Idols in Unexpected Places

Individually, we discover idols in unexpected places in our everyday lives.  So does the Church.

During their journey through the wilderness, the Israelites fell into a regular pattern of complaining about Moses and God, forgetting what God had done for them.  As punishment on one occasion, God sent poisonous snakes to bite the Israelites, and many of them died.  The Israelites repented, and following God’s instructions, Moses made a snake out of bronze and placed it on a pole so that anyone who looked upon the bronze snake would live.  Exodus 21:4-9.

Over the course of time, the children of Israel began to worship the bronze serpent, making offerings to it, and even giving it a name, Nehushtan.  In short, that bronze snake on a pole became an idol. They began to worship, probably with all good intentions, an object rather than the Lord.  As a result, King Hezekiah destroyed it.  2Kings 18:4.  Can you imagine the outrage of the day when Hezekiah “broke into pieces” such a historic and venerated object?  

Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger in their book, Simple Church, argue for a streamlined, focused approach for churches to make disciples.  They define a “simple church” as “a congregation designed around a straight-forward and strategic process that moves people through the stages of spiritual growth.”  If a program or practice distracts from that process, they contend, it should be eliminated.  Rainer and Geiger use the story of Hezekiah destroying the bronze serpent as an example of the people of God losing their focus on what is important:  “What was once a good thing had become an idol.  It got in the way of their worship of God.  The tool for worship became the object of worship.”

Are there any things in our lives that once served a good and useful purpose but have now become an idol?  Likewise, are there any things at Grace Church that have served a good and useful purpose but have now become an idol?  Think about it for a moment; these are hard questions that we should constantly ask ourselves. What are your/our idols?  If these “things” become an object of our worship or interfere with our mission to love God, love our neighbor, and bring others to Christ, then like the Nehushtan, they must be eliminated. If you believe that something has become an idol for Grace Church, give a Grace Church elder a call, have a conversation, and let’s expose those idols to the light.

What happened to Hezekiah after he destroyed the Nehushtan? We only have to wait two verses:  “The Lord was with him … wherever he went out.”  2 Kings 18:6.  If we eliminate whatever gets between us and God and his purpose for us, then with the sanctifying help of the Holy Spirit, we draw closer to Him.  Is there anything better than that?  

In Him,

Carter