Worshiping The Unholy Trinity Of Me, Myself, And I
2019 Sermon series on the Ten Commandments at St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Today is Ash Wednesday which means it is the first day of the
Season of Lent. More precisely, at the
heart of Ash Wednesday is the theme of repentance – that is sorrow for
sin.
It could also be said
that the Season of Lent is an extended period
for pause and reflection. It is a time for you and me to consider our place
before almighty God.
With this in mind, tonight, there is no better way to
consider our place before almighty God than to contemplate His holy, perfect,
and divine will for us, as expressed in the Ten Commandments. Yes, over the next six weeks we will be
considering the 10 Commandments.
Now, as we examine the 10 Commandments, we will not only be instructed on what is good and true, but we
will also be convicted of our sin. You see, as we contemplate the Ten Commandments, we will realize how we sin.
However, as we realize our sin, we do so knowing that we are traveling
towards the cross of Good Friday where our sin finds its home not on us, but on Christ. Therefore, by considering the extent of our sin problem during Lent, only
makes the Good News of Holy Week and Easter sweeter still.
So, to begin this six-part
series on the Ten Commandments, we are focusing on the first and second
commandments of God which state,
“You are to have no other gods.”
“You are not to take the name
of God in vain.”
As we examine these two commandments a bit more closely, what we find at work is something called
idolatry. Not adultery with an “A,” but idolatry with an “I.” That is
right; when we look at the first two commandments,
the theme of idolatry emerges.
The problem with idolatry though is that when we think of idolatry, we immediately imagine primitive people gathering around idols that are carved out of stone or wood. And with this image in our minds, we think that idolatry doesn’t apply to us. Now, while idolatry is indeed worshipping a stone or wood idol, we need to be on guard from an oversimplification of idolatry. In other words, we need to be aware that even though we do not bow to wood and stone idols, we still commit the sin of idolatry as twenty-first-century Americans.
Martin
Luther teaches us in the Large Catechism that idolatry does not consist merely
of making an image and worshipping it, but he shares that idolatry is primarily
a matter of the heart. You see, when your
heart and my heart gaze upon things other than God for help and comfort, we
commit idolatry. When our eyes are
easily turned away from the Creator to created things, we make created thing into an alternative god. Tragically, you and I commit idolatry with
whatever our hearts cling to or rely upon for ultimate security.
So,
what is your idol today?
What
do you trust, believe, and desire good things from?
What
do you fear, love, and trust the most?
Perhaps
the biggest idol in our lives, as Americans, is that which is closest to
us. I am not referring to a false god
that we have created or even to the way we make money, sex, and power into gods
that we worship. But rather, I am
referring to our fear, love, and trust of the ‘idol of self.’
Dear
friends, it is like this: what we Americans fear, love, and trust the most is
the unholy trinity of ‘me, myself, and I?’
Indeed, has not the ‘self’ become the idolatrous creator, healer, and sustainer for us as modern Americans?
To
confirm this, one only has to look at the self-absorption and self-love demonstrated
in our media. In fact, our fascination with ourselves is no different in the
church!
David
Wells once said that the American Church is,
“Trying to hold at bay the
gnats of small sins while swallowing the camel of self.”
In
other words, we are pretty good as Christians to nitpick small sins that are
committed by others in the church. We
hone right in on the failure of others in the church with fussy fault-finding
while simultaneously propping ourselves up.
Yes, we seek out the smallest infractions in others and then demand that
everyone else worship us – the idol of ‘me, myself, and I.’
Dear
friends, the painful reality is that we are fascinated with ourselves. As the old hymn states,
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it; prone to leave the God I love.”
We
wander back to ourselves and our own
projects. We fear, love, and trust our
inner life, our piety, our projects, our legacy, our abilities, our opinions,
and so forth. We are addicted to the
idol of ‘self.’ We are an idol unto ourselves.
Besides
the obvious sin of the idolatry of ‘self,’
there is a catch-22 to idolatry. And
that catch is this; it doesn’t sustain or
work! The idol of ‘self’ is frankly,
powerless. For example, if the idol of ‘self’
is the source of meaning in our lives,
how do you and I cope and survive with the pressures of fulfilling a meaningful
life? There is more, how does the idol of ‘self’ deal with the insurmountable
weight of taking the place of God? When we fear, love, and trust in ourselves,
what happens when we fall apart? What happens when life beats us up? What happens when guilt plagues us?
It is
clear that you and I are not
designed to take the place of God. It is
clear that the idol of self is a one-way street – it is a dead end. Like the idols of the Old Testament who have
mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see; and ears, but do not hear, the
idol of ‘self’ is empty, incomplete, powerless, and futile.
Take a
moment and consider the story of the golden calf in Exodus 32. Briefly, in Exodus 32, the Israelites made a
golden calf out of gold jewelry. And what
is rather ironic is that their building of this golden calf idol is contrasted with the building of God’s
tabernacle in the later portions of the book of Exodus. To the point; the Israelites in making an
idol were trying to do something that God was already providing for them. That is the same with you and me. Whether we
uphold a golden calf idol or the ‘idol of self,’ we are seeking to create
something that God has already provided.
The ironic implication is that mankind
forfeits God himself with the hopes of creating golden calves and idols of self when the Lord God is right there to give
Himself to mankind.
Dear Baptized Saints, amid America’s self-absorbed idol
of ‘self,’ the cross stands.
You
and I attempt to create, sustain, and worship ourselves so that we can feel
complete and whole; the Lord’s Gospel says that you are already complete as a chosen
and set apart royal priesthood in Christ.
(i.e., 1 Peter 2:9)
You
and I attempt to climb a metaphoric ladder to fulfill our moral, mystical, and
intellectual needs; God comes down to you in the water, word, bread, and wine, marking
you with His name, feeding you the forgiveness of sins, and pronouncing that
all is finished.
You
and I mistakenly attempt to love to get love; God’s Gospel Word speaks to you
that you get to love because He first loved you. (i.e., 1 John 4:19)
You
and I attempt to prop up ourselves so that we might live; the Lord meets you
with the cross that crucifies you so that
you might live by faith in the Son of God. (i.e., Galatians 2:19-20).
You
and I try to establish the perfect image through the idolatrization of ‘self’; God presents to you His perfect icon and
image, Jesus Christ—the one you are clothed in.
God have
mercy on us, on me…. the sinner.
You,
who have ears, hear: in Christ, the idol of ‘self’ finds its end.
There
is no need for the idol of ‘self,’ for
you have been given Christ, the one who came
among us to put our sin to death.
In Christ, you are baptized, have worth, have an
identity, have meaning, have hope, and belonging.
Your
life is found not in a powerless wooden or stone object called ‘self,’ for the idol of ‘self’ died in the living
Son of God who bled and died—especially for you!
Fear,
love, and trust in Jesus because He is your deliverance, He is your sustainer, and He is the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world - especially your sins of idolatry. (i.e., John 1:29,
3:14-16)
CLICK HERE to 'Like' on Facebook
CLICK HERE to 'Follow' on Twitter
CLICK HERE to Subscribe on iTunes
CLICK HERE to Subscribe on Podbean