Saturday, February 5, 2011

Examining Worship

Romans 1:25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

A lot of people hear the term ‘idol worship’ and think of someone bowing down in front of a pagan statue or something equally archaic. Some with a smattering of bible knowledge might even think of Exodus 32 where the Israelites fashioned an idol shaped like a calf to worship it as the god of Israel.

Exodus 32:4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

But, today, people don’t do that. At least no one I’ve ever met or heard of does that.

So does that mean we needn’t worry about the sin of idol worship? Since, we’re certainly not melting down jewelry into the shape of calves or erecting Asherah Poles or bowing down before the likeness of pagan gods?

Unfortunately, just as each culture in the days of the Old Testament had their idols of false gods, we have ours as well.

For some, it’s spending money. Angie and I worshiped at that alter for years. We tried to earn as much as possible simply because we loved to buy new things. We let it consume us and spent inordinate amounts of time wrapping our lives around the acquisition of stuff. That was our idol.

Prior to meeting Angie, I worshiped names such as Budweiser, Corona and Absolut. I spent hours every day acquiring it, partaking of it and enduring the after-effects.

In both cases, nothing spiritual was gained, no maturity built, no relationship with Him nurtured. Instead, it drove us further from God simply by taking us towards a goal that wasn’t Him.

At other points in my life I’ve worshiped music, sports, movies and video games. As a professional musician, my life was consumed by writing songs, performing and then partaking of the decadent lifestyle that comes with touring and recording. This gave way to a love of the NFL, which has actually been there since I was little, but really took hold of me in the 1990s.

Thankfully, all these things were finally replaced with a worship of the creator and not the created. And since then, I’ve finally experienced real growth that has transformed my life. If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you should be familiar with what I’m talking about and if not, feel free to dig back through the archives.

So, that brings us to the question: what idol are you worshiping?

Our old Pastor at Palm Valley Church, Greg Rohlinger is fond of saying “We naturally move towards what we focus on.” If we’re focusing on sports, movies, video games, alcohol, music, food, houses, crafts, hunting, fishing, our career or anything else more than we’re focusing on God, by default, we’re moving away from Him.

Move closer to God.

Matthew 6:19-21   "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

3 comments:

  1. Who is it who always said "Show me your bank statements and I'll show you your priorities?"

    Was that Dave Ramsey or Greg from PVC?

    Either way, it gets right to the heart of what you're saying!

    Also, I think it was Pastor Craig from LifeChurch who said to look at anything you're doing, be it an activity you're partaking in, a TV show you're watching, whatever. Ask yourself, is this honoring God and/or bringing me closer to Him? If the answer is no, then by default you must be moving away from Him.

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  2. "Also, I think it was Pastor Craig from LifeChurch who said to look at anything you're doing, be it an activity you're partaking in, a TV show you're watching, whatever. Ask yourself, is this honoring God and/or bringing me closer to Him? If the answer is no, then by default you must be moving away from Him."

    Good point, my love.

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  3. Mr. Mike,

    What you say is so very true. And so many teenagers work just so they can make the payments on that car they so dearly love. It is so easy to become a slave to material things.

    And what about calling the pastor "the man of God?" Aren't all born-again believers men and women of God? Maybe not the best example, but I've seen too many who seem to worship the pastor.

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