************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 96-98 ************
Doctrine: The Second Commandment
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on February 3, 2002
Q & 96-98
Deuteronomy 4:15-31
"The Second Commandment"
I The Commandment's Negative Teaching
A What does God forbid in the second commandment? The Bible says, "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." An older translation of the Bible tells us we are not to make a "graven image." The Hebrew word translated as "graven image" or "idol" means to "cut" or "carve." We are not to have an engraved, carved out, or molten image of God. We are not to have any physical representation of the deity.
Topic: Dress
Subtopic:
Index: 1040-1051
Date: 12/1998.32
Title: Dress in New Testament Times
The result of the second commandment is that there are few Jewish portraits showing dress in ancient times. Also because of this prohibition, the Jews produced little in the way of painting, sculpture, or carvings. The masonry and carpentry of the day appear utilitarian. One notable exception to the commandment seems to be the tolerance of dolls for children.
-- Christian History, Issue 59, "The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth."
The Catechism interprets the 2nd commandment to mean we are not to "make any image of God." And, it says "God can not and may not be visibly portrayed in any way."
Now, don't forget we aren't just talking about images of God; as I said last week, each of the first four commandments also talks about the worship of God. In our worship and praise of God, then, we are not to make or bow before any image.
B Why do people worship before a graven image? There is something within man that makes him yearn to see God; man wants a visible God. Even God's covenant people were this way.
Think of Israel while Moses was on the mountain top with God for forty days (Ex 24:18). Moses occupied a special place in Israel – he was the link between the people and God. None of the people had ever seen God but as long as they could see Moses they were satisfied. But when it seemed that Moses – the visible link between them and God – had left them the people demanded of Aaron that he make an idol of God that they could see – a golden calf. Remember how Aaron said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt" (Ex 32:4)? Aaron didn't think he was choosing another god; he thought he was merely giving visible form to the one true God.
King Jeroboam made a similar mistake when he erected golden calves in Bethel and Dan; he didn't think he was choosing another god; rather, he thought he was merely giving visible form to the one true God Who led the people out of Egypt (I K 12:25-33).
It is the heathens, of course, who bow before and worship gods that can be seen. But God wants the worship of His children to be different because their God is different. You see, the Lord Almighty is invisible (Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; Heb 11:27); He can neither be seen nor portrayed. The Catechism says,
God can not and may not
be visibly portrayed in any way.
Although creatures may be portrayed,
yet God forbids making or having such images
if one's intention is to worship them
or to serve God through them.
(Q & A 97)
At Sinai, as our Scripture reading indicates, the Israelites had not seen, only heard, their God:
(Deut 4:15-16) You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, (16) so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape ...
C Sin against the second commandment became Israel's downfall. More than twenty times the two books of the Kings speak of the "ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat and ... his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols" (1 Kings 16:26; cf 1 Kings 14:16 to 2 Kings 23:15).
Sin against the second commandment became the downfall of the Roman Catholic Church too. The church of Rome started off with statues and images of Jesus, Mary, saints, and other creatures. They were set up merely as representations or images for the people to see. It wasn't long, though, before the people were actually praying to and worshiping before the statues and images.
D When we look through the pages of the Old Testament we see that those judges and kings who fought against the people's disobedience to the second commandment became iconoclasts. An iconoclast is one who destroys an image. Gideon was an iconoclast (Judges 6:25ff); so was King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18) and King Josiah (2 Kings 23). In the sixteenth century many Protestants were iconoclasts. They took their hammers and axes into Roman Catholic churches and smashed images, toppled statues, crushed relics, and stripped the buildings of all their Roman Catholic markings. Many people today decry the loss of countless works of art. But the Reformers, just like Gideon, Hezekiah, and Josiah, were not iconoclasts in order to destroy art but to destroy graven images forbidden by the second commandment; they knew that it wasn't so much art as idols that they were destroying. I hope and pray to God that iconoclasts will never be needed in the Christian Reformed Church.
E According to the Catechism the second commandment forbids the worship of God through images. But notice, it doesn't forbid all images or symbols. "Creatures may be portrayed" yet we may not "worship them or ... serve God through them."
Images and symbols have an important place in the life of God's people. Remember the twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan that was set up on the West bank? These stones were meant as a "memorial" to forever remind the children of God how "the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord" (Joshua 4). Think too of Israel's calendar of feasts and festivals – the Passover, firstfruits, feast of weeks, feast of trumpets, the day of atonement, the feast of tabernacles, the Sabbath year, the year of jubilee – all designed to commemorate different aspects of God's great work of salvation; these feasts were filled with vivid images and symbols: blood, unleavened bread, trumpets, tents, candles, and so on.
We too have our symbols and images. I think of such things as this church building, the Lord's Supper table, the baptismal font, the cross, the offering bags and stands, advent wreath, candles. There is nothing wrong with such symbols.
This doesn't mean that the 2nd commandment should not concern us. We always need to be careful that we don't allow something to represent God. We always need to be careful that we don't turn anything into an object of worship – whether it be an organ, piano, pulpit, Lord's Supper table, baptismal font, church building, or whatever.
The history of Israel tells us what can happen with symbols and images. Think of the bronze snake we read about in Numbers 21. The Israelites were punished by God with an attack of poisonous snakes because they spoke against God and Moses. Many who were bitten died. When the people repented of this sin, God permitted Moses to make a bronze serpent and to place it on a pole. "Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived" (Num 21:4-9). But what do we see centuries later? The people of Israel were worshiping the bronze serpent. So King Hezekiah had to destroy the snake (2 Kings 18:4).
