I tried to come up with a shocking title for these posts to alert us to the difference between a “professed” God and “functional” god. That is, the God we say we believe in, and the god that actually governs our desires and actions. As I mentioned in my post yesterday, idolatry can be active in my heart even as I’m outwardly worshipping God. That’s a sobering thought. Whenever I think I can’t worship God unless “X” is present, I’m making a profound statement. If “X” is anything other than Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, I’ve moved into idolatrous territory. Idolatry is always evil, but the idols we pursue aren’t …
Tag Archives | For Pastors
Idolatry on Sunday Mornings, Pt. 1
So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. (2 Kings 17:41a ESV) What is our greatest hindrance in worshipping God? We could come up with a number of potential answers. “Our worship leader isn’t very experienced.” “The services are too planned/spontaneous.” “The songs are too complex/simple.” “The band/orchestra/organist/guitarist sounds bad.” “There are too many new/old songs.” “Our church is too big/small.” Ignoring for a moment that all these statements refer to a meeting context, they reveal a profound misconception about the hindrances to true worship. Contrary to what we might think, …