A Breathless God

(Gods Made with Hands)

Exodus 20:4-6 and Isaiah 44:13-20

(McAfee School of Theology – Chapel – 9/8/2009)

Jimmy Elder, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Columbus, Georgia

Exodus 20:4-6

⁴ "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. ⁵ 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 fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Isaiah 44

¹³ The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man, of man in all his glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. ¹⁴ He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. ¹⁵ It is man's fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. ¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, "Ah! I am warm; I see the fire." ¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, "Save me; you are my god." ¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?" ²⁰ He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"

I grew up in a typical hometown in Georgia. It had one high school; and Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches were all lined up on Main Street. Everyone knew everyone, and the times were simple—very simple. We relied more on our imaginations than anything else. We played outside and went over to each other’s houses. We still built tree houses out of scrap wood that we could find and created elaborate stories of our time as Secret Agents. Personal computers, portable music devices and cell phones were a dream. This dream was kept alive by our imaginations and the secret agent programs on television—the Man from U.N.C.L.E, Mission Impossible (with Peter Graves, not Tom Cruise) and Get Smart (with Don Adams, not Steve Carell). Add to that Lost in Space and Star Trek (with the original cast of characters, including DeForest Kelley who grew up in Decatur, Georgia), and you have a veritable incubator for youthful imagination.

One day I went to visit a friend who lived in the neighborhood. I went to the end of the house where there was access to the basement, his hideout and laboratory. I gave the knock on the door; and Billy opened the door in his characteristic jeans and a button-up plaid shirt. He looked both ways and pulled me into the basement. I have been working on an experiment that will change the world, he said, I am making a machine to communicate with people around the globe – like a short wave radio, but better. I can communicate with anyone even in outer space. I hope to add cameras later. He gestured to a worktable where his dad fixed the vacuum cleaner. It was littered with tools and parts, some of which came from his old science projects, which were normally pretty elaborate. He had taken an old record player, a light bulb, an old clock radio, some knobs and other bits and pieces of things and put them into an old suitcase. It was quite impressive. He said: I wanted you to be here when I turned it on for the first time. I was not particularly sure that I wanted to be there; but since there was no way to escape without going past hi—and he was older and much larger than I was then—I decided to stay for his moment of glory. It was clear that his whole future was tied up in this device. As he turned it on, I saw lights, heard static, heard whirling sounds (I think it was a part from a vacuum cleaner) and watched as Billy tuned his impressive device with the precision of a NASA scientist. There was a problem: for all of its elaborate features, it reached no one—not even the local radio station! It looked the part and sounded the part. It was created out of his imagination, but it had no usefulness except to feed his fantasy. He pretended that it could communicate with people around the globe. He pretended that it was a powerful and workable piece of technology. He dreamed that his device was going to make him famous and rich. In the end it was still only an old radio, a light bulb, pieces off of an old science project about how electricity works, an old pasteboard suitcase with brown cloth covering, and a record player. The problem was that it did not do anything. The success was purely in his imagination; it could not do anything.

The Second Commandment is one that deals with reality over imagination. It warns against creating an idol and imagining that it has properties of power over against a real living God with real power. God said, in commandment number two, Do not make idols; and if you do make potential idols, do not worship them! I will not tolerate it. I love you and I do not want anything to interfere with our relationship! I have a lot of love and blessing to give to you. I am the God who is alive, has power, and wants to use that power to bless you. Idols have no power at all. They distract you and lull you into a false sense of security and fulfillment that will do you no good. I know that I may be reading a bit into the passage, but this is what God was saying. Instead of the stilted command that we often quote from shallow memorization, I want you to hear the passion of the heart of God.

I love it when I find a principle or commandment and then find a story in scripture that beautifully illustrates it. I found my best illustration in Isaiah 44:13-20. This passage gives a parable of a man who is the archetypical idol maker. He is a woodsman who has a form of faith. He is working in the woods with the intention of creating an idol in the image of a human being. We know that he is self-sufficient in his own mind because he is in the woods alone, as far as we know. He measures a tree, cuts it down and begins to use it for his project. Isaiah’s account gives reveals how the idol is made: the precision of the carpenter (compass and rule with cuts and carvings); the material (cedar, cypress and oak); and the meeting of the man’s physical needs (building a fire, cooking a meal). He makes the idol, and he bows down and asks for deliverance. The subtle tones in the background—such as the sounds of the crickets chirping in the forest—indicate that the tree came from somewhere; the rain came from somewhere; the bread and the meat came from somewhere—somewhere that was not the idol he was making. He fails to see reality. He sees only what he thinks has power enough to do something. He bows before the breathless image he made.

