25 Jul 2017

I’ll Take A Bite Of That

by | posted in: Church, Culture | 11,476

There is a reason we follow recipes, to make something that is good and palatable, and also mostly because certain ingredients do not mix. One may change the type of cheese, or use almond milk instead of cow milk in a recipe. Because some ingredients may be different, they do not ruin the final product. It just gives it a different flavor. However, you may not replace the flower in pancakes with baking soda, because you would not end up with pancakes.

In the same way we must ensure we do not mix in outside worship of idols with the true worship of God. “Well”, one might add, “I only worship God”. Yes, by everything you understand you would believe that, but here lies my point. The worship of idols can sneak into the worship of God without it being obvious to us. Idols don’t always look like little brass statues that you can place on the mantle, though some of them might stick on the car window.

An idol that stands out is easily defeated, but one that slowly works its way in becomes natural and part of a culture. The mixing of idol worship and the worship of God may not seem distasteful to us, but is grossly unpalatable to God. This is where we come to the story of Balaam and Balak. In the book of numbers we find Balak, who was king over Moab, in fear of the Jews. He sends after Balaam knowing that “he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed”(Numbers 22:6). However, God warns Balaam to only speak what he is told. This does not go over well with Balak since Balaam ends up blessing Israel three times. Chapter 24 ends with Balaam telling what was to happen in the days to come and then vs. 25 of chapter 24 says “Then Balaam arose and departed and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way”.

The next chapter begins with the Israelites playing the harlot with the daughters of Moab, feasting on food sacrificed to idols and bowing to them as well. So the question is what happened? Here was a mighty nation moving along and following God’s plan and all of sudden they are joined to Baal of Peor. We find the rest of the story of Balak and Balaam in Revelation 2:12-17.

Balaam could not curse the people; however at some point he taught Balak how to trip them up. The verse says to place a “stumbling block” in front of them. Balak placed food sacrificed to idols in front of them to eat and enticed them to commit acts of immorality. This false worship and immorality led to Numbers chapter 25 in which the Lord became angry with Israel.

So why did Israel not reject the food and worship of Baal? Simply put, the food looked good and the women were pretty. “And if all I have to do is bow, then I get hot food and hot ladies… I mean this is their culture and I want to be seen as relevant, besides I still observe the Sabbath”. These things don’t seem so wrong, at least after the 3rd and 4th time. The word for “stumbling block” could also mean “snare”. Those that hunt and fish know you don’t catch prey if the bait doesn’t look enticing and the snare or stumbling block is visible. One trips over the “block” because their eyes are focused somewhere else; they don’t see it for what it is.

So what does this mean for us? We are smart people and we have access to more information than a bunch of folks running around in the desert. But knowledge is not as valuable as wisdom. Knowledge knows what it is we do, and where we go, and where we spend our time and money. Wisdom tells us why we do it. Godly wisdom is the key in understanding which items in our lives are idols and which are true worship and which ones need to be prayed about further.

So now we come to the Church in America, which is more accurately the American Church. So what is it, you might ask, that I am getting at? That the idols have crept into the church, which means there are those of us that worship things other than or along with God. The problem is the idols are different for each of us. (James 1:14) We can worship our sexuality, our “cause” be it pro or anti this and that, or even our politics. A person running for office often becomes our savior if we are not careful. “He/she will fix everything, if we can just get them elected.” We can even begin to praise our government, singing its praises in a worship service. We sacrifice our Saturdays to give honor to our favorite sports teams, and spend our weekday nights at ball parks in service to sports.

Now is it wrong to be pro or anti this and that? Is it wrong to want good leaders? Is it wrong to watch sports and let your kids play them? Depends on what you are searching for. You see the problem is not with the meat. All things are made clean and we know that there are no other gods. However, our desire to have those “meats” drives us to compromise and worship the idols that are associated with them. There is nothing wrong with a child playing baseball; it is when the game becomes the desire of our heart, or when we praise our nation as though it is our savior. It is when we miss where the meat comes from that we are led astray. We believe that the idol provides the meat we desire, whether it be peace, justice, happiness, or protection. These things are to be sought from God. Dead idols can do nothing for us.

This brings us back to us, the church. When we are enticed by the things of the world, we must be careful that they do not become the object of our affection. Because when they do, we will mix them in our true worship. The idols will compete with our worship of God and if not thrown down we will bow our knee to them and give Sunday lip service to the one true God.

11476 Responses

  1. pursvive
    | Reply

    Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon on a daily basis.

    It’s always exciting to read through articles from
    other writers and use something from other web sites.

  2. هزینه تعمیر موتور بی ام و
    | Reply

    Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of
    this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s hard to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appeal.
    I must say you have done a great job with this.

    Additionally, the blog loads extremely quick for me on Safari.
    Superb Blog!

