rejection of God

A Spirit of Whoredom.

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My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin. – Hosea 4:12-14 ESV

Idolatry should seem like a not-so-subtle form of idiocy to us. The idea of taking a piece of wood and carving an image out of it and bowing down before it as some kind of god should come across as utterly ridiculous. The prophet, Isaiah, provides us with God’s very comical description of just how silly idol worship should be to us.

“the wood-carver measures a block of wood and draws a pattern on it. He works with chisel and plane and carves it into a human figure. He gives it human beauty and puts it in a little shrine. He cuts down cedars; he selects the cypress and the oak; he plants the pine in the forest to be nourished by the rain. Then he uses part of the wood to make a fire. With it he warms himself and bakes his bread. Then—yes, it’s true—he takes the rest of it and makes himself a god to worship! He makes an idol and bows down in front of it!” – Isaiah 44:13-15 NLT

Regarding idols, God pulls no punches. “How foolish are those who manufacture idols. These prized objects are really worthless. The people who worship idols don’t know this, so they are all put to shame” (Isaiah 44:9 NLT).  And as sophisticated, modern believers, we would probably agree with His assessment. The thought of bowing down before a block of wood or some kind of man-make object sounds ridiculous to us. But for the people of Israel, idol worship was a part of the daily fabric of life. It was a common practice among all the nations surrounding them. Idol worship was socially acceptable. But the real issue behind all idol worship is the rejection of the one true God. God calls it a “spirit of whoredom.” What drives it is a desire for something other than God. It is built on dissatisfaction, distrust, and a belief that God is not enough. Rather than trust God and His promises, the people of Israel hedged their bets and turned to the gods of other nations in a hope that they would have all their bases covered. It God didn’t come through, maybe one of the other gods would. Some of their unfaithfulness to God was also driven by mere peer pressure, the desire to fit in with the nations around them. One of the reasons God had demanded that the people of Israel destroy all the nations living in the land of promise was so that they would not be tempted to worship their gods. But Israel failed to keep God’s command and soon found themselves intermarrying with those nations and worshiping their false gods.

By the time we get to the period in which Hosea prophesied, things had digressed to a dangerous point. Israel had actually manufactured their own idols – two golden calves – to replace the worship of Yahweh. They had set up their own priesthood and sacrificial system to replace that which God had instituted in Jerusalem. Their unfaithfulness had reached epic proportions and God had had enough. The “spirit of whoredom” was rampant. It even led their daughters to become actual prostitutes. The marriages of the people of Israel were marked by adultery and unfaithfulness. God declared, “your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes” (Hosea 4:14 NLT).

Unfaithfulness to God stems from an ignorance of God. If the Israelites had really known and understood just how great their God was, they would never have considered turning their back on Him. But over time, they had grown foolish in their understanding. They had lost their intimacy with God and had no real personal relationship with Him. God had become little more than a concept to them, an impersonal, distant deity whom they couldn’t see and with whom they had little or no interaction. The spirit of whoredom creeps in when we stray from God. The less time we spend with Him, reading His Word, sharing with Him our wants and needs, listening to His direction and hearing of His love for us, the more we will tend to stray from Him. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, but distance from God is dangerous. It can lead to disinterest and, ultimately, unfaithfulness. Like the people of Israel, we will find ourselves turning to something other than God in order to have our needs met. And while we may not have wooden idols in our homes or shrines located under trees or on top of hills. we will find ourselves worshiping false gods. The spirit of whoredom will creep in, tempting us to seek out something other than God to bring us satisfaction, contentment, joy, pleasure, hope, peace, or fulfillment. Anything we turn to other than God is an idol in our lives. Anything we fear losing has become an idol in our lives. Anything we wake up at night worrying about has become an idol in our lives. If sleeping in means more to us than seeking God, sleep has become an idol. If watching TV brings us more joy than reading God’s Word, then TV has become an idol. If becoming successful is more appealing to us than becoming holy, then our job has become an idol to us. If we place more trust in our money than we do God, then money has become an idol to us. And we are suffering from the spirit of whoredom.

God is not enough for us. His love is insufficient for us. We need more. We demand more. When He doesn’t give us what we think we need, we turn to something else. When we think we deserve more or better, we seek what we’re looking for elsewhere. And when we do, we shouldn’t be surprised when our children end up seeking their hope, help, fulfillment and satisfaction from the things of this world. The spirit of whoredom is contagious. It can spread through a family, a church and a generation. In a very short time, we can find ourselves in the same predicament that Israel was in – unfaithful to God,  spiritually adulterous and facing God’s wrath for their infidelity and insubordination. But God would have us return to Him, placing our faith and trust in Him. He wants to love us, bless us and fulfill His will in us.

