“So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many Lords. But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.”
1 Corinthians 8:4-6 NLT
I met a lady the other day, standing outside Dunfermline Abbey. She was listening to the organ being played, the soft tones carrying through a quiet but rather autumnal day. We started a conversation, during which I mentioned the God worshipped by the congregation that met in this ancient building, probing for an opportunity to share the Gospel. She mentioned that she believed in God but expanded on what she meant, explaining her understanding of a “god” who was in all world religions, and who was embedded in the very fabric of nature. She explained that to her, the adjacent tree was also “god”. Where do people get such weird ideas, ideas impregnated with a false understanding of God that has become so skewed and wrong? As we discovered yesterday, within every human being there is a “God-shaped” void that only He can fill, but without a voice declaring who God is, people create their own “god” in the hope that the empty ache inside will be somehow filled. In Paul’s day, created gods were called idols, and they obviously still exist today.
People have always created their own gods because something within them needs a spiritual being, a god, and it is far less hassle for most to worship a “god” that makes no demands of them. A “god” within them rather than a deity outside. And if they can include the possibility of pandering to their many human lusts, then even better. So, a popular “god” in ancient Greek days was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and procreation, but there were others in the Greek and Roman pantheons of deities. We won’t find temples dedicated to such deities in our towns and cities today. However, their influence lives on in the sinful practices of those in our societies, and we even still use words derived from their names, used to describe lustful acts associated with them and their ancient worship. But Paul wrote to the Corinthians saying that, even though there were so many idols, there is only “one God, the Father”.
The Jews were commanded to worship the one and only God. Exodus 20:3, “You must not have any other god but me“. And then we have the Shema prayer from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength“. These verses establish the foundational belief in the absolute oneness and uniqueness of God, refuting the polytheistic beliefs of surrounding cultures and affirming that only the Lord (Yahweh) is the true and singular God.
Paul expanded on God the Father as being the One “by whom all things were created”, something we know from Genesis 1. However, there is another sad religion, which has emerged in our schools and places of learning, and that is evolution. The high priests of this religion are people such as the prominent atheist Richard Dawkins, who say they believe in no god at all, and they have spent much of their lives promoting their beliefs, rubbishing the one true God in the process. But the evolutionists believe that given the right mix of chemicals, a flash of lightning, and billions of years, a living entity will emerge from the sea somehow, and then stand up on two legs and walk the land. Someone once described to me that the beliefs of an evolutionist are like putting all the constituent parts of an old-fashioned clockwork wrist watch, cogs and all, into a bag and then shaking it, and keep shaking it, because eventually, given enough time, a watch will emerge intact and fully functional. Really? There is much more that can be said, but what these people forget is that at some time all the chemicals and other matter had to be created, something they conveniently ignore. Many years ago, my teenage daughter, well-versed in the church’s Sunday school teachings, challenged her biology teacher about the evolutionary “facts” being promoted and got him to admit that the Theory of Evolution was just that —a theory.
Paul finally described God as not just a Creating God, but One “for whom we live”. Now there’s a challenge! Do we live for God or do we live to satisfy our own desires, and in the process, live for the god of this world, the devil. Jesus was asked by a Pharisaical religious legal expert the question, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” (Matthew 22:36). We read what Jesus said in return, “ … “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments”” (Matthew 22:37-40). That was what Paul was meaning when he gently reminded the Corinthian believers that they must live only for God. There is no middle way for a pilgrim, then or now. We are either totally for God or totally against Him. Yes, in our daily lives we will occasionally lapse back into the human world of “the lusts of our flesh”, but through Jesus we have forgiveness and the resources we need to continue our journey.
Jesus said to the Laodicean church, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realise that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:15-17). Do we pilgrims need the same wake-up call, or are we on fire for God, “hot” in all the things that we do? A little later, Jesus said to the Laodiceans, “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends” (Revelation 3:20). Can we hear a gentle knock at the door of our hearts this morning? Can we feel a hunger in our souls? Then all we have to do is allow Jesus to enter into our lives, our hearts, so that once again we can feast on His love, grace, and presence. He has done so much for us. Don’t let us ever lock Him out of our lives. We live for God and only God, this day and forever.
Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for all You have done for us. We thank You too for this rich life we have found as we live for God. Please help us through the hard and difficult times, and show us the way so that we don’t take a wrong turning and lose heart. In Your precious name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 