Sermon Sampler: October 16, 2005

Truth be told, idolatry isn’t big on our radar anymore. For all the talk it receives in the Bible, few of us spend much time worrying about false gods. Take a look at all the other commandments being broken around us – the abuse of God’s name; sex everyplace but within marriage, for which it was created; theft in big and little ways, on the tax forms and at the boardroom table; an entire culture based on envying what the Joneses are driving around in, or wearing to school, or taking out a second mortgage on. There’s so much sin to be seen, and the Ten Commandments litter the scene like so many shattered boughs after a windstorm. Really, the only highlight is that idolatry seems to be at an all-time low.

I mean, when was the last time you saw your neighbor kneel down and pray to a little carved elephant? Can you even think of a time when someone you knew prayed for you to a god you didn’t know? Sure, we know that there is freedom of religion in our country, but when the huge majority of Americans talk about God, we know that they mean just the same God as we do, even if they understand him a bit differently. Really, it’s hard to think of anyone at all who worships any other god besides our God, isn’t it?

So why trouble ourselves with idols – false gods? Why spend any time at all worrying about the First Commandment when that seems to be the one commandment we’re pretty close to golden on?

Read more of this sermon (or any other one) at my Sermon Archive...