American Idolatry

I don’t know if you caught it in the news, but Thelma Keane died a few months ago in Phoenix at the age of 82. I was saddened by that news when I first heard it, even though I didn’t know her. In fact, I don’t know anyone in the family…but I feel like I do.

Thelma Keane was the inspiration for the Mommy character in her husband’s comic strip, The Family Circus. I’ve been reading Bil Keane’s The Family Circus for as long as I can remember. There’s one character that Bil Keane introduced in the mid-‘70s that’s as true-to-life as any member of this cartoon family.

Do you remember the Gremlin named “Not Me”? He’s invisible and just stands by, watching while the children try to shift blame for some misdeed by saying, “Not Me.” We’ve all been there, whether we’re the ones saying it or hearing it…“Not Me.”

I preached a series of sermons this summer that I called “American Idolatry,” and I’ve decided to use some of that material for my blog. My guess is that most people who hear that title will immediately think to themselves, “Not Me. I’m not guilty of idolatry. I’ve never bowed down before some stone stature or worshipped at a pagan altar. Not Me.”

But don’t be so quick to let Bil Keane’s li’l Gremlin speak for you…As we journey together, we might just discover idols closer than we realized.

Let me tell you how I came to preach a series of sermons (and, subsequently, write in my blog) on “American Idolatry.” I think we can all agree that American Idol has become a household name in today’s culture. This year’s final week of American Idol garnered audiences of 27 million viewers on Tuesday and 32 million viewers on Wednesday, making it the most watched television program in America that week. As television goes, it’s huge!

Last fall I was in the orthodontist’s office with Becca reading a magazine article on the (then) upcoming 2008 season of American Idol…and I got to thinking about America’s fascination with this show—for some people it’s an addiction. Now so you don’t think I’m going on some tirade about American Idol, I watch it sometimes…but I’ve got to tell you…I only like the first few weeks. Once they go to Hollywood, I couldn’t care less who wins.

But that article set into motion an evolution of thoughts across the next 6-8 months that culminated in the sermon series—“American Idolatry.” Most Americans would never dream of bowing down in worship before some stone statue, but idolatry is very much alive in America. In fact, idolatry can be found in most American homes and families. Listen to God’s Word and pray that God will speak clearly to your heart…

Ezekiel 14:1-11
1-Then some elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.
2-And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
3-"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?
4-"Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols,
5-in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols."'
6-"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
7-"For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will be brought to answer him in My own person.
8-"I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD.
9-"But if the prophet is prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the LORD, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
10-"They will bear the punishment of their iniquity; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be,
11-in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,"' declares the Lord GOD."
Ezekeiel is a prophecy from the Babylonian Exile. In other words, Ezekiel the prophet preached during the time many of the Jews had been taken to Babylon from their homeland in Jerusalem. More specifically, Ezekiel prophesied to the Jews during the first part of their seventy years of captivity.

What’s being discussed in this Ezekiel passage is God’s great displeasure with “some elders of Israel” who were coming to Ezekiel to hear a word from God. These elders would have been some of the most morally upstanding, trustworthy men among the Jewish people in captivity. They were leaders, and their lives were exemplary to all who knew them…all except God, who “sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

These were men you would never see bowed down before some pagan deity…some icon of idolatry…much like most of us. It’s easy for us to be like The Family Circus kids and say, “Not Me,” because we’d never worship in an idol’s temple. Yet God said that these Jewish leaders had “set up idols in their hearts.” They would never have had idols in their homes, but they had them in their hearts. And God made no distinction between the two.