Which God Do You Serve?

Idolatry takes many forms. When we think of idolatry, we often think of some pagan religion with people bowing down before a golden statue. We Protestants have often accused Catholics of idolatry when they pray to Mary or some other "Saint". In the book of Exodus we see where the Hebrews worshipped a golden calf and were judged because of it. We hear sermons in which it is proclaimed that people in the world who seek to gain money, power, and earthly possessions are guilty of idol worship. I have found however, that we sometimes boldly point our fingers at others for committing idolatry while we ourselves are blind to the fact that we are guilty of the same thing!

Many sermons have already been preached on the topics above, so I am not going to concern myself with those things. In this "Rant", I want to address a form of idolatry that exists among professing Christians that is more subtle than bowing before a handcrafted idol. I want to address the way people like to define (or redefine) God according to their own carnal ideas, opinions, and/or theological biases. You may have not thought about such as idolatry, but whether we fashion a god out of gold or define the true God according to what we think He ought to be: we are guilty of committing a form of idolatry*! When we do this, we are attempting to make a God to suit ourselves instead of submitting ourselves to God's revelation of Who He really is...

Let me demonstrate what I mean. Some people will boldly state: "I don't think God will condemn anybody to Hell, He's too loving to do that". Where does such a statement come from? Definitely not from the Scripture! The God of the Bible has made no such statement in His Word! I guess, in a sense, their "God" wouldn't condemn sinners because the god they speak of exists only in their imagination! The person has created an idol! Such a person is either ignorant of Scripture or trying to invent a god (or idol) that will put up with their sinful lifestyle! This is really no different than the people who create idols out of wood, gold, or stone! The difference is that their idol is just in their mind instead of on a shelf or on some altar.

It is not uncommon when talking with people who profess Christ, to hear them very sincerely state ideas about God that are foreign to Scripture. One fellow recently told me that he believed that an unsaved pagan in foreign country (with no Gospel witness at all) would not be condemned to Hell after death. The fellow's theory was that God would be unjust in doing so because that person "didn't have a chance to hear the Gospel". I humbly informed the fellow that God condemns unrepentant sinners to Hell because of their SIN, not simply because they "had a chance to hear the Gospel" and chose to reject Christ! If that man's theory is correct, then we ought to totally stop preaching the Gospel and bring the missionaries home so that the whole World can be saved by NOT hearing the Gospel! If anything, the fact that people are still being eternally lost when there is no Gospel witness ought to be a great motivation to support foreign missions!!! The error of this person's belief is that he is using his own ideas about justice and fairness to judge how God ought handle these situations.

In the area of "creating God in my own image", I have not been free from guilt either. In times past I also defined God according to what my carnal mind thought and not according to what the Bible stated. I almost hate to admit this now, but my view of God used to be so low that I was basically an Open Theist**. I once thought there were some things -and future events- that God had left to chance! In my previous theological framework I thought man (and not God) was sovereign! Of course I may have given lip service to God's sovereignty, omnipotence, and control over all things, but I didn't really believe any of it deep in my soul. In reality, my theology was shot through with holes and contradictions. When I read the Bible, verses of Scripture that did not fit my ideas about God would be totally ignored. The way I defined God in my mind made Him a god to be pitied instead of a God to be reverenced and worshipped!

All of this started to change for me after I was given a copy of the book called "The Purpose Driven Life". While I'll freely admit the book has some shortcomings, I honestly have to say that God providentially used it to open my eyes to see some things in the Bible that I had never seen or even wanted to acknowledge previously. The things I began to see in the Bible started to revolutionize my theological perspectives. What I saw in Scripture caused me to rethink things and ask hard questions that, in turn, caused me to dig deeper into the Word to find the answers. I began to see that my understandings of God were incorrect and that God was so much "bigger" than anything I had previously imagined! At some point after that, I decided to totally lay down all my opinions and all of my flawed theology and submit myself to what the Bible says about our Lord.

Having realized much of my theology was shallow and riddled with humanism; I am now on a quest. I want know the God of the Bible as He has revealed Himself in Scripture! I believe the Bible holds the Truth. I have decided to crucify my unscriptural opinions and submit my mind to Christ. I no longer skip over the hard verses, but I seek to understand, reconcile, and apply all that I read as best as I am able. The road has been rough at times. God has allowed me to learn much in recent years, yet I know there will always be mysteries my finite mind will never fully unlock.

What about you dear reader? Do you worship the God of Scripture or an idol of your own imagination? Do you have to ignore verses, or even entire chapters of Scripture, because they do not fit your theology? Will you commit this day to lay down man-centered ideas and unscriptural opinions at the feet of Jesus? Will you join me in the pursuit of truth? Do you really want to know God? If so, let your motto be: "Let God be true and every man a liar"! Let us cast down the idols within our minds! Let us pray that God will reform and refine our theology! If you have accepted this challenge today, get ready for your life and theology to never be the same!

Soli Deo Gloria!

-Rhett

* The main thought behind this is not owing to myself. Ray Comfort has also commented on this in the Evidence Bible.

** For an explanation and refutation of Open Theism, please visit: http://www.carm.org/open.htm