Introduction

How many of us, I wonder, would normally be able to recall each of the Ten Commandments? Many of us would be able to quote a few of them; others still might be able to recall half - or possibly more - of them; and some - although I imagine that these people would be significantly outnumbered by the others - may be able to recite them all.

Most of us, I imagine, would be able to remember and recall the most important ones - or, more precisely - those that have most influence in our modern societies, such as, 'you shall not kill', or 'you shall not commit adultery'. Yet the most important of the commandments, for we, as Christians, as well as people of other traditions who proclaim only one true God, has to be, 'you shall have no other gods before me...nor make yourself a false idol to worship'. Forgive me, then, if I suggest that - at least from time to time - we all worship idols - and idolise people and things - that are not our proclaimed God.

On the worship of idols

The word, 'idol' - as with the word 'love' - has become too familiar to us, and we have debased, by societal usage, its true meaning. Some of us might have musical idols, such as Madonna, The Beatles, Elvis Presley or Neil Diamond; others will have film or television idols: Kate Winslet, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Anniston or Leonardo Di Caprio; more still might idolise football teams: Liverpool, Chelsea, Celtic et cetera (- although there really is only one United!) But do we really treat these people as idols? The commandments tell us that, if we worship them, we do. And if we hold these people in any form of adoration, we do idolise them. Yet, even more frightening than this, is the Western obsession with money and possessions, and our idolisation of these.

Let us be utterly honest here: most of us are, to a greater or lesser extent, obsessed with money, whether this be by trying to accumulate great wealth, seeking greater pay-rises, or through our obsession with the amount of money we owe in debt; to a greater or lesser extent, most of us come close to worshipping money, and we allow our obsession with it to dominate enormous amounts of our time. And, having gained a sufficient level of wealth - although few of us would ever admit that we have enough, let alone, too much, money - we need to ask, do we use it wisely? Do we properly and fully tithe to our churches, or do we grudgingly give the bare minimum? Do we give charitably at a level that will actually make a difference to the life of even one person? Do we "clothe the naked, feed the hungry" or do we write them off as 'scroungers' and 'hangers-on'; or suggest that these are matters better dealt with by the State, and thereby - as Pilate did - wash our hands of the matter, and absolve ourselves of any care for those less fortunate than ourselves?

The true meaning and the roots of the word, 'idol', are interesting: its Latin form is 'idolum', its Greek form, 'eidolon': each of these means, 'phantom': being a ghost, an apparition or mental illusion. The elevation of celebrities to the societal status of an idol is an illusion, albeit one carefully cultivated and nurtured by their film, recording or television studios, which appear to try to make of these people, 'mini deities'. Our fixation with money is a spectre. We are clearly told, in the Reading we heard a short time ago, that we should not make idols of people or anything else. In appearing to worship money, we make of ourselves Mammonists - those who regard wealth almost as a god - despite the fact that Saints Matthew (6:24) and Luke (16:13) warn us that we "cannot serve both God and money".

On loving God and keeping holy the Sabbath

Moses went to great lengths to ensure that his people might reverently and properly worship God. Because the books of the Old Testament, or Jewish Bible, have been accepted into the Christian canon, the words of Moses apply equally to we modern folk. Not only ought we not to worship or idolise anything or anyone other than God, but we ought also to always keep as holy, the Sabbath. Moses is as completely unambiguous here as he was when referring to idolatry, in whatever form that might appear.

In modern Britain, we can all-too-clearly see that our political leaders have substituted the worship of the one, true God, with the worship of Mammon: where once it was illegal for most types of retail outlets to open on the Christian Sabbath, it is now commonplace for all stores to be open for business. And people flock to these temples of Mammon in their droves; they worship at the altars of consumerism; they jostle with one-another in their endeavours to get the best bargains. Where, once, Manchester city centre would have been quiet and peaceful on Sundays, it now thrives with commercialism and consumerism; where, once, getting to church on Sundays would have been easy with empty roads and empty buses, many of us now struggle to get here through the traffic and throngs that clog the highways and the pavements; where once our journeys would have been peaceful, we now face the wrath and 'hurry, hurry, hurry' attitude of stressed drivers and shoppers.
Whilst I am aware that, for the minority, Sunday is the only day when they are able to shop, it remains a fact that, for most, Sunday has merely become an extension of the week, another day in which to indulge in their passion for shopping, another chance to emulate Viv Nicholson, and 'spend, spend, spend'.

Here, we clearly see, in direct contravention of the directive to keep the Sabbath holy, its replacement with the worship of Mammon. This is not the way that we, as mature Christians, ought to show our love of God, nor is it indicative of keeping holy the Sabbath. Instead we see the human error of covetousness.

I don't know too many people who would ever covet their neighbour's ox or donkey, but I do know many who use the Sabbath as just another day in which to indulge an unnecessary passion, with their accumulation of worldly goods, or their adoration of the 'sacred' Pound and what it can buy.
This is not to say that we ought not to enjoy life, nor that we should not spend our hard-earned money on those things which bring us pleasure. After all, without some degree of consumerism, the larger economies of the world would cease to function; there would be internationally widespread unemployment and unimaginably enormous poverty; our home lives would not afford us the levels of comfort that they do; we would not be able to build-up fine collections of teapots - and so on.

What we, as mature and responsible Christians ought to do, is to keep the matter in perspective: whilst "the love of money is the root of all evils" (1 Timothy 6:10), money, as a commodity, is nonetheless a necessity to modern living - and it ought to be treated as such: purely as a necessary commodity. But all of us, not merely the few who do, should also remember that we ought to fully and properly tithe our income to our churches; that we ought to give charitably and in the most efficacious way; that we should not "store up treasure on Earth", but, by efficacious good deeds - 'orthopraxy' - build up treasure in heaven.

The most frightening statistic that I know is that there is enough real wealth on the Earth, in private hands, to completely and forever eradicate hunger, poverty and deprivation: yet, every single day of the year, 36,000 children in Africa die of starvation.

Keeping holy the Sabbath is but one way that we can, and should, show our love of God. We ought not to allow Sundays to become just another weekday, with all that this implies. As Christians, we are also expected to reflect our love of God in the love that we show and give to those less fortunate than ourselves, with effective charity, given in humility, without any promise or desire of recognition of our giving, and by giving proportionately to the churches we attend, to enable them to carry out the work of God.

Once we have a clear, Christian perspective on matters fiscal, once we cease to worship our consumer-orientated societies, we will see, much more clearly, that the way to self-betterment is not through having a bigger house, better car or finer collection of antiques than our neighbour: such self-betterment will come through our release from slavery: the slavery that is our addiction to Mammon and the treasures of this world.

Only then may we, too, be "brought out of the land of Egypt", and occupy, instead, "a land flowing with milk and honey", remembering that God gave these commandments and made this covenant, not just with the people of Israel, "but with us, who are, all of us, here alive today."

Amen.

(John Stanway)

This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.