Respecting God’s Infinite Majesty  Dt. 5:8-10; 1 John 5:21   6/26/2011  Dr. J. Ben Sloan

The first command was about putting God first in your heart.  The second command is about not designing our own gods.

For years, I thought this command about not having idols was passé and needed to be redefined.  But then I went to Taiwan.  In the daytime I did not realize the idolatry of the people there.  But at night all the houses and huts in Taiwan were alight with a red glow- almost like each house had a nightlight.  That red light was the idol to their ancestors.  There are still billions of people today who worship idols.  But this command was written to a people who do not normally worship idols as a warning.  There is a human tendency to worship the creation instead of the Creator.  There is a human tendency to design the God we serve, and therefore to have some subtle- but- false idea that we can control God.  This command is there for us to respect the infinite majesty of God.

I. WE DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DESIGN GOD-      We do not create God.  God creates us.  We do not design the kind of God we serve.  God designs us.  In the movie “Castaway” we are given an example of how an idol is made. Tom Hanks, who is stranded for years paints a face on a washed ashore volleyball- calls it “Wilson” and starts talking to it, even asking it for things- it gains a god-like quality.  But as Jesus said, “God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”  (Jn. 4:4).   God tells us how we should worship Him, and His revelation says to not use idols.

A. WE HAVE THE ILLUSION THAT IT IS OKAY- because we slip into it and we confuse being able to do it with being good.
1. Rarely do people say that an idol is God.  Usually they say an idol represents God.  Symbolism is important for communication.  Words are even symbols of things.  But the danger of symbolism of God is we easily slip into worship.

When the people of Israel were in the wilderness and were being bitten by snakes, God told Moses to deliver them by forming a bronze snake.  When the people came to the bronze snake they would live.  But 600 years later, in the time of Hezekiah, the people had named the bronze serpent, were praying to it and burning incense to it.  A good gift from God, that represented His deliverance had become an object of worship.  So even today a crucifix- a symbol of deliverance, can become an object of worship- as can many things affiliated with worship.  Of course, we may easily turn our clothes, our cars, our houses, sensuality, security into idols. 

2. We believe we have the right to design God.       Just as the craftsman makes the idol, we have the illusion that we can pick and choose God- almost like making a cake.  We say what we want the ingredients to be- we want God to be love, but we want to leave out the fear;  We want God to be gracious and leave out the wrath;  We want God to make this life better and leave out the next life;  We put all these ingredients in and then we mix it all up and POOF!  Out comes our God that we worship.  Do you remember the story of the golden calf?  Aaron said, “They gave me their gold, I threw it into the fire and “Poof!”  Out comes this calf! (Ex. 32:24). 
Reason becomes our master.  We become God when we feel we can pick what God is to be like. 

Instead of God listening to us- what we believe God should be like and there be 6.2 billion gods- we should listen to the reality of who God is- what He tells us about Himself.  Idolatry is truly a sin that sneaks upon you. 

II.  THE RIGHT USE OF IMAGINATION     Imagination is a wonderful, amazing gift from God.  It is good and very important to life, but it can go bad.
     A. THE LIMITATION OF IMAGINING GOD- It is no accident that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are against idolatry.  The ancient Romans used to call Christians and Jews atheists because they had no images of God- and they thought an invisible God was no God at all.  But in contrast to that, Christians, Jews, and Muslims have believed that there is no way to contain the majesty and infinite grace and love of God in an idol. 

     B. IMAGING IN ART- There are some who misuse this commandment as if it were to outlaw all forms of art.  But art and creativity are talents and gifts of God.  Art has a purpose.  This passage would say it is not to portray God nor blaspheme God.  It is to glorify God.  I don’t mean it is just for worship or evangelism.  Rather art- like all our work is a gift which is given to honor God. 

Bach wrote on his music- solo Gloria dei- to God alone be glory.  Art is not outlawed here, rather it is given both purpose & boundary.

In reality we need more Christian musicians, artists, filmmakers, writers
III. REASONS-  This command more than most is
GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD- Wait a minute, I thought jealousy was a sin? 
There are things that are sins for us that are not sins for God- and there are things that we do that are emulations of what God does.  It is not right for us to take life.  But God, the giver of life also ends life.  It is not right for us to want worship, but God desires that we know Him and appreciate Him.  God is not just concerned that we do not worship false gods, there has to be a stronger word- and it is the word “jealous.”  Often idolatry is compared to spiritual adultery.  The whole book of Hosea is an imagery of this.  Hosea marries a prostitute and though he is faithful and generous and loving toward her, she is unfaithful to Hosea.  This is an image of how we are in a covenant relationship with God, but we stray away, creating, designing, and wandering after other gods.   The word “jealous” is a reminder of this personal relationship we have with God. 

GOD STRONGLY DESIRES OUR PROPER WORSHIP- It is because God loves us that He does not want us to go after other gods, or worship Him in unhealthy ways.  Once there was a child who could not see well, whose father loved him and cared for him.  They lived on a farm.  One day the farmer went out to take care of the farm.  The young child came out and started talking to the scarecrow- because the scarecrow had the dad’s clothes on.  The scarecrow looked like the father, it was in the field of the father.  The father was a ways off but he could see.  He kept calling to the child, but the child could not hear.  Eventually, the child thought the father did not care or respond and went back inside.  It is an unhealthy thing to think a scarecrow is the same as a real person.   A scarecrow may have the power of fear to scare off the birds, but the scarecrow is stuck, not changing position, always staring in one direction, but not really staring at all!  It is a lifeless symbol of something far greater.  Idols do not tell the whole story, and they are an empty promise of help.  In fact, they are so far removed from the infinite majesty of God that they offer far more harm than help. 

     The only TV show to be number one for seven seasons in a row keeps the name “idol” alive- It is a reality talent show called, “American Idol.”  This show has helped change how we look at the word “idol.”  Many fall into the trap of idolizing celebrities.  It shows in how we pay our actors and actresses; sports stars and musicians.  But because someone can throw a ball, recite lines, or sing a song does not mean they are worthy of life emulation.  We are called not to give ourselves to a statue, or a talented human being, or even to give ourselves to some ideal to the point that we don’t care what even God says. Rather we are called to worship God. .