Idols, we all have them, and they all get in our way of worshiping and having a proper relationship with our Creator God. There lies the problem with idols, they replace at least in part our devotion to our Creator, in this regard, they really are no different than 'sin' for a sin is something that disrupts our relationship with God. One of the common themes with both our 'idols' and our 'sins' is that we tend to want to hold on to them. We're all very gifted at pointing out others idols but we really don't want to let go of our own.
Often when this bit of Scripture is preached idols such as money, cars, homes, jobs, even status in the community are pointed out and we are admonished for the role we allow these things to play out in our lives. In the sermon, I didn't touch on these types of 'idols' but I did point out how a Church Building, the Bible, and Angels can be elevated to the point of becoming an idol and disrupting our relationship with the Father. The primary thrust of the sermon though was on how hatred, ego, the desire to be right, and most of all the desire to 'win' can all become idols and clearly upheave not only our relationship with God but also our relationships with each other. We need to bear in mind that not only does the Father want us to be reconciled to Him, but He also wants us to be in community and reconciled to each other and to His entire Creation.
There are so very many things in our lives that are actually good and positive things that can become (if their role and purpose are misused or mistaken) 'Idols' in our lives. I mentioned in the sermon the Bible, this seems like such a strange thing to list, but we need to remember that we are not called to 'worship' the Bible, rather the Bible is a tool and a guide in our worship of God. Our church buildings can and often do become 'Idols' for us. Here at Woodlawn Chrisitan, we are very blessed with an extremely beautiful building and especially a magnificent Sanctuary. But, we need to remember as the old song says, "The church is not a building, The church is not a steeple, The church is not a resting place, the church is a people!" No matter how much we love this old building, and no matter how important it may feel to us, we need to remember that it isn't what we worship but rather a place to worship.
May this week be a wonder and a blessing to you all!
And please, please... be a blessing to someone today!
In the Father's Care,
Roy
Acts 17:16-34New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 17 So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace[a] every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19 So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.
22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor[b] he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God[c] and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,
‘For we too are his offspring.’
29 Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.” 33 At that point Paul left them. 34 But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Footnotes:
a) Acts 17:17 Or civic center; Gk agora
b) Acts 17:26 Gk From one; other ancient authorities read From one blood
c) Acts 17:27 Other ancient authorities read the Lord
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