So what's wrong with "American Idol"? The most successful show in American history? Absolutely nothing if you accept it for what it is: "entertainment." While the show contains the word "idol", it simply refers to our treatment of celebrities in the past. People like: "Elvis Presley", the Beatles and of course the King of Pop: "Michael Jackson". Growing up in the United States, you hear these voices and songs all over the place. In restaurants , at work, on the elevator etc. We easily attribute "God" like qualities to these people because they are everywhere and their songs make us touch our emotions in a special way. It is a harmless play on words, but American Idol is a fun way to make fun of ourselves and how much we love to be entertained by good talented singers. Few people would ever consider these people "God", unless they were pretty far out there mentally, no matter how much they enjoy music. We know that this is not idolatry in the biblical sense, but what is idolatry really?
Idolatry is a misrepresentation of who God really is, which is quite easy to do. Our thoughts of God are limited, our experience of God is limited, or expression of God in our worship always falls short. There is great opportunity to misrepresent him in our daily experience. Much of what we consider to be God, of God or from God might not really be the true God. In other words, our experience and emotion cannot contain Him.
The first commandment is a stern reminder that we are not to misrepresent God. Moses records God's words to him when he says to him in Exodus 20:1-5: "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 image 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 parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me
A couple of key points immediately emerge from the text: 1) Idolatry always leads to slavery. 2) Putting anything between God and us is idolatry. 3) Idolatry has generational consequences.
Because we have the gift of the New Testament, we have insight from Jesus, who is God Himself about worship: In John 4:24, Jesus said "...God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” If spirit by definition means "without human body or form, eternal not material", then it would be impossible to express God in those terms. Any type of expression in statues, photos, videos or anything else would destroy our understanding of who God really is. Putting God in material terms and worshiping something material would destroy us. It always leads to slavery.
Consider the woman at the well in John chapter 4. She was a slave to the well because she needed physical water. She was a slave religiously because she looked for spiritual strength there because it just happened to be "Jacob well." She believed that every day her trip to the well would bring her a "touch of God" somehow. Just something to get her by for the day. It was just enough "God" for her to get her through the day. She was not exactly for for much more. It was not until she made a trip to well to meet Jesus that her idolatry was exposed, and she found true freedom in Christ. She immediately went and told the whole town about Jesus, becoming the first recorded evangelist next to John the baptist after her conversion. Idolatry has a way of chaining us to people, places and things. This is what God hates. That is why Jesus said to the woman: "
Another thing about idolatry is that it separates us from God. Because it misrepresents Him, it controls and destroys our spiritual compass. Instead of leading us to God, it pushes us further from Him. This past year I had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem in the land of Israel. It was amazing to see people from every nation tribe and tongue travel to that special place hoping to be touched by God in a special way. While it was a neat experience to "walk where Jesus walked", the idolatry was rampant. People were buying crosses, crucifixes, pictures photos, dirt, water, t-shirts, banners etc., like crazy. I saw people kissing stones, rubbing rocks, touching places made of human hands and walking away smiling like something tremendously spiritual just happened. But I know they returned to their homes the same way they left, spiritually hungry for God. I felt saddened to know that these people would be greatly disappointed when they return home, seeking to see, taste or touch God, only to find out that they had missed him. Some pilgrims might even decide to become atheist after a let down like that, I pray not, but I could see how it could happen. It one wants to see God in material terms, they will always become enslaved to whatever they equate to it. If I can only feel close to God in Israel, and no other place I would become enslaved to that place, having to return for my spiritual fix. Thank God that He is Spirit, and we can worship Him anywhere, for who He is and only for how we experience Him. The woman at the well became confused. Her idolatry of persons and places was evident in her response to Jesus in John 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus clarified the have truth of worship, it is not where you worship but "whom" you worship in verse 21: "'Woman,' Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews."
The last thing we see about idolatry is that it has spiritual, generational consequences. If our spiritual compass is wrong, and we head down that path, we lead our children and the next generation into the wrong path. Have you ever contemplated how much about God we learn from our parents? That is because truth is more "caught" then "taught." We learn from others habits, experiences and expressions and the teachers who impact us the most are the ones we live with. For me, it was my parents that took me to church and corrected me when I was wrong. it wasn't my school teachers or even the Pastors that did that, it was my parents. They set me on a course and when I left home it was time for me to pick up from there and go further on my own. Parents set their children on a course to find God, but they themselves are not God, or even the best source to find God, we must learn to worship Him in Spirit and in truth.
God said that He was a jealous God. Have you ever had someone else take the praise for your hard work? That is a terrible feeling. So too with God. He hates for us to misrepresent who He really is to anybody. But that is what lies at the heart of our idolatry.
So what would real worship look like? Are we committed to real worship, or false representations of who He is. Real worship must first of all be spiritual. Second of all it should be based on truth. There is absolutely no way we can know what is out there in the spiritual realm where God is, unles God would tell us. That is why the Bible should be central to our worship. We do not worship the Bible, but we worship the God who reveals himself to us through it.
A commitment to saying no to idols means a new commitment to think about God in a fresh new way. A way that does not seek to compare Him to anything in this world but rather to focus in on Him as one with whom we can have a personal relationship. Anything which focuses on the creation rather than the Creator is idolatry. Trying to put God in a small practical box should be despised. That is the root of idolatry.
Until next time,
Pastor Vince
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