Worship However You Please
February 25, 2007
By: Sellers S. Crain, Jr.
One of the most popular ideas among the religious people today is that we can worship God however we please. The idea of doing our own thing in our own way in worship is not new. Jeroboam I, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel, was far ahead of his time in setting the pace for this kind of attitude. The text from 1 Kings 12 unfolds the tragic sequence of events that led God's people down the road to ruin and eventually annihilation as a people. If there was ever a lesson for our time, it is the one found in this incident in the sad history of Israel.
Part of the explanation for the rapid departure of the people of Israel from God's way could be accounted for in the pretensions of Jeroboam to honor their religious traditions. He erected golden calves at Dan and Bethel at each end of his kingdom to encourage the people not to go to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, the God ordained place of worship, that their devotion to the temple might lead to devotion to the united kingdom.
Jeroboam wisely chose two places to erect his idols that were long venerated among the people of Israel. Dan, which was the northern most point of the kingdom, was sacred in the worship of God. Terephim, angelic figures carved out of stone and covered with silver, had been set up there at one time in the house of Micah. God had given response there. Jeroboam merely substituted the carved figure of a cow and covered it with gold.
Bethel was situated at the southern most end of the kingdom which was convenient for those who lived closest to Jerusalem. It had a memorable history. It was here that Jacob had his vision of the ladder coming down out of heaven and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. He erected an altar there and called the place Bethel, which means "The House Of God" (Genesis 28:17-20; 31:13; 35:1,7). After this, it was the home of Samuel (1 Samuel 17:16), and the people came here to worship God (1 Samuel 10:3). It was no coincidence that Jeroboam chose to build his pretentious temple or "House of High Places" here. This became the spiritual center of his empire.
When men change God's pattern of worship, they open the door to even greater departures from the faith. Jeroboam destroyed the very quality of worship itself by making it subservient to other interest. He made religion a servant of the state, much as Soviet Communism did. He realized that due to the religious connection with the state that unless he could control the religion, he would lose the people. He attempted to strengthen his political position by doing dishonor to the house of God. He made convenience more important than conviction. He said in effect, "It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem to worship. Your comfort is more important than God's commands." He was more concerned about their ease and convenience than in doing what he knew was right.
There are two types of religion: man made and God made. Man made religion is characterized by doing what we do for the wrong motive, accepting doctrines pleasing to the ears, modifying God's Word to suit our fancy, and making human standards the measurement for testing our religious practices. God made religion means accepting only what is pleasing to Him. This is the only worship that will satisfy, that will save, and that will stand the test of time. How shall those who have sought the easy way of convenience find comfort in the presence of Him who went by the way of the cross?
Brotherly,
Sellers
