So many sincere believers today express a desire wishing they could ‘hear God’s voice’ in a clearer manner and even more specifically, know what God’s will was for them. Don’t you? Interesting fact about the millions who wandered in the wilderness back in Exodus who first received the Law…they never had a problem with hearing God’s voice and/or knowing what His will was for them.
Their problem was DOING what He clearly made known to them.
We also know from scripture (Mal. 3:6) that God does not change; and it could be said that man does not either.
My previous post from 2.6.22 dove off into a closer look at the very first commandment, the one about there only being One God and that we were to have ‘no other gods before us’. (Deut 5:6)
We agreed that the Ten Commandments were still a ‘good thing’ to keep around. Jesus after all did make it clear that He certainly did not come to do away with God’s Law, rather on the contrary, to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17). Lots of church attendees like the idea of them hanging in government buildings and in public places. Heck…many think they (the 10 Commandments) should be taught in our public schools today.
My reason for wanting to take a closer look at these laws were so we might better understand the nature of God and where He was coming from when He gave the Law to His people. And today, I feel a need to visit Commandment # 2. It’s the one about carving idols. (Feel free to revisit my post from 2.6 by either scrolling back here or visiting my blog post at foodforsheep.blogspot.com)
Commandment #2- “You shall not make for yourself a carved image [idol -as an object to worship]– any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep my commandments.” (Duet. 5:8)
So. Much. To. Unpack. Here.
I think the first reason we nod in agreement with this one is because we see that first mention of ‘carving images’ and ‘bowing down’ and we immediately think: “we are not like those tribal natives in dark jungles who carve weird faces and dance around them at night with lit torches. I mean that is just overt idolatry, is it not?”
So let’s wade in here. Can we agree that an idol is, or can be, anything that we love more than God…that we put before Him with our devotion? If you are not sure on that, either pause and give this one some more thought or table it and come back to it later. But most can agree that multiple things, like our careers, for example, can become an idol; as can our cars, homes, favorite hobbies, movie stars, etc. Heck, one of the most popular talent search shows is called American Idol. Anything that can capture our affections and attention has the ability to become that: an idol. – Pssst- did you know that even our children can become our idols if/when we put them before God?
My goodness, how many preachers know that during the football season, they better not run past 12-noon for dismissal time given a kick-off is looming back home. And go in to most homes today - how is all the furniture arranged in the main room?-facing that beloved large flat panel TV screen that is securely mounted up high for us to give hours and hours of attention to. (Psalm 101:3; Job 31:1; Col. 3:2) Yet we have trouble ‘carving out’ time to spend time in His word and studying and learning from Him.
But let’s go back to that ‘carving’ thing. That implies taking something and fashioning or forming or molding; taking something and making it into something else. Sort of like what we do with God’s word when we create doctrines that capture our hearts believing we are ‘saved’ because we are a ‘staunch Baptist’ or a ‘die-hard Catholic’ or maybe a ‘fourth generation Presbyterian or even a ‘pew-jumping Pentecostal’. Just having a little tongue and cheek fun with those labels that we have all grown so accustomed to.
And I don’t mean to leave out the Episcopalians…at least they got out from underneath that ‘pope-adoration stuff. And the Church of Christ folks…well…I’ll just set the instruments down now and stop there. (smile) But given we have somewhere over 400 Christian denominations today, something has gone off the rails with our faith movement. When we find ourselves aligning our hearts with a church label over following Jesus and taking up our crosses, something just doesn’t add up.
Take a look back at Exodus 32. You are probably familiar with this story. Moses was actually up on the mountain with God getting those Ten Commandments. The people grew restless and impatient and decided they had a better idea. They approached Aaron and asked him to ‘make us gods that shall go before us.” So Aaron agreed…instructed everyone to bring him any gold they might have…which he took it and ‘fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then said “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.” So then Aaron saw it and built and alter before and they decided to have a big celebration. (1-6)
Let me simplify this for you. They made an image…of a beast…and worshipped it. In other words, what they formed with their hands, carved from gold, they set their hearts on claiming it was now their ‘God’...who saves/delivers them.
They worshipped…the image of a beast.
Oh…if you need a good chuckle at this point, skip on down to verse (24) where Moses has come down off the mountain and confronts Aaron and the people. Neither God nor Moses are very happy at this point. Aaron offers up this gem: “Oh…the people wanted a god so I just threw this gold in the fire and out came this calf”.
Sigh
Here’s the problem that I offer up today for your consideration. You can read/pray about it and I’ll just leave it at that. I’m not here to argue and debate. But we have so many denominations today, all using the same book building their own tower in to heaven but everyone is speaking their own language. Reminds me of a tower they built back in Genesis 11. One group says ‘this is how you get to heaven’ when another group says “you have to do this and this’ before you are saved, etc.
They can’t all be right.
So if we are discussing idols and how worshiping them breaks the 2nd commandment, I simply want to submit the notion that our church doctrines can be just as much an idol as a shiny new truck or a TV set or a carved statue buried deep in the Amazon jungle is. And I’ve said it before and will say it again here: if you find yourself rejecting scripture, or watering it down or carving it away (or even dismantling it with a sledge hammer-see post from 2.7.22), then I would suggest that something else has your heart and it is Not Jesus. Because when you reject the word for something else you love more, you have an idol set up in your heart. And to reject any of the word is to reject Jesus because He IS the Word. (John 1)
And I will have to end this on a very serious note today. But we see God share his heart in a very transparent way in this second commandment. He states: “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.”
“I am a jealous God” . Seems I recall Paul also cautioning us not to provoke the Lord to jealousy. ( 1 Cor. 10:22)
You might want to join me tomorrow for more on this subject.
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