Idolatry Is the Issue (p. 19)

Message Outline

Introduction

Attention grabber

Introduce text - Exodus 20:4-6.

Define worship

It is an issue of the heart - worship is what we want most

Body

Main Point #1 - Idolatry is the root behind every sin

Define idolatry

Main Point #2 - Idols are neutral - they are amoral

Idols are good things that we turn into god things

Application

Introduction

Have you ever thought some laws were totally unnecessary? Like, no normal human being is ever going to break that law - why even bother creating it? For example, according to The Lawyer Portal:

In Alabama - it is illegal to drive blindfolded

In North Carolina - bingo games can not last longer than five hours

In Arizona - donkeys are not allowed in bathtubs

In Oregon - you are not allowed to hunt on cemeteries

So some laws seem unnecessary. This is how I felt about one of the laws in the Ten Commandments when I was first taught them in elementary school. I understood the purpose of the fifth commandment - honor your father and mother. I understood the purpose of the eighth - you shall not steal. I understood why lying was a no no, but I couldn’t understand the purpose of the second one. It reads in Exodus 20:4-6

Exodus 20:4–6 (ESV)

4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Other than in ancient times or in places overseas in the East, who struggles with breaking this commandment? Like I never felt tempted to carve up an idol. I was a big Lego guy, but I never felt like creating the image of Hercules and bowing down to it. Like this commandment seems so unnecessary.

As I grew older, I realized that this second commandment was so much more than creating a carved image. It is an issue of the heart. It has everything to do with what I worship and give my life to. The Hebrew word for serve (‘bd) in Exodus 20:5 is translated as worship eleven times in the Old Testament. This commandment that God has given us has everything to do with what we worship.

At this point I would like for us to define what worship it because knowing what it is will help us not break this important commandment in Exodus. Worship is more than just bowing down to a thing or person. Worship is more than just singing to a thing or person. Worship is how we engage with the thing we want most. It is our response to the thing we desire most.

We are wanters. We are driven by our desires. We are what we love. Mr. Cutshall has said that we all live according to our greatest desire. This is supported by the Bible and natural revelation in Psychology. We will build our lives around and worship the thing we want most. Worship is a lifestyle, not a onetime act.

Let me illustrate it this way. When I was teaching in the classroom these past few years, I unofficially critiqued my teaching abilities using what I called “the bathroom test”. My personal goal as a teacher was to convince you that you wanted to hear the content I was teaching you. I wanted to persuade you, in the best way I could, that you didn’t want to miss any of the lesson. I wanted you to want to be in the class so bad that you would hold in your pee and not ask to use the restroom even if you had to go. Because I knew holding in your pee, no matter how bad you had to go, is possible. Your desire for the content in the class supersedes your desire to pee.

I remember several times in high school I had to use the restroom pretty badly but I would hold it in so that I did not miss any of class - because it was too good or too important.

So every time one of you asked if you could use the restroom in the middle of class, I knew I needed to step up my game. I knew, because when I was in high school not too long ago, and I knew that 90% of the time I asked to use the restroom in high school it was because I was bored to death and needed some fresh air. Your want to “pee” was greater than your want to learn.

We are driven by what we want most. What we want most is what we worship.

Lesson

With this definition of worship in mind, there are two main points.

1) Idolatry is the root behind every sin

Idolatry is when you want something more than God. What I’m not saying, though, is that your wanter has to be continually on God all the time. Like if you want a nice juicy cheeseburger at noon today you are not all the sudden a idolator. If that was the case, I would be guilty as charge. What I am saying is that your desire for things cannot become your ultimate or greatest desire that drives your life. That should be reserved for God.

So idolatry is the root behind every sin. Every sin you and I commit happens because in that moment, we decide to worship and serve something else rather than God.

When I play sports, I have the tendency to get angry. I’m not talking about appropriate competitiveness - I’m talking about constant anger and even hateful rage. In those moments, why am I manifesting the sin of anger and hate? It is because I am worshiping something other than God in that moment

2) Most idols are neutral

Most idols are good things that we turn into god things.

Messi, an entertaining athlete has turned into a god

My girlfriend in high school turned into my god

We form and craft idols from the good gifts God has given us.

Application

What good things have turned into god things in your life?

Next week were are going to talk about how to diagnose whether something has become a god in your life by evaluating the battlefield where the gods fight - your heart.

Maybe to a word study on “worship”?