Have you ever seen anyone worshiping an idol? J. R. Vassar, who preached at Camp Tallowood some years ago, tells about an experience he had on a mission trip: “One day we were prayer walking through a large Buddhist temple, when I witnessed something heartbreaking. A large number of people, very poor and desperate, were bowing down to a large golden Buddha. They were stuffing what seemed to be the last of their money into the treasury box and kneeling in prayer, hoping to secure a blessing from the Buddha. On the other side of the large golden idol, scaffolding had been built. The Buddha had begun to deteriorate, and a group of workers was diligently repairing the broken Buddha. I took in the scene. Broken people were bowing down to a broken Buddha asking the broken Buddha to fix their broken lives while someone else fixed the broken Buddha.”
Paul must have felt that same anguish as he watched the people who lived in Athens, the seat of wisdom, multiply idols throughout the city. In his sermon on Mars Hill, Paul quoted one of the Athenians’ poets to say, “We are God’s offspring.” If God made us, in his image, then we cannot make God with gold, silver or stone. God gives us time to repent of our ignorant idolatry. But if we do not, we will encounter judgment. God is the truly just Judge. He never gets it wrong. Our God is not bound by popular opinions or political leanings. He does what is right every time. God will judge the world through his Son whom he raised from the dead.
God is alive. Every other object we create and give our devotion to will someday pass away. But God will stay. Christ’s death and resurrection confirm that he alone is the just Judge the world has been waiting for. Right now, he is waiting for the world to repent. J. R. Vassar concludes: “The insanity and despair of it all hit me. We are no different from them. We are broken people looking to other broken people to fix our broken lives. We are glory-deficient people looking to other glory-deficient people to supply us with glory. Looking to other people to provide for us what they lack themselves is a fool's errand. It is futile to look to other glory-hungry people to fully satisfy our glory hunger, and doing so leaves our souls empty.” Let’s put away our idols and return to the God who is alive.
