Making gods

  

DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

MAKING GODS

Acts 7:39-43

39 "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. 40 They told Aaron, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt — we don't know what has happened to him!'   41 That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and held a celebration in honor of what their hands had made. 42 But God turned away and gave them over to the worship of the heavenly bodies. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

"'Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 43 You have lifted up the shrine of Molech and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile' beyond Babylon.

NIV

Stephen is coming to the close of answering the question about the charges against him. However, in his answer, he is going to make a charge against them. What he says here about the Israelites refusing to obey Moses, the prophet, the man who God made their ruler and deliverer, is exactly what he is going to charge them with. The Israelites turned their hearts back to Egypt. By making an idol with their own hands they were wanting the same type of religion the Egyptians had, false gods. These are the gods that have eyes, but cannot see, ears, but cannot hear, and a mouth, but cannot speak. Men have been making idols throughout the ages, crafted by their own hands and it still happens today and appears will continue until the last day. Why do men want idols rather than God? What is it that is so appealing about idols? What can we trust an idol to do for us? How does an idol make our lives better? Maybe if we explored what some of the current idols of today are, we might get a better picture of why men desire idols over God. It makes sense that it must be one or the other, we cannot serve two masters. We will either love the one or despise the other. Well, that speaks directly about the idol of money. It surely is more straightforward to trust in money than in God. For many, money does make life better. This could also lead us to think that success is anything idol that would make life better, for success usually brings us more money. Our advertising world is almost obsessed with promoting our investment in some form of money, gold, silver, retirement accounts, and the like. But is that the only idol of our culture? It might be possible that we make our “self” an idol, being wholly focused on our own thoughts, desires, and ambitions. Stephen has already made the point that traditions were their idol, and that could apply to our culture as well. What appears to be at the center of all idolatry is the “self”. Everything that comes from the mind of man, instead of from the mind of Christ, seems to become an idol. This is not to say we cannot enjoy the things of this world, but we need to understand God must be at the center of our lives. All that we are, all that we do, and all that we focus on, are centered around God. He is the one who blesses us and holds us within the palm of his righteous right hand. Those of the Sanhedrin left God in their hearts and turned to a belief of this own design, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness. We cannot afford to make that mistake, for we cannot bear the thought of being exiled by God. Our love for God must be out of our whole heart, mind, spirit, and strength. We cannot love God from a divided being. Stephen will make the charge against them, that they have left God. Let no man make that charge against us, for they can only see us outwardly, but God looks at our heart. Let us serve God and God alone. Because we serve the one true God, let us not make gods.