SERIES: Ten Stupid Things People Do to Mess Up Their Lives
Worshiping God in the Wrong Way
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: Please turn with me to the Book of Exodus, chapter 20. We are going to read the first six verses:
“And God spoke all these words: ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.’”
On first reading one might think the second commandment is merely repeating the first, only using different words. But that is not the case. The first commandment forbids us from worshiping false gods. It can be summed up in three words: “No other Gods.” The second commandment focuses on the use of idols and images in worship and warns us even against worshiping the right God in the wrong way. It can also be summed up in three words: “No graven images.”
Now it is true that graven images sometimes represent false gods, and we dealt with that last week. But not all graven images represent false gods.
Some people use graven images to represent the true God.
More often than not, Israel set up high places and erected idols not to worship false gods but to worship the true God, only in a more tangible way. And there’s a certain rationale to that. After all, the God of Scripture is invisible. He is omnipresent, He is infinite, and He is Spirit. We, on the other hand, are visible, localized, finite, and while we have spirits, we also have bodies. There is a natural tendency in the human heart to bring God down to a level we can understand and “get a handle on.” Perhaps you’ve heard people say, “I need a God with skin on.”
Well, God understands this need, and, in fact, He accommodated Himself to this need through giving us “God with skin on.” I’m speaking of the incarnation of Christ. John 1:14 and 17 says,
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”
That last phrase, “has made him known,” employs the Greek verb “to exegete.” Some of you who are familiar with Bible interpretation know that exegesis is the science of drawing out of the text the meaning that is there. Jesus “exegeted” the Father for us. In fact, He is called “the express image of the invisible God” in Colossians 1:15.
But it’s one thing for God to offer us an image of Himself in the person of His Son Jesus; it’s quite another for us to add to that revelation with our own representations and symbols of what God is like. This He will not tolerate, yet people have been doing it throughout history.
The Golden Calf, for example, which was set up while Moses was up on Mt. Sinai waiting for God to give him the Ten Commandments, was meant as a visible symbol of Yahweh, the mighty God who had brought Israel out of Egypt. I think this is evident from Exodus 32:5: “Aaron built an altar in front of the calf and announced, ‘Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.’” They were not worshiping a golden calf; they were not even worshiping a pagan god with that golden calf; they were just using a golden calf as an aid in their worship of the true God. No doubt they thought their image was honoring God as a fitting symbol of His great strength. But sadly…,
Images designed as aids to worship always become detriments. There are branches of Christianity that today make extensive use of icons, holy relics, crucifixes, and other such religious objects in worship. The reasoning behind such practices is that icons serve to remind the worshiper of the spiritual realities they represent. They may even be necessary for the “common folk” who are not trained in philosophy or skilled in abstract thinking.
I once attended a funeral at an Eastern Orthodox Church in Wichita where there was a picture of a saint in the foyer. As the worshipers filed in, many would stop at the picture, cross themselves, or even kiss the picture. Afterwards I asked my friend who attended that church to explain why they worshiped icons, and his answer was, “We don’t worship icons, we venerate them; we worship what the icon represents.”
But I believe there is an extremely fine line in the average person’s thinking between what they venerate and what they worship, a line so fine that it may not even exist. Visual aids for learning are a great asset, but visual aids for worship can be dangerous. William Barclay writes that nothing is easier to understand than the process by which an aid to worship comes to be worshiped:
“God is unseen, a spirit and a power invisible to the eyes of men. It is very hard for simple people to remember and to think about, and to worship, an unseen god. Well, then, let us try to make it a little easier for people. So we make a little image which is meant in the first place to remind us of God when we look at it…. The first intention is that by looking at the image we can better focus our thoughts on the God for whom it stands. But bit by bit the image ceases to represent God and begins to take the place of God.”[i]
Now you might ask, as Israel undoubtedly did, “What harm is there in the worshiper surrounding himself with statues and pictures, if they help him lift his heart to God? Why not treat it as simply a question of taste? Some churches are liturgical and employ religious symbols heavily; others are non-liturgical and avoid most religious symbols. Each person should choose what fits his temperament. If images, icons, and crucifixes help some people focus their thoughts on Christ when they pray, why should we object? After all, the second commandment is probably just talking about immoral and degrading representations of God, such as those borrowed from pagan cults.”
