The Second Commandment

How much would you pay to dress in style? Apparently many of us would pay a lot just to look good. An article in The New York Times asked:

How about $480, for plain khakis from Michael Bastian? Or $495 for light cotton twill pants from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen of The Row? Or $595 if they are by Giorgio Armani? Or $780 for ones with elasticized cuffs from Bottega Veneta? Or is $350, as Thom Browne charges for chinos, the right price?

Similarly, The Wall Street Journal reported (in 2010) that a pair of True Religions Super T jeans, identifiable by their oversized white stitching, cost around $50 a pair to make, were sold wholesale at $152, and retailed for $335. One brand consulting expert noted, "The cost of creating those things has nothing to do with the price. It is all about who else is wearing them, who designed them and who is selling them."

Christian author Steve Taylor concludes:

[At this point] designer labels easily become contemporary idols, if by idol we mean something that encourages extravagant devotion. The prestige given to certain brands is out of all proportion to their usefulness and actual material value …. Very often the reason people opt for designer labels is to communicate a message of privilege to other people; "Look at me. Not only do I have taste but I have a lot of money to spend on clothes."

This illustrates one of the main points of our topic today. Idolatry is not just simply kneeling before some kind of graven image. It is not just worshiping the wrong God, it is also worshipping the right God in the wrong way. How we worship God is just as important that we worship God. The Heidelberg Catechism helps us with this understanding. Q. 96 What is God’s will for us in the second commandment? A. That we in no way make any image of God nor worship him in any other way than has been commanded in God’s Word. It is not just making images, but worshipping the Lord with practices that are not ordained by God himself. God wants us to worship Him and He also told us how. Here it is… if you are gonna come to me you better come correct. Just like the story read today in our scripture reading.

Nadab and Abihu offered incense to the Lord. Now this is something that they were supposed to do. Offering incense is what was ordained to be used in worshipping the Lord. But they got in trouble because they offered unauthorized fire or strange fire. They offered a kind of fire that the Lord did not appreciate because he did not command it. And in doing so they were Idolaters… and were punished. Offer incense. What kind… ah it does not matter he said incense so give him incense. What we do today… But bro he told us what kind he wanted… yeah but we don’t got it, its too expensive, it would be too much of a hassle to get that kind, its all we got left… look as long a we give um something then its enough.

Well we gotta worship God today… well how should we do it. No matter... just as long as we are worshipping its good enough. Spent all our money this week on movies, parties, new clothes, video games, more coins for the app game I’m playing on my phone, pizza, energy drinks, slots at black hawk, booze, internet pornography, and the bag of marajuana that we smoked up last night. All I got left to worship God with my offering is a couple bucks. Look something is better than nothing and come on… I had a really hard time waking up this morning… he should be glad I’m here doing the bet that I can. When it comes to worship… the Lord is not asking for the best that you can, he wants the best.

It is not just who we worship that matters… its not just that we worship that matters… but also how we worship matters. This is part of the essense of the 2nd commandment.

I remember once talking to an individual about church attendance. After a long, and gracious on my part conversation, I finally had to make something clear. He said, “Look Shane… I don’t need to go to church… I will just worship God my way.” I responded and what way is that. “It does not matter how I do it…as long as I do it.” I’m sorry, dear friend, but that is the breaking of the 2nd commandment… You have to worship the right God, the right way. Anything else, is Idolatry. Let’s look at this closer today.

Exodus 20:4–6 NLT

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

The grass withers the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands for ever.

No Graven Images

Or Any Other Way

See Christ see the Father

The first thing we will look at today is the command not to worship God with graven images that are fashioned or even imagined. The second thing we will explore is the prohibition of even worshiping the Lord in ways that he has not commanded in the scriptures. Finally, we will look at the perfection and even in a sense the fulfillment of the 2nd commandment in Christ who is the image of the invisible God and when you see Him you see the Father.

Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause and deceive us to fall into the creation and control aspect of modern idolatry it is the truth of scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will enlighten us to the truth of our idolatry and the salvation we find in the image of Christ and Christ alone.

I. No Graven Images

- Attracting the eyes to seduce the soul.

A. We are not to represent God in any image. The first commandment made it clear that we are not to worship another God. The second commandment is making it clear that we do not worship the right God the wrong way. Think about the golden calf of Israel. They were worshiping the God that delivered them. But they were representing Him as a golden calf like they did in Egypt. Representing their gods with images This was a huge no no.

B. Nothing in the likeness of anything in the created universe. God will not be represented by any of His creation. The passage shows not only that we should not do this because He simply commands it, but that He is a Jealous God and will not share what is rightfully his with anything. Remember jealousy is when you are concerned that what is yours is gonna be taken from you. And why not worship belongs to Him and to Him only, because only He is worthy of it.

C. Think about it. Nothing in all creation is worthy of our worship. Nothing. So not only does it only belong to God, but God alone is the only one who should get it in the first place. Oh but Shane God should not be jealous…that’s unbecoming of God. No its not. He would not be jealous if we weren’t actually worshipping other things. We are giving away what is His to things unworthy. So it is not unbecoming of God to be jealous of our worship, it is unbecoming of His creation to be unfaithful in rebellion and giving what is His to others.

D. Another reason why we do not worship God with graven images is because it does not represent God’s important attribute of transcendence. He would be represent as finite. A finite thing. A limited thing. A material thing. A created thing. He cannot be represented as a thing, because he is not. He is a transcendent being of ultimate perfection.

Isaiah 40:18–19 NLT

To whom can you compare God? What image can you find to resemble him? Can he be compared to an idol formed in a mold, overlaid with gold, and decorated with silver chains?

Al Molher writes, “He not only knows, He knows all things. He is not only powerful, He is all-powerful. He is not only holy, He is infinitely holy. He is not only merciful, He is infinitely merciful. He is not only just, He is infinitely just. And the very "thingness" of the idol betrays its finitude.”

E. More pointed for us today. And Idol also shows that it was created. It is a created thing. There is no way the God of heavens armies can ever be seen as or thought of as being created or fashioned by man in anyway possible. We were created in the image of God, God was not nor cannot be created in the image of man. The Lord cannot ever be represented as being in the category of creation whatsoever. We cannot have it thought that anything thing about Him was fabricated by man.

F. And Idol shows that it is under our control. We can pick it up and put it down. We can move it and put it in its place… we can even get rid of it if we wanted to. We can hide it or display it if we wanted to. There is no way the God of heavens armies can ever be seen as or thought of as being controlled or put in place by man in anyway possible. We were created by the will of God, God was not nor cannot be directed by the will of man. The Lord cannot ever be represented as being in the category of being in our control whatsoever.

G. There is so much more that can be seen, but I wanted to take a moment to illustrate what I call the create and control dynamic when it comes to idolatry today. Well Shane come on, most of us are not bowing down to statues. We are not making images that we worship. We are not sculpting objects of worship. Are we not? Are we not bowing the knee to things mankind has created and controls? It is the same even in our minds and imaginations.

H. Shane I worship God every Sunday. But after hearing your sermon, I don’t think we worship the same God. Oh? You said that God is sovereign over all things, I don’t think thats the case. You said that He was a God that brings judgement upon people. I don’t think God is wrathful. I said you are right… who ever that God is is not the God I worship. That is an idol in your mind.

I. Some say… I think God is about 6’4 230 lbs, blonde hair, green eyes. I think God is like the genie from the movie Aladin. I think God is my co-pilot. Jesus is life’s personal assistant. Jesus came to be an example of how to live a successful life. God is a God that wants us all to always be wealthy, healthy, and never to suffer, never a rougher walk in life. God is not wrathful and will never send people to hell. My God will be whatever you want Him to be. All of these are Idols in our imaginations. We are trying to make God in our image.

