No Imitations

(click on the pic to listen to it) Imagine for a moment that you’re a parent, out shopping for a present to give your child. You’ve heard him talking, in tones of awe, about the latest gaming console; you see it at the store, and the thought of the smile on his face puts a smile on yours. It’s not inexpensive at all; somewhat of a sacrifice. But you want the best for your child.

When you get home and present the gift, there’s a joyful shout, a tight hug, and a dozen frenzied thank-yous. It was worth every penny for this moment. You stop by his room a couple of times and watch him set it up, then play it with utter concentration. You ask him a question about the game, and he says, “Wait—can’t talk,” and then seems to forget you’re there.

Later you ask him to go out to dinner with the family, but he begs otherwise, wanting only to stay and play with his new game. And then you look up and he’s standing beside your chair. He starts to tell you about some of the add-ons and games his friends have. Their version is much better than his. It seems as if you don’t see him as much as before, and he even seems less content and happy than before you bought this console. How could a nice gift go so wrong?

It happened because the gift became more important than the giver. The beauty was not so much in the thing itself, but the love that brought it about. The gift was not wrong or evil, but when the gift becomes more important than the giver, that’s idolatry.

Let me give you a little background to 1 Kings 18. This is the back drop for  the scriptures I will be using and this blog entry.

Ahab was an evil king. His wife, Jezebel, was more evil than him. Jezebel hated the prophet Elijah. She hated anything that had to do with God. She set up an altar and a temple for the god of Baal in Samaria and she had many prophets of the Lord killed. This god of Baal, who was warring for the hearts of the Israelites, was originally thought of primarily as the god of weather. Many people of Israel abandoned their worship of God and were now worshipping the god of weather. Specifically, the god of rain. And God, who is a jealous God, eventually had enough. After a few years Elijah comes to Ahab and sets up a cage match between The Lord God and all the gods of Baal and Asherah. It was Elijah vs. 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah. To be more exact,  it was the one true God vs. 850 false gods.

I Kings 18:19-21 goes on to say,  “Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him. “But the people said nothing.”

I got to meet one of my basketball heroes this past week. He played basketball for the University of Illinois a little over 10 years ago. He played in the final four championship game against North Carolina back in 2005. He went on to play for the Utah Jazz for a few years then played professionally in Europe. I asked him to share his story.

Here is Roger’s story:

He went to church all this life but never really made a commitment to follow Christ. He knew about God but he didn’t know him. Roger worshipped the god of pleasure. The god of pleasure he worshipped were drugs, sex, and alcohol which ruled his life his first two years at Illinois. He lived for those things. He even shared that he got women drunk just so they would agree to have sex with him. Being in the spotlight, being a person people worshipped on campus, he could really have anything and anybody he wanted. And he took advantage of it. Until he met the woman he is now married to. He took her to a bar and had plans to get her drunk and sleep with her. She felt uncomfortable being in a bar. So they left and went to a Steak and Shake. She ended up sharing what God was doing in her life and told him about her commitment she had made to Christ. That night…. when he was supposed to be sleeping with her …. He found himself down on his knees in his room begging for God’s mercy, forgiveness, and for a new life. The next day …. he was new creation. He said he can’t explain it but the god of pleasure that ruled his life – was smashed. He said he really couldn’t explain what happened to Him but he knew he was a new creation.

The god of pleasure was ruling his life. And he didn’t even know it until he met someone who showed him and explained to him who God was. When he met Him – his life changed.

The people of Israel had fell into the same trap. They were worshipping another god and they didn’t even know it. We too, fall into the same trap and we don’t even know it. If you put your marriage before God, if you put your financial status or career before God, if you put your sex life before God, if you put food before God, if you put any area of pleasure before God don’t expect God to bless those areas of your life.

God will never bless the competition. Yes, these are the gods who are competing for your affection, your money, your time, and your energy. How do you know you are putting those things ahead of God? How do you know when the completion is winning? They become the source of your frustration. When you pursue pleasure in one area, it ends up being your greatest area of frustration.

The Israelites were worshiping the God of rain and so what does God do? He sends a drought. I’m not saying God always does that, but we shouldn’t be surprised if that’s what happens because when the very thing that we are pursuing can’t satisfy the longing in our heart it will create frustration.

Elijah knew there was competition going on …. Look at what he says: Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him. “But the people said nothing.”

Why do you think they said nothing? I think it’s because they wanted both. They wanted their false gods and they wanted Yahweh (God). If they wanted Baal and not God they would have said, “We choose Baal.” But they wanted both, so they were silent. They didn’t want to be forced to choose. Instead of having a throne on our hearts where God reigns we often have a love seat  where God is asked to share the space with something or someone else. Often times it’s a god of pleasure that we ask him to sit next to. God is sitting next to a television. He’s sitting next to a sports star. He’s sitting next to an actor or actress. Like them – We don’t want to choose/ we want both.

But we need to choose!

In Roger’s story, after he was confronted by the Holy Spirit, Roger knew he needed to choose. He didn’t choose God to win the girls’ affection. He didn’t know if he was going to marry her or not. He did it because he knew he needed to make a choice. He was frustrated with his life. He was frustrated with his choices. The very things that were bringing him pleasure were his greatest frustrations.

Like Roger, the people of Israel got to see for themselves, the power of God. Elijah taunted the 850 priest as they danced around for hours asking their god to send fire to burn up the sacrifice on their altar. These cut themselves. They yelled louder thinking their god didn’t hear them. Elijah literally made fun of their god asking them if he as asleep or relieving himself. I know this all seems so primitive and not very relevant to us today. We don’t go around dancing around and altar and bleeding for these gods of pleasure. We say we would never bleed for a false god. But really? Have you bled for alcohol, or porn, or any other addiction that destroys you? Have you sacrificed your marriage to that god? Have you bled for food? Have you sacrificed your health to that god? Have you bled for the god of cable TV? Have you sacrificed a relationship with your children for it? We have given more than we realize to the god of pleasure…but they always demand more.

After nothing happen. Elijah rebuilt the altar that I am sure Jezebel had torn down. Dug a moat around it. Poured 4 – 35 gallons of water on the altar and into the trench dug around it. Elijah prayed and God showed up! In vs 38 it says, 38 Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!

God doesn’t do that kind of stuff anymore. O’ Yes he does. Ask anyone who has been transformed by the power of God. They will tell you God showed up and did something miraculous in their life. Ask Roger Powell. Read the blog entry from March 17th. All four of those shared about God’s faithfulness and how He showed up in a big way in their life.

God will respond. God will show up when we worship only Him. Elijah steps forward and prays a small, simple prayer. (1 Kings 18:36-39) “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

There’s a story of a young girl that walked into a department store and fixed her eyes on a set of imitation pearls. She fell in love with them. She saved her money until one day she had saved about 10 dollars and could buy the cheap pearls. She wore them everywhere. No one could get those pearls off of her. One night her dad came into her room. He asked, “Jenny, do you love me?” She told him she did. He said, “Then I’d like for you to give me your pearls.” She told him that he could have her favorite toy, but not the pearls. He came in the next night and asked the same thing. She offered him her favorite doll, but would not give him the pearls. The next day the girl came to her father with tears in her eyes and said, “Here, Daddy, you can have the pearls. I want you to know how much I love you.” The father reached in his pocket and pulled out a velvet case with a genuine pearl necklace inside. He was waiting for her to give up the imitation so he could give her the real thing.

I think all of us want the real thing. Don’t we?

We need to choose. Do we want the imitation or the real thing?

You can’t have both.