Building Block #2

“YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A CARVED IMAGE—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God (Exodus 20:4, 5 NKJ)

When your relationship with God is not solid, culture and environment can a have a stronger pull in the opposite direction.

• For the children of Israel, the pull was strong. A golden calf was their carved image.
• The Golden Calf is a symbol of impatience and compromise.

Finally, he turned to Aaron and demanded, “What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?”
“Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ (Exodus 32:21-23 NLT)

Impatience with Moses and God.

So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold jewelry, take it off.’ When they brought it to me, I simply threw it into the fire—and out came this calf!” (Exodus 32:24 NLT)

Impatience led to compromise.
Impatience + Compromise = Golden Calf

Definitions of an idol:

1. An image or representation of a god used as an object of worship. (Oxford)

2. A likeness of something: A pretender or An Impostor (Webster)

3. A false conception: A fallacy (Webster)

My own definition:
An idol is anything or anyone that lures you away from God…your first love.

• It could be a career, a business, a relationship.
• The primary goal for the enemy is to lure you away from God.

Why did God give us this second building block or commandment?
To warn us but also to equip us.

#1: TO REMIND YOU THAT HE IS JEALOUS FOR YOU

You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. FOR I, THE LORD YOUR GOD, AM A JEALOUS GOD (Exodus 20:5 NKJ)
Jealousy is a sin when you desire something that does not belong to you.
• You belong to God!

#2: TO REVEAL THE IMAGE OF HOPE IN YOU

• Hope has an image that is revealed when Christ is revealed in our life.

And this is the secret: CHRIST LIVES IN YOU. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory. (Colossians 1:27 NLT)

• “Christ in you, the hope of glory”
• Without the true image of His Son, we have no relationship with the Father.

#3: TO PRESERVE HIS IMAGE IN YOU.

• You are the spitting image of God. God used His image to design you.
• When you are born again, God’s image is preserved in you. It comes to life!

Therefore, IF ANYONE IS IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJ)

• You no longer carry your old image, but the image of Christ.

God without man is still God but man without God is nothing.

• When God wanted to create fish, He spoke to the sea.
• When God wanted to created trees, He spoke to the earth.
• But when God wanted to create man, He turned to Himself.
• “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness”.
• If you take a fish out of the water, it will die; and when you remove a tree from the soil, it will also die.
• Likewise, when man is disconnected from God, he dies.

CONCLUSION:
What is God saying to you through this message?