Worship God
Judges 8:27, “Gideon made it into an ephod, and placed it in his city, Ophrah, and all Israel played the harlot with it there, so that it became a snare to Gideon and his household.”
Gideon and the army of 300 men with him had just routed the armies of Midian; about 135,000 men. A total surprise to all who were involved. The army of Israel had in their victory collected spoils from the Midianites; however Gideon himself had not gathered for himself anything. He simply asked that every man donate one gold earring from their spoils. Gideon then took these donations, and made an ephod(similar to a breastplate) as a symbol of worship to God to commemorate the victory that God had given them. Over time however these men, including Gideon, forgot about the true meaning of this symbol that represented God’s grace.
An important truth can be learned from this message. Many times in our life God does a miraculous work in our lives, and in order to honor Him we set up a memorial to represent His grace’s given to us, but as time goes by we forget that this object is not to be worshipped itself; instead it is merely a human symbol to remind us of God. And bring us into a worshipful attitude before Him.
There are several symbols that come to my mind when I consider how symbols have become objects of worship rather than reminders that we should worship God for all things. Romans 1:18-25 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
This earth that God created is a magnificent thing, but it should not be the center of our worship, as some have made it. We are commanded by God to care for, and protect His creation, but it was never meant to become an object that we worship over Him.
The second image that many people worship over God, even though they believe rightly they have allowed the worship of His house to take over true worship of Him. Again, we are commanded to hold the house of God in high esteem, but some have gone a step further; and His house gets their worship instead of Him. Like this earth, the house of God is merely a representation that points to the One who truly deserves our worship.
Some go so far as to worship other persons. There is no person that has ever been born who is worthy of worship. We are created in the image of God, but as humans we have fallen and that Perfect Image we were created with has been marred by the sin of this world.
Tonight, I am going to have dinner with some of the people who worked with me after my wreck, I call them my angels, and I love them. However, they are not worthy of my worship; all the great things that were done by them was merely an extension of the grace given by God.
Therefore, God is the only true One worthy of worship because no matter how great things on earth may be they are meant only to point us to Him!
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Father God, I thank You for all the glorious images You have put on this earth, and when I get the belief that these thing are worthy I ask that You remind me that they are only symbols of Your grace given. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at: http://www.fbct.net/worship
Yes, You Can Ministry 