ARE YOU A MODERN DAY SOLOMON? 21st CENTURY IDOLATRY
Just about everyone has heard of the 10 commandments. As Christians, we know that they are the crème de la crème of rules governing our behavior. Some of them are pretty darn hard to follow. Imagine when somebody new moves in next door. You see them unloading all their cool stuff off the moving truck and get a gander at their fancy flat screen TV. Pangs of jealousy slip in before you realize it. All you can think of is the little 13-inch screen you've had since 1985, on which everything red actually looks a little more pink and you have to sit 2 inches away in order to make out where the football went after it left the quarterback's hand. Then you remember the 10th Commandment, "You shall not covet ... anything that belongs to your neighbor." You're kidding. You mean I can't even covet? Its not like I'm about to go over there and steal the thing! How can I be in trouble just for a little bit of jealousy? But avoiding jealousy is exactly what God wants us to do, and with good reason. Selfish desires lead to selfish actions. So we have to try, but nobody said it would be easy.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are some of the other commandments that we think we've got covered easily. "You shall not murder." Check. I've never killed anyone. "You shall not commit adultery." Check. I don't sleep around. These are the "lightweight" commandments. When we realize how often we fail with the whole coveting thing, it makes us feel good that at least we can chalk up a few of the commandments as success stories.
Of course, then Jesus comes along and throws a wrench in the works, messing up our comfortable image of ourselves. We proudly say that we don't commit murder, to which Jesus replies:
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. ...
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."
Matthew 5:21-24
You can't be serious! You mean I can't even be angry with my brother? But Jesus, you have no idea how annoying my family can be. OK Jesus, so you've got me on that one. But at least I don't commit adultery. To which Jesus replies (in the words of Lee Corso1), "Not so fast my friend."
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
Matthew 5:27-28
No way. Now how am I supposed to control my heart? I mean, have you seen the kind of programming that's on network TV nowadays? Scantily clad people are all around me. You mean to tell me that I'm not even supposed to think about it! Gee, maybe this whole keeping the commandments thing is going to be a bit tougher than I thought.
Well, Jesus may have blown our perceptions of the 6th and 7th Commandments out of the water, but at least we can say without a doubt that we have never built a statue, knelt down before it, and worshipped it as a god. We've got that old 2nd Commandment well in hand.
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...
Exodus 20:4-5
If Jesus' teachings about murder and adultery taught us anything, it should be that nothing is really as simple as we may think. The term we often use when talking about the 2nd Commandment is "idolatry." Basically, we are not supposed to worship idols. This was a big thing back in Old Testament days. Various pagan religions would build themselves statues, call those statues "gods", and worship them. This was really offensive to the one true God. So he told us in unequivocal terms not to do it.
Most of you reading this article have probably never worshipped a statue, or thought that a statue was a god, so you probably consider yourself pretty safe. But are you really? Idolatry is one of those commandments like murder and adultery. It looks simple on the surface, but when you look underneath it gets a lot more complicated. In fact, 21st century America is filled with idolaters. They just don't know it.
Would it surprise you if I told you that King Solomon committed idolatry? Well, if you read the title to this article maybe it wouldn't surprise you too much. But do you know why? Lets look a bit at Solomon's story and see if you can pick it out.
Solomon got the distinguished honor of building the Lord's temple. David wanted to do it, but God told him, "Thanks, but no thanks. I've got other plans for you. Don't worry, though, I'll have your son Solomon take care of it." So Solomon did. And boy, what a temple. First of all, it was pretty darn big.
The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high.
1 Kings 6:2
Bill Cosby had a great sketch about Noah. After God told Noah, in cubits, how big the ark was supposed to be, Noah replied, "Right! What's a cubit?" For those of us who don't routinely measure things in cubits anymore, the temple was about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high (or for our metric friends, 27 meters by 9 meters by 13.5 meters). That's pretty big by the standards of that day. After the temple was built, Solomon covered it with gold and furnished it just as gloriously. It had to be a pretty amazing sight. After all, it was supposed to be the house of the "Lord of Lords." Israel was doing pretty well financially in those times, so they had plenty of gold to go around.
So, you say, surely building such a glorious house for God is not idolatry. And you're right, its not. Up to this point, Solomon was doing pretty well. But it seems that being surrounded by all that wealth went to his head. After he was done with the temple, Solomon set about building his own palace, called the "Palace of the Forest of Lebanon." Take a look at the dimensions of his palace and see if anything jumps out at you.
He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high...
1 Kings 7:2
Did you notice? Solomon's palace was over 4 times as big as the temple he built for God! I'm not exactly the best mathematical mind in the world, but one thing my wife, the ex-math teacher, has managed to keep ingrained in my head is how to compute volume. 60x20x30 = 36,000 cubits. 100x50x30 = 150,000 cubits. In fact, you could fit the entire temple of God inside the colonnade that Solomon had running through the center of his palace (1 Kings 7:6)! But Solomon didn't stop there. Take a look at the following description of all the wealth he accumulated.