But the very wording of the commandment rules out such thinking. God says quite categorically, “You shall not make any likeness of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” This is not intended as forbidding all artwork, rather as forbidding us from depicting God as an animal, or an object from nature, or even as the highest creation we know–a human. Visible representations of God are not an aid to worship but a hindrance to it.
Historically, Christians have differed as to whether the second commandment forbids even the use of pictures of Jesus for purposes of teaching and instruction, and the question is not an easy one to settle. Jesus was God, but He was also man and had a body. My personal view is that pictures of Jesus are not essentially detrimental, but that any use of such pictures in worship is forbidden.
Why is God so adamant about this, to the point He attaches frightening sanctions to the violation of this commandment? You did notice, didn’t you, that he proclaims His jealousy and promises severe punishment on transgressors, and not just to the transgressors themselves, but even to their children to the 3rd and 4th generations? God will defend and insist on His rightful place at the center of the universe and on the throne of His creatures’ hearts. He will resist anything that infringes on His position, and He applies awful sanctions to those who violate that.
God has created this universe in such a way that our actions have consequences, and those consequences don’t always die when we do. Parental influence is incredibly powerful, especially when it comes to idol worship. The good news is that the sinful generational chain can be broken by anyone who abandons idols and chooses to love and obey the living God, for it also says right here in verse 4,“I am the Lord your God … showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”[ii]
But let me return to the point I was making. Why is this matter of making images of such critical concern to God? It is because there is a paradox regarding images, and it is this: what is created as an aid to worship almost always becomes a detriment to it. Let me share two reasons for this which are discussed in detail by J. I. Packer in his powerful book, Knowing God.[iii] First…,
Images dishonor God for they obscure His glory. The likeness of things in heaven and on earth and in the sea is precisely not a likeness of their Creator. “A true image of God,” wrote John Calvin, “is not to be found in all the world; and hence … His glory is defiled, and His truth corrupted by the lie, whenever He is set before our eyes in visible form.”[iv] The problem is not just that an image represents God as having a body and parts, whereas in reality he has neither; the problem is that pictures and images of God conceal most, if not all, of the truth about the personal nature and character of the divine Being whom they purport to represent.
The Golden Calf, for example, actually insulted God, for it failed completely to convey any idea of His moral character, His righteousness, goodness, patience, sovereignty, etc. God is not just strength; He also has these other attributes, which one could never gather from looking at a statue of a bull. Furthermore, Packer observes,
“In a similar way, the pathos of the crucifix obscures the glory of Christ, for it hides the fact of his deity, his victory on the cross, and his present kingdom. It displays his human weakness, but it conceals his divine strength; it depicts the reality of his pain, but keeps out of our sight the reality of his joy and his power.”[v]
I have in my billfold a driver’s license. It has my picture on it, but I don’t like the picture. I’ve hardly ever met anyone who likes the picture on his or her driver’s license. I think the clerks at these places take singular delight in snapping your picture at the worst possible moment. None of us likes to have in circulation poor pictures of ourselves. Similarly, God does not like a poor or false replica of Himself, which every image of deity inevitably is. Images are really unlikenesses of God, not likenesses.[vi]
Whatever we may think of religious art from a cultural standpoint (and who is not stunned by the beauty of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or the magnificent frescoes found in European cathedrals?), we should not look at pictures of God to show us His glory and move us to worship Him; for His glory is precisely what such pictures can never show us.
In Isaiah 40:18, after vividly declaring God’s immeasurable greatness, the Scripture asks us: “To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?” The question expects the answer, “None!” It is impossible to compare Him with anyone or anything. Michelangelo’s work may well reveal the glory of man, including his creativity and imagination. It may even serve to reveal the storyline of Scripture and cause us to understand better the plan of God for the ages. But it cannot accurately reveal the nature of God Himself!
