On this episode of Face the Truth find out the one commandment that many know about and discover how others unknowingly break it.
[MATTHEW 22:36-38]
Now when the Lord Jesus Christ was asked, “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. Now when the Lord Jesus Christ was asked, which is the greatest commandment? Christ said, you shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. And so according to our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to love God. With all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, IS the greatest commandment. Now though there are many people who do not worship or love God, we know that there are billions of people who profess their love for God and many believe that they’re fulfilling this commandment. Now how do many believe they’re actually fulfilling this commandment to love God? Let’s take a look at this:
[VIDEO]
Seller: This is one of the most unique idols we have, and in fact, it just became available this morning!
Bisesh: Whatever is it?
Seller: Hmm…Bishesh, what would your dream idol be? If you could make one?
Woman: A unique aspect of Catholic devotion is the veneration of saints and the use of sacred objects such as statues. In the comment, we had a whole list of saints that we use for various situations. If we lost something, we would pray to St. Anthony. If we had a hopeless case in our family, maybe a relative that was a drunk or something, we would pray to St. Jude.
Cartoon: You can show reverence to God in any form you choose as long as you like the form.
Woman: I’m a follower of Latushna and I just remembered something that my aunt once told me and I just wanted to say that it’s like…when we do idol worship, when we…we have a picture of them or we can feel them. When you see them, you can actually feel what it is like and you can praise them.
Cartoon: They use them because it is easier to talk to something that you can see.
Seller: This, my dear Bishesh, is the great, powerful, mighty…
Bishesh: Yes? Yes??
Seller: …sublime, god of…ageless……beauty?
Bishesh: Ohh…oh my!
Seller: God of Ageless Beauty! It’s quite rare!
So as you can see, many people still render worship to and honor God. They appreciate Him and think about Him all the time. As a matter of fact, some are like sports fans who have token mementos to remind them of God. They bring these things with them or have them in their homes. This is also to show others that they are deeply devoted to God but how does God see these things? Can having or using these objects truly prove our love for God? How do we prove our love for God? We’ll find out when we come back on Face the Truth.
Welcome back to Face the Truth. Now before our break, we learned the greatest commandment that we need to fulfill is to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. It is a commandment that many people believe their actually obeying by their devotion and respect that they give to certain religious objects or items in their possession. Now maybe it has something to do with popular culture, for example: If you walk into a teen’s room, you can clearly see who their favorite artist, athlete, or cartoon characters are by the posters they have on their walls, their clothes or pieces of jewelry. Now there’s nothing wrong with being a devoted fan. Well when it comes to worshipping God, how do we prove our love for Him? This is what is written in the book of I John, chapter 5 and the verse is 3 says this:
[I JOHN 5:3]
Now Apostle John said loving God is by keeping His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome or too difficult to follow. Now there is no doubt that people believe they love God and follow His commandments. But what is one commandment that many people fail to understand and follow? In fact, in an attempt to prove their love for God, it actually has the very opposite meaning to God Himself. Now what we’re about to read to you is a common verse from the 10 commandments that many people have even memorized. Now these verses mention the first 2 instructions of God in the 10 commandments. Let us read what is written in the book of Exodus chapter 20 and the verses are 3 through 5.
[EXODUS 20:3-5]
Take note, these are the first two commandments of God written in the 10 commandments. God said, “Worship no God but Me.” Now what does that mean? And what does God mean by that? Well, we should understand there’s only one God that people should worship. Now we just need to say this: People who worship more than one god violate this first commandment. Now what is the second? He also strictly commanded, “Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship it because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.”
Although what is written is clear, we want to emphasize that God forbids man to make idols or images that are used for worship. Now how does God consider those who make and use images for worship or religious purposes? It’s an act of hatred toward God and He will certainly punish them. And so though people’s intention was to show God their devotion or their love, they’ve ended up doing the very opposite when they worship idols.
Now some would say that they only use the images to serve as a visual tool. These are things that they have to remind them of God. They realize it’s not God. But they say it’s intended for Him and so they believe it’s ok to have them. Well, how does God Himself feel about those who use images intended for Him? We will read the answer in the book of Isaiah the chapter is 42 and the verse is 8.
