2008. 1. 13 Rev. Kim, Young Bong

Words for the New year 2:
Idols Within Us
--Judges 6:25-32

1.

The Ten Commandments appear in the Old Testament two times, in Exodus chapter 20 and in Deuteronomy Chapter 5. The Ten Commandments are the 10 most important orders from God for us to follow. So Americans call them the “Big Ten.” How much do you know about the Ten Commandments? Perhaps some of you could probably recite them without a problem, but most people can’t. In order to help people memorize Ten Commandments, someone created the modern version of the Ten Commandments. Please listen to the modern Ten Commandments, as you compare it to the original version in the back of our hymnals.

(My apologies for those who listen to English translation. The Korean version of the Ten Commandments is based on a Korean word play. First character of each commandment starts with the number designation in Korean!).

First, you shall have no other gods before me
Second, you shall not make for yourself an idol and bow down to them or worship them
Third, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God
Fourth, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
Fifth, honor your father and your mother
Sixth, you shall not murder
Seventh, you shall not commit adultery
Eighth, you shall not steal
Ninth, you shall not give false testimony
Tenth, you shall not covet anything belongs to your neighbor.

Can you memorize Ten Commandments now? What is the first commandment? You shall have no gods before me. What is the second one? You shall not make an idol or worship it. The first and second commandments are like the head and tail of a coin. It means to worship what we should worship and don’t worship what we should not worship. The great ancient Christian philosopher Augustine of Hippo summarized about idolatry as the following. “Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that ought to be worshipped.” What a powerful explanation!

2.

If someone asks you to pick the most important ten commandments for our lives, what would you choose? It would be a challenge to just choose 10. It would be difficult decide what to choose and not to. If you did find the 10, these would show the things you most value. Furthermore, looking at which ones come first and which ones come later, one could see what your priorities are. Therefore, the Ten Commandments are the very good resource to that reflects God’s values and priorities.

Related to this, we should ask a serious question. Why did God put warnings about idolatry in the first and second places of the Ten Commandment? This means that God sees idolatry as the most dangerous sin for people. Although idolatry might not seem an important problem for us, it is the most important problem for God. To us idolatry seems to be a problem limited to one’s personal religious realm, but to God it is a fundamental problem that affects one’s entire life. Can you agree with God’s judgment?

It would be difficult to agree with God if one does not agree that worship is the most fundamental matter in our lives. Worship is derived from the ancient English word “wearthscipe” and it was developed into worth-ship and eventually worship. As seen in the word worth-ship, worship means the action of accepting something worthy. What one feels is worthy in one’s life is a critical issue in. Those who feel nothing is worthy can find no reason to live. What a person feels are worthy can change his life. So it is natural that warnings against idolatry are the first and the second commandments.

Though some people say “I don’t believe in anything” or “I don’t worship anything.” In fact, they deceive themselves. Richard Dawkins who wrote the book “The God Delusion” says in his book, “How wonderful it is not to believe in anything! Give it a try.” However, human beings by nature cannot help believing. Mr. Dawkins believes that God doesn’t exist. In fact, he worships his own rationality. It is not possible not to believe or worship anything, no matter how much we try not to. Regardless of how much we deny it, and even if we are unaware it, we believe in something we find worthy and worship it.

Therefore, it is not a matter of believing or not believing, or worshipping or not worshipping, but a matter of what to believe and what to worship. We can’t help but worship something you find worthy, which determines our lives. That’s the essence of our being. So, the most important thing in our lives is what we think is most worthy and how we worship it. Worship is not about how we spend one hour on Sunday at church, but about how we lead our lives.

3.

What is the most worthy thing in my life? If I would write the Big Ten, what would be the first commandment? Though it is up to you what to choose, we need to remember that the choice that we make will determine our lives. No one worships money, but many consider money the most worthy. No one worships success, but many consider success the most worthy. Some consider physical beauty and recognition from others the most worthy. They may not think it is idolatry, but that is idolatry.

