Second Commandment: Not Like Us

Big Idea:

Tension: What does the second commandment enjoin?

Resolution: That the unCreated God receives all of our worship for all his holiness and all his love.

Exegetical Idea: The second commandment enjoins that the uncreated God receives all our worship for all his holiness and all his love.

Theological Idea: The uncreated God must receive all our worship for all his holiness and all his love.

Homiletical Idea: The uncreated God must receive all our worship for all his holiness and all his love.

Other Scriptures

Exodus 23:13 ESV

“Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

Introduction

In his excellent book on the 10 Commandments, Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary tells a story of a pastor who contacted him to let him know that he had seen a graven image prominently displayed in the seminary. So Mohler came out so that he could see what it was. And he looked, and a missionary who had been visiting the campus, had brought it back so that people could see what an idol looked like. Now, Mohler didn’t really know what to do, so he put it underneath the display for the time being. But when he came back the next day it was back on display. So he hid it again and when he came back the next day, it was back! Well, it turned out the cleaning crew had not known who had taken the idol down so in their job they were just trying to make sure everything was in place. And unbeknownst to them, they had accidently engaged in a war with the seminary president about the display of idols.

Now, that is kind of an amusing anecdote, and I’m sure that when Mohler finally talked to the cleaning crew there, everything worked its way out and there was not a big conflict or anything. But, by far this commandment, the second commandment has caused more conflict in the Church than any of the other commandments. You might think, what about marriage, or lying, or stealing, but no, the second commandment has caused wars, church splits, broken families, persecution. The second commandment not to make any graven images has caused more conflict than any of hte other laws.

Law as Acquaintance

Now, remember, that every law in God’s Word teaches us something true in all men. And this law is no exception. What this law teaches us is that every single person in the universe cannot help but worship. Everybody worships. This is what David Foster Wallace says:

So people who tend to believe in more than one God, would say well, we worship the gods by worshipping created things. If you talk to the Hindus, or to some of the people who have idols in their religion, they will tell you that their “image” is not a real god, but just a representation of them. In fact, the Old Testament is going to pull apart that inconsistency, “why worship something you don’t think is a real God?”

“Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship…is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough…Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you…Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is…they’re unconscious. They are default settings.”

Communicates something true about all mankind: Now, if you look at the world’s religions, you can see that this is something which almost all religions believe in. If you talk to the Hindus, or to some of the people who have idols in their religion, they will tell you that their “image” is not a real god, but just a representation of him. In fact, the Old Testament is going to pull apart that inconsistency, :why worship something you don’t think is a real God?” Virtually all the monotheistic religions Sikkhism, Judaism, and Islam, all teach that we should not worship any created thing. THe West, which is basically what our culture is, is built on this idea to some extent. In the age of the Enlightenment, there was a thinker called Immanuel Kant. ANd Kant basically taught that there is a strong disjunction between what he called the noumenal and the phenoumenal. In other words, that there is nothing created which really can express the Transcendent God. Now, he will teach that this is so true that you can’t really know anything true about God, because he’s out there. So, this impulse to say, “There is something separate between man and God, that there is Creator and Creation” is deeply embedded in the soul of every single person.

But, Virtually all the monotheistic religions Sikkhism, Judaism, and Islam, all teach that we should not worship any created thing. THe West, which is basically what our culture is, is built on this idea to some extent. In the age of the Enlightenment, there was a thinker called Immanuel Kant. ANd Kant basically taught that there is a strong disjunction between what he called the noumenal and the phenoumenal. In other words, that there is nothing created which really can express the Transcendent God. Now, he will teach that this is so true that you can’t really know anything true about God, because he’s out there. So, this impulse to say, “There is something separate between man and God, that there is Creator and Creation” is deeply embedded in the soul of every single person. And that is basically the problem. If you stress that you can’t have an image of him, then it is hard to know him. But if you stress that you can know him, then it is hard not to make an image of him.

Exposition of the Law

Don’t make an image

Of anything created

And worship or bow down

Because of God’s holiness

Because of God’s love

What we worship is what we are counting on to save us. ()

What we worship is what we become ()

Question 1: What about creating an image of God? () The problem is because God is not a created thing, anything we could imagine him to be like will be wrong and we will go astray into idolatry.

Question 2: What about creating an image of Christ? () Christ himself is the image of God, not necessarily our images of the images. We must never allow these images to become an object of our worship. That being said, Christians disagree on this matter. Some say it is forbidden (Mohler), some say it is acceptable (Piper), and some are not sure (J.I. Packer). This means that both sides should acknowledge this may be an area of Christian freedom, and for us not to infringe on other’s freedom. What is absolutely necessary in all this is that we never allow any created thing to become what we worship.

Law as Enemy

Digging Deeper into Idolatry: Now, what is far more insidious is that we never allow any created thing to become an object of our worship. The Bible actually teaches that this does not require a physical image in our lives, but rather it is any created thing that we desire more highly than God.

Sexual immorality ()

1. Sexual immorality ()

2.

Covetousness ()

According to a study by the University of Massachussetts (https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-06/uoma-urf061002.php), where they video taped 121 people in a room for 10 minutes, 60 percent of them lied. Have you ever stopped to think about why? It’s not because we set out to see if we can possibly be dishonest. It is because the person we lie to, we want them to think more highly of us or we want them to like us more. We so value our reputation, we so value our self-esteem, we so value our own success, that we are willing to lie to get it. Do you see how subtle and skewed our heart is?

For you may be sure of this, that ueveryone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (vthat is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

So here is the problem, anyone who has an idol has no inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. So how can we

So here is the problem, anyone who has an idol has no inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. And this is why the Law is our enemy, because it exposes me and shows me I can’t keep it. So how can we possibly gain God’s inheritance?

God qualifies us for it ()

Through his son ()

How can he do this? ()

Law as Friend

I can trust God with confidence. I don’t have to idolize my reputation, because my reputation won’t save me. I don’t have to idolize my wife because my wife won’t save me. I don’t have to