Worship God, not a "god"

“Can people make their own gods? No, if they did, those would not really be gods." (Jeremiah 16:20)

In the Old Testament we learn how easily it was for the Israelites to turn to false gods, the gods of the people around them. This is hard to understand when they had seen and experienced all the miracles and wonderous works the Lord had done for them in their time of need. One thing that we learn is that seeing and experiencing miracles does not change the heart. And our God-made need to worship will turn to that which is comfortable. In other words, we want to worship something that conforms and agrees with our selfish wants.

In the book of Acts when Paul went to Ephesus to preach Jesus, many turned to Christ, but the makers of false gods went up in arms because this was hurting their business. “A certain silversmith named Demetrius made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis, and his business brought a great deal of profit to the workers. So he called them all together with others whose work was like theirs and said to them, "Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this work. Now, you can see and hear for yourselves what this fellow Paul is doing. He says that hand-made gods are not gods at all, and he has succeeded in convincing many people, both here in Ephesus and in nearly the whole province of Asia. There is the danger, then, that this business of ours will get a bad name. Not only that, but there is also the danger that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will come to mean nothing and that her greatness will be destroyed—the goddess worshiped by everyone in Asia and in all the world!" (Acts 19:24-27)

But even before Paul, the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders knew that Jesus was the Messiah. They had read the prophesies. But they saw with their natural eyes a human body, a man they had seen grow up in a carpenter’s house. But even when He was young and Jesus discussed the Scriptures with such wisdom, they had to conclude that Jesus was the Messiah, but they refused to believe it because it would shake up their profitable positions. The Bible does tell us that there were religious leaders who did believe Jesus was the Messiah, but they didn’t speak out because they were afraid the Sanhedrin would put them out of the synagogue. “Even then, many Jewish authorities believed in Jesus; but because of the Pharisees they did not talk about it openly, so as not to be expelled from the synagogue.” (John 12:42)

How about us? One thing I hear from some who don’t receive Jesus as Lord and Savior is, “I’m not ready,” or “...not yet.” They are waiting for a more profitable time, maybe a time when they will straighten their lives up or when they’re finished or tired of their sin. The Truth is we are not able to clean up our act without the Lord. We all have experienced this. Without the supernatural help of the Lord, we return to our sinful “god” (by definition “god” is anything or anyone who comes before the One True God.) The Bible tells us that we need to surrender to the Lord now. “Hear what God says: "When the time came for Me to show you favor, I heard you; when the day arrived for Me to save you, I helped you." Listen! This is the hour to receive God's favor; today is the day to be saved!” (2Corinthians 6:2) Other versions say, “now is the time” instead of “This is the hour.”

When we examine ourselves, we see that yes, we have many gods in our lives. The fourth Commandment of God says, “Keep holy the Lord’s Day.” Yet so many other things keep us from going to church to worship God. I have heard some say things like “Those people are hypocritical.” Their focus is not on God. God has invited us to come to Him to worship Him. Many other things may keep us from church attendance. They are all “gods” we are placing before the One True God. Not going to church is also breaking the first Commandment which says, “Have no other gods before me.” But it’s not only in skipping church that we break God’s Commandments. We do other things instead of praying and instead of studying His Word. We need to start with the first Commandment. And we find that it’s impossible without the supernatural help of God because it is He who gives us the desire and the ability to obey. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13) And God can only work in us when we surrender our lives to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will come to indwell and will help us to obey God.