false gods – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Here in this passage, we see a riot that started because of the worship of man-made gods.

It’s interesting to me, though, that it was the god of money that seemed to be the most important to Demetrius, the silversmith who started the whole uproar.

When speaking out against Paul, he mentioned first the loss of income that he and the other tradepeople would incur if the people started to believe in the one true God.

The loss in “dignity” their goddess Artemis would suffer was almost an afterthought to him.

But because of his worship of these two “gods,” it nearly led to violence and could have caused utter disaster for the city had not the city clerk stepped in to quell the uprising.

Even today, however, the worship of man-made gods continues to cause havoc in the lives of people everywhere.

The love of money has destroyed marriages and relationships, caused scandals in churches and governments, destroyed the lives of many through the sale of drugs and other harmful substances, and caused countless other problems in the world around us.

Worse, the love of money, false idols, and other “gods” turn people from the one true God. And unless the people who serve these gods repent, their souls will be lost for all eternity, separated from Him who is the source of life.

How about you? Are you serving man-made gods or the one true God?

The worship of man-made gods ultimately leads to destruction. Only He who alone is God can give you true life.

Who are you serving?

Who is your king?

As we look at the interaction between Pilate and the chief priests, we see one of the great ironies of scripture.

On one hand, we have this pagan governor who has little or no concept of who God really is, telling the Jews, “Here is your King.”

And he was absolutely right. Jesus was their rightful king.

But here were the religious leaders of the Jews, the ones who should have known God better than anyone else, insisting, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The one that should have been insisting Caesar was king (Pilate) was saying Jesus was their king.

The ones who should have been insisting that Jesus was their king (the chief priests) instead declared Caesar as their king.

Even if the priests didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah, they still should have proclaimed God as their king. But in their fervent hatred for Jesus, they called Caesar their king.

How about you? Who is your king?

Maybe unlike the priests, your mouth declares Jesus as your king, but how about your actions?

When people look at your actions, would they say your job is your king? That is, your job considerations trump every other consideration? Or would they say it’s your family? Or your hobbies or interests?

Here in Japan, one of the biggest gods is the god of culture. Even among Christians, culture often reigns as king.

The pressure to yield to cultural norms is tremendous whether it’s to maintain family harmony at the expense of compromising your Christian faith, or whether it’s to place job above church or even family.

If someone were to look at your life and based on that said, “Here is your king,” what would they be pointing at?

Would they be pointing to your job? Your culture? Yourself? Or would they be pointing at God?

More importantly, what would your response be? Could you honestly acknowledge God as your king? Or would you have to point to something else?

Who is your king?