When Worship Becomes Idolatry

When Worship Becomes Idolatry

By: Adrian Ashmore

Board of Directors for Seeking the City

May 17, 2023

Due to the nature of sin and its pervasive working in our lives we often take what God gives us, to bless us, and turn it into an object of worship.  Maybe it’s a new job or a spouse or a child?  No matter what it is, if we love it more than God, if we seek to know it better than God, if we spend more time enjoying it than God, we have made it an idol.  For some it’s sports, for others it is science, and for many Christians it is the Church or better said certain aspects of the Church. God has given us ministers to faithfully preach the word, teachers to teach it, members to fellowship with, and choirs and worship teams to prepare our hearts to hear the word of God.  All those things are wonderful and I, for one, am thankful we have them.  But if we go to church for the teacher, the preacher, a certain family or friend, the music, or anything other than to get to know God better and worship and serve Him with greater zeal and knowledge, then we have made that thing or person an idol.  

The Bible relays to us an event that happened during the Children of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. The Children of Israel were frustrated and impatient and started bickering against God. In response to this, God “sent fiery serpents among the people” (Numbers 21:6 LSB) and those who were bitten died. Then the Children of Israel went to Moses and admitted they had sinned against God.  God tells Moses to, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard” (Numbers 21:8 LSB) Moses makes the serpent out of bronze, sets it on a standard (often depicted as a cross), and those who were bitten and looked at this standard in order to live.  Now that is the end of that, right?  Wrong?  If you keep reading, you’ll eventually come across 2 Kings 18:4 and will read the following, “He (Hezekiah) took away the high places and shattered the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel were burning incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan.” (LSB) That’s right, the very thing God used to heal the Children of Israel, in the wilderness, became an object of worship.  

Just like the Children of Israel, we, as Christians, can do much the same when it comes to precious and blessed men, women, and gifts that God gives the church for its edification and maturity.  There is just as must irony in the fact that the Children of Israel would worship a thing God had Moses make instead of God Himself. There is more irony in that God’s people fall prey to making preachers, teachers, youth minsters, musicians, choirs or a myriad of other things their reason for going and enjoying Church. God, Jesus and His precious sacrifice and position as mediator on our behalf seem to fall to the second or third reason they go to “worship.” As alluded to we can also elevate these people and gifts on par with God.  We don’t just enjoy God and come to worship Him with God’s people, we come to be entertained, amazed, and delighted by gifted people in the Church more than God.  We praise God for His goodness but would probably just stay home if it was not for… you can fill in the blank: The pastor, the music, the children’s program. For those that say, “No way, I go for God and God alone, but I do enjoy our pastor and the hymns of old.”  “You’ve got it all wrong, I go to hear the word of God, but the worship team is amazing.”  Maybe that is indeed the case.  I love to hear those gifted in preaching the word of God, like my pastor, and those who lead us in the ministry of music.  I’m so very thankful for their contribution.  However, maybe we have become so used to the fanfare that we do not realize we have made them idols.  Ask yourself, could you go to Church if all you would experience is a room full of people listening to someone who is chosen at random, standing on a platform, and simply reading the word of God for 40 to 60 minutes?  Be honest, would that keep you there, or would you go to find what you have been worshiping for as long as you’ve been in church.  This is not a rebuke! Quite the contrary. This is an opportunity to examine a serious issue that has become a reality for many of us who attend church.  So, let’s ask ourselves the following:  

Has God been replaced by other people or things in the church?  

Are we worshipping other aspects of the church and not God?  

Are we worshipping other aspects of the church along with God?  

If the honest answer is yes, then we need to repent and seek to put those things and people back in their rightful place as fellow worshipers and blessings from God. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit must be the pinnacle, superior reason for our attending Church. God is beautiful, merciful, gracious, holy, sovereign, satisfying, good, and so much more.  Dive into the Word of God and worship God alone. Whether you are in Church, in a restaurant, or in your living room.       

Gracious Heavenly Father, may we see You as the Most High, the most Holy, the most important of all beings.  Please don’t let us worship anything other than you, not even in the midst of your people.  Thank you for our pastors, our teachers, our musicians, and singers, for our youth and children ministers, and all the other people and blessings You pour into and over our lives.  However, may we never exalt them to a place of equality with You, not ever.  You alone are sovereign and satisfying and You alone are worthy of worship.  May that truth ever be present in our understanding and our actions.  In the name of Jesus, we pray this, Amen.