Hi Ya’ll,

Hard to believe it is February already! And what a way to kick it off, so to speak, with a memorable Super Bowl. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves too.

So, this week I want to talk about the 2nd Commandment given at Mount Sinai by God to Moses approximately 3,400 years ago, (circa 1445 B.C). If you want to crack open your Bible and read it too, go to…

Exodus 20:4-5a You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…

Okay, so what are idols?

They are objects of worship.

Okay, so what is worship?

To worship is to revere, to give your devotion to, to bow down to, to offer praise for, etc.

So really, we are not to worship anything that takes the place of God in our lives. This sounds pretty simple and easy to comprehend, but there are some far-reaching issues here…

In terms of love, forsaking idols and their worship means we remain faithful to our God. He Himself likens idolatry to adultery. The Israelites over and over and over and over again forsook God and embraced idols. The OT recounts many times such painful abandonment of the one true God for other false gods.

God’s people, the priests even, forsook God. Now imagine this; the wonderful temple in Jerusalem, where God manifested His glory from time to time, where the Ark of the Covenant was housed, where the unimaginable treasures were stored, so on and so forth… Okay. Here’s a prophet named Ezekiel. God is giving Ezekiel real-time visions of what is going on at the great temple of Almighty God in Jerusalem. Then this:

Ezekiel 8:16-17 Then He (God) brought me (Ezekiel) into the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men (24 priests and the High-priest) with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves (bowing) eastward toward the sun. He (God) said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly?…”

The whole order of the priesthood, the spiritual shepherds and teachers of the people, were worshiping the created sun, not the Creator of the sun. Not good! Very not good!

Israel to this day is suffering from their apostasy…

Think of other idols or misrepresentations of the true God or anyone or anything that people have bowed down inwardly towards… The Greeks had a lot; Aphrodite, Apollo, Dionysus, etc. The Romans had a lot; Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Cupid… and even the Caesars were worshipped!

There are yet other idols… the Indians, the Mayans, the Eskimos, the Druids, the Vikings had their own deities in the form of earthen spirits and all manner of birds, beetles and fish.

Closer to home we got people who “idolize” money, celebrities, religious leaders, sex, drugs, music, and on and on and on. But you know what an even closer form of idolatry is?

Self-worship.

Yessiree! Good ‘ole me! How does self-worship present itself? Have you heard…

“Ain’t no one gonna tell me what to do!”
“I’m looking out for number one.”
“I’m the boss of my life.”

The sin of pride demands we elevate ourselves. And such things as self- denial shall not be spoken of! We deserve a break today, for I want it my way!

Pride is so deeply embedded and hidden in our character to be noticed easily. It is a bit more noticeable in our reactions to when we are not getting what we want.

What does Jesus say about our loving ourselves so much?

Luke 9:23-24 And He (Jesus) was saying to them all (the disciples), “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he (or she) must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”

Wow! What say ye?

Peace,
Jim