It may be less dangerous if you visit the altar of an idol once in a while because it wouldn’t affect your life too much unless you get too far. What is more dangerous is covertly worshiping an idol. This is because this kind of idolatry is not something you do once in a while for a few hours, but is something you worship your whole life. The thing one loves and worships changes his facial expressions, how he strides, and the shape of his life.

Do you think you are not worshiping an idol because you never skip Sunday service, and you pray and read the Bible? There are many idol worshipers among Christians as well as non-Christians. There are many Christians who seem to believe in God, but in fact worship idols and just use God for their own purpose. There are many churches that advertise that God can help us to get what we want while showing no interest of leading people in the truthful faith of Trinity.

The look of greed surges on the face of people who worship money. The power of money controls their thinking, speech, and behavior. Though they come to church, they try harder to make more money by using God. So, the more they come to church, the greedier they become. The more they get engaged at church, the more they become slave to money. They boast about money at church. If the idol of money is not destroyed, there would be no hope for them and people around them would get hurt.

Let’s look back ourselves. Do I truly believe in God? What is the most important person in my life? Is God more important and worthier than my spouse, my children, and my parents? Is God more important than money, fame, success, a big house, a nice car, nor being beautiful? If you answer is yes, you are free from idolatry. However, be careful. Since the dividing line between idolatry and faith is so blurry it is easy to find ourselves worshiping idols again.

4.

I can testify through my own experience that my love for my wife was purest and whole when I put God first in my life. When I feel that my wife is most precious is when I do not love her in the right way. Because I am not in the right place I cannot see correctly. Because I cannot see correctly, I cannot truly love. When this happens a chasm begins to erode a couple’s relationship. But if the two restores God’s place in the first place of their hearts, they can restore their broken relationship.

I can also confess that I can love and raise my children in a godly way when God is the priority in my life. When my relationship with God is not put right, I often make mistakes and spoil my children. I can confess that when my relationship with my children is best is when we all have God in the first place of our hearts.

Jesus once said that, “if anyone comes to me and doesn’t hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes even his own life- he cannot be my disciple.” This message sounds like a teaching for destroying a family. But, in fact, this is a message of restoring a family. If you have experienced that you were able to truly love your spouse and your children after you experienced God’s love would understand what Jesus was trying to say. In most cases, we come to know the true meanings of Jesus’ teaching only through our experiences.

I can also testify that I feel free from temptations about money when I put God first in my life. When my relationship with God is not put right, I felt tempted about money and made bad decisions due to the temptation. I admit that my attitude toward God is most important in order to be clean about money.

This applies to everything. If God is put first in my heart, I can be free from temptations and gain a right perspective on things, and gain the ability to truly ‘use’ them. On the contrary, if God is pushed over and something else sits as a priority in my heart, I become a slave to it, lose the ability to see things as they are, and rather than an owner that uses it, become a slave to it. If this is the case, although we may have been happy because of something in the beginning, shortly after we become unhappy because of it. This is why God put the warnings about idolatry in the beginning of Ten Commandments.

5.

Therefore, if anyone resolves to follow God, the first thing to do is to remove the idol s within him. That is why God ordered Gideon to destroy idols first when he decided to go and save the Israelites from the Midianites.

We are meditating messages for the New Year from Judges in the Old Testament. The first message we received through Gideon was, “Go with your own strength”. Today, the second message is, “Destroy idols within you”

God asked Gideon to, “tear down your father’s altar to Baal”. Gideon’s father worshiped Baal, an idol that the Canaanites worshiped. So did Gideon and the Israelites. The Israelites worshiped Baal at the same time they called out to God to save them. The Israelites suffered occupation and pain by the Mideanites because of this idolatry. Even though the Israelites worshiped an idol, God had mercy on them and called out Gideon to save them.

God needed to prepare Gideon spiritually to do His work, as Gideon as an idol worshiper couldn’t carry God’s work. Moreover, Gideon’s father played an important role in worshipping Baal. It is not clear why the idol was in Gideon’s father’s house. Gideon’s father might have been a leader of the village or a priest of Baal. So to speak, a son of an idol priest was chosen as servant of God. In Korean terms, it is like a son of a shaman being called to become a pastor. In this case, what would be the first thing to do? Wouldn’t it be destroying idols?

