Worship Matters

The story of Paul arriving in Athens…the glory of Greece…cultural diversity…exchange of ideas and deep contemplations.

Yet we read that Acts 17:16 “…his spirit was provoked within him…” Why? He noticed the city was full of idols…

They were really “into their worship” of their gods.

They even had an idol to an unknown god”.

He saw religiosity/sincerity/fervency…

but these are NOT a measure of truth. Paul knew the only worship that matters is worship of the one true God.

In all their learnedness, sophistication needed TRUTH

They needed to KNOW the one true and living God and HOW He alone is to be worshipped.

We are in

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.

“You shall have no other gods before me…”

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image…”

“You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” Exodus 20:3-5 (with an important difference)

The first command is about WHO you worship.

The second command is about HOW you worship.

The first is very clear…NO OTHER GODS!

The second forbids IMAGES in worshipping the one true God.

This would be a constant problem for God’s people…Ex. Aaron made a golden calf…the people said: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt,” (built an altar)…” Exodus 32:4-5

So, let’s take a closer look at this 2nd commandment

And see what it means for us today?

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1. Notice The RULE… Exodus 20:4 (Note: 2 parts to the command)

Part 1…You shall not MAKE an IDOL (image)…

First…“a carved (graven) image (pesel=idol)…”

an image used to worship God…i.e. statues/icons and much more.

“An idol is…any object used to represent God for worship…becomes more important than God…it absorbs your heart and imagination…anything that you seek to give you what only God can give.” T. Keller

Note how specific…no carved image…or any likeness of anything…

“in heaven above” i.e.angels/demons-sun/moon/stars-birds/insects “in the earth beneath”…i.e. animals, cows, dogs, cats and man. “in the water under the earth…” i.e. fish, crocodiles or turtles…etc

I.e. DO NOT MAKE an idol in the form of ANYTHING in the natural/material/spiritual world.

What is wrong with “making an image of God” for worship? (Would it not help?)

Note the word “image” (“pesel”)…is related to the word “imagination”

How can we possibly IMAGINE God adequately?

We simply cannot. (Why? imaginations differ)

When we try to IMAGINE what God looks like…

We are TRYING to make Him understandable, conceivable…

Trying to bring Him DOWN to our level…at best we DISTORT Him. When we do this we OBSCURE His glory!

So…idolatry is wrong…

Because…it gives a distorted image of who God truly is.

We must worship God as He is revealed in His Word,

and NOT according to our imagination.

“I imagine God to be like…” = ALWAYS dangerous territory.

Make no mistake…it doesn’t really matter how you or I “like” to THINK of God. It doesn’t matter how we imagine Him to be…

What matters is WHO God has REVEALED Himself to be…

in His Word.

Part 2…You shall NOT WORSHIP Idols... Exodus 20:5

The second part is “You shall not bow down to them or serve them.”

3 reasons NOT to worship an image of God.

(Thomas Watson, 1600’s English Puritan Non-Conformist (rebel to the Church of England)

First…it is IMPOSSIBLE…to represent God accurately by an image…Isaiah 40:25 God says: “‘To whom then will you compare Me? Or who is my equal’ says the Holy One.” [YOU CAN’T!]Second…it is ABSURD or irrational to worship an image of God. [TO TRY IS SILLY!] See Isaiah 44:9-20Third…it is UNLAWFUL for you to worship an image of God…Exodus 20:5 [IT’S UNLAWFUL!]

Some may ask: “What about religious art?

(ex.What about the beautiful crosses/pictures of Jesus?)

The best answer is found in the key phrases of this passage… “images” = “idols” “you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”

Remember an idol…replaces the worship of God…it absorbs your heart and imagination.

To be clear…there is nothing wrong with religious symbols or artwork just by themselves.

Later in Exodus 31 God will commission 2 artists Bezalel and Oholiab to design and craft the furniture of the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant according to…God’s design…God’s way…

The problem happens when the picture/depiction becomes a substitute for our worship…we worship the object rather than God

Man…always finds it difficult to worship a God he cannot see…so we tend to substitute God with something else…maybe a symbol, artifact or statue.

Ex: God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent in the wilderness. Numbers 21:6-9…nothing wrong with it…it saved, it pointed…but people began to worship teh bronze serpent as an idol. See 2 Kings 18:4

God did not intend for the bronze serpent… to be worshipped.

It was to show His power to heal…and pointed to Christ on the cross.

But God’s people corrupted it into an idol.

BTW…This is why we do NOT worship the cross…we love the cross…we do NOT worship the church…we love the church…Bible…we may even have paintings (artists conceptions) of Jesus…

we do NOT worship them…if we do…then we’d be breaking the second commandment.

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2. Notice The REASON… Exodus 20:5b

Because God is…a JEALOUS God…

What does it mean that God is “a jealous God?” Isn’t jealousy wrong? (often confused with envy)

God has a holy jealousy…a zeal for what is rightfully His.

“Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Exodus 34:14

God demands total faithfulness from His people

But they provoked Him to jealousy by their idolatry.

“They made Him jealous with their foreign gods and angered Him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God...gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear.” Deuteronomy 32:16-17

Almost the entire history of Israel in the OT is a chronicle of a struggle with idolatry.

