Category: All Articles

A Theology of Idolatry

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Culture, Theology

–March of 2004

A Theology of Idolatry

Man’s problem with idolatry is well documented.  Since the moment that our first parents turned their eyes from the Creator to one tiny aspect of His creation, man has had a propensity toward idolatry.   After the most miraculous delivery of any captive nation in the history of the world, the Hebrews bowed in the desert sand before a golden calf, crying, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”  Despite plague and punishment, Israel pursued her idolatrous ways until she had as many gods as she did cities.  Every civilization and culture has had its evil tryst with idols.  Mankind seems bent on turning away from the true and living God to a god of his own making.

Most 21st century Christians think that behavior like idolatry is far too unsophisticated or disgusting to be found among us today.  They think of it only in terms of bowing down before a lifeless god of stone.  Unfortunately, this leaves them easy prey for the more subtle forms of idolatry.   Let me describe two of these forms.

Paul tells us in the New Testament that all covetousness is idolatry.  Anything we are willing to value more highly than we value God or His approval is an idol.   Today’s idol worshiper doesn’t bow down before the sun god, but  lives a life that is marked by a passionate pursuit of things that have little or no eternal significance.  They value the passing over the permanent.  They live for the immediate.    They crave the temporary thrill of buying a new home, updating their technology, or engaging in a new experience.   Sports and entertainment are high on their list of priorities.   The satisfaction of the flesh is a serious quest.  The security of their future is a must.  Though God gets their Church time and tithe, they live as if this world were the only one.  Their idol is the trivial and they bow low before the altar of the insignificant.  This form of idolatry values the temporal more that the eternal.

Another subtle form of idolatry is trusting for salvation in that which cannot save us.  Israel illustrates this for us.   God gave Israel the law to further His redemptive work among them as well as to protect and maintain their integrity as a people.  But a danger arose when Israel found it easier to focus on the law (making sure not to do what offended God) rather than on the God who gave the law.   Israel soon found more comfort in keeping and guarding the law rather than worshiping the Law Giver.   Religious sects began to spring up for the sole purpose of explaining and defending the law.  The end result was that Israel trusted in the law for salvation rather than in the God who gave it. This subversion of the Divine intent perverted the good that was to come from the law and brought about a subtle form of idolatry that left Israel worshiping the thing made rather than the Maker.

There are Christians today who find it easier to trust in the forms of godliness than in the God who gives power and meaning to the form.  They find it easier to identify with a group, conform to a code, and embrace a creed, than to cultivate a relationship with the God who is at the heart of it all.  Instead of living in the fear of the Lord they rest in the acceptance of man and man’s tradition.  They have chosen the false assurance of religious conformity and missed the real assurance of “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

The trap of spiritual idolatry is subtle but avoidable.  Take proactive measures to avoid it.  Worship in a church that values and speaks God’s Word.  Find friends that challenge you to know God intimately. And never forget that eternal life is in knowing the “true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.”   Don’t settle for anything less.

Made for Intimacy

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living

–Winter of 2004

Made for Intimacy

Theologians sometimes speak of a God-shaped vacuum within us.  What they are describing is an inner emptiness at the core of our being that only God can fill.  Our Creator has designed us that way; it’s a part of being made in His image. Just as the divine Persons live in intimate Trinitarian relationship, so human persons cannot be complete without intimate relationships. Our inner emptiness is only removed by a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  We were created for intimacy.

The first glimpses we have of God and man are ones showing the importance of intimacy.  God teaches Adam that it’s not good for him to be alone and provides Eve as his wife. Then we see God strolling along with Adam and Eve, in the cool of the day, enjoying one another’s company and the beauties of Eden’s paradise.  This is a scene that is repeated often in the opening pages of the Bible.   God walks and talks with Enoch, Noah, and Abraham.  It’s as if He wants to make clear early on His overwhelming desire and need to relate to us in intimate fellowship.

Yet most of us know far more about the absence of intimacy than the reality of it. Our culture is permeated with a sense of aloneness and isolation.  Far too many of the people I meet (including Christians) do not carry the marks of intimate fellowship with God.

The psalmist David knew something about the joy of intimacy as well as the agonizing pain of emptiness.  David was taken from tending sheep to become one of the most powerful kings of Israel.  He drank deeply from the fountain of success.  He had victory in battle, power over others, and abundant wealth.  Yet, these things couldn’t fill his inner life.  He cried, “As the deer longs for the water brook, so longs my souls for You, Oh God.”  David knew that communion with God was more important than anything else. He said it this way, “There is one thing I have desired of the Lord, and I will seek it; to live with Him in His house all the days of my life, to contemplate His beauty, and to study at His feet.”   The driving passion of David’s life was to maintain intimate union and communion with God.  If he could only accomplish one thing in life, then intimacy with God would be that one thing.

