Wicked Worship

Judges 17:3 ~ "And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, 'I dedicate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a metal image. Now therefore I will restore it to you.'"

There is a horrifying situation that takes place in this text of Scripture. This mother, an Ephraimite, a woman of Israel, was restored money that her son had stolen. In her gratitude, she wanted to dedicate it to the LORD. But look how she tells him to prepare it--she tells him to "make a carved image." 

I trust that even in the reading of our text today you have already surmised the problem with this woman's statement. She determined to worship God, dedicating the 1,100 pieces of silver to the LORD. But how she worshiped the LORD was an absolute affront to the Almighty.

Remember the commandments... the second commandment to be precise:

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." ~ Exodus 20:4-6

Her desire to honor the LORD might be commendable, but her approach to it was wicked. There is no way her worship of the LORD could ever be acceptable when it violates the very commandments that enshrine the means by which we are to honor the LORD. Jesus rebukes the practice of worship that is human in its origin. Consider Matthew 15:8-9, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."

And this is the point I want you to see, beloved, you cannot honor God apart from fidelity to His word. In fact, to go against God's word is wicked worship. 

God alone establishes the means and practice of worship. He is the LORD and there is no other, and it must be the believer's great delight and desire to honor Him according to His prescribed method. 

There are other activities this woman might have considered. She could have taken the silver and brought it to the Tabernacle and offered it as a freewill offering to the LORD (see Exodus 35:29). She might have contributed it to the poor and provide for them some benefit with it (see Deuteronomy 15:7). It would have been better had she merely kept it for her own needs rather than use it to make an abomination that was meant to be a dedication to the LORD.

Let this story bring up the question in your own heart. How do you worship the LORD? What gives you the instruction you follow in your worship of God? Let me caution you away from doing as many do today. They follow their own hearts instead of God's word. Let your heart be so dedicated to the LORD that His word informs all that you do.

Here are some acts of worship from God's word: We gather according to His word and offer the sacrifice of praise (see Hebrews 13:15). We hear and are taught the word of God--even the hard truths that convict our hearts (see 1 Timothy 4:11). Outside of the gathered fellowship, there is still the required worship of God in the surrendering of our lives (see Romans 12:1). The Scriptures will teach us to worship God--we just have to obey.

And yet, there are those who participate in wicked worship still. They do as 2 Timothy 4:3-4 reveals, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

My friends, God is still seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and truth (see John 4:23-24). He is seeking YOU to worship HIM. He is worthy of worship, for He has given us everything--including our very life. We are created by Him and for Him. Let your heart be so delighted in the LORD that your entire life becomes a tribute of worship to the Savior.

In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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