Battle of the Gods

Do you spend any time in the Old Testament? If you’re like most Christians, the answer is probably “No.” Some are in the habit of reading through Proverbs or Psalms, at least their favorites. Some prophecy enthusiasts plotz down in Daniel or Ezekiel. And I’ll admit that I would rather spend time in the Gospels than to read Leviticus or 1 Chronicles or Joel. In fact, if I’m really feasting on the OT, you’ll probably find me in the narrative books, the stories of the people of God as they tried to live out their faith.

Their story is truly pathetic when you really consider it. Despite having very real encounters with the Living God, the one true God, they continually returned to worshipping the gods of the land. They would turn their backs on the God who had called them and serve the gods made of wood and stone.

So, this morning I was reflecting on the battle between the gods from thousands of years ago. The gods in Canaan were called Ba’al, a word that translates “master” or “lord.” The gods of the Canaanites were found on the high places. To worship them properly, you had to set your life aside, ascend to the holy place and offer sacrifices. And in return the ba’al would bless you in some physical way, be it crops or children or wealth or power. When you were not at the prescribed place of worship, you were simply expected to surround yourself with tokens or idols to remind you of the ba’al and enjoy that which was given to you as your reward. Silly, pointless, even self-serving, right?

But look at the Christian church today; this is our pathetic story too. We ascend to the high holy place each Sunday to offer the prescribed sacrifice. And we expect that the deity will bless us with health and wealth as we descend back to our totem-filled life where we serve ourselves. You might argue that this is not the case for every Christian, even every church, and I would be a fool to argue that point with you. But, if we step back for a moment, open our hearts to the Spirit of God, and allow Him to show us all the sacred cows that He wants offered up as a sacrifice, we would all find aspects of Ba’al worship in our life.

The problem is that lots of what we do as Christians is formed more by traditions that we have inherited than by God’s will. Rather than being formed by culture, either Christian or otherwise, shouldn’t our lives and the expressions of our faith be formed by our theology? And I know that there are people who are glazing over right now because, 1) this post is longer than 4 sentences, and 2) I used the word “theology.” Stick with me.

What if our forms of church, what we do on Sunday and frankly every other day of the week, reflected our beliefs about God. Actually, they do! Whether accurate to His revelation or of our own fashioning, our life reflects what we truly believe. Part of the problem is that we have equated “belief” and “knowledge” or even “understanding.” But belief flows from the heart, the wellspring of life, while the others are from our mind. But how many of us know the right thing to do but choose to do something else instead? It’s a heart issue.

So, the question is “Who is our God?” Well, that is a huge question, but let’s start with this: He is the one who does not call us to ascend to Him, but He has stooped down to us. This is the doctrine of the Incarnation. The second person of the Trinity humbled Himself and took on the form of man and suffered and died for our sake. He was driven by His mission in the world, to seek and save the lost. He did not come to build monuments to Himself and demand the worship that He was due. His glorification was not commanded. Rather, He was glorified in what He did for the sake of others.

Let’s just start there. We, individually and corporately, should be like that...