  5. Fear the Dark Slot
    | Reply

    Spot on with this write-up, I absolutely believe this web
    site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read through more,
    thanks for the info!

  6. pepek becek
    | Reply

    Hi to all, how is all, I think every one is getting
    more from this web site, and your views are nice designed for new people.

  7. عسل آویشن ویژه و سیاه دانه
    | Reply

    I don’t know whether it’s just me or if everybody else encountering
    problems with your website. It looks like some of the written text
    in your content are running off the screen. Can somebody
    else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them too?
    This may be a issue with my web browser because I’ve had this happen previously.
    Thanks

  8. عسل گرده گل
    | Reply

    When someone writes an post he/she maintains the idea of a user in his/her mind that how a user can know it.
    So that’s why this post is great. Thanks!

  9. foto bugil
    | Reply

    Great beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog site?
    The account helped me a appropriate deal. I had been tiny bit acquainted
    of this your broadcast provided shiny transparent idea

  11. عسل گشنیز
    | Reply

    Hey there! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 3gs!

    Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your
    posts! Keep up the fantastic work!

  19. عسل کنار
    | Reply

    Definitely believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the
    internet the easiest thing to be aware of.
    I say to you, I certainly get irked while people consider worries
    that they plainly don’t know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top as well as defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could take a signal.
    Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  21. عسل گون گز انگبین
    | Reply

    I’ve been browsing online more than three hours lately, but I never found any attention-grabbing article like
    yours. It’s lovely worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made
    excellent content material as you probably did, the net will be a lot more helpful than ever before.

  22. راه های پیشگیری از دیابت
    | Reply

    Oh my goodness! Awesome article dude! Thank you so much, However I am experiencing problems
    with your RSS. I don’t know why I can’t subscribe to it.

    Is there anybody having identical RSS issues? Anyone that knows the solution will you kindly respond?

    Thanks!!

  24. عسل مرکبات
    | Reply

    I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or blog posts on this sort of area .

    Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site.
    Studying this info So i am satisfied to express that I’ve a very just right uncanny feeling
    I found out just what I needed. I such a lot surely will make sure to don?t disregard this site and provides it a look regularly.

  27. porn videos
    | Reply

    If some one needs expert view regarding running a blog after that i propose him/her to pay a quick visit this web site, Keep up
    the good work.

  28. خواص گرده گل
    | Reply

    It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this brilliant blog!
    I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS
    feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will talk about
    this blog with my Facebook group. Talk soon!

  29. عسل چهل گیاه
    | Reply

    Cool blog! Is your theme custom made or did you
    download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out.

    Please let me know where you got your design. Thanks a lot

  35. خواص انگبین
    | Reply

    Simply desire to say your article is as astounding.
    The clearness in your post is just excellent and i could assume you are an expert on this subject.
    Fine with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming
    post. Thanks a million and please continue the rewarding
    work.

  37. خواص گرده گل برای لاغری
    | Reply

    Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this site.
    It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very hard to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and visual appeal.

    I must say you’ve done a great job with this. In addition, the blog loads super quick for me on Safari.

    Exceptional Blog!

  40. خواص سرکه انگبین برای پوست
    | Reply

    Howdy very cool website!! Guy .. Beautiful ..
    Wonderful .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds additionally?
    I’m glad to seek out a lot of helpful info right
    here in the submit, we need work out extra strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.
    . . . . .

  41. عسل اسطخودوس
    | Reply

    Hi there! This blog post couldn’t be written much better!

    Reading through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He constantly kept talking about this. I most certainly will send this article to him.
    Fairly certain he’ll have a great read. I appreciate you for sharing!

  44. hey
    | Reply

    Hey I am so happy I found your webpage, I
    really found you by accident, while I was researching on Askjeeve for
    something else, Regardless I am here now and
    would just like to say thanks for a marvelous post and a all round enjoyable blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t
    have time to look over it all at the minute but I have saved
    it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the superb
    job.

  46. UFA147
    | Reply

    Link exchange is nothing else but it is just placing the other person’s weblog link
    on your page at suitable place and other person will also do same for you.

  48. is the growth matrix legit
    | Reply

    I believe everything posted was actually very reasonable. But, consider this, what if you composed a catchier post title?
    I ain’t saying your content is not good., however suppose you added
    a post title to possibly get people’s attention? I mean I’ll Take A Bite
    Of That – The Hus Report is a little boring. You could glance at Yahoo’s home page
    and watch how they write article headlines to grab people interested.
    You might try adding a video or a related picture or two to get people excited about
    everything’ve got to say. In my opinion, it would make your posts a little livelier.

    My web page … is the growth matrix legit

  49. e visa vietnam
    | Reply

    Its not my first time to go to see this site, i am browsing this web site dailly and take fastidious
    information from here everyday.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *