We've Got Idols

58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. (Psalms 78:58 KJV)

How would you respond if you showed up to PCC one Sunday morning and the stage lights were not working, the drums were gone, no electric guitar was being played, or no cool graphics were being projected on the big screens. Would you still be able to worship? Technology and creativity are great tools, but if we cannot worship without them they have become idols. We are worshipping God, nothing else.

What about your favorite preacher or speaker? If you skip church because the pastor is out of the pulpit that Sunday and a guest speaker is filling in, that may be a sign that you have ‘preacher religion’ – a euphemism for idols – and are not really as focused on God as you should be.

All churches can have idols – not the golden calf kind – but other man made kinds - they are things like choir robes, hymnals, pulpits, steeples, organs, certain traditions, rituals, favorite theologians, and the like. Some people simply cannot worship without these things.

There's nothing wrong with having any of these elements in our worship services, or even having a personal preference on which ones we like the best. But when good things become god things that’s a bad thing. If we have to have a certain preferential element in the church service before we feel like we can worship, then we’ve got idols.