We continue
our journey through the Ten Commandments. Today, we wrap up #2, "Do
not make a false image or likeness…”
Many churches
have an altar in the center and the pulpit off to one side. Their main thing is
Communion, the Eucharist or the Mass, that which takes place on the altar.
Others put the pulpit in the center, feeling that the Holy Word from God should
be the main thing. Some churches feature elaborate, prominent crosses, to
remind people of what Jesus did for them. Others have removed their crosses
when they found people bowing to the man-made image. I’m not judging – but
realize that Christians have different backgrounds, come from different
denominations and different traditions. What do you think?
The important
thing is to keep our sights on God-the-creator (commandment #1), the one thing
of substance. I’m not here to debate religious tradition, but if God is the
main thing, then everything else is secondary. There’s no competition - there
are no other Gods – end of discussion.
Today our
idols look different. What gets your attention more than God gets your
attention? For some people, it’s their house, their car, their job or their
hobby. It could be YOU! “What I need to do is extremely important, so God’s
just going to have to take a back seat for a while.” Some people get caught up
in drugs, alcohol, sexual addiction, pornography – knock it off! God will get
your defective character back on the right track, and He will forgive you, but
He wants to be in first place. All the time.
And for all
the dedicated Kingdom servants – don’t let religion become your idol. Sadly,
I’ve met church workers who were so busy with the Wednesday night supper, the
youth group, missionary support and leadership meetings that they fell out of
touch with their personal love for the Lord.
I’m part of a
Worship Leader discussion group. This month’s topic was “Spiritual Preparation
for our teams, prior to the worship service.” It’s sometimes difficult to
worship when you’re leading worship. One WL’s church has 7 services each
weekend! With the various music and musicians, microphones and sound, song
words/slides, and one service starting right after the other, for him,
worshiping the Lord at church is challenging! But he’s possessive and intentional
about his prayer and meditation time with God. And for him, it happens before
church starts! You can’t lead worship if you haven’t worshiped, and you can't worship God if the Worship Team is your idol!
Jesus said the
most important thing was to, “Love the Lord your God…,” and that goes double
for church leaders.
Next week we’ll
move on to #3, the Name of the Lord.
Norton Lawellin
We’ll worship together this Sunday, Jan. 27, 10:30am Jesus in the
City Fellowship (JICF), in the North end of the Oliver Ministry Building, 27th
Street & Bloomington Avenue, Minneapolis. This week we discuss outreach and evangelism with
Reggie Hannah.
NL
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