Packer offers another reason why the use of images in worship is forbidden:
Images mislead men for they convey false ideas about God. Aaron, by making an image of the true God in the form of a bull, led the Israelites to think of Him as One who could be worshiped acceptably by frenzied debauchery. Thus, that famous worship service at the foot of Mt. Sinai became a shameful orgy. The Scripture tells us, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry” (1 Cor. 10:7). Later we are told, “Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.” (Exodus 32:25) Images always convey false, or at least imbalanced, notions of God.
Let’s go one step further and suggest that just as the second commandment forbids us to manufacture molten images of God, so it forbids us to dream up mental images of him. How often do we hear someone say something like this, “I don’t think of God as a Judge; I like to think of Him simply as a Father.” We know from experience how often remarks of this kind serve as the prelude to a denial of something the Bible tells us about God. I agree entirely with Packer, who says, “It needs to be said with the greatest possible emphasis that those who hold themselves free to think of God as they like are breaking the second commandment.”[vii]
You see, God is not the sort of person we are. His wisdom, His will, His ways, His values differ so vastly from our own that we cannot possibly guess our way to them by intuition or infer them by analogy from our world. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,” God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, “Neither are your ways my ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Paul speaks similarly, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Rom 11:33-34)
We cannot know Him unless He speaks and tells us about Himself. But, praise God, He has in factspoken. Through the Scriptures we may form a true notion of God; without it, we never can. Thus, it appears that the positive force of the second commandment is that it compels us to take our thoughts of God from His own Holy Word and from no other source. Later, in Deuteronomy 4, Moses himself reminds the people that at Sinai, though they saw tokens of God’s presence, they saw no visible representation of Him, but only heard His Word, and he exhorts them to continue to live, as it were, at the foot of the mountain, with God’s Word ringing in their ears to direct them, and with no supposed image of God before their eyes to distract them.
Friends, if we’re honest, I think we’ll have to admit that to the degree icons and images and various kinds of religious symbols have proliferated in certain churches, to almost the same degree the Word of God has been ignored. If you have icons, the Scripture seems less important; if you have the Scriptures, you don’t need icons, certainly not for worship.
A year ago, I stood in John’s grotto on the Isle of Patmos in western Turkey, where the Apostle is thought to have written his epistles and the Book of Revelation. In that cave there was a ledge in the solid rock that had been worn absolutely smooth by the kisses of tens of thousands of pilgrims coming to that spot to worship. I couldn’t help but think to myself, “How many of the people who have kissed the place where John laid his head have ever read his Gospel or the Revelation which he wrote while in exile there?” Have they ever considered these words from Rev. 22:18-19?
“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.?
Now I did not intend this sermon to be a polemic against any religious faith. Those of you who are regular attenders know that I am far more likely to speak against liberal Protestantism than Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, primarily because we have so much more in common theologically and morally with Catholicism and Orthodoxy. But I simply don’t know how to deal with the second commandment honestly and forthrightly without addressing these issues.
A few years ago, Neil Postman wrote a devastating critique of television called “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” His thesis is that different types of media encourage different ways of thinking. The printed word requires sustained attention, logical analysis, and an active imagination. But television, with its fast-moving images, encourages a short attention span, disjointed thinking, and purely emotional responses. The medium of communication actually helps shape the way people think, and he argues strongly for literacy over electronic media. (Note: How much more is this true in the digital and social media age of 2025!)
Postman says he first discovered this connection in the second commandment. He realized then that the idea of a universal deity cannot be expressed in images but only in words. He writes, “The God of the Jews was to exist in the Word and through the Word, an unprecedented conception requiring the highest order of abstract thinking.”[viii] Charles Colson adds, “In the Old Testament, God’s people were tempted by graven images. Today the images are graven by electrons on cathode ray tubes.”[ix]
On Thursday I asked my Associate Pastor Jeff Schultz, as I often do, to read my sermon and comment on it. He offered me some observations that were so valuable, I’ve decided to read them to you.
