Refusing to Settle for Less

You 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. You 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, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. — Exodus 20:4-6 (NRSV)

I am a Norman Rockwell fan and several years ago, on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post, there was a painting by Norman Rockwell showing a woman buying her Thanksgiving turkey. The turkey is lying on the scales and the butcher is standing back of the counter, apron pulled tight over his fat stomach, a pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, a lovely lady of about sixty, is watching the weigh-in. Each of them has a pleased look on their face as though each knows a secret joke. There’s nothing unusual about a butcher and a customer watching as a turkey is being weighed, but the expression on their faces indicate that something unusual is going on. Norman Rockwell lets us in on the joke by showing us their hands. The butcher is pushing down on the scale with his big fat thumb. The woman is pushing up on the scale with her dainty forefinger. Neither is aware what the other is doing.

Cecil Meyers writes about that painting, "Both the butcher and the lovely lady would resent being called thieves. The lovely lady would never rob a bank or steal a car. The butcher would be indignant if anyone accused him of stealing; and if a customer gave him a bad check, he would call the police. But neither saw anything wrong with a little deception that would make a few cents for one or save a few cents for the other."

Rockwell gives us a picture of how we seek to live, trying to manipulate life for our advantage. And that’s what the Ten Commandments are all about --- they remind us that there are eternal laws in the universe by which we must live if life is going to come out God’s way. That is why from time to time it is good to be reminded of the power of God’s Commandments in our Bible studies and from the pulpit.

James W. Isenberg, of Shelbyville, Kentucky, sought to remind some Cub Scouts of the Ten Commandments. He wrote for the Christian Reader, "As a Cub Scout chaplain, I close each meeting with vespers. One night I asked the boys what some of God’s commandments were. Many correct answers were shouted out before a voice called from the back: ‘Don’t drink and drive.’"

We’ll leave that one for another day. Today we consider the second commandment from Exodus 20:4-6.

You 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. You 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, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. (NRSV).

Last week Pastor David preached on the first commandment: "You shall have no other Gods before me." This second commandment is similar but yet different in its scope. The first commandment has to do with the worship of gods from other lands. It forbids the worship of any but the One true God. These other gods were problematic for the Israelites because they had just come out of bondage in Egypt where many gods were worshipped and the Israelites would find themselves often surrounding by peoples who worshipped other Gods. The Second Commandment prohibits God’s own people from making other gods for themselves or making a likeness which becomes a god. It recognizes that there are other gods (small g) but those gods are not worthy of worship. Here is a call from God not only not to worship any other god, but not to worship the true God in the wrong way. This a warning against idolatry. It is a warning repeated many times in the Scriptures. The word "idol" or "idolatry" appear over 220 times in the Bible, and unfortunately it has not been banished from the vocabulary in modern times either.

When we speak of idols in the Bible, perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is the golden calf. Scholars have two theories about why the Israelites worshipped a golden calf. The first is that the Israelites had created their own god. The second theory is that the Israelites had fashioned a representation of God and that representative became a god. Either of these are the sin of idolatry, and that is what we shall consider now.

The first prohibition is that God’s people shall not make their own idols. We may consider ourselves to be creative people and God does endow us with the gift of creativity, but God says we are not to create our own gods. What are those other gods, those idols, that violate God’s Commandment? Let me ask the question another way. What is it that people worship today other than God? What is it in our lives that takes our time, our energy, our resources, our very souls so that God takes a back seat in our lives? What is it that can keep us from worship in church? What is it that can keep us from studying God’s Word? What is it that can keep us from talking and listening to God in prayer? What is it that can keep us from serving God with our time, talent and resources? What is it? Answer that, and you’ve identified your gods.

Now some of our gods may in and of themselves be good things, or at least not bad things. For example, some people worship their family. Their children or their parents consume so much of their lives that there is no room for God. Family has become their God. Now understand this, family is a good thing. It was after all, God’s idea. But family was never meant to become a god. We were never meant to worship at the altar of family.

Some people worship work. Their careers consume so much of their time, talent and energy that there is nothing left for God. The company they work for has become their god. Now understand this, work is a good thing. It was after all, God’s idea. But work was never meant to become a god. We were never meant to worship at the altar of our jobs.

Some people worship themselves. They are so self-indulgent that they cheat God by keeping their lives free from God. They are too busy sleeping in on Sunday morning to come to church and worship. They become their own god. Now understand this, we are a good thing. We are, after all, God’s idea. But we were never meant to become our own gods. We were never meant to worship at the altar of ME.

