I Have Finally Found a Place to Live in the Presence of the Lord

In the 1960’s, a young guitarist named Eric Clapton roared onto the British blues scene. People became so captivated by his prowess on the guitar that some took to proclaiming that “Clapton is God”. This mantra was repeated by many, and some prominent pieces of graffiti proclaiming this began to appear in London and New York City. It is interesting to think that one young man could produce such passion for someone to proclaim, on any level, that this man was God. Now, does this mean that the Church of Clapton began to appear in major cities? Not at all! But, it does mean that something in Eric Clapton’s guitar playing skills provoked quite a bit of passion in those who heard it … enough passion for them to make some sort of idol out of Clapton and his guitar.
It seems that whenever we hear Scripture speak of idols, our minds may immediately race to the notion of bowing down and worshipping an actual idol – maybe a statue of Buddha, or even a golden calf. We may visualize some giant, physical idol that people are bowing down in front of and offering some sort of sacrifice. However, the truth of the warning from Scripture about idols goes much deeper and further.
An idol can be physical – but is more often than not something that is more mental and spiritual. Idols aren’t always found in the corner of our rooms – rather, they are more often found in the corners of our hearts and minds. They are those things, people, feelings and desires that replace our worship of the Living God. They are those very things that make you uncomfortable before your Creator. These idols are causing you to not find a place to live in the presence of the Lord.
The formula is quite simple – the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is the one responsible for our creation, salvation and life. He is the one who breathed life into our souls … He is the one who loves us through the Gospel … He is the one who is conforming us to the Gospel. Simply put, the Triune God is the only one who loves you enough to save you from all known and unknown danger.
The danger of an idol is that we will set it up to such prominence that it will almost always replace God in our worship. The danger of your idols is that it perverts the equation – instead of the Triune God being responsible for your creation, salvation and life, and you worshipping God for such blessings, we make the idols the ones who will save us. We look to our idols for our further creation, salvation and life. We spiritually bow down before our idols and offer them a worship that has been designed only for the Triune God.
Now, how could this make sense? Who would do such a thing? Maybe the better question is whether we do such a thing? John Calvin is the one who quipped that the heart of man is an idol factory. I believe that one of man’s most natural, and a prevalent, sinful tendency is to make idols out of things. We see it begin in the garden and thread its way all through history to us in the here and now. All of us show the tendency to worship an idol.
How do we know it? Well, let me offer you a couple of questions to help you flesh out the answer … what would you rather offer worship to? Is it God or something else? What do you find yourself spending more time focusing on – the Lord’s blessings in life, or the supposed blessings of this idol? Honestly, what is it you love most – God, or something else? The list of idols is a long one – family, status, vanity, money, sex, power, fame, ourselves, history, heritage, etc. Remember – some folks were able to make an idol of Eric Clapton – a white British boy who was doing his best to emulate blues guitarists from the Delta of Mississippi. What sort of creation, salvation and life could Clapton offer to his fans? None. But, some of them famously proclaimed “Clapton is God”.
What is your god? What god is it that you look to instead of the true God? Who do you offer your worship to? Well, maybe you think this question isn’t important or even relevant to where you are in life right now. Fair enough, except that God finds your worship to be an important question. The first 2 commandments deal explicitly with your worship … Paul deals with the worship of God in some length in some of his epistles … John talks at great length about the worship of heaven he observed in Revelation. God finds it to be very important – it is over sinful natures that wants to destroy true worship and offer it to vain idols.
So, the question remains – what is your idol? It is tough to see, and sometimes even tougher to come to terms that we do such a thing. But, be honest – and you may find some there. When you do, know this – even in the midst of our sinful rebellion and our offering worship to false gods and idols, there is always grace. We can turn from god to God, and find grace. We can turn from the grace-less to the grace-full. Our hearts are bent to idols – and they only way they can be bent towards God is through His grace. Our idols will never produce nor provide the grace we all so desperately need – but the one true God is full of grace and mercy. Turn to Him and find this to be true. And, you will find that living in the presence of the Lord makes more sense, and is more comfortable, when you do so in grace.
Soli Deo Gloria --- Pastor James