“Why do people venerate icons, pray to idols, say the rosary? Because they want something. An idol is essentially the representation of a god or power which aids us in approaching the god and securing his favor (i.e., getting what we want from him). We want a formula for doing the right thing which will, if not guarantee, at least increase the likelihood of us getting what we want. Put in your nickel, pull the lever, and–presto–out comes the desired blessing!
Let’s bring it home. Is our quiet time, our ministry service, our prayer, or our obedience an idol–that is, do we think that by doing the right things we can get whatever it is we want from God? Is our faithful church attendance an ‘idol’ we think secures God’s favor towards us? Do we believe that praying, serving, or giving enough will generate the right outcome for our lives or in our children? What is that you do which you think will get you in good with God?
Perhaps the better question is, ‘Why is it that we try to manipulate God, anyway?’ Is it because we don’t trust that he will really do what is best for us, that we disagree with God sometimes over his definition of what is good for us, or that maybe we really love the blessing more than the blessor?”
Now I don’t want us to conclude this morning without addressing a third and final issue:
What is the right way to worship God?
Granted, we have no bull-images here at First Free. Most of us do not have crucifixes in our homes. We have a cross at the front of our church, but it is empty. Does this second commandment have anything to say to us here at First Free?
In the Gospel of John, the story is told of the Samaritan woman. As Jesus began to peel the onion layers of her sinful life, she began to squirm, and as people often do, she tried to change the subject.
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Jesus didn’t consider the two worship systems (Samaritan and Jewish) equal, for they weren’t. “But,” He says, “Let’s forget about denominationalism for the moment, and concentrate on how a sinful human being is able to establish a personal relationship with a holy God.” That is the issue.
Worship Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) What does it mean to worship in spirit? It is not an outward worship but an inward worship. It refers to worship that knows neither spatial nor temporal limitations. There are many people who feel they must be in a particular place and at a particular time in order to worship–i.e., on a mountain or in a sanctuary or on the Sabbath. But God is not limited in that way–He is spirit and the worship that is brought to Him must be essentially of a spiritual kind.
There are no temples for the NT church, no holy cities to which God’s people must make pilgrimages, no high places and no images. “Oh, some people wish there were,” writes Stuart Briscoe, “because then they could keep God there, visit him once a week, like a sick relative, and run their lives the way they want to.”[x] Our worship should be spiritual and therefore constant and pervasive.
Second, worship must be in truth, that is, according to God’s revelation. I sometimes hear people say something to the effect that “I worship God in my own way.” True worshipers don’t do that. They go to God’s Word for the content of their worship.
But ultimately the simplest advice I can offer as to how to worship God, especially for those who long to see God “with skin on,” is to …
Look to Jesus. He is God incarnate. He is the image of the invisible God. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)
Ultimately, friends, you cannot worship God at all if you do not come to Him through Christ. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.” The command to worship God for who He really is points us to Jesus–not Jesus as we’d like Him to be, but as He really is–in all His maddening refusal to fit Himself to our images of Him. We need to let Jesus challenge us, stretch us, confront us. We need to bow down to Him as the unchanging, unconquerable Lord and God over all.
DATE: April 16, 2000
Tags:
Idolatry
Graven images
Icons
[i] Barclay, The Ten Commandments for Today, 19.
[ii] Michael G. Moriarty, The Perfect 10: The Blessings of Following God’s Commandments in a Postmodern World, 73-74.
[iii] J. I. Packer, Knowing God, Intervarsity Press, chapter 4.
[iv] John Calvin, quoted in Packer, 45.
[v] Packer, 46.
[vi] Leslie B. Flynn, Now a Word from Our Creator, 45.
[vii] Packer, 47.
[viii] Charles Colson, “No Graven Images,” Breakpoint, September 3, 1999, 1-2.
[ix] Colson, p. 2.
[x] Stuart Briscoe, The Ten Commandments: Playing by the Rules, 29.