There are many other gods people create and I’m sure you can think of many. I’ve not even mentioned wealth or sports or hobbies or television or any of a million other things that take the place of the One True God in people’s lives. You see, the fact is we would all like to create our own gods. It is part of our sinful human nature to want to create our own god. Why? I think the primary reason we like to invent our own gods is because we do not like to be held accountable. The One True God, the Creator, can and does hold us accountable. No god we create does that.

Any created thing is owned, and therefore accountable to its creator. If I write a book and the book does not suit me, I have the right to change it. If the words do not convey what I intend I simply change the words. It would be ludicrous to imagine the book saying to me, its creator, "Look, you’ll just have to adjust the way you read me. You have to change, not me." I’m the creator and I have the right to change the book or even destroy it if it does not suit my purposes.

So we create our own gods because then those gods are accountable to us. However, if we recognize the One True God as our God, then we are accountable to Him. We belong to Him. We are to serve Him. And he has the power to change us to suit His purposes. And we don’t like change and we like someone else telling us what to do even less. So we create our own gods and make them serve us. We take good things God has created and we worship them and make them our idols.

The second prohibition in this commandment is that we are not to worship a likeness of God. Soon after God gave these Commandments, Israel would be worshipping a golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai, the very place where the Commandments were given. F.B. Meyer wrote:

Had anyone suggested that Israel would apostatize from the God of Abraham, they would have stoned him to death. They had no desire to break the first commandment and to have other gods other than Jehovah, but they found the demand of the second commandment too vigorous. They must have an image, a visible representation, an idol.

So they made the golden calf. They had to have a visible image, something they could see and touch. Now on the surface there’s nothing wrong with that. To have those things that remind us of God may be a tremendous aid to worship for many of us. God is unseen, a Spirit and Power invisible to our eyes. So we need settings, symbols, places of worship to be vivid reminders of God. The problem comes when the symbol, the reminder, becomes a substitute; when it becomes an idol and takes the place of God.

There’s a dramatic story of this in the 21^st chapter in the book of Numbers. In their wandering through the wilderness, the people of Israel were attacked and tortured by fiery serpents. Moses, on the instruction of God, made a bronze serpent and set it up on a pole. Those who had been bitten looked at the bronze serpent and they were healed. Not much is made of this story as it is found in Numbers, but centuries later we find that bronze serpent making another brief appearance. This time, in 2 Kings chapter 18, we find King Hezekiah breaking the serpent in pieces because the people had been burning incense to it. What happened? What Moses had used as a reminder of God’s power prevailing over the poison of serpents, little by little, had become a god itself.

This has happened in Christian history with the cross. The cross, meant as a reminder of God’s great love, meant to help worshippers fix their hearts and minds on the One who bled and died for their souls, that cross for many has become regarded with superstitious reverence. The gold or silver cross has itself become a holy thing and it is confused with the reality for which it stands. The problem with symbols as a substitute for God is that symbols are simply not adequate. They cause us to settle for less. The prophet Jeremiah wrote in Chapter 5:

"Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good."

Jeremiah was talking about the impotence of idols. The truth of the matter is that they do have power in our lives, a negative power, in which they divert us from the true God whom we must worship in Spirit and in Truth.

The lesson is this: Whenever anyone or anything usurps the place that God should have in our lives, we’re guilty of idolatry.

Even a church building can be an idol. Vance Havner once asked a preacher, "How are you getting along?" The preacher said, "We are living in idolatry--just sitting around admiring our new church. We have arrived; we have it made--no more worlds to conquer. What ought to be a milestone has become a millstone. We have run out of goals."

In the beginning of verse five we are commanded, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them," meaning idols. The context of the Second Commandment is worship; true authentic worship.

A guest preacher went to preach to a downtown congregation at the 11:00 a.m. service. He arrived a half hour early for a service that lasted until 1:15 p.m. It included various testimonials, announcements, six hymns, and a number of soloist and choir members.

After the service the guest preacher asked the pastor why his service was so long. He smiled and explained, "Unemployment down here runs nearly 50 percent. For our youth, the unemployment rate is much higher. That means that when our people go about during the week, everything they see, everything they hear tells them, `You are a failure. You are nobody. You are nothing because you do not have a good job, you do not have a fine car, you have no money.’

"So I gather them here, once a week, and get their heads straight. I get them together, here in the church, and through the hymns, the prayers, and the preaching say, `That is a lie. You are somebody! You are royalty! God has bought you with a price and loves you as his chosen people.’ It takes me so long to get them straight because the world perverts them so terribly."

That’s what worshipping God does. It gets our heads on straight. It reminds us of the truth and identifies the lies and false gods of this world. Authentic worship brings us to the throne of God.