David McKenna writes, Hidden in the parable of the craftsman is the fundamental question, “How can a human being create a subhuman object out of physical matter and transform it into a superhuman god?” The question exposes the absurdity of idols and the stupidity of the idol-maker.¹

The absurdity is laughable. Like my friend with the contrived, impotent machine, the craftsman becomes a comic figure who truly means well but misses the point. The problem is that the idol has no life—it is not viable; and no matter what the man does to it, it will not save him. In the very next chapter, Isaiah 45:20, the writer speaks of people who have to carry their idols with them. The contrast is clear—idols have to be carried by their owners, but God carries His people. The Second Commandment is not an attempt on the part of God to protect His territory or an attempt to put in place a non-compete clause. God is trying to save us from putting our hope and faith in something that does not have the power to save us and can actually harm us. God is guiding us toward the rock of our salvation: the God who never fails. When we put our faith in something or someone, we are betting that we can depend upon them, sometimes with our own lives.

We are horrified when we read that a bridge collapses in Indiana, and we wonder about the safety of other bridges. We depend upon these things. We put our lives on the line when we drive across them. We trust that they will not let go; and when one collapses, we are shaken. We depend upon the medicine we are given in the emergency room to be the right medicine. We depend upon the person dressed as a police officer to really be a police officer in our time of need. We depend upon the person who says she knows the way to guide us out of the burning building. We put our futures in the hands of people and things all the time; and we depend upon the integrity and the genuineness of the person. If we are not careful, we create a false sense of security, surrounding ourselves with people who tell us what we want to hear; we convince ourselves that we are always right; or we do what is easy and not challenging in our lives. We also make idols, trusting in things to deliver safety, peace, happiness, immortality—even to deliver us from guilt and burdens we have amassed in life. We convince ourselves that we can put together our own plan for security and fulfillment, even spiritual fulfillment. These plans are often based on the material rather than the spiritual realm.

Did you take time to inventory your idols when we had the time of meditation in the service? Joy Davidman, wife of C.S. Lewis, wrote, I worship Ganesa, brother, god of worldly wisdom, patron of shopkeepers. He is in the shape of a little fat man with an elephant’s head, he is made of soapstone and has two small rubies for eyes. What shape do you worship?

I worship a fishtail Cadillac convertible, brother. All my days I give it offerings of oil and polish. Hours of my time are devoted to its ritual; and it brings me luck in all my undertakings; and it establishes me among my fellows as a success in life. What model is your car, brother?

I worship my house beautiful, sister. Long, loving meditations I have spent on it; the chairs contrast with the rug, the curtains harmonize with the woodwork, all of it is perfect and holy. The ash trays are in exactly the right place, and should some blasphemer drop ashes on the floor, I nearly die of shock. I live only for the service of my house, and it rewards me with the envy of my sisters, who must rise up and call me blessed. Lest my children profane the holiness of my house with dirt and noise, I drive them out of doors. What shape is your idol, sister? Is it your house, or your clothes, or perhaps even your worth-while and cultural club?

She goes on to mention pictures, jobs, golf games, bridge games, comfort, even the church as objects of worship.²

How about you and me? Have you taken inventory of your gods—those great and small, those you created and those that were created for you by others? These gods cannot promise that they will be able to handle the load of being your god. The idols, the gods of our creation, are the things that turn our minds and hearts from God while convincing us that they can provide for us well on their own. These gods often do not absolutely exclude the Holy God, but they encourage us to place our commitment to God on a back burner and to access that relationship only in case of a dire emergency.

A number of years ago I was asked by a parishioner, a lady whose husband did not come to church, to go the Intensive Care Unit of the local hospital to see her husband. We set a time for me to go, because she wanted to be there when I went into the room. We met in the waiting room and went into the unit. When we arrived the husband was lying prone, wired in place by all sorts of devices. He had an oxygen tube in his nose and a catheter visible down the side of the bed. I was not sure that he was aware we were there. The lady sidled up to the bed and gently stroked his head. He opened his eyes and weakly smiled at his beloved wife. She said, “Our pastor, Jimmy, has come to see you.” His eyes opened wider; and in raspy, urgent tones he asked, “Am I worse off than I thought?” In his world, for the pastor to come was for God to be called in; and for God to be called in, the situation had to be grave.