Gideon obeyed God’s command to destroy the idols though he wasn’t confident and was very afraid. He obeyed God’s order but did it secretly at night. The next morning, people were shocked to see the altar of Baal torn down and the Asherah pole cut down. They found out that Gideon did destroy altar of Baal and asked Gideon’s father to punish Gideon. But, Joash, Gideon’s father, replied to the hostile crowd, “are you going to plead Baal’s cause? Are you trying to save him? Whoever fights for him shall be put to death by morning! If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar.”

Gideon’s father might have felt a burden toward God while he worshiped Baal. He might have thought that it was wrong for the Israelites, God’s people, to follow Baal and Asherah, but he couldn’t have fixed the problem alone. So, when Joash saw the alter of Baal was torn down and the Asherah pole cut down, he might have felt a relief as if his son repaid his debt to God. Perhaps that is why he so strongly defended his son. Gideon was spiritually prepared for God’s work by destroying the idols, so people called him “Jerub-Baal” it means “Let Baal contend with him”

6.

We still have excitement and expectations about the New Year and God’s plans for us in the New Year. We pray that God’s work be done through me, my family and my church.

Last Sunday, I urged you to take a step forward from a life that lives for our personal comfort for greater and more meaningful work. Today, in order for these things to be achieved I am asking you to ” destroy idols within us” This is not my words but the word of God given to us through Gideon’s story in Judges,

Dear Congregation, what do you wish to happen in 2008? I sincerely pray that what God want to happen in our lives will happen to you. I pray that your dreams and plans will be changed as your relationship with God grows. I hope you are not led into temptation to use God for your own desires and ambitions. It is a sure way to a failure.

I would like to share a story that I was told a few years ago. A successful businessman had to suffer a lot after his business went bankrupt. He felt hopeless and felt like committing a suicide. Fortunately, by God’s grace, he experienced God and was restored spiritually and emotionally and was able to do his business again. Looking back, he was thankful for the failure.

What is success? Success is not to achieve my ambitions and plans by using God’s power, but for God’s work to be done through me. So, we call it blessing, not success. God has wonderful plans for each of us. God’s plans can not be compared our own plans. How foolish we are when we are not interested in God’s plans for us, but only asking God to help us accomplish our own plans.

Dear Congregation, therefore, destroy idols within us. Let’s tear down altars of Baal and Asherah poles within us, and let’s fully give our heart to Him. Let’s try not to use God for our own interests but let God reign in our heart. Let’s lift up our heart to Him. Let’s try to focus on God every opportunity we get. He will do His work through us.

7.

Reflecting on this message, I look back on today’s churches. How many churches worship idols of “growth,” “wealth,” “being the best” and “comfortable life?” How many idols exist in the churches?

I am not saying that our church is not free from all of this. Even in our church there is a risk of worshiping idols. I admit that as a pastor I am not free from temptation of worshiping idols. So, I sincerely ask you to pray for me and my spirituality so that I can discern idols in church and destroy them.

Also, I ask you to pray for leaders of all churches. We released the list of church leaders for 2008 today. Pls, pray for them that God’s work will be done through them. This year, we are to make the 5th long-term plans for the KUMC, which need a lot of prayers. This is because it is work to discern and plan according to what God wants us to do rather than what we want to do.

How wonderful it would be if each and every one of us could destroy idols within us and sincerely follow God! So that God’s plans for each of us could be achieved one by one! How good it will be! How wonderful it would be if each one of us, including myself and the church leaders and the entire congregation could destroy idols within us to sincerely obey God so God’s plans for us and our church will be accomplished. So that God’s hopes and plan for this generation of KUMC could be realized entirely! I sincerely pray that this wonderful hope will come true to me, you and our church.

Dear Lord,
As we decided to follow You,
Help us to follow you sincerely.
Let nothing take us our heart from You.
Help us to keep you closest to our heart and serve You with a truthful heart
So, help us not be tempted, but enjoy true freedom in You
And help us rejoice that Your will be done.

Amen.