ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES
Ten Values That Build Strong Families
Exodus 20:4-5
Alan Paxson and Gerry White

Today we're going to look at the 2nd commandment and how it will build our families and make them stronger.

You shall not make any idols, you must never bow to an image or worship it in any way.

Exodus 20:4-5

The second commandment says two things:

I. DON'T IDOLIZE ANYTHING

What is an idol? An idol is anything that takes the focus off God and puts it on something else. When anything is first in my life that is not God it's an idol even if its good.

What does it mean to idolize? It means to value something more than God.

  • Some people park their idols in their garage.
  • Some people dock their idols at a Marina.
  • Some people put their idols in their safe deposit box. But even today we have to deal with idols.

It's interesting, archaeologists tell us in every culture throughout history there have been idols. Statues, little gods, goddesses.

There is the desire of man, to turn objects or people or things into objects of worship. God says don't do that.

In Bible times there were three primary idols.

  • There was Baal who was the god of sex.
  • There was Mammon who was the god of money.
  • And there was Molech who was the god of violence.

The Top 52 Idols, source - Internet

  • Upcoming Opportunities
  • World of Sports Entertainment
  • Great Minds
  • A Past Hero
  • A flower Garden
  • Peoples lives pursued with passion
  • Work
  • Ancient Technology
  • Makeup
  • New Inventions
  • Christian speakers
  • Pastors
  • Girls
  • Boys
  • Huge Football Players
  • Artists
  • Human Body
  • Top Rock guitarists
  • Role Models
  • Intelligence
  • Competence
  • Those who Flaunt their immorality
  • Science
  • Spiritual Heritage
  • People on TV
  • Classmates
  • Athletes
  • Cheerleaders
  • Status
  • Material Possessions
  • Beauty
  • Politics
  • A Coach
  • TV Show
  • Food
  • Parents
  • Children
  • Movies
  • Entertainment
  • Success
  • Glory
  • Comfort
  • War
  • Nature
  • Sports Players
  • Architecture
  • Culture
  • Clothes
  • Lifestyles
  • Yourself
  • Actors
  • Famous Players/Teams

To Idolize is to regard with inordinate (excessive) love or admiration.

There are two sorts of idolatry

  1. Outward idolatry, when men, out of a religious respect, bow to, or prostrate themselves before anything besides the true God.

  2. Secret idolatry, when the mind is set on anything more than God; when anything is:

    • more valued than God,
    • more desired than God,
    • more sought than God,
    • more loved than God.

It's very difficult to raise your kids in an environment where the society is saying, these are the most important things in life and you're trying to say, no there are other values that are more important.

So you have to teach your kids the disadvantages of idols.

In Deuteronomy 4 "For your own good don't sin by making an idol in any form at all."

God says for your own good don't idolize anything or anyone. Why?

1. Idols will disappoint me.

They always promise more than they can deliver.

Those who make idols are disillusioned because the gods they made are false and lifeless.

Jeremiah 10:14

On TV it says:

  • Wear our label and you'll be popular,
  • buy our product and you'll be successful,
  • drink our beer and it doesn't get any better than this,
  • buy our toothpaste and you'll have sex appeal.

They always promise more than they can deliver.

2. Idols will dominate you.

If you don't watch out for it they end up controlling your life. "Before you knew Christ you were controlled by dead idols, who always led you astray."

It says there are two inevitable effects when you love something more than God:

1) The thing you love more than God will begin to control you. The word we use today for idols is the word "addiction".

You can be addicted:

  • to your work,
  • to sex,
  • to sports,
  • to numerous things besides alcohol or drugs.

2) You will be led astray, you lose your perspective when something takes place in your life that ought to be where God is.

How many people by the lure of a promotion were:

  • led to neglect their family at a crucial time in the kids lives?
  • for the promise of fame compromised their integrity?
  • for the profit motive they threw their convictions out the door.

God says if you don't watch out, an idol:

  • will distract you and
  • you will lose your values
  • It will dominate your life

You may never have realized this but if you allow a person in your life to control your life by their approval or disapproval (you always control your actions by whether they approve of it or not) if you allow them to control you and chose what's right for you, even if it's the wrong thing, that's not just called co-dependency, that's called idolatry. It's making that person God.

The number one way to break a co-dependency is 1) put God first in your life and 2) give your ultimate devotion to Him and not to anybody else.

3. Idols will deform you.

  • They will change you.
  • They'll warp you,
  • you will lose your uniqueness that God gave you because you become like what you value most.

Those who make idols become like them and so will those who trust in them.

Psalm 115:8

We shape an idol and it ends up shaping us. You will become like whatever is first place in your life.

So you better reserve that spot for God or you're going to get deformed from being what God meant for you to be in the first place.

One time a rich young ruler came to Jesus. He said "What must I do to follow Christ? What must I do to have eternal life?" Jesus said, "Go, sell everything you've got and give it to the poor and come follow me."

It's interesting that not one other time in the Bible did Jesus say that to anybody. He only said it to him. Why? Because Jesus knew what was the idol in his life and that was his bank account. He went straight to the heart of the issue and said, You've got another god in your life and if you really want to follow Me, give up what you've got and come, follow Me.

It says that this man counted the cost, decided it wasn't worth it and walked away sadly and did not follow Him.

What do you need to give up?
What is it that you're holding on to that's keeping you from being all God wants you to be?

  • "I don't want to let go of this relationship; I know it's not right but I don't want to let go of it."
  • "I know this career is not right but I'm going to hold on to it."
  • "I know this habit isn't right, but I'm going to hold on to it." It's an idol.

If God tells you to give up something and you can't let go of it, you don't own it, it owns you.

Have you ever thought of how big a fifty dollar bill looks in church when you're giving an offering and how small it looks at the grocery store? Why does it look so big when I'm going to give it to God?

II. WORSHIP ONLY GOD!

Worship - to give my highest priority. Worship is just the way I react, I respond, to God when He loves me. I am to focus my attention on God. I make him my highest priority.

"(Many) exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself."

There are three motives behind idols. Why would people want to make God into a statue or a form that they can bow down to?

1. It is an attempt to limit God's location.

If I can put God in a statue or if I can put Him in a place, like God is only at church, or if I can put Him in a crystal or in something like that then I know exactly where God is.

2. It's an attempt to reduce His power and size.

I'm going to whittle Him down to size. If I've got God in a statue, in a little box or an idea (God's only in the Bible) then it's less imposing, less threatening, He's not everywhere and He can't do everything. He's more convenient and more manageable.

3. They want to control God.

When you have an idol, the worshiper has more control than the person being worshiped. A lot of people want a god that they can manipulate.

Four Risk Factors

  1. You are vulnerable to idols
  2. You have boredom in your relationship with God
  3. You have lowered the value of the relationship
  4. You have no desire left to daily meet with God

Believers have no rights to have an idol!

For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person - such a man is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Ephesians 5:5 (NIV)

How Do You Get Rid of an Idol?

  1. You need to decide what's important: God's relationship to you or an Idol?
  2. You need to make a commitment to remove any Idol.
  3. You need to find an accountability partner to hold you accountable that you will not return to that Idol.

Five things you can start today

  1. Read the Bible daily
  2. Acknowledge his presence with you
  3. Talk to God daily
  4. Share your life (feelings, sorrows, dreams) with God
  5. Look forward to being with God

So in building a strong family that's going to last, and a strong personal life, you've got to settle these first two issues.

One, put God first in every area of your life and
Two, today, get to know the real image of God by getting to know Jesus Christ.

If you haven't done that I challenge you and urge you to get to know Him today. Just pray a simple prayer, "Jesus Christ I want to know you. Come into my life. I want to follow you as best I know how."

Reveal to me right now any idols in my life. Whatever you reveal to me, I will confess as sin and no longer keep that thing as important as my relationship to God. Thank you for loving me and wanting a close, intimate relationship with me. In Jesus' Name, Amen.