25 Jul 2017

I’ll Take A Bite Of That

by | posted in: Church, Culture | 12,619

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.

12619 Responses

  1. سایت ثبت نام مدارس ۱۴۰۳-۱۴۰۴ – سامانه پیش ثبت نام
    | Reply

    My coder is trying to convince me to move
    to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.

    But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type
    on various websites for about a year and am anxious about switching to another platform.
    I have heard excellent things about blogengine.net.
    Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it?
    Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!

  10. آخرین رتبه قبولی هوشبری دانشگاه قم ۱۴۰۲ -۱۴۰۳|کارنامه
    | Reply

    I think that what you posted made a lot of sense. However, think on this,
    suppose you composed a catchier post title? I mean, I don’t want to
    tell you how to run your website, however suppose you
    added a post title to maybe get a person’s attention? I mean I’ll Take A Bite Of That – The Hus Report
    is a little boring. You might look at Yahoo’s home
    page and watch how they create post titles to
    grab viewers interested. You might try adding a video or a picture or two to get people excited about everything’ve got to say.
    In my opinion, it might bring your posts a little bit more interesting.

  15. آخرین رتبه قبولی هوشبری دانشگاه همدان ۱۴۰۲ -۱۴۰۳|کارنامه
    | Reply

    Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew
    of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically
    tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time and was hoping
    maybe you would have some experience with something like this.
    Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

  20. اعلام نتایج آزمون مدارس تیزهوشان
    | Reply

    Great goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just
    extremely fantastic. I actually like what you have acquired here,
    really like what you’re stating and the way in which
    you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care of to keep it smart.
    I can not wait to read much more from you. This is really a great website.

  26. website bokep
    | Reply

    I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is
    required to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like
    yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet smart
    so I’m not 100% sure. Any suggestions or advice would
    be greatly appreciated. Cheers

  31. ثبت نام بدون کنکور دانشگاه سراسری ۱۴۰۳-۱۴۰۴
    | Reply

    What i do not realize is if truth be told how you are not really much more well-preferred than you might be now.
    You are very intelligent. You recognize thus significantly in the case of this
    matter, made me for my part consider it from so many
    various angles. Its like men and women don’t seem to be interested until
    it’s one thing to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding.
    All the time take care of it up!

  44. سایت دوره کمک پرستاری
    | Reply

    Good day! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out
    and tell you I really enjoy reading through your blog posts.
    Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same
    subjects? Thank you!

  47. ベイジデザイナー
    | Reply

    An option gives the holder the right to not buy or sell the contract on the expiry date, instead they have an option of paying a pre-agreed fee for not concluding the contract.

  49. how do i buy cryptocurrency
    | Reply

    Hello everyone, We just discovered Cryptabox https://www.cnbc.com/search/?query=how%20do%20buy%20cryptocurrency%20-%20https%3A%2F%2Fcryptabox.com and we must say it was truly educative.

    Cryptabox.com gives a remarkable solution for protecting blockchain data.
    It is crucial for anyone concerned with digital asset safety.

    One of the things which makes Cryptabox unique are its advanced how can we buy cryptocurrency
    security features. They uses multi-factor authentication so that the data
    stay protected.

    Cryptabox.com additionally offers straightforward connectivity with
    various crypto wallets. This makes it for efficiently handle their assets with no
    hassle.

    Clients have shared excellent reviews about Cryptabox. It crypto how to buy is intuitive,
    and has a clean design that makes operations easy.

    Cryptabox’s helpdesk department was additionally very supportive,
    ready around the clock to assist with all questions you might face.

    Performance how to buy cryptocurrency are another key feature regarding Cryptabox.
    With their reliable servers, transactions were completed
    smoothly, with minimal issues.

    Thanks for posting this information. Our team anticipate using Cryptabox services
    further.

    Cheers,
    John Doe

    In conclusion, if you are in need of a reliable service to secure their blockchain data, Cryptabox is a great choice.

  50. 1
    | Reply

    Evry wеekend i used to go to see tһіs site, for the reason that i
    want enjoyment, sіnce this this website cоnations in fact gⲟod funnny material too.

    Also visit my site 1

Leave a Reply

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