SERMON OASIS FAMILY CHURCH SUNDAY 22 MAY 2016 HONOURING GOD

Transcription

1 SERMON OASIS FAMILY CHURCH SUNDAY 22 MAY 2016 HONOURING GOD

2 Exodus 20: 4 4 You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those [b] who love me and obey my commands

3 The definition of idolatry, according to Webster, is the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.

4 Exodus 32: 1-8 When the people saw how long it was taking Moses to come back down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron. Come on, they said, make us some gods who can lead us. We don t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt. 2 So Aaron said, Take the gold rings from the ears of your wives and sons and daughters, and bring them to me. 3 All the people took the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!

5 5 Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD! 6 The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry. 7 The LORD told Moses, Quick! Go down the mountain! Your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 How quickly they have turned away from the way I commanded them to live! They have melted down gold and made a calf, and they have bowed down and sacrificed to it. They are saying, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

6

7

8 Isaiah 44: He cuts down cedars; he selects the cypress and the oak; he plants the pine in the forest to be nourished by the rain. 15 Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire. With it he warms himself and bakes his bread. Then yes, it s true he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship! He makes an idol and bows down in front of it! 16 He burns part of the tree to roast his meat and to keep himself warm. He says, Ah, that fire feels good.

9 17 Then he takes what s left and makes his god: a carved idol! He falls down in front of it, worshiping and praying to it. Rescue me! he says. You are my god! 18 Such stupidity and ignorance! Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see. Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.

10 19 The person who made the idol never stops to reflect, Why, it s just a block of wood! I burned half of it for heat and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat. How can the rest of it be a god? Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood? 20 The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes. He trusts something that can t help him at all. Yet he cannot bring himself to ask, Is this idol that I m holding in my hand a lie?

11 It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything. Malcolm Muggeridge

12 So how do we deal with the idols? Firstly we must identify them Is there an action, thing, relationship, belief, person, function, status, that is definitely taking a place in my life that does not please God or is a challenge to His place of priority in my life? Could this thing grow to be that idol?

13 Secondly, we must recognise that idols are actually burdens

14 Third, acknowledge that idols do not help us in any way

15 Fourth, we must destroy them completely. End of story

16 1 Samuel 7: 3,4 3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, If you want to return to the LORD with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the LORD and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines. 4 So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the LORD.

17 Isaiah 17:7,8 Then at last the people will look to their Creator and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. 8 They will no longer look to their idols for help or worship what their own hands have made. They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.

18 1 Samuel 5: 1-5 After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. 2 They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon. 3 But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the LORD! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again. 4 But the next morning the same thing happened Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the LORD again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod will step on its threshold.

19 The idols in our lives will fall over They cannot stand before a holy God