you to God. It enables you to get to know Him better so that you can more fully understand His requirements on your life.
3. Idols will destroy your children’s view of God. (vs. 5b-6)
Solomon had a high view of God because David had a high view of God. But later in Solomon’s life, he began to worship idols and developed a lower view of God. His son, Jereboam had a low view of God.
Timothy, Paul’s apprentice, had a high view of God because his mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice had a high view of God.
Back a few years ago, there was a Taco Bell ad on TV. It was one of the ones that featured the little Chihuahua. The Godzilla movie had just come out. The Chihuahua had set up a little primitive trap to try and get a handle on Godzilla. It was just a box with a twig propped underneath it so that when the prey got under the box, he would knock out the stick and be trapped inside. The box was just big enough really for an animal the same size as the dog to fit inside of it. The dog kept saying, “Here, kitty kitty. Here kitty kitty.” When Godzilla was far away, he looked small enough to handle. But as Godzilla got closer, and you could here his footsteps pounding on the pavement, you knew that Godzilla was much bigger than he had anticipated. The dog’s eyes got wider and wider. Finally, when Godzilla stopped, the dog took his eyes off Godzilla, turned his face to the camera and said, “I’m going to need a bigger box.”
CONCLUSION
I want to conclude this morning by asking you a few questions to help you examine what your own image of God is.
1. Do you need to see things in order to believe? Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1 “Without faith, it is impossible to please God”
2. Does God need to fit inside your box of understanding before you fit Him into your life?
3. How do you react when God does something in your life or in your world that doesn’t fit your picture of God? Do you allow God to re-draw the picture, or do you rebel against Him when He does something that you do not understand?
4. Are you willing to re-draw your life to fit God’s standards, or are you attempting to chisel away at Him until you get a God who fits into your lifestyle and doesn’t require you to change?
5. If I asked your children to tell me what kind of a God you serve based on what they see in your life, what would they draw?
How big of a God do you really want to serve? How big of a God do you want your kids to serve?