The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred bekas of gold went into each shield. He also made three hundred small shields of hammered gold, with three minas of gold in each shield. The king put them in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. Then the king made a great throne inlaid with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. The throne had six steps, and its back had a rounded top. On both sides of the seat were armrests, with a lion standing beside each of them. Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom. All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days. The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons. King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.
1 Kings 10:14-23
Solomon lost his focus. Being rich, by itself, wasn't sinful. After all, David was pretty darn rich, and he is the king against which all later kings were measured. But Solomon valued his own wealth above God. He was supposed to make the greatest house ever for God, and he did. But then he turned around and made an even better house for himself. Money had become Solomon's idol.
Now please don't misunderstand me. Solomon didn't do anything wrong by earning this money. After all, God Himself promised riches to Solomon. So earning money is not idolatry. But what we do with that money shows where our heart really lays. Is God our top priority or is wealth our priority? Once Solomon got his riches, he used them to glorify himself. Money corrupts.
We are supposed to place our trust in God. If we do, He will give us what we need to get by, according to His divine plan for the earth. A lot of people, though, have a hard time placing their trust in an invisible, intangible God. Instead of allowing God to provide for our security, we want to provide for our own security. Take the example of King David. God had repeatedly demonstrated that He could provide for Israel's national security. Still, David didn't trust God. So he sent out his commanders to take a census of how many fighting men he could muster in an emergency (2 Samuel 24:1-17; 1 Chronicles 21:1-17). David quickly realized he had sinned. Merely taking a census wasn't sinful. It was David's reason for doing it that made it sinful. He did not feel secure in God's promise to keep Israel safe from its enemies. David wanted to be sure that he had enough soldiers to fight off an attack. In doing so, he was relying upon his own efforts for Israel's security as opposed to relying upon God. He demonstrated a lack of faith in God's promises. After all, if God were to be believed, Israel would have enough men for any attack, regardless of what the census showed. God could defeat an army of thousands with only one man if He chose to. Isn't this the same God who helped little David, as a young boy, defeat the giant Goliath? By ordering the census, David showed that he did not trust God.
Instead of relying on the size of his army, like David, Solomon relied upon money for security. He trusted money. He worshipped money. Maybe he did not worship it in the literal sense of kneeling down before it in prayer. But he did put his trust in his own resources as opposed to what would be provided by God. This is the same problem many of us have today. How many of us spend too much time worrying about how we are going to provide for our retirement, or for our children's college education? Has there ever been an occasion when you haven't taken part in God's work because you were worried that it would cost you money that you may need later? Maybe it takes the form of cutting back on what you are placing in the offering plate. Maybe you could have helped out Habitat for Humanity, but decided against it. It could be virtually anything.
Now, am I saying that you should not provide for your children's education, or that you should blindly ignore your future financial needs? Of course not. After all, the Bible also instructs us to take care of our families and that is extremely important. People who have small children probably shouldn't be gallivanting around the globe as missionaries. But I am saying that if you really feel that God is calling you to a particular task or ministry, then pay attention to Him. God will give you the means to get it done. Also, be honest with yourself about what your "needs" really are. I, for one, do not want to meet Jesus and try to explain that I only put $10.00 instead of $20.00 in the offering plate because I needed the extra money to pay the minimum payment for the new plasma TV I just financed. If you are making cuts in your promises to God to pay for things that, if you are honest with yourself, you really don't need, then you should reassess your priorities. You see, we commit idolatry not only when we rely on money for our security instead of God, but also when we give in to greed.
God knew that human obsession with money would be a problem. That's one of the reasons He instituted the 2nd Commandment to begin with. To make matters worse, the 2nd Commandment isn't exactly that far off from the 1st, which says, "You shall have no other gods before me." Solomon's wealth became the "god" that he placed before our Father. Not only had God laid down the general commandments for everyone, He knew that the temptation for kings to give in to this sin would be even greater (due to the large amounts of wealth that would be available to them). That is why He specifically commanded that "The king ... must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold" (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). Solomon, like many people today, got swept up in the prestige of riches.
Jesus preached about the same problem. Late in his ministry, a rich man confronted Jesus wanting to know what he had to do to get into heaven.
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, "'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Matthew 19:16-26
The rich man was confronted with a choice. He could give up everything he owned and trust in Jesus for his security, or he could keep living his life the way he had been, and trust in his own efforts and riches for his security. Despite supposedly following all the commandments Jesus listed, this man just couldn't make that last step. He could not put his faith in Jesus to provide for him.