Romans 11:1-24

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The Faithful God of Israel.

Romans 11:1-24

You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong. – Romans 11:24 NLT

When reading the book of Romans, especially chapters nine through 11, it is easy to make it all about Jew and Gentile. God, it appears, has rejected one and received the other. But while Paul talks a great deal about these two specific people groups, the real hero of the story is God Himself. Paul has emphasized over and over again the sovereignty and grace of God. He has highlighted God’s undeserved grace and mercy, and made clear the fact that no one, either Jew or Gentile, can earn a right relationship with God. Whether speaking of the nation of Israel or the Gentile nations, it is God who calls, chooses, redeems, restores, and even rejects. But Paul makes it clear that God has NOT rejected the people of Israel. “I ask, then, has God rejected his own people, the nation of Israel? Of course not! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham and a member of the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1 NLT). Paul himself was a Jew and he most certainly had not been rejected by God. He had been chosen by God and had had a life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. He was a living example of the fact that God had not completely rejected the people of Israel. Paul reminds his readers that God has been carefully and faithfully sparing a remnant of His chosen people for generations. “…a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace — his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is — free and undeserved” (Romans 11:5-6 NLT). As it was with the Gentiles, so it would be with the Jews. A right relationship with God was to be solely based on grace, not works or effort. No one was going to earn their way into good favor with God, not even the people of God, the Jews.

As a result, a majority of the Jews had failed to be restored to God. Unwilling to believe that salvation was available through the death of a single man, they continued to pursue a right relationship with God through attempting to keep the law – a pursuit that Paul considered foolish and impossible. But Paul explains that the rebellion of the people of Israel and their rejection of God had a divine purpose. “Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly. A few have — the ones God has chosen — but the hearts of the rest were hardened. As the Scriptures say, ‘God has put them into a deep sleep. To this day he has shut their eyes so they do not see, and closed their ears so they do not hear'” (Romans 11:7-8 NLT). According to Paul, this was all God’s doing. But why? What was His purpose in hardening their hearts, shutting their eyes, and closing their ears? “God made salvation available to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:11 NLT). That was the purpose. Their rejection of Jesus as their Messiah and Savior opened the doors to the Gentiles. This had always been part of God’s plan. Even long before the moment God made His promise to Abraham to bless all the nations of the earth through him, He had planned make His grace and the gift of His Son available to all nations. And He would use the rejection of Jesus by the Jews as a springboard to for spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the nations. Jesus, a Jew, would be the Savior of all the nations, not just His own people. And yet, God did not completely abandon the people of Israel. As Paul writes, they had not fallen beyond recovery. Their disobedience made salvation available to the Gentiles. But the day is coming when many of Paul’s Jewish brothers and sisters will turn to Christ. “For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead!” (Romans 11:15 NLT). Why? Because of the faithfulness and mercy of God. He is not done with the people of Israel. He will spare and restore a remnant of the Jewish people, using the Gentiles as a means to create jealousy among them. In all of this, Paul can see the divine hand of God, working behind the scenes in ways we can’t understand. God chose to make the Israelites a special people in His eyes. He raised up the Savior from among them, but they ended up rejecting Him. But their rejection of the Messiah made possible the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles. And the blessings of God upon the Gentiles who received Christ as their Savior would be the impetus behind the future salvation of many Jews. And the day is coming when the salvation of the Jews will lead to even more Gentiles coming to faith in Christ. This whole section is really about the faithfulness and sovereignty of God. It is about His divine plan for mankind and how He intends to fulfill that plan and keep His promises to both the Jews and the Gentiles.

We cannot fully understand the ways of God. But it is dangerous for us to question His methods or means. We may not understand what God is doing, but we have no right to doubt His plan or purposes. He knows what He is doing. We can trust that He will do what He has promised and complete what He has begun. We have a limited, short-term perspective. He is eternal and has a long-term view that knows how all this works out in the end. There is a method to God’s seeming madness. He is purposeful and faithful. He is righteous and just. His ways are not our ways. His wisdom is beyond our understanding. But we can rest in the fact that God has everything under control and nothing can prevent His sovereign plan from one day coming to complete and perfect fruition.

