Reject All Substitutes

This evening we continue our series on the Ten Commandments — entitled, “Accent the Positive” — as we continue our meditation on the First Commandment.

Our text is from Exodus 20:4

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Ex 20:4). Let us pray,

“These are Thy Words O Lord. Help us, and sanctify us in the truth; Thy Word is truth. Amen.”

There has been a dispute over the centuries regarding if this is part of the First Commandment, or if it is the Second Commandment. Luther accepted the Roman Catholic numbering of his day and included this prohibition of carved idols with the First Commandment from the previous verse: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). The earliest Hebrew traditions also had this numbering.

But today, a pro-life speaker will note that abortion is against the Sixth Commandment. Lutherans and Roman Catholics in the crowd might scratch their heads trying to figure out what adultery has to do with abortion. Well, no longer will you scratch with them! Because, you will recall from this sermon that some Protestants number the Commandments differently, and their number 6 is our number 5: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

The commandment we are examining this evening — whatever its number — is why you will not see banners, symbols, or even crosses in many Protestant churches. The walls will be bare—because there should be no idol, or, as the King James Version and Revised Standard Version of the Bible say, no graven image. This is also true of Jewish synagogues, where only phrases and verses from the Torah adorn the walls.

Sin Is Birthed In the Heart

The real sin against this commandment is found in the sinful state of our heart.

When Prince Frederick hid Luther in the castle at Wartburg because he was banned by the emperor, Luther heard that the reformers left in Wittenberg — Andreas Karlstadt and Thomas Muntzer — were preaching against graven images; they started the first Iconoclastic movement. They advocated removing and destroying all statues of saints and all crucifixes in churches because they were objects of superstition and would cause people to trust in the image instead of in God.

Luther’s reaction was immediate and fierce. Despite the ban that allowed anyone to kill him as an outlaw, he bolted from the Wartburg Castle and stormed to the pulpit in Wittenberg. He said the Reformation was not about changing church architecture. He said, “There is only one idol that must be broken. That is the idol in the human heart. Once that idol is broken, the statues will be seen for what they are—remembrances of inspiring saints from the past. If we destroy those statues, though, we’ll think that is the Reformation, and we’ll never get to the point of it—a change of heart” (paraphrase).

Sin Makes Replacements for God

Our sinful nature causes us to make idols of what should remind us of God.

That raises the real issue involved with graven images. You may recall that the Israelites had disobeyed God, and He sent a plague of poisonous snakes to chastise them. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and erect it in the center of the camp. (That, by the way, is the origin of the snake as a medical symbol.) If the people looked at the serpent, they would be healed. God used the serpent to remind people to look to God’s power for healing.

Four centuries later, however, we read that King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18) was reforming pagan practices in Israel. One of the images people were worshiping was a bronze serpent! He had it smashed. What began as a useful reminder of God’s power, had become an an idol to replace God.

This still happens today. Psalm 19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (v 1). Nature is a reminder of God’s great power and goodness. But people today, especially in New Age religions, turn nature into a replacement for God. Nature is God’s handiwork. People stand in awe before the handiwork, instead of giving glory to its Maker. Nature becomes a graven image, an idol, a replacement for God, instead of a glorious reminder of God’s beauty and goodness.

We also idolize our superstitions. Often there is no thirteenth floor in hotels or multilevel office buildings. Friday the 13th, horoscopes, and rabbit’s feet that further amplify our superstitions.

Are these forces greater than God? No, they are figments of our imagination—graven images and replacements of God.

Even good things can become graven images replacing God. A child is a great blessing from God, but that child should not be the center, the be-all and end-all, of our life. A child should remind us of God’s goodness, not become our god. This is true also for our devotion to our spouse, our country, our job, or a cause or recreational activity. It is okay to be devoted to good things, like motorcycles, but never at the cost of our devotion to God.

Only God Gives Life and Salvation

You see, only God can be our marvelous Creator, perfect Savior, and comforting Spirit.

God says, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” Why? Because an idol cannot do for you what God can, does, and will always do.

No idol created you with a vision for your life.

No idol took the punishment of your sins upon himself.

No idol can do these things.

Only God himself is the Creator and that perfect sacrifice for sin.

No idol has risen from the dead and ascended to heaven to prepare a place for you for all eternity, and now intercedes to the Father on your behalf.

No idol has promised to return and take you to be with him.

No idol could fill you with his Spirit to inspire and direct your life—to fill it with “the fruit of the Spirit . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Gal 5:22–23).

No Man-Made Substitute Can Be Our God like the One Who Saved Us from Our Sins.

Idols are things or, perhaps, creatures like you and me—God’s creations; they are not God. They are not what we “fear, love, and trust above all things.” Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt 24:35). This eternal, never-failing Word tells us,

“You are mine; I will never let you go; be not afraid; I am with you; for I am your God.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.