Commandment 2 - You I Adore

COMMANDMENT 2 - YOU I ADORE

Let's look at the second commandment.

Having given God first place in our lives, we are now warned against losing sight of him by replacing him with an idol.

"You shall not make for yourself any idol”.

It is interesting to note that for over 2000 years, whilst the Jewish people have achieved much in the field of music and literature, they have achieved very little in the field of sculpture or painting.

The reason for this omission is their observance of this second commandment in which they are forbidden to make any idol, whether “in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth".

It was the fear of breaking this commandment that has limited the Jewish contribution to sculpture and painting.

It is a fear that was reinforced by the prophets time and time again.

Take for instance the prophet Isaiah who asks the question:

"To whom will you liken God, or which likeness compare with him? An idol? - A workman casts it, and a goldsmith covers it with gold, and casts for it silver chains. As a gift one chooses mulberry wood - wood that will never rot – then he seeks out a skilled artisan to set up an image that will not topple". (Isaiah 40.18-20)

Isaiah then mocks such people when he says:

"He makes a god and worships it, he prays to it and says; 'Save me, for you are my god'." (Isaiah 44.17).

And that is the one thing an idol cannot do. It cannot "save" a person.

We may offer an idol incense; light candles before it and decorate it with flowers; we may prostrate ourselves before it, shake our fists in anger at it and offer our prayers or requests to it. We may perform all these things, but the idol will remain unmoved because it remains forever a human representation of a person's idea of God and not God himself.

No matter what we do, no matter what we say, it has no power of its own to do things for us. It is we who pretend it has power whereas God is beyond our human manipulation.

And because an idol is the product of human endeavour, it can never confer glory upon God, but only upon man who produced it.

When you and I stand in wonder and amazement and admire an idol, it confers glory upon the craftsman who made it.

No wonder the church has from time to time tried to rid itself of idolatry. In the East, Emperor Leo III tried to do it in the 8th Century, whilst the Puritans tried to do it in England after the Reformation, and many churches still bear the scars.

However, despite such attempts to rid itself of idolatry, the Christian church continues to use the material objects as a means of expressing its faith; whether it be a statue, an icon, a crucifix or the wafer which is placed in our hands at the Eucharist.

Whilst such material objects can be the means of focusing the attention of our hearts and minds by pointing us towards the mystery of the invisible God, if we allow them to become an end in themselves - if we allow them to become the object of worship, rather than the means – then we are in danger of breaking that second commandment and of trying to invest such objects with supernatural powers.

The question we need to address is who or what do I adore? What is the focus of my worship?

Is it the church building? Is it the music? the ceremonial? the language of the prayer book? the flower arrangements? the colour of the vestments? - or even the young handsome curate!

It is so easy to idolise such material objects that we lose sight of the one to whom they seek to give glory by becoming the objects of glory themselves.

And so I remind you.

The Old Testament says "You shall not make for yourself any idol".

And the New Testament says "God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth".