25th February 2025

25th February 2025


Pray (ACts)


Read (Exodus 20v1-21)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


What is the second commandment? It is “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or 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: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20v4-6)


Images are powerful things which have a tendency to capture our minds once they enter. What do I mean? Who can forget the image of a protestor in Tiananmen Square standing bravely in front of an onrushing tank or the flames pouring from the World Trade Centre in the seconds after another plane crashed into the side of the building or the mangled wreckage of Princess Diana’s car as it was removed from a Paris tunnel?


Images are indeed powerful and in the second commandment the Lord commands us to not give ourselves to the making of images in heaven above or the earth beneath. Does this mean that your grandson’s crayon drawing must be removed from the fridge door? By no means. The Lord concerns Himself in the second commandment with our worship and adoration. As a father knows his child so the Lord knows us. He understands what we are like and He knows that our hearts are easily captured.


You might think you are above all such things but consider your own heart for a moment. Do you remember your frustration when your new car was scratched accidentally in the B&M carpark? What about your anger when granny’s will left more “stuff” to your cousin than you? Or the time you spoke angrily to your granddaughter when she dared touch one of your precious items?


Objects can take over our hearts and we can make images out of mundane things. The Lord warns us against our natural instincts. We are not to be in the business of carving images which we will later worship, we do not need lavishly decorated church buildings in order to be closer to God and we certainly don’t need a painting of Jesus to hang over our bed.


The Israelites had witnessed the Lord’s mighty work and yet they quickly set about shaping a golden calf. Brothers and sisters, be careful of your heart, it is easily captured by the visual and objects can sometimes claim a place they do not deserve. One day our faith will be turned to sight, in the meantime do not make any graven images.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q16 Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression? The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself, but for his posterity; all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.
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