Looking At or Looking Through?

Sermon by Pastor Derek
18 October 2026
Scripture: Numbers 21:4–9 | 2 Kings 18:1–7

When a Tool Begins to Take God’s Place

Technology has transformed the way we live, work and learn.

It has also changed the way we engage with the Bible.

Today, AI can explain a difficult passage within seconds. It can provide historical background, explain biblical Hebrew and Greek, and suggest applications. Scripture can even be turned into videos or songs.

These tools can help make God’s Word accessible to people who might otherwise never open a Bible.

But Pastor Derek raises an important question:

When does trusting a tool start to replace trusting God?

And when does something we are supposed to look through become something we begin looking at?

This question forms the heart of the message: Looking At or Looking Through?

When a Good Tool Becomes an Idol

Pastor Derek takes us to the story of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18.

Hezekiah became king after his father Ahaz had led Judah deeply into idolatry. Unlike his father, Hezekiah was faithful to God.

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones, cut down the Asherah poles and did something that might initially seem surprising:

He broke into pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made.

Why destroy something God Himself had commanded Moses to make?

To understand this, we have to return to Numbers 21.

While Israel was travelling through the wilderness, the people rebelled against God. Venomous snakes entered the camp, and many Israelites were bitten.

When the people repented, God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten could look at it and live.

The bronze serpent was therefore not an idol created by human beings.

It began as something God commanded.

Yet centuries later, the people were burning incense to it.

The object God once used to point people towards Himself had become an object of worship.

They had stopped looking through the tool towards God.

They were now looking at the tool itself.

The Slow Drift

This transformation probably did not happen overnight.

Perhaps the Israelites first remembered the bronze serpent as something God had used to save their ancestors.

They treasured it.

Then they honoured it.

Eventually, they began burning incense before it.

Pastor Derek compares this slow drift to attending a concert.

We take out our phones because we want to capture a special moment. We record one song, then another, then another. Eventually, we realise that we have spent most of the concert watching through a small screen instead of experiencing what was happening directly in front of us.

Nobody deliberately decided to miss the concert.

It happened gradually.

The same thing can happen spiritually.

A useful tool can slowly move from assisting our relationship with God to becoming something we depend upon instead of God.

That is the danger we must recognise.

Looking Through the Tool

Originally, the Israelites understood that the bronze serpent itself had no power.

The power belonged to God.

The serpent was simply the means God had chosen at that moment to direct their faith towards His promise.

Pastor Derek applies this principle to the tools we use today.

Bible translations are tools.

Bible study software is a tool.

Commentaries are tools.

AI is a tool.

Podcasts are tools.

Preachers and sermons are also tools.

All of these can help us understand Scripture more clearly.

But none of them carries authority on its own.

AI can give us information.

Only the Word of God can command us.

AI can explain Scripture, but it cannot become Scripture.

A preacher can teach the Bible, but the preacher cannot replace the Bible.

The purpose of every Christian resource should ultimately be to help us see Christ more clearly.

Fix Your Eyes on Christ

The story of the bronze serpent takes on an even deeper meaning in John 3.

Jesus told Nicodemus:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.”

The bronze serpent was ultimately pointing beyond itself towards Christ.

Just as the Israelites had been bitten by venomous snakes and faced death, humanity has been affected by sin and faces death.

But God lifted up His Son upon the cross.

Everyone who looks to Christ and believes in Him receives eternal life.

This is why our eyes must ultimately rest upon Jesus.

Our tools are useful, but they belong beneath Christ.

The goal is never to become impressed with the tool.

The goal is to see the Saviour more clearly through it.

Does It Serve or Substitute?

Pastor Derek gives us three practical questions to help us examine our relationship with the tools we use.

The first is:

Does it serve or substitute?

A tool that serves our faith should drive us towards God.

A tool that substitutes for our faith quietly begins taking away the trust and dependence that belong to God.

For example, when we open our Bible, do we immediately ask AI to tell us what the passage means?

Or do we first read the Scripture ourselves, meditate upon it, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate the text?

There is nothing necessarily wrong with using AI afterwards to understand historical background or clarify something difficult.

The question is whether the tool assists our encounter with Scripture or replaces it.

If we spend time reading an AI explanation about the Bible without actually meditating upon what God has said, we should not confuse that with spending time with God.

Does It Inform or Command?

The second question is:

Does it inform or command?

Pastor Derek makes an important distinction:

AI can inform us, but only the Word of God commands us.

This principle applies beyond AI.

Whether information comes through a commentary, podcast, prophecy, sermon or preacher, we should follow the example of the Bereans in Acts 17.

They received Paul’s message but examined the Scriptures to see whether what he said was true.

Everything must be tested against God’s Word.

AI can make mistakes.

Preachers can make mistakes.

Commentaries can make mistakes.

Human beings can make mistakes.

Therefore, our final authority cannot be the confidence with which something is said or how convenient the answer appears.

Our authority must remain the Word of God.

Does It Accompany or Replace?

The third question is:

Does it accompany or replace?

One reason AI can become attractive is its accessibility.

It is available at any hour. It answers immediately. It does not become tired or impatient.

But there are things technology cannot replace.

AI cannot pray for us.

It cannot genuinely sit beside us in our pain.

It cannot replace the presence of the Holy Spirit.

And it cannot replace brothers and sisters in Christ who know us, pray with us, encourage us and walk through life with us.

Pastor Derek therefore challenges us to ask:

Am I bringing to a chatbot what I should first be bringing to God in prayer?

Am I bringing to technology what I should be sharing with brothers and sisters in Christ?

Tools can accompany our spiritual journey.

They must never replace genuine relationship with God and His people.

What Needs to Be Broken?

When Hezekiah realised what the bronze serpent had become, he did not simply manage it better.

He broke it.

The problem was no longer the object itself but the place it occupied in the hearts of the people.

Something created to point towards God had begun blocking their view of God.

There may be times when we need to examine our own lives in the same way.

Has something useful become something we cannot function without?

Has something designed to help our faith started replacing our dependence upon God?

Has convenience slowly become trust?

Has a tool become the first place we turn before prayer or Scripture?

If something has taken Christ’s place, it may need to be put down.

Final Reflection

Pastor Derek’s message is not a call to reject technology or AI.

These tools can genuinely help us.

The question is where they sit in our lives.

Even something useful can become an idol when we begin looking at it instead of looking through it towards God.

So ask yourself:

Does it serve or substitute?

Does it inform or command?

Does it accompany or replace?

Use the tools available to you.

Let them help you understand.

Let them help you learn.

But keep every tool beneath Christ.

Because ultimately, our hope is not in an app, an explanation, a commentary, a preacher, a sermon or an AI chatbot.

Our hope is in Jesus.

The bronze serpent was lifted up so that people would look and live.

Jesus was lifted up so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

So whatever tools we use, may they always lead our eyes back to Him.

Don’t simply look at the tool.

Look through it.

Fix your eyes on Christ.

And if anything has taken His place, be willing to break its hold so that Jesus alone remains enthroned in your life.