Father, You are in control. You are sovereign and have all things held firmly in Your hands. That includes my future and the future of the people of Israel. You are faithful and always keep Your promises. You never go back on Your word or fail to do what You have said You will do. Thank You for allowing me to be a part of Your plan. Not because I deserved it, but because of Your grace and mercy. Thank You that You are going to one day restore the people of Israel. You are not done yet. Your work is not complete. But one day it will be. And I rest in the assurance that You are in complete control, whether I can see it or sense it. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Romans 10:16-21

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Hearing, Yet Not Believing.

Romans 10:16-21

So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ. – Romans 10:17 NLT

As a Jew, Paul had a special love for the people of Israel. He knew that God held a special place in His heart for them and desired greatly that they come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that’s why Paul was so insistent that they hear the Good News. He knew that the only way the people of Israel could be made right with God was through placing their faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. They had to believe the testimony regarding Jesus Christ and His claim to be the Son of God, their long-awaited Messiah, and the Savior of the world. In other words, they had to express faith in Jesus Christ, just as the Gentiles did. But many of the Jews in Paul’s day had failed to accept the Good News about Jesus Christ. They had refused to believe. So was it a matter of them not having heard the message? Had they not been given ample opportunity to hear the Good News? Paul answers his own question and exclaims, “Yes, they have!” He then quotes Psalm 19:4. “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world” (Psalm 19:4 NLT). By the time Paul was writing his letter to the Romans, he and others had spread the message regarding Jesus Christ throughout the known world. The Gospel had spread rapidly ever since the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Converted Jews and Gentiles had returned to their own towns and cities, ready to share the testimony regarding Christ to their own communities. Christianity had spread rapidly, which is one of the reasons that Paul, in his pre-conversion life, had been hired full-time by the Jewish religious leaders to track down and persecute Christians every where he could find them.

Paul is not saying that the message of salvation had been spread to every area of the globe, and that every individual had been given the opportunity to hear about Jesus and accept God’s offer of salvation. But he is saying that the Jews were without excuse. They had heard. They had been given the promises regarding the coming Messiah in their own Scriptures. They had read the writings of the prophets regarding the Anointed One. And they were familiar with the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah and the teachings of the early Christians regarding the new requirement of faith as the means to be made right with God. They could not plead ignorance. Paul even claims that the very fact that Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ was an attempt by God to make the people of Israel jealous and open their eyes. Again, he turns to the Hebrew Scriptures and quotes Deuteronomy 32:21. “I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation.I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.” As in the day of Moses, God was going to bless non-Jews in an attempt to awaken the people of Israel to their own rebellion and God’s hand of cursing upon them. Ever since Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and the launch of the Church at Pentecost, the hand of God’s blessing could be seen upon the Gentiles as more and more of them accepted Christ as their Savior. And yet, the majority of the Jews continued to refuse Him as their Savior. They were not acting out of ignorance, but outright rebellion. Again, Paul turns to the Hebrew Scriptures in the writing of the prophet Isaiah. “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious” (Isaiah 65:2 NLT). God had been faithfully calling the people of Israel to Himself. Paul had been aggressively preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Jewish community everywhere he went. But they remained disobedient and rebellious. As a result, God had temporarily rejected His people. He had taken His blessings to the Gentiles. But that rejection was not to be permanent. Chapter 11 will unpack God’s gracious, merciful plan for the people of Israel. He is not done with them. In spite of their rejection and rebellion of Him, He will extend mercy and grace. He will keep every promise He has made to them. In fact, there were some Jews coming to faith in Christ, even in Paul’s day. There was a remnant who were accepting Christ as their Messiah and Savior. But the day is coming when God will turn His favor back on the people of Israel and He will restore their hearts to Himself. The requirement will still be the same. They will still have to accept Jesus as their Savior. They will still have to give up any and all attempts at self-righteousness and rely on the righteousness that Jesus provides on their behalf. But they will return and God will restore them. Because He is a faithful God.

Father, it always encourages me to be reminded of just how faithful You are. In spite of all that the people of Israel have done to You and how often they have rejected Your love and mercy, You continue to hold to Your promises regarding them. You fully intend to keep the covenant You made with them. Because You are faithful. You are the promise-keeping God. You do what You say. You fulfill what You promise. Never let me forget that. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org