That sounds strange to Western Christians who live in a culture passionate about success and driven to accumulate.  Yet Jesus shows his agreement with David when he stood between a stressed out Martha and a seeking Mary and said to Martha, “One thing is essential, and Mary has chosen it.”

When we choose intimacy with God, we find an inner joy and peace that nothing can take away.  When we choose preoccupation with earthly things (no matter how legitimate), we find disappointment, frustration, resentment, self-centeredness, anger and sometimes bitterness.

Intimacy with God is the only answer to inner emptiness.  And it can only be found in being loved by God, loving Him in return, and walking in intimate union and communion with Him.  If you lack the intimacy you know you should have, whatever the reason, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

“We Didn’t Know Who You Were”

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Holiday, Theology

–December of 2003

“We Didn’t Know Who You Were”

The early American spiritual, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” has a profound insight running through its lyrics.  The writer appropriately reflects the world’s failure to recognize the incarnate Son of God when He says: “We didn’t know who You were.”  The third verse proves to be even more remarkable. “The world treats you mean, Lord, treats me mean too, but that’s how things are down here. We don’t know who you are.”  The writer deliberately shifts from a historical ignorance to a present-day failure to recognize the Son of God.

I’ve spent the last several months studying the gospel of John for the specific purpose of learning how to model the life of Christ in my own life.  The revelations have been startling.  As I looked for Jesus in John’s narrative, the first thing I learned was that it’s very easy to miss Him because of looking for the wrong thing.

The world completely missed Him on that first Christmas (John 1:5, 10).  Their kings were born surrounded by pomp and circumstance.  But Jesus came silently, in a stable, with only a few shepherds to pay him homage.  Their kings lived in palaces, dressed in splendor, dined with heads of state, and traveled in gold plated chariots pulled by majestic steeds.  Their vision of a king was one to be served, feared and honored from a distance.  Jesus wore the garb of common men, had no place to lay his head, traveled by foot, rubbed shoulders with the poor and diseased, held children on his lap and first revealed His glory at the wedding of a poor village girl.  The very thought of a king, dying on a cross to redeem his people and establish His kingdom, was to the world foolishness.

His own people missed him (John 1:11).  The Jews were looking for a conquering warlord that would throw off the yoke of Rome, liberate their country and return them to the golden age of Solomon.  But Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world, spoke of going the second mile, turning the other cheek, and loving your enemies.  The Jews watched in complete horror as He healed a Roman’s Centurion’s servant, talked to a Samaritan adulteress, stayed in the home of a tax collector and spent most of His time with a group of ignorant fisherman.  For their Messiah to be crucified on a Roman cross as God’s perfect sacrifice, proved to be a huge stumbling block.

His disciples had problems recognizing who He was.  Peter, speaking for the twelve, announced at Caesarea Philippi that, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.”  Jesus’ response to that was to explain that being the Christ involved a cross.   To which Peter replied, “Not so Lord.”  When Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, Peter’s paradigm of the Messiah came out again, and it was not one of self-sacrificing servanthood.  Even after three years, His disciples saw His death and resurrection as the ultimate end rather than the consummate victory.

You don’t have to miss Him.  Those who were in tune to God’s redemptive plan and activity recognized Jesus right away.  Simeon and Anna recognized Him as God’s means of salvation when He was still a babe in His mother’s arms.  The wise men worshipped Him, John the Baptist announced Him as the “Lamb of God,” and the woman of Samaria said to her friends, “Is not this the Christ?”

Even a Roman Centurion who witnessed His crucifixion said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

If Jesus were reincarnated among us today, would we be prepared to recognize Him?  Or have we created a Jesus so much to our own liking that we would never know the one walking through the pages of our New Testament?  This Christmas season, go back to the gospels and look for Him.  You will be awed by what you find.

The Grace of Gratitude

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Holiday, Theology

–November of 2003

The Grace of Gratitude

According to a medieval legend, two angels were once sent down to earth, one to gather up petitions and the other to collect thanksgivings.  The first angel found petitions everywhere.  He soon returned to heaven with a huge load of them on his back and a bundle in each hand.  The second angel had no such easy time.  He had to search diligently to find even a mere handful to take back to heaven.

Admittedly, legends can be farfetched and unrealistic or they can be painfully accurate.  This one, however, is much too accurate for comfort.  We would all have to admit that the high-stakes scramble for more of this world’s good has robbed the church of her voice of thanksgiving.  Our long period of materialistic comfort has made us easy in Zion and unaccustomed to the exercise of humble gratitude.

The Apostle Paul knew the importance of gratitude to the Christian as well as the subtle danger of ingratitude.  Listen to the music of gratitude that plays through his epistle to the Colossians:

Chapter one, verse 3:  “We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus.”

