idols

I've got a classmate from Ghana. He preached a sermon intended for his congregation back home, comforting people without food because of the lack of rain. He exhorted them to stay away from idols and to have faith in Christ.

When you think about that, well, it's different. Different from me, a million miles away from where my mind is. People hungering for food, worshiping idols.

I suppose the main difference is that our problems and sins are easier to ignore here in America. The task in Africa is to confront the sin of idol worship. Wow. It blows my mind.

Here? Man, take your pick of sins. But no matter what, you'll take heat. A pastor in Canada is in trouble with the law for speaking God's truth about sin. God says don't be selfish. Don't desire what others have. Don't have sex outside of marriage. Don't pick your favorite idol to bow down to.

It comes back to idols for us to. An idol is any thing you trust in with all your heart. God doesn't like idols. He hates them. He wants them destroyed. Completely. God promised land and rest to the Israelites. But they had to clear the land of idols and all who refused to worship Yahweh.

I grew up in the Evangelical church and heard a lot of law-heavy sermons, some fire and brimstone. Then I moved to LA.
I tend to bristle against judgement. harsh words. blunt truth. But there it is. God is holy. He cannot stand sin. We can though. We can stand it just fine, thank you.
The time is coming (and it's coming soon) when it'll be really difficult to avoid speaking the truth on sin. We make ourselves accomplices with sin all the time. But reaction is getting stronger and stronger.

"You can have your belief over there in the corner as long as it enthusiastically encourages my belief as well. You believe the Bible is true? You believe in miracles? You believe in marriage?"

Talk about counter cultural. We are in a tough spot. Don't want to be like those crazy fundamentalists. Don't want to be like those crazy liberals. Maybe if I just keep my mouth shut long enough no one will notice me. And I can go on with my day and my life. Yeah, I'm a Christian, but not like those other ones. I'm a cool Christian and I drink and stuff, but its complicated...so like, I like good music and stuff too, not like those lame Christians.
Wham, wham, smack, smack. We can knock out those other guys. All the meanwhile, we are smacking around our cousin and our grandma, and the rest of our kin.

God's coming. And he is going to bring some judgment and its going to start first with the house of God. The Man is coming around taking names.

And what is He going to find us doing? What are our lives? We have the promise of rest and a place with him. What are we doing building settlements in the wilderness? We are just passing though.

"Christian" is not just another category for your facebook profile. We're God's people and we have God's promises, but we act like we're already home. This is as good as it gets. We forget the promises. The seem pretty distant. Might as well make ourselves comfortable.

Comfortable is the opposite of our calling. If we're Christians, we will not have comfortable lives, if we do, we really REALLY need to examine ourselves. If
"our" Jesus is a Jesus that does not make us uncomfortable in some way, something is wrong. He riled up everybody. He produced anger, confusion, and sadness in people. We need that. In a good way. Not the kind of emotion caused by us turning inward and freaking out because of all that we have to do, or because of a relationship, or because of all the stress, and anxiety. These are all legitimate troubles that we have and will continue to have our entire lives. They will never go away. BUT, the stark reality that we must be faced with is God's reality. He wants to kill us. He wants us dead. Because we are unholy and he is THE HOLY. We are not basically good. We are basically stupid. We basically want all the good for us and none for others. We want all the pleasure and none of the pain. But God will bring the pain. He is the light that shines in the darkness and He will reveal everything.

But don't fight the pain. It's good. You've got to be killed to be made alive. Our God is a God that encounters us with His Word. He comes to terrify those that are comfortable. This is the maker of the heavens and the earth. We sit complacent. Why do we doubt that He who made everything we will ever see and experience, can not do whatever He desires.

Look at us. We deserve to be crushed and condemned and killed. Who are we to despise God's Word and truth and commands? Who are we to flaunt his grace? We gladly sin. We wear sin as a badge. We parade it around. Look at us and our sin!

But the Man will come around.

The Man will come, but The Man has already come. He is here. Now. We look to his first coming so that we will withstand the second coming.

The second coming will be for judgment. The first coming was a rescue mission. We were pulled, forcibly removed from a burning building - our sorry state. Our guilt and debt was removed and Christ righteousness was placed on us. We are now in Christ. We are united in his death through Baptism.

We cannot do good; even our best intentions are filthy rags. We will always be crushed, but we always have the cross. We are promised eternal rest. In this life we struggle. We must. We continually war with the devil, the world, and our sinful nature that try to pull us toward false belief, despair and other shameful thoughts and evil desires.

This is not our home. We have a place prepared for us. A holy place, cleansed of all the junk that weighs us down.

We have God's promise; to that we cling. We will always have struggle. It is our calling to always be on guard, to watch, to be ready. But we are not people without hope. We always have comfort. The Man is here for us. We encounter Him through the Word. The Spirit works through the Word to encourage, enlighten and strengthen us. It really happens. Christ is really present in the bread and the wine. He promised and we believe. Christ is here now in tangible ways. He comes to us in his Word. He offers himself where He may be found, in the presence of all his people.

Who are we? What are we doing here? Try to make sense of your life outside of Christ and you will fail. All life flows from him. He is the source and fountain of our faith and the author and perfecter of our life.

God, forgive us for forsaking You, Your Word, and Your people. Keep us steadfast in the true faith until life everlasting.