If I were to ask you to rank the Ten Commandments from the easiest to follow to the most difficult, I’m guessing that a lot of us would put the second commandment somewhere near the top of the list. After all, who really worships idols these days? It may have been a necessary prohibition for the Israelites, who were surrounded by pagan gods and goddesses, but most of us would like to think that we are more sophisticated than those primitive cultures.

But before we start congratulating ourselves, it might be worth exploring how idol worship came to be practiced in the first place, because I’m not sure that the original intent was ever to worship an inanimate object. The people of the ancient world may not have been as technologically advanced as we are, but they were not stupid either. They knew that an idol created out of stone or wood was just that—something that they had created!

However, there was a method behind their madness, because if people cannot physically see God, then we tend to forget about God. Thus, people started fashioning objects to help them remember. So far, so good … except that, over time, the objects themselves began to be revered and treated as sacred. In other words, what was meant to remind people of God … started to represent God.

Can something like that still happen today? You bet. In fact, it happens all the time.

Idolatry occurs whenever means become ends. Take the worship liturgy, for example. Liturgy is meant to be a means to an end—the end, in this case, being a deeper and closer relationship with God. However, if we are not careful, then the observance of a particular style or practice of worship can become an end, in and of itself. That is, the method through which we are seeking a closer relationship with God becomes more important (and to some extent, more sacred) than the relationship itself.

The same would be true of church government. As Presbyterians, we take great pride in doing things “decently and in order” … but that practice is simply a means to an end—the end being the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. If the process that is meant to help us minister to people becomes more important than the people themselves, then what we have done, in effect, is to turn the process into an idol.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is dangerous to assume that idol worship is merely an antiquated practice of primitive cultures. Whenever means become ends … whenever systems and structures become more important than ministry to people … then idolatry is very much alive and well!