Readings for today: Acts 12-14
The key issue in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is idolatry. It is humanity’s besetting sin. We simply cannot get away from it. From the moment Adam and Eve chose to “be like God” in the Garden of Eden, we’ve been locked in self-perpetuating, idolatrous cycle. Generation after generation. Every nation, tribe, and tongue. Every human being on the face of the earth exchanging the glory of God for some kind of created thing. In the ancient world, it was paganism. The worship of totems and statues that personified parts of creation like the storms or the stars or fertility or the harvest. In fact, one of the primary accusations against the Jews and early Christians was that they were atheists because they had no “gods.” They had no carved idols. In the modern world, it’s still paganism but instead of totems and statues, we worship wealth, power, success, and sex. Sure, we don’t build temples to house these idols but we hold them close in our hearts.
In our reading for today, Herod goes to Caesarea, the Roman administrative capital of Judea. He built a beautiful palace there on the shoreline, complete with a freshwater pool on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. While he was there, he received an audience from the people of Tyre and Sidon. Seeking to curry favor with him, they declared him to be a god. Rather than correct them, the egotistical Herod accepted their adulation which seals his fate before the Lord. He is eaten by worms and dies. Just a couple of chapters later, Paul and Barnabus are preaching in Lystra. Paul heals a man who has been crippled from birth. The people see it and begin to proclaim them as gods, declaring Barnabus to be Zeus and Paul to be Hermes. Things escalate to the point where the priest of Zeus in the city brings out a bull to offer a sacrifice to them. Rather than let them proceed, Barnabus and Paul immediately run into the crowd, tear their robes, and call them to turn from their idolatry to the worship of the living God who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. The crowds are so disappointed that they quickly turn on Barnabus and Paul and even try to stone Paul to death! Such is what happens when our idols are exposed.
The late Tim Keller once wrote that we can identify the idols in our lives by the things that give us nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? Anything that becomes more important to us than God - even the good things of our lives - becomes an enslaving power in our lives. Idols control us. The thought of losing them makes us angry, anxious, depressed, guilty, or ashamed. To lose them is to lose all sense of meaning and purpose in our lives. The only way to be set free from the enslaving power of idolatry is to turn to Jesus. To worship Him alone. To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and greatest and most important commandment.
Readings for tomorrow: James 1-5