The Idols Christians Worship

Picture this: it's about 1 o'clock on a Sunday afternoon. You have met up for lunch with a few of your fellow church members after the Sunday service and conversation begins about the service you just had. How many times does this conversation turn into you talking about Jesus and how amazing He is? If you're anything like me, you begin talking about the different aspects of the church service; what you liked and didn't like.

How about your small groups (if you attend one) or just your circle of Christian friends? When you get together to discuss theology and life in general, how much of the conversation is actually focused solely on Jesus? When we sing songs, read devotionals, dive into the latest book from our favorite Christian author, crack open that new CD release by our favorite worship band or anything of the sort, where does our focus go?

It seems to me that we love to celebrate all of those things more frequently and more emphatically than Jesus. It's not just that we defend our preferences when it comes to worship, we actually have begun to worship our preferences.

That is idolatry.

We think worship is an end in an of itself, but worship is simply a means to an end, or rather, The End  - Jesus. Do you realize that the songs we sing, the books we read and even the Bible that we study are all meant to point us to Jesus? I'm sure we would say that we agree with that statement, but how often do we worship methods over Messiah?

There should be times in the middle of a 'worship set' during the church service that you can't sing because you are completely undone by The One you are singing to. When you're out to lunch with friends after church, the conversation should be about Jesus because you all experienced His Presence in a new way that week.

Don't misunderstand me here, I am all for excellence in what we do. It's okay and even healthy at times to critique and analyze our methods. There is nothing sinful about preferring a certain method or style of worship. It can be a good thing to have a favorite author or artist whom you talk about and share their work with others. But if those things and those people are your objects of affection, then you have an idol.

We treat songs, books, artists, ect. as if they are infallible. We hold them up on a pedestal and treat them as if they are perfect and they are the reasons we worship. But ask yourself: if there was no music, or books or art, would God still be God? And if so, would He still be worthy of worship? Then the question comes: Have I been worshipping God or the things that are supposed to point me to Him?

I'll quote Ross King and tell you:

"Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol.
Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that's not even worth it.
Clear the stage and make some space for the one who deserves it."

So what or whom fits one of those descriptions above for you? If it's anything or anyone but Jesus, you have an idol. Get real honest with yourself here as I remind you of Jonah 2:8 - "Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love."

Everything that we worship in this life other than Jesus is simply a shadow of the One we really long for. It's about time we started believing that. I have a feeling that if we began to worship Jesus and only Jesus, our conversations after church and every moment would radically change. Our church services themselves would actually change. What people say about our churches would actually change. EVERYTHING would change because Jesus changes everything!

I would be remiss if I did not give credit to C.S. Lewis for sparking these thoughts in me today. I read a quote of his earlier that I will close this post with:

"The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of the tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."