[ISAIAH 42:8]
You noticed what God said? God said, “I alone am the Lord your God. I will not let idols share my praise.” So much for that argument that the idols or images are intended for God. God will not share His praise or glory with images or idols. So when people have these idols in their homes or their religious buildings, it’s already something that God despises. It’s even worse if people bow down to or worship these images. Yet, you know, today so many people are doing so and even if the Bible’s teaching is clear and easy to understand that God forbids this, they still insist on this practice. And so how then does the Bible characterize people who make and worship images? We’re gonna stay in the book of Isaiah. This time we will read chapter 44 and the verse is 9, this is written:
[ISAIAH 44:9]
The Bible calls those who make idols as worthless and the idols themselves as useless. These people are also called by the Bible as blind and ignorant. Now why does the Bible call people who make and use and worship idols as blind and ignorant? Well, before we continue with what we will show you, we want to make something very clear. It is never our intention to offend anyone. Our sole purpose is to reveal the truth of God’s words written in the Holy Scriptures. But what you may see next may be a little bit offensive. Let’s take a look at this:
[VIDEO]
The carpenter measures the wood. He outlines a figure with chalk, carves it out with his tools and makes it in the form of a man, a handsome human figure to be placed in his house. He might cut down cedars to use, or choose oak or cypress wood from the forest. Or he might plant a laurel tree and wait for the rain to make it grow. A person uses part of a tree for fuel, and part of it for making an idol. With one part, he builds a fire to warm himself and bake bread. With the other part, he makes a god and worships it. With some of the wood, he makes a fire, he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, “How nice and warm. What a beautiful fire.” The rest of the wood he makes into an idol and then he bows down and worships it. He prays to it and says, “You are my god. Save me!” Such people are too stupid to know what they are doing. They close their eyes and their minds to the truth.
Now we’ve read all these verses and you’ve seen them to give people a vivid picture as to what people are actually doing by making and worshipping images or idols. But you know, verse 19 sums it up as to why people who do this are called by the Bible as blind and ignorant. And this is because they don’t realize that they’re just bowing down to a block of wood, or maybe stone or some other material. In fact, some of the wood from the same tree, based on what we read, was used for fire to keep warm or to cook food. Now why would people bow down to worship a statue or idol or a piece of wood or stone? It makes no sense yet so many people today are doing this very thing.
So people need to understand that any form of image worship is a sin and in direct violation of God’s commandments, no matter one’s intention. But did you know that there is a form of idolatry that many people are not aware of which has nothing to do with the use of idols or images? And we’ll find out what that is when we return of Face the Truth.
Welcome back to Face the Truth. Today we’re talking about obeying God’s greatest commandment, that is to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. It’s a commandment that many people today want to follow. Sadly, many have expressed their devotion and love for God by doing the exact opposite of what God wants. Now we learned earlier that God forbids the making of images which people use for worship. The Bible calls people who make and worship images as blind and ignorant. And so any form of worship by the use of idols or images is not devotion to God but hatred against God. But did you know that there is a form of idolatry that does not involve the worship of images? What else is a form of idolatry? Well here, the Apostle Paul gives us the answer in the book of Colossians chapter 3 the verses are 5 and 6, he says this:
[COLOSSIANS 3:5-6]
Now the Bible mentions immorality, lust, evil passions, greed, and others as the equivalent to idolatry. Now if these things are practiced by anyone, it’s the same as worshipping idols. In other words, we should be careful about our love of certain things in this world. In fact, this is what the Apostle John teaches us in the book of I John chapter 2 the verses are 15 and 16.
[I JOHN 2:15-16]
And so if we love the world and the things in the world, we lose the love of the Father. So we must remember: God tolerates no rivals, whether they be images or statues people make and worship, or any worldly things that people love. So if we want to truly worship and serve God in a manner that pleases Him, what should we do according to the Bible? Let’s read what the Lord Jesus Christ tells us here in the book of John chapter 4 and the verse is 23 This is written:
[JOHN 4:23]
Christ here tells us that there are true worshippers. Why are there true worshippers? Because they worship the Father in the correct way. What is the correct way of worshipping God? Christ said, “The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” Why is it so important that this is the kind of worship that we fulfill? Well according to what we have read, the Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. And so if we truly wanna worship and serve God in a manner that pleases Him, then we should worship the Father in this manner that He wants and that is to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now how do we worship God in spirit and in truth? Let’s go now to the book of Matthew 6:9-10 Christ again is the One giving us the answer:
[MATTHEW 6:9-10]
How do we worship God in spirit? Well, since God is spirit, we cannot see Him, then what we must honor, what we must praise is His name, according to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “Hallowed by Your Name.” That’s how we worship God in spirit. Now how do we worship God in truth? What is the truth, first of all? Well, according to what is written in the book of John 17:17, Christ said God’s words (or commandments) are truth. So to worship God in truth, Christ tells us that God’s will or commandments should be done on earth or obeyed, which is also the way (if you remember earlier) that we prove our love for God. Now this is exactly what we do in the Church of Christ.
This is also what we continue to bring to you on this program, Face the Truth so that you will know exactly what God requires of you. What he doesn’t want is for you to have images or idols in your homes, on your person, or wherever, for this is something that He hates. And so we strongly suggest that you get rid of all of these things. And also we must remember that anything that man will love here on earth that would rival our love for God is also a form of idolatry.
And so take note, truth may be painful at first. But whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, the truth is something we all must face. Thanks for joining us on Face the Truth. I am Brother Barry Thompson. Take care and God bless.
