Apparently God isn't pleased with our obedience to His
commands, even if we go above and beyond the call of duty. There is clearly a caveat to that
statement. When religion becomes nothing
more than bribery and the same motive drives it as it does Baal worship, no, he
isn't pleased. Baal worship was
characterized by offering many sacrifices to get Baal to do his job. He was presumed to be a fertility god who had
no particular concern for his people but if they did enough religious things,
offered him enough sacrifices, pleased him, then he would act as though
applauding a performance. When our
worship or our lives become a performance to get God to bless us, we are
engaging in similar activity as Baal worshippers. When we praise God to get Him to prosper us,
we are not pleasing Him at all. In fact,
our worship is offensive to Him because it isn't based in the truth either of
His character or His promises. That is
the problem here in these verses from Isaiah.
Whose temple is this anyway?
That is the struggle between the chief priests and scribes and
Jesus. He has driven out the money
changers and sellers of sacrificial animals and now is teaching there to the
crowds who are there for the feast. The religious leaders demand to know who He
thinks He is and who has given Him authority to teach there. The implied question is that they haven't
given Jesus permission or authority to do these things, so He is acting in an
outlaw fashion. They aren't paying
attention to the content of what He is doing or teaching, only that it isn't
officially sanctioned. Jesus refuses to
answer their question directly, only asking them to affirm or deny the work of
John the Baptist who, likewise, wasn't under their authority. Neither were the prophets for that matter and
neither would the disciples be after His death.
Gate-keepers are not always a bad thing, but their motives need always
be examined.
The truth has evidence.
Paul says that the Gospel he proclaimed among the Thessalonians was
proven by "power and the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." He doesn't elaborate what power was evident
if it was something other than changed lives.
Power accompanying the message was important to Paul, he mentions it
also to the church at Corinth. He could
mean signs like healings but he also means that conviction of the truth of the
Gospel and lives now lived in imitation of Christ. These turned from idols to serve the Lord and
follow His example. Conversion is a work
of the Holy Spirit and it is important that we examine our lives always to look
for idolatry and false gods, even those we believe to be true. The purpose of that examination is to
renounce the false in favor of the truth.
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