Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk;
Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.” Ps. 115
Although I’ve long since forgotten where I saw it, I remember a cartoon that showed a well-dressed middle-aged couple kneeling before a huge, golden, dollar sign. They were worshiping the sign and the woman said, “I was happier when we were Presbyterian!” Happier, for sure, because money doesn’t listen, or talk, or care at all. Jesus noted that it is impossible to worship both God and money and he warned against the love of money again and again.
A God who gives life and restores life. A God who listens to prayers and invites us to listen to him. A God who gave his Son so we would live… or an idol made of wood and stone? It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s not. Many people prefer to worship themselves instead of a God whom they can’t see or control. Many people, even more, prefer to store their treasure on Wall Street, where they can see it, rather than in heaven, where it’s in God’s hands. Many of us would be just as quick to demand a golden idol as the Israelites were in our passage today, which comes from the 24 chapter of Exodus. You know the story. When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they cried, “Come, make us gods[ who will go before us. And Aaron, who could’ve reminded that they were in God’s hands- the same God who had parted the sea for them, answered appeased them instead, “Bring me the gold earrings that your wives and children are wearing, he said, and when they did, he proclaimed, “These are your gods, who brought you up out of Egypt!” It was an absurd and pathetic violation of the 2nd commandment and God lost his patience with them. “Stand back,” he said to Moses, while I destroy this people and I will start again with you. But in one of his finest moments, Moses asked God to forgive their sin… or blot him out of the book he had written.
It’s a powerful passage which invites us to ask ourselves a few questions: Do we ever become impatient with God? How long will we keep the faith if our leader is gone and our God is silent? How often are we tempted to take matters into our own hands and to place our trust in the things we can see and hold? God was powerful, the Israelites knew that, but he also seemed unreliable. They needed a god, even a small god, who would always be with them and never give them cause to worry, How about us? How small is the God we worship? In the 12-Step world, someone told me that your god is that person or thing that you can’t imagine living without. Your idol is the person or thing that you think about every day. It is the person or thing that you count on in times of sorrow and need, and it is the person or thing you turn to when it is time to celebrate. As Tim Keller states in his book Counterfeit Gods, an idol is “anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, and anything that you seek to give you what only God can give.”
1. Alcohol
From 1965 to 1976, my idol was alcohol. I needed it daily. I would go out of my way to get it and I would get frantic if it wasn’t around. I loved it. I thought about it constantly. and I couldn’t imagine life without it. It drove me to abandon my best self and to compromise my principles. For me, alcohol was my servant, my friend, and finally my master, but there are many idols contending for our worship.
2. Self
The theologian, Karl Barth, noted that we are prone to worship ourselves in a loud voice and pretend that we are worshiping God. Kenneth Hought with Stephen Ministries notes that we are all tempted to worship the “omnipotent baby within,” the little god who wants what he/she wants…right now! We are tempted to worship ourselves and our own needs and agendas, and if worshiping Christ jeopardizes that, we simply leave Christ behind. Worshiping ourselves won’t work, of course, because we are hopelessly flawed.
3. Security
Security is one of our most basic needs, whether we’re talking about getting in from the rain, earning enough to get our daily bread, or saving enough to make things work when we are old. Feeling secure is a basic need, whether we’re talking about binkies for babies, or simply believing that the one we love will be with us tomorrow. Jesus knew that we needed to feel secure, but he said that God would keep us secure. Jesus said that we should not panic when we are in the valley of death, or worry about tomorrow, which is God’s time!
4. Wealth
God’s biggest competitor is money, which is a bit like alcohol because it takes our souls and rules our lives. In it’s most basic form, money is nothing more than a currency that allows us to obtain things that we couldn’t grow or make. Money serves us, then it walks with us, and then it has its way with us. We count it. We watch it grow and it leads us to believe that we are somebody special. Money and self-worth have been hopelessly intertwined forever, which is why the first thing we often ask when we meet someone is: what do you do? But we are only rich when we store our treasure up in heaven.
Well, I could go on and on because the list of people and things that we are prone to worship is long, and it varies between people, and within the same person at different points in his/her lives. But I will conclude by asking you to consider what might be an idol in your own lives.
1. Is there anything for which you would sacrifice your beliefs?
2. Will you get angry if you can’t have or experience it?
3. Do you value it over people in your lives?
4. Does it bring you closer to God or make your relationship with God more difficult?
Was it a sin for an impatient people who had spent their entire lives in a culture where gold idols were worshiped to worship one themselves? Was it a sin for Aaron, who had seen the awesome power of God and who knew exactly where his brother was, to proclaim that a hunk of gold was the god who had delivered them? Of course. It was a sin because it “missed the mark,” and violated the 2nd Commandment directly. But the greater truth is that, while we don’t worship golden calves in the 21st century, we are prone to worship ourselves and the people and things that we think we cannot live without. Let us make sure that we are without sin before we throw the first stone. Amen!
October 2, 1976 is my Sobriety Birthday, which means that it has been 44 years since alcohol tempted and controlled me. Good riddance! God is good.
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