Think on These Things
October 2000
3. The Sufficiency of God's Word
Acts
17:16 “Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being
provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols.”
What would Paul think of today if he visited one of our big cities?
Next time you are in one, try it out.
Pretend that you are Paul, pick a spot, look around and see what you
feel. Chances are very good that
you will see far more signs of worldliness than any desire to serve God. Liquor
stores, movie theatres, billboards depicting immodesty, car horns displaying
impatience, profanity, nightclubs, bars, and pornography in easy sight.
Would this provoke your spirit, or would you glory in it?
Clearly
the type of idolatry that inundated Athens does not plague us.
But how far are we from it? How
many of our organized religions are anything but pure superstition?
That is all religion is for followers who do not understand the basis of
what they are doing but are merely holding a form of godliness (2 Tim. 3:5).
But in most cases we are dealing with no religion at all.
Does this eliminate idolatry? Absolutely
not. Indeed, atheism might be the
worst form of idolatry since it denies the obvious reality of the existence of
God (Rom. 1:20). And no one is
without objects of worship. It
might be scholarship, worldly wisdom, physical things, wealth, political power,
fame, sensuality, or any number of other things.
They are all summed up in the inordinate lust for anything ... Col. 3:5
“Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality,
impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
Here idolatry is defined not in terms of an object worshipped, but in
terms of the inner heart of the person doing the worshipping.
When we put anything before or above God, we are engaging in idolatry.
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The goal of this page is to promote morality and justice in our society (Prov. 14:23).
Its
a religion.
The first time I heard this expression applied to football was many years
ago when a friend of mine had gone to an Ohio State game for the first time.
Being from the Northeast, he had never seen such a fuss made over
football. The only way that he
could describe it was: “its a religion.”
Of course, those of us who live in the South know that Ohio State is
child’s play when it comes to the zeal with which local football fans express
their dedication to their team. To
illustrate this, consider the following questions:
When
was the last time you dedicated an entire day (or perhaps weekend) to a
religious event?
When
was the last time you were late to a football game? ... would you even imagine
getting to church 15 minutes early?
When
was the last time that you got emotionally involved at a religious service
because you realized that your “team” was losing (souls, that is)?
We
could go on but you get the idea. The
fact is, most people are more dedicated to their team than they are to their
God. A comparison of the amount of
time, money and emotional energy spent proves it.
We
have even witnessed team rivalries causing offense within the Lord’s church.
Preachers would do well to avoid this problem by just not mentioning team
affiliations at all. “Aggie
jokes” (or the like) have no place, nor do any such references by any
Christian that needlessly offends anyone. This
is one stumbling block that is easily avoided.
We will not go so far as to say that the game is evil per se, but there
is much about the circumstances that surround it (e.g., the immodesty, language,
use of alcohol, etc.) that makes it difficult for Christians to fully
participate even as spectators. And,
when the winning or losing of a game becomes more important to the individual
than his/her service to God, something is wrong.
Test yourself and remember that God has commanded: thou shalt have no
other gods before me. With far too
many, my friend was right: “it’s a religion.”
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Consider
1 Cor 10:13-14 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man;
and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are
able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may
be able to endure it. Therefore, my
beloved, flee from idolatry.” Notice
that this verse contains a promise and a condition.
The promise is that we will not be tempted beyond that which we are able
to withstand. The requirement is
that we flee from idolatry. If we
give ourselves over to sin, there is no remedy.
As
we have seen in the other articles in this issue, idolatry is the placing of
anything between God and ourselves. It
could be a physical object, as is typical of those who use statues or pictures
to help themselves visualize God. These
objects ultimately attain a mystical significance, and do just the opposite from
that which was originally intended.
Quite
similar to this are objects and desires that we often fail to recognize as
idols. Each of them ultimately
attains significance above that which we are willing to devote to God.
In other words, we sacrifice the will of God in our lives so that we can
attain these other things. This is
idolatry just as sure as is bowing down to a golden calf.
So
what is the solution? God’s word
furnishes us with the answer in many places.
For example, consider Gal. 5:19-23: “Now the deeds of the flesh are
evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissentions, factions,
envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you
just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God. But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” The answer is to replace the idols in our lives with the
fruit of the Spirit of God. To do
this we must cultivate a love for God that recognizes the need to partake of
God’s truth on a daily basis. I
Jan. 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not burdensome.” These
commands, which came by revelation of the Holy Spirit, must guide all aspects of
our lives.
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“It does not matter how we
worship God.”
but
the Apostle John stated (Jn. 4:24) ...
“God is Spirit, and those who
worship him
must worship in spirit and
truth.”
Otherwise,
it just is not worship of God. It
might be worship of a god, but it is not worship of the true and living God.
God has specified how He wants to be worshipped, both in our formal
worship of him together in the church and in our personal daily lives.
When we go outside of what He has specified and call it worship, we
should be assured that it is worship of some god, which is idolatry.
Heb.
9:1: “Now even the first {covenant} had regulations of divine worship and the
earthly sanctuary.” God has
always regulated the way that he wants to be worshipped. Consider Col. 2:18, 23: “Let no one keep defrauding you of
your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking
his stand on {visions} he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
...These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in
self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, {but
are} of no value against fleshly indulgence.”
Indeed, they are the forerunner of the sins of the flesh, for if we
cannot so much as just worship God in the way that He wants to be worshipped,
how are we to obey him in the more difficult things of this life.
The first step away from God, as seen in Romans 1:21f is the failure to
properly worship. The last stage is total depravity. Worship is very important.
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