As we continue through the chapters in Isaiah 40-50 our Women's Bible Study participants keep getting confronted with the subject of idolatry...a subject guaranteed to make God a little upset. When we read about people making statues out of stone and wood in order to worship them we always say, "How in the world could they be so silly and superstitious?" In doing so we miss the slightly more subtle (and thus more dangerous) forms of idolatry we still practice.
The process of idolatry can be described most simply as taking something made by human hands and equating it with God. Most of us think we're safe from this, as few of us specialize in graven image making anymore. But do you remember when we talked about adultery a couple months ago? We said, in essence, that anything you invest greater time, energy, thought, and love into than you do your spouse becomes your new spouse. That could be another person, it could be a job, it could be a project. If you have more devotion to that thing than your marital relationship, you're committing a form of adultery with it.
It's the same way with idolatry and God. We don't have outright statues, but you can't even begin to count the number of things we depend on for happiness, comfort, safety, and fulfillment more than we depend on God. How about the things we invest our time, energy, and resources into? We don't call them gods, but they determine our actions as surely as if they were. If something bad happens in our spiritual life, like getting too busy to pray, we figure we can make it up next time. If something bad happens to our checking account we are devastated and go into a panic because that's irreplaceable! The balance seems off there...tending towards idolatry. Our true god is that which we depend upon most. In a practical sense, that's not the God of the Bible for most of us.
In the course of this dependence it's certainly possible to elevate physical things to the level of godhood. They're not statues but they're every bit as much of an idol as those ancient carvings were. In Bible Study the ladies mentioned automobiles and houses. Others have fine material things that they didn't want anybody else to touch or use...like pristine white furniture in a living room that everyone is kept out of, defeating its purpose. Most of us can get past those things, but the sneaky one is our church. Faithful people have idols today, they just look like rectangular buildings with steeples on top. Woe be unto the kids in your church if you get a new carpet. It will cause everyone to glare at their fruit-punch hands and make them feel unwelcome. How willing are people in your church to pay for a roof repair versus paying for evangelism ministry? For many church has taken the place of God...an insidious development as the church technically has God's name on it, making the idolatry seem more real, thus making it a greater betrayal.
But idolatry isn't just about physical things, it's about control. This aspect brings even more danger to us, as control is precious in our modern society. Idolatry is another way of saying you choose your god instead of God choosing you. The allure of the idol is that you know you made it. You know its shape, its features. You fashioned it. You put it up on its pedestal and you can take it down at any time. You have the ultimate power in the relationship. Bowing to the idol only makes your own ultimate power greater. The bigger the thing you can elevate or destroy the bigger you seem.
How many of us were raised with the idea--and how many people across the world are still told--that the most important thing in the world is that you choose Jesus? I'm not trying to minimize the moments when we commit ourselves to God. Those are important. But there's been such a huge emphasis on personal decision in the Christian process that we've lost sight of the fact that God chose us first, forgave us first, put grace in our hearts first and only then could we find anything to commit to.
The distinction is critical. For the most part people can only choose what they understand and agree with. When our faith rests on our personal choice the God we "choose" inevitably thinks like us, agrees with us, and is quite grateful that such a right-thinking person would choose him! Therefore when we're confronted with anything different than we already agree with, by definition that thing is not godly. When people in church want to change something that we're comfortable with, by definition that's wrong. If somebody crosses us the natural solution is to change churches, to find one that worships the "real" god who agrees with us. This isn't faith, it's idolatry...self-worship with God's name stuck on top to legitimize it. In our own minds we have the power to put up or tear down God himself, just as if he were that wooden statue. Except we're using the name of the real God for our charade...far worse than subbing in a carved idol.
We've all seen and confronted, and a healthy number of us have even participated in, this kind of idolatry. It causes us to shout down when we should listen to, to quit when we should stay, to vilify things we don't agree with when we should be seeking to understand them, to shut out people we should welcome, and to betray the God we were meant to serve. It happens every time we think that we know faith and judge God by our knowledge instead of saying we belong to God and judging faith by that relationship. That's distressingly common nowadays.
Don't take idolatry lightly. It lies all around you, waiting to lead you away from the true God. It's just as prevalent today as it was in Isaiah's time...maybe more so. It's just as easy to fall into. Pray for God to lead you today instead of you leading God around the life that he, himself, made for you. Ask him to help you rely on him for your joy, comfort, and safety. Tell him he doesn't have to agree with you. Thank him for choosing you, as mixed up as you are. Ask him to put the blessings of this world in their proper place, that they might add to your faith instead of taking you away from it. Pray that he might open your eyes and heart to his will, so that you might be able to serve and love as his child. There's no greater gift in the world than that. I pray that his calling might be yours.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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