Is your god named Calvin or Ralph or Versace—and do you wear the mark on your being? Is your god named Benjamin or George or Abraham or Ulysses or whatever face is on the currency you carry? Is your god named First Baptist or Calvary Baptist, The Full of Prosperity Overcoming Church of Video Screens or The Community Church on the Hill? Did you create your god from the raw materials of ambition or desire or fun or fatigue? Is your god named Vice President or President or Owner? Is your god a trophy or a championship or an award? Is your god named FaceBook or YouTube or Twitter? Is it a wife or husband or boyfriend or girlfriend or child? Is it debt or wealth or investments or bank accounts? Are these the “answers” to your happiness and fulfillment in life?

In the inventory of your life, what is it that you think of before you think of God? What is it that you turn to with reverent, undivided attention? What sets your moral and ethical standard? To what (or whom) are you accountable for how you perform in life? Does your god constantly press you to do for yourself or others or outdo others? What claims priority in your life? If you are close to finding the answer, as the old rusty signs on the side of the winding mountain roads of north Georgia and Tennessee used to admonish, Prepare to meet thy god! St. Augustine said, Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshipped.

These false gods can break down or be stolen or fail to perform. They can tempt us to over-extend or not take care of ourselves or simply neglect other important things. When the dangers come, these gods become burdens that we must carry rather than a Savior who carries us.

The frightening thing about this is that it all feels so familiar. When I went into my friend’s basement, I was at home. I had built my own machines that were to do something great—or at least I dreamed about their greatness. I had planned vehicles that would take me to the far reaches of the world.

Sometimes honoring these false gods feels justified. We are close to the anniversary of the September 11 attack. It was interesting to observe, in the wake of the disaster, where the gods were to be found. Remember how the psalmist wrote that God is my refuge and strength? I watched as some turned to God for help and peace. I watched others as they turned to their own bias or to human might or to economic sanctions. The point is that while many things may have been incorporated in the response we made to the moment and the responses we will make if some similar happens in the future, our God is the one to whom we turned first. There is nothing idolatrous about using the things God gives us as long as we remember that they are from God, and we temper the use by the standards that God gives us. You see, God matters first. The idols live only in our imaginations; and they can never carry us, for they are breathless gods. When times get really tough—last resort tough—we have to pick up the objects of our worship and run. Ironically, we normally run to the God we know we should have been worshiping all along; and we are met by His grace. Go figure! It must be love.

Idolatrous gods come to us so easily because they are familiar and friendly and usually a lot of fun. They play to our deepest desires and never tell us “no,” until it is too late to turn back. Kierkegaard said, It is the normal state of the human heart to try to build its identity around something besides God. That, however, does not make it right or useful; nor does it make the god powerful enough to carry us or our burdens.

God gave us fair warning about taking up idol building. It keeps us from truly living in the world God created for us. He wants us to keep on using what He gave us to use and worshiping the God who gave us the air that we breathe, never confusing desire with devotion, ambition with adoration or our will over the will of God.

Needless to say, my neighbor’s machine did not work, no matter how impressive it looked and sounded. It just did not link people around the globe, much less the far reaches of the universe. Soon it was in the heap of old science projects and experiments that captured his imagination, and he was on to another failed project.

At some point, however, he found his direction. He went to school and studied how such things really worked and finally ended up working with satellites and computers and digital thing-a-ma-bobs that took news from the far reaches of the globe and delivered it to households in his own hometown as well as in other places. He found what worked—the real deal; things that had true technology and power. He made a career out of doing what he had only dreamed of doing but would never have realized had he depended upon what he made as a child.

God said that we are not to create our own gods—they just do not have any life or power or future or hope about them. Our gods lead us into wars. They lead us into economic crisis. They destroy our homes and families. They keep us from growing in Christ. They tell us that God is fine with our tipping our hats to Him rather than being committed and faithful. They rob our children of reverence and purpose in life. These gods make us feel safe when we are really in peril. These gods undermine the moral fabric of our society because they are made in our imperfect, sinful image. Instead, our perfect, loving, grace-filled God calls us to a faith commitment that sees and experiences the power of our Creator God who in Christ did what none of our idols could do—delivered us from sin and death and hopelessness, offering us the breath of eternal life. AMEN.