J. The invisible god of Human autonomy and freedom displayed in human choice continues his reign in our post modern culture today. Billions of dollars of sacrifices to the gods of entertainment and materialism continue. The erotic practices of the worship of cainannite gods still continue today with all forms of prostitution, pornography, and pedophilia for the gods of pleasure. Oh yeah, but Shane but at least we are not practicing human sacrifices like they did in the OT to the God Molech. Let me tell you that in 2017 over 800,000 babies were sacrificed to the god of “the right to choose”.

K. Many times when people say, “I like to think of God as __________.” They are usually making God in our image. The image may not be graven, but it is still created and controlled by the will of mankind.

Dr. Phil Ryken - “We are not allowed to make God’s image, but only to be God’s image.”

II. Or Any Other Way

- Wrong worship = Wrong God.

A. Hey Shane … nobody cares about doctrine or learning theology anymore. Why do you keep on teaching people this stuff. Wrong theology and wrong beliefs about God lead to wrong worship of the right God, which betrays, by our worship, our profession of the right God, by actually worshipping the wrong God.

Dr. Al Molher writes, “Simply put, our worship betrays our theology. To worship the right god in the wrong way is to testify to the wrong god. That is the danger in worship. Through wrong worship, we give testimony to the wrong god.”

B. How we worship God is clear. We are forbidden to worship Him in anyway that he has not expressed in the scriptures.

Deuteronomy 12:30 NLT

do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’

C. If we come to the Lord, we gotta come correct. If we approach the living God we are gonna come correct…or there will be problems.

Leviticus 10:3 ESV

Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ ” And Aaron held his peace.

D. We are supposed to worship God. We honor hip with our hearts, minds and mouth. Let our lips praise Him. We offer up sacrifices to the Lord. We make offerings in worship to the Lord. But if we don’t do it right… we break the 2nd commandment.

Isaiah 29:13 NLT

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.

Amos 5:21–24 NLT

“I hate all your show and pretense— the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.

E. Today… things like. Replacing the preaching of the Word with Christian movies, Replacing the preaching of the gospel with concerts, replacing the proclamation of the truths of scripture with a circus, Q & A sessions with celebrities, pop psychology presentations, life coaching sessions, and false teaching to promote false ideologies and christian practice. Singing songs that have unbiblical or questionable lyrics, worshiping distracted and hypocritically with little to no effort. Praying for narcissistic goods and bad motives. All of this kind of stuff are unbiblical ways to approach the Lord and are therefore testifying and glorifying the wrong God. To worship the right god in the wrong way is to testify to the wrong god.

F. Even our coming to church we are all good while we live a life of unrepentant sin and lawlessness…is an afront to the Lord. Well at least I came… nope.

Jeremiah 7:9–10 NLT

Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again?

G. This is all going against the nature of the 2nd commandment. To worship the right God in the wrong way is a violation of the 2nd commandment of God. And don’t think that just because we are not bowing before a graven image that we are free from this sin. We want to worship God the way we want him to be not the way that He is. We like to emphasize the things about God we like and either diminish or eliminate the things about Him that we don’t like. This cannot be the case.

III. See Christ See the Father

- He is the image of the invisible God.

A. The reality for us today is that we are natural born Idolators. We are homo-idolater, the creature who would fashion our own god. When we were born we are born to worship and no matter what, we will worship. The human soul will find an object of worship, we will find one. Either we find it on the shelf, on the altar, in the mirror, or in the heavens.

B. Even atheists worship. Their God may not be in the heavens but it is in creation. It is humans. Humanism gets the glory. So much in the world stealing the glory and worship due to God and God alone. And we because of deception and our sin nature continue to destroy the image of God in us and destroy the rightful worship of the living God in sin.

C. Sin is a reality and the distortion of our minds continue. We sin in action and even sin in our imaginations. We have been adulterers and unfaithful in our worship. Yes all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

D. But there is good news for us today.