Chapter one, verse 12:  “…giving thanks unto the Father.”

Chapter two, verse 7:  “…abounding…with thanksgiving.”

Chapter three, verse 17:  “…giving thanks unto God and the Father by Him.”

Chapter four, verse 17:  “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”

Paul’s hymnody of thanks seems to center in chapter three, verse 15 when he says, “And be ye thankful.”

Paul’s strong imperative to “wear a garment of gratitude” is anchored to three firm convictions in the Apostle’s life.

Paul saw gratitude as a required grace.  Not a luxury but a necessity, not an option but a conviction.  Paul placed it among the required rather than the elective classes in the school of Christian experience.  I have a debt to be grateful!

I owe it to God to be grateful.  He has given me life, eternal life and the opportunity to do something with it.

I owe it to others to be grateful.  A sour, complaining spirit spreads gloom.  However, a joyful, cheerful spirit brings sunshine and smiles wherever it goes.

I owe it to myself.  Your physician will tell you that a mean, bitter, thankless spirit harms our health and robs us of life.  But of greater concern is what ingratitude does to us spiritually.  Of the thirteen plagues that came upon the children of Israel in their wilderness journey, eleven of those were punishment for murmuring against God.  In Romans chapter one, Paul charts the awful journey from godliness to godlessness.  He says in verse 21 that part of the root cause for such deviation is a spirit of ingratitude, “Neither were they thankful.”

Gratitude is also a ripening grace.  A more literal translation of Paul’s words would be, “and become ye thankful.”  We must seek the grace of gratitude and cultivate the grace of gratitude until we are “abounding with thanksgiving.”  This is not an easy task.  None will ever overflow with thanksgiving until they see that gratitude is an inner disposition towards life that must be worked at.  Life has its mix of good and bad – of the difficult and the delightful; but it’s up to us as to how we respond to that mix.  Some people in examining a bush unhappily see only the thorns; others rejoice in the fragrance of its roses.  The lens through which we view life is so important.  Jacob saw his days as “few and evil.”  He described the loss of Joseph and the famine that reunited them with these words, “all these things be against me.”  However Joseph looked at life through the lens of gratitude and described the same time period with a different set of words completely.  Joseph said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”  We see exactly what we discipline ourselves to see in life, and looking through the lens of thanksgiving will ripen us.

If it often said among Christians that our reward is in the world to come.  However, gratitude is a rewarding grace.  It has its own reward for us right now.

Gratitude exalts God.  Very few things honor and glorify God more than the sweet fragrance of a thankful soul.  It expels gloom and ushers in sweet peace and blessed hope.  More than once the child of God has used thanksgiving to drive back the clouds of sorrow and gloom.  Gratitude encourages graciousness.  It gives us the politeness of soul and graciousness of spirit that can’t be purchased for any amount of money.

Let’s declare war on whimpering and complaining!  Let’s put away from us forever the grumbling and fault-finding that is such a blight on the church today!  Reach into the closet of God’s grace and adorn yourself with the garment of gratitude!  It will make a difference!

Trouble Never Triumphs

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–October of 2003

Trouble Never Triumphs

Psalm 34:19

Occasionally, the Lord allows us to see a biblical truth illustrated in real life.  Sharon Makcen is a fine Christian woman, a phenomenal pastor’s wife, and a mother of three boys.  Her husband, Greg, became ill a few months ago with an illness that couldn’t be diagnosed.  As Greg’s life slowly ebbed away, Sharon sat with doctors as they offered no answers and little hope.  I was with Sharon when the primary physician told her he didn’t know what was wrong and didn’t know what else to do but to transfer her husband to a major university hospital where specialists could work with him.  The doctor, who was a Christian, then asked if he could lead the family in prayer.  After prayer, Sharon stood in the middle of the room and spoke these words with great conviction, “I know God’s way is best.  I have perfect peace in my heart.” A few days later, Greg died.  After the funeral, Sharon spoke those same words again, “God’s way is best; I have peace in my heart.”

In the days since, the words of Psalm 34:19 have been ringing in my ears.  “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”  The Psalmist did not say that God’s people would never have pain, heartache, or trouble.  Instead, the Psalmist said that the person who puts their trust in God will find that trouble is never the last word, never the final answer.  Paul said it this way, “We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not is despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; stuck down, but not destroyed.”  (II Corinthians 4:8-9)

From the deep despair of a Nazi concentration camp, Corrie Ten Boom asked her sister Betsie this question, “Betsie, why has God let this happen to us?” to which Betsie replied, “Corrie, we are here so that the world may know that there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.”

Betsie and Sharon found that in walking with God, trouble never triumphs. And when our day of trouble comes, we too will find the same.