Word of Salvation – June 2010
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT, John de Hoog
(Sermon 3 in a series on the Ten Commandments)
Text – Exodus 20:4-6
Reading – Colossians 1:13-23
Singing: – BOW 95a, 379, 116a, 388, “Ancient of Days”, “You are my all in all”
One of the most important questions you can ask yourself is how you are going to relate to God. How is your relationship with God from day to day going to be defined? It’s OK to have knowledge about God; that’s really important. And it’s crucial that you decide that God is going to have priority in your life. That’s what the First Commandment is about – having no other gods in the place of the One True God. But now the Second Commandment addresses a slightly different issue. How are you going to relate to God from day to day?
To help us to put our finger on this question, I’d like us to think about two occasions when Israel clearly broke the Second Commandment. Stories are often a really good way to get a handle on truth, especially when the stories are true! So then, two stories about Israel breaking the Second Commandment.
The first comes during these days when Israel is there camped at the foot of Mt Sinai. We can pick up the story in Exodus 32. Moses has gone up Mt Sinai to receive the law in detail from the Lord, and he has been away about 40 days. See what happens in the Israelite camp at the foot of Mt Sinai.
Exodus 32:1-6 “When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ Aaron answered them, ‘Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.’ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.’ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterwards they sat down to eat and drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.”
Which commandment were the Israelites breaking, the first or the second? Were they seeking to serve other gods, or were they seeking to serve the Lord by using an image to represent him? It’s hard to know what the people in general meant, but Aaron obviously wanted to keep what was happening within the bounds of serving the Lord. He built an altar before the golden calf, he announced a festival to the Lord, and the next day he sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. At least from Aaron’s perspective, he was still trying to serve the Lord. But he ended up breaking the Second Commandment.
When you think about it, it’s not hard to see that the people had been breaking the Second Commandment all along in their relationship with Moses. The reason they want a physical representation of God, a god with a face, is that Moses has now been absent for about forty days. They had been relying on Moses for their relationship with God. In a sense, Moses was the image of God to them! They had already been breaking the Second Commandment in how they were seeing Moses. Without Moses, they couldn’t see the substance of their relationship with God, and so when Moses disappears they think they need some other physical representation of God. They imagine that without the physical representation they won’t have access to God or to his power.
You might see it today with a person who strings up a little image of St Christopher on the mirror of his car. St Christopher is the patron saint of travellers in the mythology of saints. To have an image of St Christopher hanging in your car gives you access to the power of St Christopher to keep you safe on the road. It’s the same kind of thinking.
This is why the pagan people in Israel’s day made physical representations of their gods. They thought that having the image in their home or in their temple (or maybe in their chariot) could give them access to the power of the god. They thought they could use the gods, and employ them for what they wanted.
Here is the crux of what the Lord is forbidding in the second commandment. Do not make for yourselves idols to relate to me. Don’t think you can use me for what you want.
The second story about Israel breaking the second commandment is found in 1 Samuel 4.
1 Samuel 4:1-11. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?”
When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hands of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!”
So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
What was the attitude of the Philistines when they heard about the ark of God? They thought a god had come into the camp, a powerful god, and this put them at some disadvantage, and they would have to redouble their efforts to get over this disadvantage. The Philistines had a totally pagan understanding of the power of this god. But now, what was the Israelite view of what was happening? Can you see that they had the exactly the same attitude as the Philistines! They adopted a pagan view of God as well!
Israel thought that having the ark of the Lord with them would guarantee God’s power for their use. The ark was their special lucky charm; it would automatically bring God’s power with it. Their thinking was pagan. They were breaking the Second Commandment, thinking they could use God for their own purposes, to pull the right strings so that he would do what they wanted. But God is no lucky charm! God can’t be used that way! God allowed Israel to be defeated, to teach them that he cannot be used.
These two stories reveal the question the Second Commandment asks of us. How are you going to relate to God?
Let’s suppose for a moment that you are a pagan and you’re going to create an image to represent God. Maybe you could be like Aaron and make a golden calf. What would a golden calf reveal about God? Well, it might show that he is powerful, though perhaps a bull would be better. But could it represent his grace? Or his mercy? Or his justice? OK, let’s try something else. To represent God’s wrath, his anger against sin, you could create a statue with a face so angry that it makes you tremble just to look at it. But how could you at the same time represent his love? You’d need another statue to show him with a smiling, welcoming face. But now, which one is the best representation? Or take the tenderness of God…
No! Stop! You can see it’s an impossible task. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand why pagan nations multiplied their idols and had many gods, does it!
None of the possible statues or idols of God can hope to properly embody a true view of God. Indeed, every time you try, you are actually only representing God according to your own imagination. You are actually making a god in your own image, according to what you think, with you at the very centre of how you will relate to God!
Now of course in 21st century Australia we don’t make images of God do we! We don’t make little statues to represent this aspect or that aspect of God. We don’t make images of God do we!
Oh yes we do! Maybe not physical images, but what about our imaginations? Image and imagination are very similar words, and we make images of God in our imaginations all the time.
“Oh, I don’t like to think of God as someone who sends people to hell.” “Oh, I don’t like to think of God as someone who set his electing love on some people and not on others from before the foundation of the world.” “Oh, I don’t like to think of God as someone who is angry at my decisions about how I spend my money or use my time.”
OK, how do you like to think of God? “Oh, I like to think that he is against abortion and homosexuality and stem cell research, but that he doesn’t expect me to do anything about it apart from vote against politicians who support them.” “I like to think of God as someone who is always loving and gracious, who will always accept me and who places no demands on me.” “I like to think of God as someone who will always come through for me as long as I trust him.” But what if he doesn’t come through as you want him to this time? What if he doesn’t heal your son? “Oh, that will mean I didn’t have enough faith.”
