Sermon Tone Analysis

Isaiah 44

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Introduction

If you went around the community of Rosenort and looked at the buildings, where would you say the heart of the people is?

What would the buildings reveal about our priorities - the Credit Union - the arena - our homes - our churches?

If we did a survey this morning and asked how much time people spent on different activities, what would that reveal about what they value?

In which order of importance would the following work, play and church appear?

If you did a survey of how people used their money, what would that reveal about what they trust?

Although we do not worship idols made of wood and stone, idolatry can still be a part of our life in the sense that there are things other than God which we value more, trust and have confidence in.

As we continue our study of Isaiah, we find that there are numerous passages which speak to the issue of idol worship.

For some reason, idolatry was a temptation for Israel, but as we will see, the root concern is not far from our life.

Last week we learned that God is Lord over all the nations.

As we look at the passages that speak about idol worship, we learn that God is the one and only God and are challenged to examine our lives for any places where we might realize that we worship something other than God.

This morning, I invite you to look at Isaiah 44.

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I. What A Joke!

            On vacation, I read some stories by Stephen Leacock who is known as a humorist.

A good humorist is able to take things that seem ordinary to us and helps us see the humor in them.

Leacock has one story about opening a bank account and it tells of how nervous he is so that in the end he takes his money with him and never goes in a bank again.

It is a very funny story because it reveals what is inconsistent or ridiculous in us.

You know who another good humorist is? Did you ever think that God is a good humorist?

I enjoy Isaiah 44 because it is so funny.

In this chapter he reveals, in a humorous way, how ridiculous idol worship is.

The first statement that looks ridiculous is to realize as Isaiah 44:11 says, “craftsmen are but men.”

What follows is a further description of the incongruity of a person making the thing that they worship.

In verse 12 it says that the blacksmith “shapes an idol” and verse 13 talks about the carpenter who “shapes it in the form of man.”

Doesn’t it strike you as ridiculous that a person makes the thing that he is going to bow down to and ask for help?

Idols are created by the people whom the idols have supposedly created!

The humour continues in verse 14 where we continue with the story of the carpenter who has taken a tree - a cypress or an oak - which has grown in the forest as the rain fell on it and made it grow.

Such a tree, such a created thing which has been made to grow by the forces of nature(or from Isaiah’s perspective by God), is taken and formed into an idol which is then worshipped as something great and worthy.

The existence of the idol depends on the tree, which depends on whether it rains or not!

The really funny part is found in the next section.

In verse 16, Isaiah mocks that the person who worships this idol takes part of the tree and uses it to make a fire to cook his supper with it and warms himself with it and the other half is used to make an idol which he then worships.

What makes half the tree holy and worthy of worship and the other half only good for fuel for the fire?

How hilarious!

The folly continues in verse 17 where this god that is formed from half the wood suddenly becomes a god by the words of the maker who takes this piece of wood that he has shaped and suddenly says to it, “you are my god.”

If we weren’t in church, we should be rolling in the aisles by now.

We are right with God here.

We can see how blind, how foolish these people are.

Isaiah declares it in verse 9, “Those who speak up for idols are blind…” The folly of it is revealed again in verses 18,19, “They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.

No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate.

Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?

Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

The comments, in verse 20, on such folly are instructive.

People who rely on them feed on ashes, are mislead by a deluded heart, cannot thereby be helped and worship what is a lie.

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II.

Israel’s Story

!! A. Why Were They Tempted?

But as much as we see this as utter folly, Israel did not see it as such.

Why would Isaiah even have to say something if it was so obviously foolish?

What reason, what logic would make them even consider such a temptation?

The first reason they faced this as temptation is because they were so alone.

As they looked at all the nations around them, they saw that every other nation had idols.

Even though they were all different idols, they had in common that they all had visible gods to worship.

Israel alone worshipped an invisible God.

Israel alone had no image of their God.

You know how it is when you are alone.

Even though you may have strong convictions, if you are alone in those convictions, pretty soon you begin to wonder if perhaps you are wrong.

Even if you don’t think you are wrong, it is hard to stand alone in a way of living.

Furthermore, at this time, Israel was facing defeat from some of the nations which surrounded them.

The common understanding of that day was that the nation who won a war had a stronger god.

It was understood that each nation’s god helped it in battle.

If a nation won, it was because their god was stronger.

If a nation lost, it was because their god was weaker.

Israel had lost many wars and were being decimated.

It was a short step to believe that they had lost because God was not as strong as the gods of the other nations.

If that was the case, perhaps it was time to begin to worship some of these other gods and make images of them to try to get their help.

To them, the worship of these idols was not such a foolish thing.

To them, it presented itself as a very powerful and reasonable option.

!! B. Why Choose God?

That is why God so strongly mocks the folly of such idol worship.

That is why God so powerfully must make known to them that He is God alone.

The point of the passage is not to poke fun at the folly of idolatry, but to invite them to follow God.

Five reasons are given for the strong appeal.

In verse 6, we read that they are invited to follow God because of who He is.

Unlike idols, God is King, Redeemer, Almighty, the first and last.

He is over all and greater than all.

In a number of these verses, God invites comparison.

Verse 7a says, “Who then is like me?

Let him proclaim it.”

This is the context in which the folly of idolatry is presented and the conclusion in verse 19 and 20 is that an idol is a detestable thing and ashes and nothing.

None of the gods of the nations or their idols can compare with God.

Israel had life in their hands, they had a relationship with the one and only true God and they were prepared to throw it all away, for something as useless as a dead idol.

The superiority of God is also shown because of what He knows.

In verse 7, God reminds Israel that he alone has had a hand in all history.

He has shaped not only history past, but history yet to come.

He asks any of the idols to reveal “what is yet to come.”

Only God knows that.

In verses 21-23, he reminds them of what he has done.

He has made a covenant with them so that they have become his children and he has redeemed them, forgiving their sins.

These acts of God are a further presentation of why God is a far better option than idols.

As Spurgeon writes, “Why should pardoned sinners live at a distance from their God?”[1]

They are also invited to follow Him because he promises much more than any idol.

Although Israel was facing devastation, they had the promises of God that he would yet restore them.

These promises are contained in verses 24-28.

“If only they could accept how special they are in the eyes of God…” If only they realized that they were in danger of choosing what was nothing, what was dead and empty.

The humor in the passage and the strong statements invite them to see that all other gods are nothing and that God alone is God and, therefore, to choose to follow Him.

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III.

Is God Our God?

!! A. Our Temptations

            We laugh with God at the folly of idols.

How ridiculous to bow down to a block of wood!