Jewish mystery writer Faye Kellerman’s stories feature an Orthodox Jewish couple, Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus, whose deep faith seems a natural part of the story. In one of her stories, Rina visits the "Cave of the Paris" in Hebron, the traditional site of the burial of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah, Adam and Eve. Rina says,

"It smelled like a compost pile of rich, decaying vegetation, as if the shrine echoed God’s very words--for dust thou art and unto dust thou shall return . . . These people weren’t fairy-tale characters or mythological creatures, they were real people. And like all real people, they had lived, and they had died."

The Jewish soldier guarding the site later explains how he knows Rina is not an Arab terrorist in disguise:

"I see with my own eyes that you’re a good woman. Because I followed you. I saw the tears in your eyes when you prayed. I saw you mouth the words with clarity, with assurance, with purpose and meaning. Your posture, your sincerity. It shows through as if you have a window to your heart. You pray to a God of mercy, not to a God of revenge. Many pray here--Arab and Jew. I don’t think you’re a crazy fanatic. And I don’t think you are an Arab spy, either. Many try to pretend to be us to infiltrate. They speak our language, eat kosher food, drink our wine, and love our women. But they cannot love our God."

This commandment is different from most of the other commandments in that God tells us why we are not to worship idols, and what the consequences are if we do. In verse five God also tells us that he is a "jealous God." The jealousy spoken of does not involve being suspicious or wrongfully envious or mistrusting. Jealous, when used referring to God, refers to that quality of His character that demands exclusive devotion, because everything else is merely a substitute or second best. God is telling us that the greatest insult against His love for us is to slight His love and settle for a lesser love.

And there are consequences for idol worship. God says he will punish "children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject Him."

Philip Yancey wrote in Christianity Today: I have a friend whose marriage has gone through rough times. One night George passed a breaking point and emotionally exploded. He pounded the table and floor. "I hate you!" he screamed at his wife. "I won’t take it anymore! I’ve had enough! I won’t go on! I won’t let it happen! No! No! No!"

Several months later my friend woke up in the middle of the night and heard strange sounds coming from the room where his 2-year-old son slept. He went down the hall, stood outside his son’s door, and shivers ran through his flesh. In a soft voice, the 2-year-old was repeating word for word with precise inflection the climactic argument between his mother and father. "I hate you ... I won’t take it anymore ... No! No! No!"

We know that our sins do not just affect us, but those around us and especially those we love. Sin has a ripple effect. We know our sins can affect generations to come. I see it every day first-hand. Babies born already addicted to drugs because of the mother’s drug abuse. This past Friday I assigned a newborn to one of my caseworkers at DYFS. The baby was born addicted to methadone, cocaine and barbiturates. It also has a birth defect probably due to the mother’s drug abuse. It’s not fair; but it’s not God’s fault some worship drugs and not Him.

But there is good news. Those who refuse to settle for less are given a promise. God says in verse six that he "shows steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments." Steadfast love. Guaranteed. Forever.

Vic Pentz, in a sermon entitled A Twinge of Nostalgia, tells about a nice guarantee. He wrote,

About a year and a half ago, I bought a new navy blazer at Nordstrom. It was one of those cases you may have gone through where you buy an item of clothing and the more you wear it, the more you realize you don’t like it. My blazer wasn’t the right color, and to make matters worse, it attracted lint like it was going out of style. After wearing it pretty regularly for six months or so, I stuck it in my closet and didn’t wear it for a long time.

Tucked away in the back of my mind all the while was that famous Nordstrom unconditional-return policy. I thought, I’ve had this thing for a year and a half. I’ve worn it lots of times, and there’s just no way they’re going to take it back. About two weeks ago I decided I had nothing to lose. I pulled the blazer out, threw a lot of lint on it to make it look bad, and took it down to Nordstrom’s men’s department. I walked in, and immediately I felt nervous. I felt like I was about to pull a scam of some sort, but I played it straight. I walked right up to the first salesman I saw and gave this little prepared speech. I said, "I am about to put your famous unconditional-return policy to its ultimate test. I have here a blazer. I’ve worn it lots. I’ve had it for a year and a half. I don’t like it. It’s the wrong color, and it attracts lint like it’s going out of style. But I want to return this blazer for another blazer that I like." Then I stood there.

I couldn’t believe it. This guy with a big handlebar mustache just looked at me and shook his head. He said, "For heaven’s sake, what took you so long? Let’s go find you a blazer." Ten minutes later I walked out with another blazer that was marked seventy-five dollars more than I paid for the one that I brought in. It was perfect for me. Didn’t cost me a penny. God is like Nordstrom.