Golden Calf and Wooden Monkeys

Sorry I haven’t posted in two weeks.  I have been quite busy.  I will normally post a major posting once a week if time allows me to do so.

Golden Calves and Wooden Monkeys

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  (Ex 20:2-6)

We all are very familiar with the 10 Commandments.  Moses was given them on Mount Sinai.  But this whole thing about idols, that was so Old Testament right?  Isn’t Ex 20 speaking about carved images like the Golden Calf?  The passage doesn’t stop only at carved images, but continues to state “or any likeness”.  This likeness can be anything that replaces or takes away from giving God the honor and glory and the worship He deserves.  So what makes an idol an idol?  Some items mostly commonly thought of with idolatry perhaps are possessions like a car, boat, money, gambling, motorcycles, RVs, computers, gadgets, games, TV, and so forth.  All of these items may be fine in a normal state, but once they become a priority of our lives then it becomes problematic.  They become problematic because they take away the time that we should be spending with God and what God has given us.  The definition of idolatry is: 1. Worshiping idols, 2. Blind or excessive devotion to something.

Let’s take money for example.  Money is a necessity in life; it’s how we obtain food, clothing, and shelter.  We as God’s people need to be aware of how money can control our livelihood.  “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.  It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”  (1 Tim 6:10)  Now it doesn’t say that money is evil, it says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils”.  Striving for a pay raise or a better job doesn’t necessarily mean that pursuit will result in loving money.  When you begin to habitually desire, or have an “excessive devotion to something”, for the pay raise, better job, or anything else, even outside of money, it can become your idol.  Again, anything that replaces or takes away from giving God the honor and glory and the worship He deserves.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a sound understanding what idolatry is.

There are many others that could be classified into idolatry such as food, exercise, working, sports, even your family.  Food is one that can quickly and easily fall into idolatry.  God made food not only to sustain us, but to enjoy eating it.  God gave manna to the Israelites and it was sweet like honey.  (Ex 16)  He made strawberries sweet, lemons sour, Granny Smith’s tart, and many, many more varieties of foods for us to enjoy.  With these foods that God so graciously has blessed us with He also wants us to eat these foods in moderation.  We need to be mindful of how much and of what types of foods to put in our body.  Our body is a temple, a temple in which the Holy Spirit lives in us.  (1 Cor 6:19)  I am not focusing on the Levitical Law in which I am telling you not to eat pork, certain sea food, etc.  I am merely stating that if you habitually indulge in foods beyond the moderation point that it becomes idolatry.

Peter calls idolatry detestable in 1 Peter 4:3 and we need to keep in mind that all scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim 3:16) and it was God who gave Peter the words to write down in his second letter so we can conclude that God detests idolatry.  That word detestable means:  hate, loathes, to abhor, the absolute opposite of love.  And since God is love (1 John 4:8) the opposite of love is the devil.  Idolatry is of the devil.  Plain and simple.

What I recommend is first pray to God and ask Him to bring to light any unresolved sin and to let you know of any idols that are in your life.  Most, if not all, of us have some form of idolatry in our lives.  If you feel as though you have an idol in your life pray to God and ask Him to help you let it go.  Pray that you’ll thirst for His word and His wisdom and that you want to serve Him and glorify Him and praise Him and worship Him and Him alone.  Second I recommend that you remove that idol or that behavior from your life.  If its food, or exercising, or working, or other things in your life that are necessary, minimize them.  It’s not easy.  Every morning, throughout the day, and in the evening pray continuously about this problem to God.  Paul reminds us to pray continuously. (Eph 6:18, 1 Thes 5:17)  Keep in mind that it’s also easy to fall to the other extreme.  It’s all about balance and moderation.  So what are your idols?

Habakkuk 2:18-20

18 “What profit is an idol
when its maker has shaped it,
a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols!
19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Love Your Neighbor

This, of course, is not an all inclusive focus on love; I am just barely scratching the surface.

One of the most powerful, complex, and yet sometimes underappreciated and not properly understood  word in our English language is the word love.  I believe it to be a root word to many more descriptive words.  From love we get compassion, infatuation, cherish, passion, care, like, enjoy, sympathy, adore, treasure, and many, many other words on how to capture how we love someone or something.  We also get the words respect, honor, admiration, and allegiance just to name a few.  If I were to just use the word love to say," I love those flowers".  You would most likely associate that statement alone to mean something like, adore, or enjoy.  I wouldn't honor them or have an allegiance to them.  Now perhaps you knew the underlying meaning behind my statement.  Do I love them because of I enjoy their smell or perhaps does it go deeper than that?  Do I love them because my mother liked those flowers and we would plant them together each spring?  Do I love them because of that memory is fond?  Or do I love them because of the beautiful color and complexity that our Creator poured into them?  Understanding the word love is not that easy for us to comprehend when we just say that we love something or someone.  The Bible uses love in several complex ways and depending on your Bible translation you may lose more than the original language of Greek (NT) or Hebrew (OT) had intended the usage of the word to be communicated.  In the ESV the word love occurs 552 times in 506 verses.  (BlueLetter)

Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. (Matt 5:17)  And in John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."  God the Father gave His son to die for us on the cross.  This was the ultimate form of love.  The word love used here has a deeper meaning.  It is the Greek word agapaō (verb) the more commonly known word is the Greek word agape (noun).  This is the sacrificial love; it's a selfless, spiritual love that our God, who created us, has done for us.  God sacrificed his son so we could live eternally with Him.  Jesus was the final sacrifice that ended all sacrifices; this is why He is called the Lamb of God (John 1:29).  "God so loved the world" or in other terms he loved the world dearly that He would have His son die for us "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us". (Rom 5:8) 

Jesus gave us a great commandment to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matt 22:36) and "you shall love your neighbor as yourself".  (Matt 22:39)  So what did Jesus mean by loving your neighbor?  He meant that you are to love your spouse, your mother, father, siblings, children, coworkers, your neighbor, your boss, people who you don't like and even your enemies.  You are commanded to love your enemy and pray for them.  (Matt 5:44) 

Let's focus on one area--your spouse.  If you are married this is for you.  If you're not married but maybe one day will be married, this one is for you.  If you're not married and will never be married or have married and have divorced, then this one is for you.  And all others, if there is a category, this one is for you too.  For the remaining of this particular section substitute spouse for anyone you would like to and it will apply. 

Your spouse, no matter how much you may disagree, deserves love.  Let me give you a few examples.  Countless times we see friends, coworkers, family members, and others talking about their spouse in a non-loving and even derogatory way.  Even worse we partake in their slandering and gossiping.  Phrases like, "she goes shopping way too much while she should be doing something else", "he never finishes anything", "I can't trust them at all", "they're worthless", "they spend way too much money", "I just wish that they would do this" just to name a few.  This is dishonoring your spouse.  Paul says in Ephesians not to let "corrupting talk come out of your mouths" (Eph 4:29) nor " filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place" (Eph 5:4).  Paul's also talking about jokes in ill taste.  Keep in mind your spouse is part of you (Gen 2:21-24) and when you speak crudely against your spouse you not only defile them, but you defile yourself.  (Matt 15:11)  If you're not married and using a friend or coworker for this example, they are not part of you but you are still defiling yourself when you speak against them and not loving them as you are commanded to do so by your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If you do speak poorly against your spouse, whether or not you feel justified in doing so, you need to stop and think about what you are doing.  Instead pray this prayer:  "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Ps 19:14) We also need to encourage one another with love.  (Heb 10:24-25)  We need to be mindful of what we think, say, or do.  We are sinning when we treat our spouse this way.  Many times we do it without thinking.  We need to turn to God and pray that we make Godly decisions and speak Godly words.  We are told to pray without ceasing or continually.  (1 Thes 5:16-18, Rom 12:12, Acts 6:4, Eph 6:18)  If you choose to lash back at them, again whether you feel it's justified or not, you're sinning.  Think of it this way:  You're punishing them.  Where in the Bible does it say that you're responsible for punishment?  Our punishment comes from God the Father.  He will judge those who sinned against Him and pour out His wrath for sinning against Him.  But the most beautiful thing is that Jesus took the punishment for us.  (Isa 53:5, 1 Pet 2:24)  He died so we would not be punished for our transgressions.

So the next time you feel compelled to retaliate against your neighbor think of what Jesus has done for you and what He has asked you to do--love your neighbor.

All Bible references are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) Crossway http://www.crossway.org/  Copyright © 2001 – 2011 Crossway. All rights reserved.

An Intro to my blog and my faith

To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ our Lord, our Savior: 

I have wanted to start a site for quite some time where I can spread the Gospel, teach His truth, discuss the many depths of the Bible in a respectful forum where any walk of the Christian faith can join in effort to concisely clarify and dismiss the false teachings of the world. 

First and foremost I would like to inform you of the foundation in which my faith is established upon.  I believe in an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient,  immutable triune God who is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (three persons) and who is One God (John 10:30, Mark 12:29,32 1 Cor 8:4, Gal 3:20).  He is the Sustainer and Ruler of the entire universe (Job 12:10, Isa 45:18, Heb 1:3) who through Jesus created all that exists out of nothing (Isa 48:13, John 1:3, Col 1:16).  Only by believing that Jesus is the Christ, Lord and Savior, through Him and Him alone will He wipe away sins and present me justified to God the Father at the Judgment.  (John 3:15-16; 36; 8:12; 10:9; 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Tim 2:5)

I believe that the whole Bible is inerrant and is the inspired book of the living God  (2 Tim 3:16-17), that there is power behind the Word (1 Thes 1:5), and that the Word is much more than text (Luke 8:11-15, John 1:1-5, 14) and it is the holy words of our heavenly Father that was breathed out for us to know him and fight off the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:10-20).

As a husband I am to be the head of the household as well as head of my wife (Eph. 5:23).  So as a husband to my wife, it is my responsibility to put her in her place - the place of honor (I Peter 3:7), love her just as Christ loves the church (Eph. 5:25-27), and provide for her and my family (I Tim 5:8).

This is a small aspect of my foundation.  More will come later.

-In Christ's Name