NAMING OUR IDOLS

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Chances are when you hear the word idol, the first thing that comes to mind is Ryan Seacrest, or possibly a shiny gold statue of a calf. Idolatry isn't a new problem, but it is at the core of the "shiny god" distractions in our lives—distractions that keep us from experiencing the financial freedom and grace-giving generosity for which God designed us.

Let me give you my definition of an idol: anything, or anyone, that receives the primary focus of my energy or resources, which should first belong to God. The Bible calls this having a divided heart. Instead of making it our primary life passion to worship the Lord our God and to serve only him, we begin to separate our spiritual life from the practical aspects of life. We use our idols, instead of God, to provide identity or meaning in our lives. This is especially easy to do when those idols are positive things, or even people we love. The danger is that even our virtues can become vices—or idols —if they are not directed toward God.

A Brief History of Idolatry

Idolatry is not a new problem for the human race. In ancient times Baal, the Canaanite deity associated with agriculture, was considered the giver of life, with absolute control over nature and people. Baal worship practices included sexual rites, religious prostitution, and human sacrifice. In order to earn Baal's favor, for example, it was not uncommon for worshipers to kill young children and bury them in the foundation of a new building as it was constructed. In 1 Kings 16:30-34, we read that in the days of King Ahab of Israel, the builder of Jericho sacrificed and entombed his first-born son in the city walls and his youngest son in the city gates. Ahab himself built a temple to Baal that housed a wooden idol where human sacrifice and ritual sexual acts could have been commonplace.

Jump ahead about eighteen centuries to the 1300s and the rise of Aztec culture in what is now central Mexico. Religion, in the form of idol worship, was extremely important to the Aztec people. Their idols represented dozens of gods and goddesses that controlled one or more important aspects of life. The Aztecs believed that their deities needed to be appeased with gifts, which often resulted in human sacrifice. An Aztec idol might be made out of wood, stone, or dough, or it might instead be a human dressed up and decked out to serve as a god's representative, then sacrificed as the ultimate appeasement. Historians believe that Aztecs sacrificed human victims during each of their eighteen annual festivals. The victims killed at just one festival could number in the thousands. Makes me glad to be a follower of Jesus Christ! Idol worship is not only a distraction; it's also deadly.

Of course, King Ahab was not the first example of God's chosen people turning away from the one true God to idols. One of the earliest accounts is in the Book of Exodus. After fleeing the slavery of Egypt through the parting of the Red Sea, the Israelites were on their forty-year journey through the desert wilderness toward the Promised Land. God had warned Moses not to allow the Israelites to become distracted by idols and had promised great blessings if the people worshiped God with an undivided heart.

The Lord said to Moses: "Say this to the Israelites: You saw for yourselves how I spoke with you from heaven. Don't make alongside me gods of silver or gold for yourselves. Make for me an altar from fertile soil on which to sacrifice your entirely burned offerings, your well-being sacrifices, your sheep, and your oxen. I will come to you and bless you in every place where I make sure my name is remembered." (Exodus 20:22-24)

People at that time didn't have money like we do. They didn't have dollar bills. Farmers used grain as their method of exchange. Herders used sheep and oxen. But no matter what form our money takes, what we do with it demonstrates the highest value in our lives. We can see from the passage above that God expected the Israelites to invest their means into their relationship with him. However, it didn't take long after God's promise for the idol worship to become a big problem. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God's own hand, his brother Aaron, who served as the associate pastor to Moses, was intimidated by the people's grumbling and their desire to return to Egypt. So, he gave them what they wanted.

Aaron said to them, "All right, take out the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me." So all the people took out the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He collected them and tied them up in a cloth. Then he made a metal image of a bull calf, and the people declared, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" (Exodus 32:2-4)

When Moses returned, carrying God's law written on two tablets, he found the people actively celebrating the golden calf. Furious, Moses dashed the precious tablets to the ground, shattering them. Ironically, the people possessed the gold used to create the idol only because God had arranged for them to plunder the Egyptians before their desert exodus. The people were now worshiping the gift instead of the giver.

Our Idols

Are you having trouble relating? Can't you see yourself as having a problem with idol worship? I am lead pastor at Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio, the southwestern part of the state. Can you guess what happens to our attendance at Saturday night worship when the Ohio State Buckeyes play a televised football game? Our attendance goes down by about 300 people. Do you know what can happen on a Sunday morning when the Cincinnati Bengals are playing early that afternoon? You guessed it.

Clearly in the case of football, our demonstrated passions are out of alignment with our stated beliefs. Pick any NFL stadium that you want, and during game time there will be far more people in the stands than in the pews of any church in America. Ohio State hosts about 105,000 people in its football stadium, the Horseshoe, for a single game. Joel Osteen's church in Houston, the largest in America, doesn't have a third as many people at worship. I mean, "Go, Bucks!" But come on. Do you see what I mean?

I love a video that illustrates the "idol worship" of football in the United States. Check out the preview of this video at YouTube: "Idol Worship," by the Skit Guys. Clearly, though, the issue of sports worship isn't confined to America. Just follow the World Soccer Cup the next time it rolls around. As the video narrator concludes: "Idol worship—it's not just about golden calves any more."

Recently I asked my Facebook friends, "What idols do you wrestle with in your life?" What I discovered was that almost all our idols are really good gifts from God to which we assign a wrong priority. One person said the idol she struggles with most is her husband and children—constantly placing their interests above God's interests. Isn't that easy to do? Relationships are a gift from God. But what happens when we begin to worship the gift instead...