by Sammy Tippit
 

The first is the "god of pleasure." Webster defines hedonism as the "doctrine that pleasure is the principle good and should be the aim of action." Much of the modern world has become hedonistic in its thinking, and it has built altars everywhere to the god pleasure.

The church, likewise, has become hedonistic in her approach to worship. As I travel internationally, my heart has broken over the plight of many Christians. Too many "born again" Christians think they have worshipped God if they leave their churches Sunday morning with a few pleasurable feelings. The objective in worship is self-gratification rather than God-glorification.

Pleasure rather than purity has become the test of worship for them.

But Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). I once witnessed to two homosexuals at the conclusion of a worship service. They told me they would not come back to the church because they felt uncomfortable in the services. They attended another church where their homosexual practices were not an issue. They could sing praises, worship, and feel good during those services without altering their lifestyles.

In essence, those two young women were not worshipping the God of the Bible. They were worshipping the god of pleasure: if it feels good, do it. Much worship today is in tandem with that philosophy. It's little more than an attempt to make people feel good. Yet, we will not always feel comfortable when we come into the presence of a holy God. His presence and glory will expose our sin. Repentance isn't easy. It's difficult. Often God must bring us to the place where we're deeply sorrowful over our sins.

The second false god we have to come to worship is the "god of possessions." Somehow we've come to think that the "chief end of man is to glorify God" and to accumulate as many things as possible. We've defined success in this generation in terms of budgets, buildings, and big business. We've come to think that the sum total of life lies in our possessions, so we've fallen at the altars of materialism.

One doesn't have to be wealthy to worship the "god of possessions." I've met many middle and low-income people, as well as wealthy persons, who have bowed to this god. It's not money that is the root of all evil. It's the love of money (1 Tim. 6:10). We live in a material world, but we are to use our material possessions for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom.

The god of possessions can be subtle in luring our hearts. Many Christians have begun their journey in Christ with wholehearted devotion to God. Then, somewhere along the way, they've lost their perspective and begun to bow before this false god.

How can a Christian detect the lure of the god of possessions? He can detect it when he realizes he is determining his worth and value by possessions. That's the point at which he has begun to worship at the altar of this false god. He can detect the subtle trap also when he realizes he has begun to ascribe importance to others on the basis of their possessions. When he has begun to do that, he will have divided his heart between the cultural god and the true God. James 2:2-4 gives a strong warning in this matter: "For a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,' have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?"

Many in this generation have fallen into the trap of ascribing importance only to people with wealth. We have wrongly defined success. The successful pastor or Christian worker isn't necessarily the one with the biggest church facility, the biggest home, or the biggest automobile. The successful Christian worker is the one who's been faithful in his service to God and has given wholehearted worship to Him. It's to such a worker that God will one day say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Our worth and value must be found in God alone. We must not worship at the altar of the god of possessions. Our worth can only be found in the One who is worthy of our worship.

The third false god that must be removed from our lives is the "god of prestige." We must make a choice. It's either "not I, but Christ who lives in me," or it's "self" and not Christ who reigns in my life. We can't build monuments and shrines to ourselves while we claim to worship Jesus. A true worshipper is the one who seeks the kingdom of God, not the one who is building his own empire. The hunger of the true worshiper will be for the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He won't have room in his heart for a monument to man or for an attitude of self-righteousness.

Many mighty ministers in recent years have fallen. On several occasions, Proverbs describes the root cause of the fall of man. It says, "A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor" (Prov. 29:23). Pride is a dangerous thing. It has a way of creeping into the hearts of even the most spiritual of men.

When we experience the blessings of God, we face our greatest temptation. The most dangerous times of our Christian lives come after the great victories that we have experienced. When we've fought and won the battles, we're tempted to build an altar to the "god of prestige." When we receive praise, we stand in the great moment of decision. In that moment, we must humbly receive the praise accorded us and then lay it at the feet of Jesus. We must never believe we're as great as everyone says we are.

We must consciously acknowledge that we are what we are only by the grace of God. Solomon wisely wrote, "A man is tested by the praise accorded him" (Prov. 27:21). God will test our desire to worship by allowing others to praise us. In those moments, we can either begin to build an altar to the god of prestige, or we can take that praise and lift it up to the worthy One.

For many years, the Midianites plundered the children of Israel. Then one day God called a man to lead the children of Israel out of that terrible situation. God told that man, Gideon, that he was a valiant warrior and he would be used mightily. But there were two things Gideon must do first. One was to build an altar of worship. This Gideon did. After his encounter with the angel of the Lord, Gideon built an altar he called "The Lord is Peace." Worship was the result of his encounter with God.

The second was to tear down the altars to Baal. This Gideon also did. After the altars to the false gods were torn down, the Spirit of God came upon Gideon, for the man God anoints with His spirit is the man who worships only at the altar of Jehovah. If we're to see the glory of God in this generation, we must destroy the altars in our hearts to the gods of the age. There must be room to worship only the lovely Lord Jesus. A.W. Tozer said, "If there is to be true and blessed worship, some things in your life must be destroyed, eliminated." The gospel of Jesus Christ is certainly positive and constructive. But it must be destructive in some areas, dealing with and destroying certain elements that cannot remain in a life pleasing to God.