25 Jul 2017

I’ll Take A Bite Of That

by | posted in: Church, Culture | 12,058

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.

12058 Responses

  1. nella underarm whitening cream review
    | Reply

    I loved as much as youll receive carried out right here The sketch is tasteful your authored material stylish nonetheless you command get bought an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following unwell unquestionably come more formerly again since exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike

  2. Edlinxx
    | Reply

    You can join in the webcam chat with the girls directly with your own cam. We offer you cam chat with sound. So you have your hands free and can whisper your fantasies into the blonde free live webcams with girls ear and hear the women moaning and smacking in front of the webcam.

  4. webkeysop
    | Reply

    webKEY Digital Marketing Services
    Unlock Your Business Potential with My Comprehensive SEO, Content, and Social Media Strategies.
    — Increase Ahrefs Domain Rating DR 50 to 90 Organically
    — Increase MOZ Domain Authority DA 30 to 70 Organically
    — Increase Majestic Trust Flow 20 to 50 Organically
    On-Page SEO
    SEO Link Building With Competitor Analysis
    Guest Posting Services
    Foundational Backlinks Service
    Niche Edits
    Contextual High DA DR Backlinks
    PBN Backlinks
    Link Building Outreach

  5. bokep kontol
    | Reply

    You’re so awesome! I do not believe I’ve read anything like that before.
    So nice to discover another person with some genuine thoughts on this issue.
    Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This web site is
    something that is needed on the web, someone with
    some originality!

  7. Damian Mraz
    | Reply

    I just could not leave your web site before suggesting that I really enjoyed the standard information a person supply to your visitors Is gonna be again steadily in order to check up on new posts

  13. RobertAvalp
    | Reply

    ЖК Резиденция лайф ЖК Космос ЖК Крылья – это строит недобросовестный застройщик – Паритет Девелопмент ИНН 7203567694 Не рекомендую покупать квартиры. Будите обмануты @dontcheatpeople – телеграмм.

  16. алғашқы органикалық сезімді бала басынан кешіреді
    | Reply

    образовательные центры казахстан, образовательный центр алматы ент
    панель приборов приора 2 люкс купить, панель приборов приора
    купить консул казахстана
    в калининграде 2022 год, посольство казахстана в крыму тұлпар желіде танылады, тұлпар
    желіде танылады эссе

  20. nonton bokep hot
    | Reply

    I don’t know if it’s just me or if perhaps everyone
    else experiencing issues with your website. It looks like
    some of the text within your content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please comment and let me know if this is happening to
    them as well? This might be a problem with my web browser because I’ve
    had this happen previously. Cheers

  22. pepek
    | Reply

    I’ve been browsing online greater than 3 hours as of late,
    but I by no means discovered any fascinating article like yours.
    It is beautiful value sufficient for me.
    In my opinion, if all site owners and bloggers made just right content as you probably did, the internet might
    be a lot more helpful than ever before.

  28. memek
    | Reply

    It is actually a nice and helpful piece of info.
    I’m happy that you shared this useful information with us.

    Please stay us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.

  29. hotfallingdevil chaturbate
    | Reply

    Normally just about every other days just before the time or following of ovulation assists raise your probability of getting pregnant. Stop cigarette smoking and consuming could enhance your possibilities of acquiring expecting. You strengthen your likelihood when you have a strong profile with superior-high-quality images and a nicely-designed profile. We had a relatively compact dwelling and a reasonably compact earnings and the pressure would have been way too considerably. I fundamentally moved in to their terraced dwelling at fifteen many years previous and relished getting a member of their family members, the excellent Sunday roasts and ham and mayonnaise, which I experienced by no means had right before. We had been quite very careful, but the comfort and ease of possessing a dwelling and being in a relationship created us complacent. I mourned him whilst I mourned the absence of my father, who was someplace in China, becoming successful, or seeking to be, I actually had no notion what he was up to but I realized he wasn’t with me. So when I satisfied my boyfriend, who was just one of four Irish boys from a common Irish spouse and children, I fell in appreciate with him, and his pretty dad and mom. Therefore there was only a single real looking solution to destroy our baby.

  32. 不登校ビジネス
    | Reply

    Whereas these convenient thermometers didn’t hit “fad” status, mood rings, which were based mostly on the same technology and launched 5 years later, actually did.

  37. ai porn
    | Reply

    Every weekend i used to go to see this site, as i wish for enjoyment, for the reason that
    this this web site conations really nice funny information too.

  38. мәтіннің құрылымы деген не
    | Reply

    уиджи: проклятие доски дьявола, фильм по ту сторону
    двери трейлер крыша актау грин парк, грин
    плаза актау отзывы өмірзая романы өмір
    шындығымен байланысы, б.мұқайдың
    өмірзая романы эссе тас
    дәуірі туралы сұрақтар, тарих сұрақтар жауабымен 5 сынып

Leave a Reply

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