II The Commandment's Positive Teaching
A In telling us how to worship God, the second commandment gives us both a negative and a positive teaching. Negatively, it forbids us to make any image of God. When we want to say what the second commandment's positive teaching is we usually quote John 4:24: "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
What does it mean to worship God "in spirit and in truth"? Our worship of God must not consist of mere rituals or rely on crude objects. Out worship must be inward, spiritual, sincere, and according to God's revealed truth.
Parents, it is your job to model this kind of worship for your children. Experience has shown me that parents who don't model sincere and heart-felt worship cannot expect their children to attend worship once they are grown up.
B To worship God "in spirit and in truth" means more than sincere, heart-felt worship. It especially means to worship God in and by and through Christ and His Spirit. Worship that is "in spirit and in truth" is worship that has Jesus at the center. Worship that ignores or denies Christ is not acceptable. That's why our worship – our songs, our prayers, our sermons, our Bible readings – have so much to say about Jesus.
C In teaching us the positive requirements of the second Commandment the Catechism says we are to worship God only as He dictates. We are not to "worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his Word." No other details follow. The Catechism gives no directions as to style and liturgy. Instead, it points us to God's Word.
Today, many Christian churches have what is called the "worship wars." Instead of fights about images and symbols, today's fights are about worship styles. Churches are being forced to choose between Praise and Worship, Traditional, or Blended worship styles.
A study of the Bible shows two different models for worship. The earliest church, an example of which is Corinth, had free, unplanned, worship services with lots of congregational involvement, speaking in tongues, laying on of hands, and spontaneous prayers and singing. On the other hand, it seems that Timothy led worship with a set liturgy that was much more structured and controlled with planned songs, Bible readings, and prayers. We can't say that either kind of worship is unbiblical for both fit the New Testament pattern.
III The Commandment's Fulfillment within the Church
A In telling us how to worship God the second commandment forbids us to make any image of God and it tells us to worship "in spirit and in truth."
I am sure you all realize that our worship is to be done in the assembly of God's people; our worship is to be done in church. It is in church that the requirements of the second commandment are to be fulfilled.
Many people think they can worship God without attending church. They point to their personal devotions – Scripture reading, meditation, and prayer. Yes, family instruction and personal prayer are indispensable parts of our religion. But for the people of God worship cannot and must not be just a private or family affair. Instead, God's children are called to gather together for worship.
B I've been told more than once that it makes no difference what church you go to just so long as you go to church. This statement presumes that church membership and attendance are strictly a private matter, a matter of individual choice. It's up to me to find a church that I like. It also assumes that it makes no difference how you worship just so long as you worship – therefore any old church will do. Church and worship, however, are not a matter of individual preference. The second commandment demands that we must look for a church where worship is done in spirit and in truth.
C What do people look for when they go "church shopping?" Typically, they look for a church where they are welcomed and appreciated, where their needs and the needs of their children are met, where they like the minister, where they enjoy the music.
You know what is wrong with this approach? I call this the shopping-mall approach to church membership: the church that offers the best features for the most affordable price gets our business. This approach thinks of the church and worship as something designed to fill our needs. We are the customers; the church is the store. If I'm not satisfied, I take my membership elsewhere.
In being this way we treat the church not as a home but as a house – where it is okay to shop for a new one if we outgrow the present one. We treat it not as a family but as a club – where membership is for our pleasure. We regard it not as a body to which we belong but as a service station where we can stop for spiritual gas – but there are many other service stations we can stop off at too.
When it comes to church and worship we may not choose in terms of what seems best for us and our children, what serves our needs, what fulfills our wishes. Here, as nowhere else, God's will must rule over our individual needs and desires.
Church membership and worship should never be a matter of individual choosing or liking. While our own benefit, comfort, and spiritual growth are important factors to consider, they are not the most important ones. What is important is whether the church worships God according to His Word.
D When it comes to religion and faith, it isn't only in choosing a church that we tend to place our own needs and wishes first. Here in North America we often approach the teachings of the church in the same way. More and more people decide for themselves what to believe and why and then look for a church that agrees with their viewpoint.
Many people no longer see the pastor as the minister of God's Word. Rather, he is seen as the one who ministers to us. And, when congregations call a pastor they look for one who meets their needs.
Did you know there are two kinds of Bible studies in the churches: those for studying the Bible and those for fellowship. In the second kind, the open Bible becomes the occasion for filling individual needs of fellowship, having one's opinions heard, and feeling accepted. Rather than study and learn from the Word, people gather around the Word to fulfill their own needs.
E If I were to rewrite Q & A 96 to address this needs-oriented, shopping-mall approach to church membership and worship, I think it would read something like this:
Q. WHAT IS GOD'S WILL FOR US IN THE SECOND COMMANDMENT?
A. That we do not worship him in ways intended to satisfy our own needs or fulfill our own selves, but only as he has commanded in his Word.
The message is clear, isn't it? Not us, but Christ, must be central to the church's fellowship, worship, and service. Not our growth but His Kingdom's growth, not our needs but His Gospel's needs, not our wishes but His Word, must guide our life, our service, our worship.
Conclusion
Finally, let us remind ourselves again of the place of the law in the lives of God's children. Don't forget, God gave it as a guide for gratitude. We obey the law not to gain salvation but out of thankfulness for salvation. Remember the preface to the Law:
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of Egypt,
out of the land of slavery.
Or, to put it into New Testament language:
I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of your slavery
to sin and evil.