See also: “spiritual adultery” Ezekiel 23:37; Isaiah 42:8 “I don’t give My glory to any other.”

QUOTE: A. Rogers gives a great illustration why it’s wrong to worship an image of God: “Suppose a woman walks into a room and finds her husband embracing another woman. He sees his wife out of the corner of his eye and says, “Now wait a minute, honey. Don’t get the wrong idea here. Let me tell you what I was doing. This woman is so beautiful, she reminded me of you. I was really just thinking of you when I was embracing her.” There’s not a woman in America who would buy that, including my wife, Joyce! And God doesn’t buy it either when we worship something else and say, “Now, Lord, wait a minute. Don’t get the wrong idea here. I was only worshiping this thing because it reminds me of You. I’m really worshiping You.” No, you really aren’t. That’s what the 2nd command is about. (A. Rogers, “Ten Secrets For a Successful Family”, pp.44-45)

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3. Notice The WARNING… Exodus 20:5c

“visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me.”

“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.” (NLT)

This is NOT a CURSE on children…but God warns this as the EFFECT we have on our children. (+/-)

v.5 It is is a serious and strong warning for PARENTS to…

get our worship of God right.

Why? Because the influence of false worship and idolatry is passed down from generation to generation.

Make sure you know…YOUR personal walk with the Lord affects your family for good or for evil.

If you have a scattered impression of God based on your own imagination…that’s what you will hand down to your kids. Your imagination instead of the truth of God’s Word. This is serious stuff!

Parents…have a great responsibility to teach their children ACCURATELY about God as revealed in His Word…this means YOU must read & study the Bible for yourself.

(The images of God we create…falsify the truth of God)

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4. Notice The PROMISE… Exodus 20:6

Notice…God’s consequences for those who hate/reject Him

may stretch out for 3 or 4 generations…

but His love for those who love Him and follow Him…

…extends to thousands of generations.

God DELIGHTS in showing MERCY…Micah 7:18 “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love.”

God is slow to anger…

God is always ready to forgive…

God’s mercy is far greater than your sin could ever be!

Notice this promise is given to those who love and keep

God’s commandments. Jesus said:

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15

True love for God always results in obedience to God.

You and I may never offer God perfect obedience…but that’s why Jesus Christ died for our sins. He looks at your/my heart.

He knows your/my desire to obey Him.

Proverbs 20:7 “The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.”

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How Might We Commit Idolatry Today?

I firmly believe anything can become an idol…

Remember what an idol is:

An idol becomes more important than God…

An idol absorbs our heart and imagination…

An idol is anything that we seek to give me…what only God can give.

a. False Images of God…some have in their minds…an earthly father …and it interferes with truly knowing their Heavenly Father.

For some He is the “Big Guy in the Sky”, “Old Man Upstairs”

Or a kind old grandfather? Old grump spoiling all our fun?

These are FALSE images of God… (seek to depict God within the limits of our imagination) Solomon built a beautiful Temple for God and he prayed in 1 Kings 8:27 “Will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!”.

~ Some place God in a box…put Him on a shelf for Sunday's only. “As long as He makes me comfortable I’ll be comfortable with Him.”

~ Some go to church…but they really don’t want God to interfere with the rest of their week.

~ Some see God as a religious artifact…good to have when the storms come…rather than the Lord of the universe and all of life.

b. Greed and coveting...Colossians 3:5 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”

Greed = is idolatry = worshipping things instead of God.

Jesus said, “A man’s life is not measured by the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:15

People measure their life according to things they acquire…

…rather than according to their relationship with God.

c. Sexual impurity...Romans 1:18ff sexual impurity is "worshipping the created rather than the Creator.”

All forms of sexual impurity are identified as idolatry in Romans 1. Think about it.

When we substitute God’s design to accommodate our own desires…It is idolatry.

d. Superstition…Isaiah 2:6-8 When our confidence comes from a charm, tradition, ritual or relic...instead of God, we substitute an image for the reality. The Bible relates superstition to idolatry.

[Others? Self Identity…Ideology…Entertainment…Technology…we may put more trust in these than in God]

My identity, self esteem, self worth…not bad things

but they can become all-consuming things

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WRAP UP… Worship that matters…Jesus said: John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Note…an idol is not a spirit nor is it true. That means we MUST:

Worship God…for who He TRULY is…according to His holiness, love, mercy, grace, and power.Worship God…according to HIS WORD… pray, give thanks; songs of praises; read, preach, hear God’s Word; baptizing…Lord’s Supper; giving to the Lord; what God has commanded us to do and to be…in the worship of His holy name.Worship God…in CHRIST JESUS…The only way to have a true image of God...is thru Jesus. (Gospels)

Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God.” Hebrew 1:3 “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.” John 14:9 Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

When we break this command…we replace Jesus Christ, the true image of God with a false image.

If we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, we must worship God through Jesus his Son.

Challenge: Am I worshipping the true God of the universe, described in His Word…

Or am I worshipping a god of my own design?

Where do I spend my time, money…

Where do I get my joy and fulfillment?

What's always on my mind?