You Don't Want None Of This!

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.  Exodus 20:4-6

How often have you heard the danger signs that told you not to do something?  Growing up, I loved and respected both of my parents.  With my mom, she was tough minded.  You never wanted to get on her bad side.  I spent a good portion of a summer in my teen years being reminded of that.  Despite all that, nothing compared to the fear I had of my Dad.  No, he neither abused me nor hurt me.  He loved me with all his heart, and I have nothing but fond memories of him.  But there were a couple of memories that reminded me this was no man to mess with.  Think of a prize fight, and as one fighter tries to hype themselves up, they say to their opponent, “You don’t want none of this!”  I felt like that opponent facing my Dad, but I REALLY didn’t want any of that!  Watching my oldest brother being dealt with once, that was more than enough for me.  Eventually, I did get some of that.  Thankfully, it was only that once!

While we know God is loving, we must always remember that He is the leader of our lives, and we face peril should we put other things ahead of Him.  As God was giving the Ten Commandments to Moses and His people, our focus today is on the 2^nd commandment.  While the tendency is to view idols as something physical, most of us are spiritually mature enough to understand that idols are not always something you can touch.  Very early in my walk of faith, I went to a church new member’s class the day of a big football game.  Of course, I was torn because I’ve been a football fan all my life, but I knew going to the class was the right choice.  It was a testament of my decision to follow Christ.  That was easy to give up as an idol, but what about that idol that you sometimes never see coming?  For me, it’s the man in the mirror.  At times, my own needs and wants will supersede God’s, and I will put them before God.  To fight this tendency, I try to remember to be humble.  My focus is on God being an abundant giver which I do not deserve His provisions.  It’s the main reason Paul talked about humility in such a glowing way saying:

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.  Philippians 2:3-4 (NKJV)

In viewing the words of Paul, we can feel the gravity of our own actions for as written in this commandment, the gravity of our placing things before God goes beyond just us.  It goes to our next generations.  This is not to condemn us for through Jesus Christ, we are indeed redeemed.  But it is a direct reminder of how our placing God first in our lives can have exponential rewards or devastating consequences.  If you question God’s seriousness, note that God later said to Moses, “Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to rival me.” (Exodus 20:23) #settingthestage

While God’s love is unconditional, it does not mean our following Him is without expectations.  Jesus was perfect not because He took on our sins.  It was because He did what our Heavenly Father would ask of Him without fail or hesitation.  Thus, today’s verses are about following through on what God would ask of us.  Let us take up our crosses, and live for God as if our next generation depended on it.  Because it does.  How can we appreciate the gifts God has given us?  What idols may be blocking you from a closer relationship with God?  My prayer is that we follow Him less God have to tell us, “You don’t want none of this.”  Amen.

Representing Versus Idolizing

So, my dear friends, flee from the worship of idols.  You are reasonable people. Decide for yourselves if what I am saying is true. When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?  1 Corinthians 10:14-16

I wear a charm of a gold cross around my neck.  It is a symbol not to tell others that I am Christian.  It is a reminder to me of my commitment to Christ.  I have worn it now for nearly fifteen years, which is when I first was born again.  Every so often, I will look in the mirror and stare at it.  The design of it is simply beautiful, but it is not relevant.  It is but a symbol.  Not an idol.

Many on this holy week are deeply saddened by the burning of the church of Notre Dame.  Others are equally distraught by the burning of African American churches by a man in Louisiana.  Both are indeed tragic, but I had to ask myself.  What really matters?  Does a church burning in one place bare less significance than another?  How would God view these?  It has nothing to do with who goes to which church.  It has everything to do with people being displaced from the place where they praised God.  I must remember that the buildings are symbols of God, but they are not God.  That’s how you know whether your heart represents Him and not an idol of His.

We must focus on our heart with God to be able to discern a symbol from an idol.  There are many verses that speak about God disliking our worship of false idols.  In today’s verses, it speaks of something that is very easy to fall into the trap of symbolism becoming idolization.  When we say grace at meal time, do we think of it as sacred time to give thanks to God or just a ritual before we eat?  My wife and me push our children to say grace.  Even our grandchildren including the little ones say it.  It’s not because they are at the point where they have this deep relationship with Christ.  Instead, it is preparing them so when they ultimately make the decision to follow Him, they will go to Him with their hearts open and body filled with His spirit.  A pastor did something that really helped me make it more intimate than ritualistic.  In saying grace, he would pray for those who helped prepare the meal.  Whether it be my wife at home, family members at an outing, members at church, or the people at the local restaurant, it forces me to focus on those around me as a reminder that it is never about me.  It’s always about God and my neighbors.  This is how it became a symbol of my faith instead of a ritual of just words.  This is not to say everyone needs to change how they say grace.  What it says is we are to always check our faith meter whenever we do something.  Whether saying grace at the table, worshiping at church, or reading God’s word, we must always ensure we are understanding its intent and not just ‘going through the motions.’

There is a clear distinction between the relationship with and the things that represent God.  As we focus on Easter, we must remember to reflect on the love Jesus Christ had for us on the cross.  Not that He just died there for us.  Remember He rose to glory to show us a pathway to a relationship with Him.  Not that He just overcame death for our sins.  Our goal is to make clear our relationship with God has meaning and is not just saving grace for if the distinction seems blurry, we may very well have fallen out of the love for God and ventured into the love of those things that represent Him.  Jesus said, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”  We can appreciate the structure for its beauty.  Let’s not lose sight of what the church really is; the parishioners.  What aspect of your life needs an awakening?  How can you better distinguish between something representing God vs. it becoming God?  My prayer is that in all we do, we focus on representing Him and not idolizing the things of Him.  Amen.