"No Assembly Required"   

In this article I want to point out something great about the God of the Bible. He comes with “no assembly required.” He is ready and complete. We don’t have to put Him together. In fact when we try to put God together the way we want to, we always end up diminishing who God is.

God has told us not to do this when He commanded in Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” God is saying don’t worship anything that has been created. It doesn’t matter if God created it (sun, moon, stars, animals, etc.) or man created it (wooden, gold, or stone statues) don’t worship anything created. 

How foolish to create something and then to bow to it as having some power in your life, but people do it. People pray to statues and pictures. People believe a particular form or particular words will get them what they want (they are "magic words"). People have a good luck charms. People are superstitious. People view lifeless things as if they had some power. It is not a stretch to think that we would begin to view these symbols as if they were God Himself.

The historical context of this command in Exodus 20 is the nation of Israel delivered out of Egypt by God and going to a pagan land that God will give them. All the nations around them practice idol worship. God is revealing to Israel (and to us) who He is. God is telling them, “I am not like the other gods.” God is not a god who can be limited by an image or likeness. When we do this we to misunderstand and lessen who God is. God is not a god that is representable in wood or stone or anything else.

God is teaching what He is like. Here is some of what we learn. God is a god without limits. An idol is a limited thing. It is a finite thing as all created things are. But God is not limited in anything. God not only knows - He knows all things. God is not only powerful - He is all powerful. God is not only holy, just and merciful - He is infinitely holy, just and merciful.

We also learn that God is a big God. We can pick up and put down an idol. We can move it to this place and then we can move it to that place. We can hide it from sight or we can put it in the center of the room. We can make an idol and therefore we can destroy it. We can control an idol, but a god we can control is no God at all. We cannot control the God of the Bible. He is uncontrollable and all-powerful. He does whatever He wants.

God is also teaching us that He is the reward. Idols were worshipped for what they were thought to be able to do. God is to be worshipped for who He is. You wanted good crops, you worshipped the fertility god for what you can get from it. The true God is worshipped for who He is. God is the great Reward, not just a rewarder. 

Satan could not conceive of any explanation for Job’s worship of God other than God blessed this man so greatly (Job 1:8-12). God allowed Job to be afflicted, taking away these blessings, to show Satan that He is worthy of man’s worship, even when He sends adversity into the lives of His people. Also many of the Psalms are the praises of men who are deep in adversity, and yet who persist in praising God as the One who is always worthy of worship.

The God of the Bible does not require our assembly, but He certainly requires us to come to Him as He has told us, through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is not a god who we can make how we want. He is God who comes “no assembly required.”

Pastor Curtis Tschetter