Strong families are built on a foundation of lasting values, values that do not change from year to year, values that have been revealed to us by God our creator. In this series we are looking at 10 values that we should build our families and our lives upon. These 10 values are called the 10 commandments. The 10 commandments are thousands of years old, but they are still relevant to our lives today. In fact they are essential for building strong families.
Why are they still relevant, why aren’t they outdated? Because God gave them to us to teach us how to relate to Himself and each other. God has not changed and people have not changed since God created them. So the principles governing our behavior are still valid today.
I’ve entitled today’s message dealing with the 2nd commandment “Eliminating Idols.” An idol is a substitute or a counterfeit for God in your life. A counterfeit is something that is not genuine, it is false, artificial, not real. It is a copy of something real. Although we don’t generally bow down to metal or stone statutes in America, we struggle with all kinds of idols, gods with a little g.
Virtually everything that people worship as idols is a distortion of a gift from God. It might be a car, a house, children, a job, a person, money and the list could go on and on. Each one of those idols is a counterfeit for what God alone can give us. God doesn’t want you or your family to be taken in by counterfeits, so He warns us about them in the 2nd command found in:
Exodus 20:4-5 (NIV) 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. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,
The second commandment gives us two principles: Don’t idolize anything and worship God alone.
Listen to or watch my February 20, 2011 message Eliminating Idols.