‘Useful’ Idols

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. (Numbers 21:9)

He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2Kings 18:4)

I want us to look at these very good things that become stumbling blocks for our spiritual health. I am calling them useful idols because they are many times very necessary to our growth of faith, at least in our past.

Like Nehushtan, these are things God has used to reach out and minister to us but we have turned our attention on them instead of God. I will just give us one verse as an example.

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. (John 6:26)

They were following Jesus for reasons other than His person.

We are driven to these idols because we are more self-centred than we think. We are not that spiritual if we are to be really honest with ourselves.

Another reason these idols draw us to themselves is because we dread the full control of the divine. We would rather serve gods we understand than the One who issues crazy orders, orders that are so difficult to obey. We idolize these because they make us feel spiritual as God was their originator or was involved in them initially.

Many of them are accessories to our worship and faith. Among them are things that were very useful introductions to our life of faith.

For many people, singing gradually leads to worship as the reality of God is enhanced as they sing His praises. They can then go into deeper levels in their relationship with God especially in the prayer dimension.

It becomes an idol when it must be there before I pray; that I will not be able to pray unless I can get enough time to sing. It becomes an idol when it becomes and defines my worship. It becomes an idol when it has no relation with my lifestyle. In fact I will know that what I pursue is an idol when it does not result in the transformation of my life in God’s direction. Anything that does not lead me into the conformation to the image of Christ; anything that does not get me into a life of holiness that God requires is definitely an idol and should be broken apart as Nehushtan.

To some it is even worse as there must be instruments for it to be called singing. Those enhancements become the idol we must have. As a former musician and instrumentalist, I know from experience that instruments and public address systems easily become a very handy idol especially when we talk corporate worship.

Many church plants take this even further. The demand for instruments and a good public address is of greater importance than evangelization or even getting members. They feel safer spiritually with a good mix in that direction than in evangelism or teaching. Some hire instruments and their players as their tool for growth. I encounter this enough times since I am involved in training. Many pastors would rather I teach members to play instruments than evangelism or discipleship.

The Pharisees and scribes loved the scriptures. They knew them and really revered them. Remember they were the ones who accurately knew where Jesus was born? They were so engrossed with the scriptures that they missed the author of that word that they so revered. The undue focus on the scriptures had diverted their attention from the God they originated from and pointed to. Remember this?

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. (John 5:39, 40)

And it is no wonder that many of them turned to Him once the reality of the purpose of the scriptures they so revered got into them.

Even today we have enough Christians who are fixated to the scriptures that they have almost no place for the growth of their faith or the practice of the same. Knowing this or the other scripture becomes more important than walking a way of obedience. Rigid pursuit of the excellent translation or doctrine becomes more important than fellowship, even ministry.

Of course we know that some translations have been so badly corrupted. But I think the scriptures do not replace God or take His place. He can use them however corrupted they are. He is the one who not only inspired the scriptures when they were written but does the same when they are read.

For example we know that the Koran is directly and purposefully anti Christian. Yet how any Muslims read that same Koran and become Christians even without any Christian witness? How many connect with Christ when they are performing their ritual Ramadan and Hajj? How many Hindus in their polytheism somehow discover Christ in all that confusion?

Simply speaking the Bible is the word of God and not God. Only Jesus is The Word of God.

This in effect means that the Bible can never be greater than its author and so is subject to Him at all times.

To bring perspective to this topic let me give us an illustration. A sign board is very important for accurate direction. The lack of it is therefore detrimental to our journey to the destination. However, the sign post does not exist on its own or for its own end. It is only relevant as a guide to the destination we seek. Building it a house to shield it from the elements, though it might appear to us very useful, is actually counterproductive to the purpose for which it exists. That is what we do when we idolize these tools God has given us to use.

Among them is a call. We can be so fixated on our original or first clear call that we refuse to open our hearts to the reality of any new order from God. We assume that God can never call us to something different from the first call He gave us. And that is the reason so many Israelites died in the wilderness. They chose to follow a more predictable god as opposed to the One whose every next order was different.

Ministry can very easily become an idol when we place it on a pedestal. This is because it many times blocks God from using us as He wills. Many ministers are in ministries long after God moved on but they were not willing to leave a ministry they had invested so much, whether God had moved on or not. And that might be one reason we see powerful ministers being sent to hell in Matthew 7: 21 – 23. They became so focused on the ministry God had called them to that they did not hear Him when He issued another order. In other words their ministry became an idol.

Family is many times an idol, especially in our modern society. In fact most ministers teach that the family’s acceptance to our ministry is the confirmation we must have before we obey. There are ministers who have rejected God’s clear call because a wife or children refused to follow them. Then I came across this verse.

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)

A job is a ready idol. There is more wrestling with God on this than any other thing when one is called into God’s ministry. But the job represents another idol security which is a front for a bigger one, Mammon and eventually the devil. But these idols do not allow us to look at them in that manner.

Need has a capacity of being an idol when it blocks our vision of God by clouding and fogging our sight. Then we can only pray like the leech, give, give. Instead of taking us to higher levels of faith, it becomes the pinnacle of that faith.

Success is another. Our search for it and especially what most call excellence can block our faith. Many times it happens because pride is the driving spirit in it all.

To some it is a past full of landmarks. To others it is a testimony of how far God had rescued them from.

Like I have said in some other posts, a tool is just a tool. The user determines the usefulness or otherwise of the same. A gun in the hands of a soldier offers security; but the same in the hands of a crook breeds great insecurity. A sling in the hands of a boy is an innocent toy; but David used the same to down a giant.

I am not saying that these tools are sin. What happens is that the evil one diverts our attention from God to them if we become slack in the practice of our faith. And we know that as his specialty since Eden. He is the master of false appearances. It is therefore in his interest that we diefy these tools God has used to build our faith as we then become ineffective in our witness.

What tools have you made indispensable to your faith? Which tools must you have to serve God? What will happen if God ordered you to do away with them?

Is God at liberty to issue a new order or did you close your ears once you heard His clear voice?

Would you like Philip leave a revival you are successfully leading to go to the desert like he did in Acts 8? Would you like Barnabas sell all you have and go to preach far and wide? Would you endure the kind of hardship he went through knowing the kind of resources you had left willingly? How disposable are you in Christ’s hands? How flexible are you in the Master’s hands? How disposable are your resources for God’s express use?

It is when our desires, cravings, intentions and focus are completely heavenward that we will be able to trash these idols.

No crisis or pressure was able to divert David from seeking God’s will, whether it was stoning or a similar repeat situation.

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:10, 13, 14)

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1Corinthians 2:2)

I must the trash the world and everything it contains to gain Christ. There are no two ways about it.