Christian Idols

And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."
(1Sa 15:22-23)

You might be thinking that the title of this article is an oxymoron, but it is not. In the context of the passage above, God commanded Saul to destroy everything in Amalek, but instead of obeying the commandment of God completely, he disobeyed it. And we have seen that from the time of Abraham to the time of judges, it was customary for the Israeli people of the covenant to offer sacrifice after a victory. And if you are thinking in a superficial way, it would seem that Saul had done a wise thing by offering to the Lord from the enemy’s flock which was better and wealthier than in Israel. But Saul considered offering burnt sacrifice more important than pleasing Lord, since to please God is to obey His commands. Saul’s idol was sacrifice, though it was not an idol by itself. It was actually a means to please God.

Many often, we Christians also make the means to worship God as the end. So it becomes an idol. I have given some examples of idols which many Christian community worships.

Some Christian groups, especially among the charismatic and the Pentecostal circles, say that to get the second blessings of the Holy Spirit, we need to be baptised by immersion. Baptism by immersion is a means by which new born-again Christians can worship Jesus. But instead of that, these Christians take baptism just for the sake of getting the gifts of Holy Spirit like tongues. So their end is to worship the gift of tongues rather than worshipping God.

Marriage is one of the blessings of a Christian from God. It is one of the means of sanctification to worship God, so that a Christian will understand the relation between Christ and the Church in a better way. But instead of having this as the ultimate end, many Christians, especially among the younger age group who are singles and recently married, have marriage as their ultimate end of worship. So many often, they forget the other duties of a Christian, like honouring parents, edifying other Christians, etc, for the sake of marriage because their god is marriage not Jesus.

Christian charity is a means to glorify God. Bible says that to give to poor is like giving loan to God. God has commanded Christians the ways to help the poor and needy. But if a Christian is not preaching the gospel, not active in a Church, not a good husband and a good father, then charity is an idol for him.

We Christians are called to be perfect in everything we do. God has commanded us to be perfect, since the Lord God himself is perfect (Mat 5:48). But many people quote this verse and be workaholic and worship their work, instead of Christ. Likewise, money can also become an idol.

Fellowship is very important for a Christian to grow because Christ has kept it as a means for encouragement and also for the edification of the saints from His Word. But if a Christian is attending a fellowship just for the sake of pleasing the people there, then it is an idol.

Finally for some even heaven can be an idol. Many Christians preach the gospel and believe in Christ because they just want to go to heaven. But even in a Hollywood movie they would show that the characters, who are doing every immoral activities under the sun, are going to heaven. If you ask an unbeliever, he would say that he is going to heaven or he wants to go to heaven. But the only difference between a truly regenerate person and others is that a true Christian will want to go to heaven to worship God till eternity. Whereas an unregenerate person would hate to worship God in heaven.

So these are some of the idols among Christendom. These aren’t idols by themselves. But they can become an idol for a person. But to find out whether it is an idol or not, we should ask this question: Am I getting the ultimate satisfaction and joy by doing this duty more than other duties which God has commanded me to do? If our answer is yes, then that is our idol. May God bless you all.