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The God Who Speaks Has Spoken
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.
Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.
- Psalm 115:4-8
It just seems so silly, right? Bowing down to, asking favors of, praying to, making sacrifices for some inanimate object. And not even an object of mysterious origin but one that was fashioned by hand. It doesn't answer back. How can it? Its eyes and ears don't see or hear!
Thank goodness we've moved beyond that! Today we bow down to, sacrifice for, seek protection from much more meaningful and powerful gods. Like our houses, bank accounts, careers, and the ever-popular science.
There's nothing new under the sun. Human beings are designed with God-shaped holes and we'll do our best to fill that hole with anything but the God that we're accountable to.... the God that CAN speak. When we get tired of serving one god (and we always get tired of gods that don't fulfill us), we swap it out for one we like better. After all, it can't tell us not to, and it can't do anything about it if we do. Our gods today are still fashioned with our own hands (or minds) and answer us back with the words we put in their mouths.
So, what's your god saying to you today?
"You need to upgrade. Did you see what your neighbors have now? Better put in a few more hours to get that raise because you deserve some luxury."
Or
"Don't be a fool. You're at the top of the food chain and living at the pinnacle of human progress. You don't submit to anyone but yourself. Anyone who agrees with you, well that just speaks to their intelligence and sound reasoning. Anyone who disagrees with you is white noise. What you feel, see, hear, smell and taste is real. Nothing else matters."
Or, one of the most dangerous.
"You're a pretty good person. You're a highly-functioning member of society contributing in many valuable ways. You have concern for the hungry and homeless. You take care of your children and family. Doesn't it feel 'right' to do those things? Of course it does, and that feeling means that's the sum total of your responsibility. You will be accepted for your works. Just continue in them, and don't heed any of this noise about sin or condemnation. Absolution is to be found in that feeling of doing 'right' things."
The God who can speak has spoken, and He didn't tell us what we want to hear, either. He told us that every one of us has rebelled and fallen short of His glory, tarnishing His creation made in His image. He also said that because He's holy, the only payment for that rebellion is death. Regardless of how unpopular that message might be, we have to square ourselves with the fact that He has spoken. In fact, He's spoken through His resurrected Son who is now reigning from His throne in heaven, so maybe we need to be a little less focused on His popularity and do a little more scrutiny of His message.
That message doesn't end with our guilt before Him. That's where it starts. The good news is that He provided the death payment, so that you don't have to pay it. His incarnate Word walked in our shoes in perfection. He lived the holiness of God never once tarnishing His image as we have done. He wasn't guilty before God. Because of that innocence, He was worthy to do what none of us can do: die in place of others. Of His own free will, He placed Himself between us and the hammer blow of the full wrath of the holy Creator. The entire weight of God's hatred of our rebellion fell on Him when He was scourged, slapped, spit on, mocked, stripped, nailed to a cross, and hung on display until He died. That was supposed to be you and me. The good news is that it no longer has to be you and me, and the proof of that is His resurrection. His tomb is empty because death could not hold Him. That isn't just good news. It's the best news.
He told His disciples to tell this good news to anyone who would listen and to baptize anyone who believes in order to make them partakers of this rescue from death. Those who don't believe it have no part in His rescue.
So, which god(s) are you going listen to, make sacrifices for, submit to, believe above all others? Those that you control or the One that has spoken? One empty grave means there's one right answer.