Now, does this mean we are all supposed to give away everything we own? No, it does not. Like I said above, we are also commanded to provide for our family, so God doesn't have a problem with us making some money. The point of this story is that the man who approached Jesus relied upon money for his security. It was his idol, just like it had been to Solomon. We're not supposed to put anything before God in our lives. As long as you remain focused, with God as your #1 priority, there is nothing wrong with having money. But this man did not place God as his top priority. He valued his money even more. That is the attitude that Jesus spoke against, and which we need to be careful of today.
It all boils down to a matter of faith. When the Hebrews wandered through the desert, God told them not to store up any extra manna. They were only to take enough to eat for that particular meal. If they stored up anything extra, it would spoil by morning, and they were guilty of sinning against God. Why was simply storing a little extra food sinning? Because the Hebrews, like David and Solomon, were supposed to trust God to provide for them. If they stored up extra manna for later, they were telling God that they didn't trust Him to provide more manna by the next mealtime. But God is always faithful to His promises. You should never place your trust in anything ahead of God, including any man-made idols like money.
Now many people, myself included, could honestly say, "If anything is certain in this world, it's that my net worth will never be confused with Solomon's." That's true. But remember, you don't have to be rich to be idolizing money. It's what's in your heart that matters, whether you're spending $5.00 or $5,000.00. Do you play the lottery? If you really don't have excess cash, can you justify spending $10.00 per week on lottery tickets with the odds you face? Even if you have the excess cash to spend $10.00 per week, why are you spending it? Be honest and probe your heart. Do you want millions of dollars for God's glory or for yours? The answer to that question will tell you where your loyalties lie.
Not too long ago, while I was in a particularly poor financial situation, I was driving my car and talking to God. At the time, our state had one of those huge lottery jackpots available, something like $300 million. I knew I needed money, so I tried to strike a deal with God.
I told him, "God, I promise that if you let me win that lottery, I'll take 90% of the money and give it to the church. Think of all the good that could do! With the remaining 10%, I'll quit my job and enroll in a 4-year seminary program so I can serve you better, but I'll still have enough money to pay my bills and provide for my family. Now come on, God. You have to admit that's a pretty good deal!" Now as soon as I said that, a financial show came on our local Christian radio station. Guess what was the first thing the host talked about. He said that all too often we get worried about our finances and try to rely upon man-made solutions, even if those solutions are contrary to God's will. But as long as we stay true to God and put our faith in Him, He'll provide what we need.
Now if I had been completely honest with myself, I knew that God did not like gambling, but I wanted to believe that I could convince Him to help me win the lottery. So I designed a little "test" that I thought I was sure to win. I said, "God, I'm still a little confused here. I think I'm getting mixed signals." Of course, the only "mixed signals" were in my head; God was being abundantly clear. "I'll tell you what. I'm going to take some of the back roads home instead of the interstate, and I'll go past a bunch of stores. If you want me to stop and buy a lottery ticket, just make me see a lottery sign outside one of the stores. If I don't see one, I'll know you don't want me to stop."
I drove all the way home that night and, to my disappointment, didn't see a single lottery sign. So, obviously, I didn't buy a ticket. Well, the next day I happen to be driving along the same route and guess what I saw; a HUGE lottery sign right outside one of the stores I passed on the way home. Unless I was driving with my eyes closed and "using the force", there was no way I should have missed this sign. But the previous day I hadn't seen it. God knows what He's doing, and He'll provide for you according to His plan, which is inevitably superior to anything we could design. I'll tell you one thing; I haven't asked God to help me win the lottery since.
Now I'm not saying you shouldn't be spending anything on yourself. God wants you to be happy. But when you are confronted with choices, be sure you are making the right ones. Don't go overboard. When you are preparing a budget, your obligations to God should be the first thing you write down. Everything else is subject to that first obligation. Decisions on how big of a mortgage you can afford, or whether you can get that second cellular phone, all should be based upon the starting premise that you will keep up your financial stewardship to God. If cuts are necessary, it should always come out of the earthly excesses first. We all like the Internet, but do you really need it if you are looking for an extra $20.00 per month?
Remember, your focus should be on the faith that will take you into the next life, not on the earthly things that have to be left behind anyway. Never put yourself in a situation where you are shirking your obligations to God (whether by cutting back on your offering or any other promises to the church) in order to pay for the tempting excesses of this world. Compared to eternity, our life here on earth is barely a blip on the radar screen. I think you'll find that if you truly put God first in your life, you'll be a whole lot happier than you'd be even if you won that lottery. Given a choice between the plasma in that new TV and the plasma in the blood shed for me on the cross, I choose the cross. I pray that you will do the same.
Footnotes
1 For the non-sports fans, Lee Corso is a commentator on ESPN's "College Football Gameday."
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