This kind of thinking can get into our minds in subtle ways. When I served in a church in Hawkesbury in Sydney in the 1990s, a Billy Graham crusade by satellite was being organised. Billy would speak via satellite beamed to venues around Sydney. Huge prayer meetings were organised, including 24 hour meetings. The idea of these prayer meetings was expressed using words like, “We’ll flood the Hawkesbury Valley with the power of prayer”, and “We’ll release the power of God in our midst by our unity and persistence in prayer.”
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not at all against Christians meeting together in prayer. It is a very Biblical and God-honouring thing to do. But we need to think carefully about what we are doing in such meetings. Are we really “releasing the power of God” through such prayers? Are we really able to organise when and where God’s power will be released by our efforts? I don’t think so! God surely does bless his people when they meet together in prayer. But we should not think of our huge prayer gatherings as ways to orchestrate God, ways to twist his arm so that he will release his power. That’s just another way of breaking the Second Commandment!
Pause
The Second Commandment asks us how we will relate to God. There are basically three options here, which actually come down to just two options. The three options are: 1. we won’t relate to God at all; 2. we’ll relate to him on our terms, with ourselves at the centre; 3. we’ll relate to him on his terms, with him at the centre. You have to take one of these three options.
The first option is that we won’t relate to God at all. We’ll just ignore him. God isn’t really relevant; he’s just a figment of some people’s imaginations. That first option is taken by the majority of people in Australia today. And I guess it’s a feasible option for the length of a lifetime, but in eternity that option falls away. In eternity, no one will be able to say, “There is no God”!
And even in this lifetime, something or someone will be your god. There will be something or someone that will consume your time, talent and treasure, something or someone to whom or to which you will give your passion… and that will be your god. That will be your self-defined god! And you will be relating to God on your own terms.
Ultimately, the first option, we won’t relate to God at all, falls away. God made you. He is Creator, you are the creature; you cannot help but relate to him. Option 1 certainly disappears in eternity, and it must also disappear in this life. In this life it actually merges with the second option – we will relate to God on our own terms, with ourselves at the centre.
Let’s look at this second option: We will relate to God on our own terms, with ourselves at the centre. We might adopt a Santa Claus image of God: God must come through for us, he will always give us the presents we ask for, and if he doesn’t we’ll stop believing in him. Or we might assume a Cosmic Policeman image of God: He’s going to punish all those terrible people who seem to run the world, and what we have to do is hold on tight and persevere to the end and we’ll be OK. Or we might take up a Benign and Kindly Old Man image of God: God rains down blessings upon us but he doesn’t really expect me to commit any time or money or other resources to serving him.
In following Option 2, no matter what image of God we take up, we will always keep ourselves in the centre, because, we think, God exists to serve us. Option 2 breaks the Second Commandment.
You can’t help but relate to God in some way or other, but under option 2, keeping yourself in the centre, the god you are relating to is a false image of God.
So think about what this means. When you break the Second Commandment you break the First Commandment too! The god you think you are relating to is a different god, he is no longer the One True God of heaven and earth. You have a different god before him!
That only leaves us with the third option. We’ll relate to God on his terms, with him at the centre. We’ll let his truth about himself determine how we relate to him.
The True God, the One… True… God wants so much more for you than a life of denying the truth about God! We must never create a false image of God, certainly not physically, but also not in our imaginations. We cannot create an image of God, but God has provided an image for us. God has given us a perfect image of himself for us to relate to. That perfect image of God is Jesus Christ.
Col 1:13 “[God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God…” And in vs 19, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.”
Jesus Christ is the image of God, who reveals God to us so that we can know the truth about God. Jesus Christ is himself God, God the Son, who reveals God the Father to us. If you want to know the truth about God, look at Jesus Christ.
Jesus said it so magnificently in Matthew 11:27ff. “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me , all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
What would it mean in practical everyday life to make Jesus the image of God for us? Let’s take a couple of examples.
Suppose you imagine that you can serve God and be saved by him, but that he never makes any demands on you. Suppose you think that you can make your own decisions about how you use your time and your money. What you have in your mind is a false view of God. You have created an image of God in your imagination that is all gift and no demand.
Now put Jesus into that situation as the true image of God. Replace your false image of God with the true image of God. Jesus says in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
What did it mean for Jesus to take up his cross? It meant that he died to himself; he gave up his life so that we might live. But now he says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” If anyone is going to follow Jesus and so relate to God properly, he must daily give up his life for God. Not just his money and his time, but his very life! The Second Commandment asks how you will relate to God. The answer Jesus gives in this instance is, “You can only relate to God properly by making him the very centre of your life, by giving him your life, by making all your decisions about your life with him in the most important place.”
Let’s take one more example. Suppose you think that God could never love a sinner like you. You get caught up with the same sin again and again, and you never seem to improve. How can God love me! You have a false picture of God – you think that God can’t or won’t love you until you come up to scratch.
Now put Jesus into the situation as the true image of God. See him having dinner with tax collectors and sinners, much to the disgust of the spiritual gurus. See him touching a man with leprosy. See him forgiving a woman caught in adultery. See him healing on the Sabbath. See him restoring his disciple Peter, even after he swore back and blue that he didn’t know Jesus. See him saying to Zacchaeus, “I have come to seek and to save the lost.” And with that true picture of God, can you continue to believe that God could never love a sinner like you?
To obey the Second Commandment, your job is to make God the centre of your life rather than yourself the centre of your life.
And your job is to look to Jesus in all the troubles and all the questions of your life and to see God and to understand God in him. Don’t ask first, “What would Jesus do?” Ask first, “What does Jesus show me about God?”
He is the image of the invisible God. Come to him, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light, and you will find rest for your souls.
Amen