After the Philistines captured
the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of
Ashdod. They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon
and placed it beside an idol of Dagon. But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the
next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark
of the Lord! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again. But the next morning the same thing happened—Dagon had
fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This
time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact. 1 Samuel 5:1-4(NLT)
It was a common thought in Samuel’s day that if you
could possess the god (idol) of your enemy, you held the power to control your
enemy. The Philistines had captured the
Ark of the Covenant and they put it at the foot of their fish god, Dagon, in
the temple of Nimrod – the same ancient king who had tried to build a tower to
heaven; they called it the tower of Babel.
God wouldn’t have any of that, and He scrambled their languages.
The newer generation of Israel’s enemies didn’t have
any better luck with the stolen Ark.
This time God scrambled the parts of their idol-god, Dagon, dismembering
and tumbling the fish god night after night.
On top of it all the people developed tumors, causing
the enemies of Israel to realize their sin, and pass the Ark of the Covenant around
like a hot potato in their hands; it was trouble everywhere, and
nobody wanted it. Finally, they just
gave it back.
Fast forward to the current century –
Somewhere along the line, the church of Jesus Christ
has adopted the mindset of Nimrod’s offspring.
I’m not suggesting we have set up “fish gods” in our temples (although
the way some people choose the bass boat over the Sunday School, it would stretching
the truth in some cases).
Rather I want to point to an analogy of having your
god fall apart. With the Philistines it
was a stone idol that could not stand or hold together in the presence of the
power of Jehovah, the one true God. For
us in the 21st century the church seems to be tripping all over
itself as we attempt to hold the gods of Nimrod close.
And the potato is just as hot now as it was for the
Philistines.
I had a front row seat this past week as the annual
conference of United Methodists (in which I serve) wrangled and politicized to
send delegates to next year’s quadrennial worldwide gathering of
Methodists. Of course, the big issue (as
it is every four years) is if we will rewrite our bylaws (and, in my opinion
Scripture) so as to allow practicing homosexuals to serve as clergy.
The analogy to Nimrod’s temple is that we have largely
become like the Philistines, wanting the power of holding our enemies captive,
and not knowing what it will do to our souls as we fail to reverence the Lord
God. The god we think we serve with
this power-grab mentality is masked; we are really serving our own
self-determination, self-rule and self-satisfaction. Somehow we believe we can have it all – “serving”
god and serving self.
And in such misguided thought our god will crumble and
fall apart every night. And in the
morning we pick up our shattered pieces of theology and start all over again.
Who are we kidding?
A church like that has no power, only an illusion of power.
We (this church which invites every ungodly attitude and
practice of our godless society to become parts of lives), are headed, runaway-train-style
toward a collision with the Rock of Ages.
It will not be a pretty picture for the morning tabloids!
If the church stands for anything it ought to stand
for repentance – naked open confession of our sin and willfulness, and our need
for utter dependence on the Christ of Calvary.
It’s time to get back to that, leaving the powers that
be to fumble with Dagon’s pieces.
For You Today
Do you ever see yourself as “pretty good” and hardly
in need of forgiveness?
Fish gods don’t, you know.
[1]
By Vignette by Loutherbourg for the Macklin Bible 12 of 134. Bowyer Bible Old Testament
Headpiece to 1 Samuel: Phillip Medhurst
derivative work: St Anselm, via Wikimedia
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