Friday, August 17,
2012, 8:08 a.m. – the Lord woke me with the song “Seek the Lord.” Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read
1 Corinthians 10:14-22 (NIV 1984):
Therefore, my dear
friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to
sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of
thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ?
And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?
Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake
of the one loaf.
Consider the people of
Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean
then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is
anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God,
and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup
of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the
Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy?
Are we stronger than he?
Cup of
Thanksgiving
The
Passover celebration was a yearly celebration of the Jews commemorating God’s
deliverance of them out of slavery in Egypt. Jesus Christ, on the night he was
betrayed and handed over to be crucified, participated in the celebration of
the Passover with his disciples, only he initiated another celebration (or
commemoration) with them that night, which we call “The Lord’s Supper,” or is often
referred to as “communion.” He taught them that the wine (drink) represented
his blood, which was (to be) shed for the forgiveness of our sins, and that the
bread symbolized his body, which was (to be) given up for us on the cross so that
we might die to our flesh and be free to walk in fellowship with God on a daily
basis. The slavery he delivered us out of by his blood was slavery (bondage) to
sin. He set us free so we no longer have to be controlled by our sinful
natures, and so we will have eternity with him in glory. So, when we celebrate “communion,”
we are thanking Jesus Christ for dying for our sins, and for delivering us from
the penalty and slavery to sin.
Yet,
when Paul taught here concerning this cup of thanksgiving (the wine; the blood
of Christ), he was speaking not only of the physical act of drinking the fruit
of the vine at communion in thanksgiving to God, but he was speaking of what it
symbolizes, as realized in our own lives in all practicality. For instance,
when Jesus asked his disciples if they could drink the cup he was going to
drink, he was not speaking of them drinking juice out of a cup in communion. He
was asking them if they could suffer as he was going to suffer for the sake of
Jesus Christ and the gospel, and if they could die to their old lives of sin,
being crucified with Christ. Jesus Christ was getting ready to be betrayed,
abandoned by his closest companions, denied three times by one of them, beaten,
mocked, spat upon and hung on a cross to die because he told men (and women)
the truth about their sins, and because he challenged their hypocritical
religious practices. And, to be followers of Christ, we have to be willing to
endure much the same for his sake and for the sake of the gospel.
So,
the reality is that when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we participate in
the blood of Christ and his body, not only in accepting what he did for us on
the cross in dying for our sins, but in our acceptance of the cross in our
lives in submitting to Jesus and the cross in dying to our old ways of living
according to our sin (flesh) natures, and in allowing the Holy Spirit of God to
transform our hearts and minds and to give us new lives in Jesus Christ, “created
to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (see Ephesians 4:17-24).
Flee
Idolatry
So,
when Paul commanded the believers in Christ Jesus to flee from idolatry, he
appealed to their intelligence, knowledge and sensibilities. If, when we
receive Christ as Savior (deliverer) and Lord (master), we participate in his
blood and body via the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds in
crucifying our old sin (flesh) natures, and in resurrecting us to new lives in
Christ, then can’t we see that following after other gods is counterproductive
to what Jesus initiated in our hearts, and to which we state we have
surrendered our wills? We died to sin! How can we live in sin any longer? We
made God our one and only God, Lord and master. How can we worship (bow to)
other gods? If we are one with Christ in body, then how can we give ourselves
to another “lover”?
Lest
we think this is just speaking about worshiping foreign gods of other
religions, we must examine the words “god” and “idol” in light of our daily
routines. And, we must understand what it means to “worship” another god or
idol. A god is “something that is so important that it takes over somebody's
life” or a person who is “widely admired or imitated” (Encarta). An idol is “somebody
or something greatly admired or loved, often to excess,” or “something that is
worshiped as a god” (Encarta). And worship, Biblically speaking, is giving our
whole heart devotion, obedience, surrender, submission, vow (like a marriage
vow) and guarantee of faithfulness and fidelity, allegiance, loyalty,
commitment and/or duty to the object of our worship. Obviously we can’t worship
the one true God and other gods, too.
Anything
that we give our hearts to in this way, and that takes the place of God in our
hearts in faithful obedience and surrender to his will for our lives can be an
idol (a god) in our lives, and we can be guilty of idolatry. Such things as our
careers, families, entertainment choices, possessions, smart phones, computers,
games, sports, TV programs, music, man-made religion, leisure and/or religious activities,
et al can be idols (gods) in our lives if we do not guard our hearts against
them, and if we do not evaluate them against the word of God, and if we do not
seek God’s face concerning the priorities he has for our lives, instead of
making our own life choices based upon what is pleasing to us. Jesus demands
full surrender and complete faithfulness to God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit –
as our one and only God. Certainly any time we choose anything or anyone over
God, and over the truths he has for us to follow in Scripture, we are guilty of
idolatry.
Idolatry
and Demons
When
we give to other objects (or people) the kind of worship that should be given
to God alone, the sacrifice of mind, body, emotion, time, energy and heart
given over to these “objects of affection” is offered to Satan and his demons,
not to God. Why is this so for us? Because Satan’s greatest goal is to get
Christians to worship anyone or anything other than God, and to get us to give
our time, energies and emotions to anything or anyone other than God, and to
get us to give our praise, adoration, and thanksgiving to anything and anyone
other than God, and to get us to receive our joy, satisfaction, peace and
fulfillment from anything and anyone other than God. So, when we are guilty of
idolatry, we are playing right into Satan’s hands, and we are giving him just
what he wants.
We
cannot drink the cup of the Lord and of demons, too. We cannot give of our
lives as participants in the body and blood of Christ through dying to our
lives of sin and flesh and being raised to new lives in Christ in all purity
and holiness and give of ourselves in worship of other objects of affection,
especially if we must deny Christ and his cross in our lives in the process. Yet,
many “followers of Christ” try to do this on daily basis. It is impossible to
please God if we are still submitting to our flesh. Our God is a jealous God!
He wants us as a pure bride fully devoted to him, not given over to other “lovers.”
Amen!
Seek the
Lord
/ An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based
off Isaiah 55
“Come to
Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to
Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your
soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear
to Me, and you will live.
I have
made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in
the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the
Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the
wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him
turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely,
God pardons him.
“For My
thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are
your ways My ways,”
declares
the Lord, our God.
“My word
that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will
not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word
will accomplish all that I desire,
And
achieve the goal I intend.
You will
go in joy, and be led forth in peace.
The
mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all
of the trees clap their hands.”
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