My friend Steve Deace often says on his eponymous show, “Something must always rule, something must always be worshipped.” Whether we humans like it or not, we’re a species that always looks up to something or someone. We were created for relationship with God, and if we forsake that relationship, something or someone will always take God’s place.

Though whatever that may be will never give us true comfort, joy, or peace. Nor will it give us understanding of the world we live in.

We live in a messed up place, this world. It’s full of strife. It’s full of anger. It’s full of division. The reason is simple: we are depraved, sinful, prideful, and unwilling (as a whole) to submit to God. Thus, the biggest idolatry is that of man-worship.

Gospel of self

The church is not immune. Despite supposedly being the hands and feet of Christ (which we are and should be), many forsake that in favor of self-worship. A Christianity based in self-care, self-empowerment, comfort, and our own pathways with God. I wrote about this last week, how a ‘gospel’ that only preaches about Jesus’ love is fraught without the full Gospel — sin, sacrifice, santicfication — as it feeds man’s basest desires. However, before going into a series of rebukes — or ‘woes’ — against the Pharisees, Jesus shared more about how the upside-down Kingdom of Heaven works:

¹¹ The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹² Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matt. 23:11)

He also spoke of this of John the Baptist (Matt. 11:11), how he was the greatest of all men born of a woman, yet he is the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet, we see divisions in the church, whether it’s denominational disputes, seekers of selfish ambition, or simply because too many believers have been misled to focus too much on their own spiritual transformation that they’ve forgotten the second-most important commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matt. 22:39) Heresies such as Word of Faith and the prosperity gospel have proliferated the gospel of self, as they focus on personal wellbeing in a way that is antithetical to the Gospel.

¹⁶ And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁰ The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ²² When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

²³ And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 19:16-24)

The focus on personal attainment is in direct contradiction to this interaction Jesus had. The rich, young ruler had reportedly followed the Mosaic law, but he was unwilling to follow Jesus if he had to give up his material possessions. He had the veneer of righteousness and piety, but his love of money was idolatrous, and despite having found a great pearl (Matt. 13:45-46) he wouldn’t give what he had to follow the Lord and King of the universe.

But ultimately, the reason why we see this in the church is for another reason.

Fear of man over fear of God

There are multiple warnings in both the Old and New Testaments about fearing man over God. Solomon wrote: ‘The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.’ (Prov. 29:25) And Jesus said, ‘And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.’ (Matt. 10:28) My favorite comes in Isaiah 2:22 (NLT):

Don’t put your trust in mere humans.
    They are as frail as breath.
    What good are they?

That’s why we are in many of the world predicaments we’re in — because man fears man above fearing God. Such is true for Christians, even. When Christians are unwilling to put their faith over culture (narrator: hey, that’s the name of the site!) then we live with fruitless faith. When we shy away from adhering to Biblical principles — in life, vocation, and recreation — then the something else that’s being worshipped will rule on this earth instead of God. Don’t misunderstand here, God is still sovereign over all things, but He gives us a choice, and man ceding to man over Him will always create a culture of wickedness.

You can see this in sports. Sportsmanship, particularly among fanbases, has all but disintegrated. Rival factions attack one another as if it’s a life-or-death situation, with such vigor and vitriol, because they worship their sports team above God. But we are all, righteous and unrighteous alike, image bearers of our creator, and we are commanded (as noted above) to love our neighbor as ourself. To serve, just as Christ came to earth to serve. (John 3:17) And sports is a microcosm of politics — if you’re on one side, the other is so evil that they must be expunged. Just as two rival sports teams cannot peacefully coexist, the same can be said of rival political factions. Politics is more deleterious because it has even more so become the thing that a great many truly worship as a savior over God.

But it’s folly. Proverbs 9:10:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

The unwillingness to adhere to the Word of God has gotten the United States and the world into something more resembling Sheol than the Kingdom of Heaven. Simple Biblical tenets that have existed for millennia are now anathema in society, considered backwards tradition that humanity has progressed beyond. However, that’s just another lie (of many) from Satan. The world isn’t better for this progression, it’s regressed. Think of the endgame: how would the world be any better should this progressive agenda be fully enacted? Ultimately, it’s an ourobouros, doomed to fail as the snake eats its own. Yet, fear of man forces well-meaning people to capitulate to dark forces under the guise of ‘niceness’ or ’empathy.’ That which is good is forsaken because the emotional state of man reigns over God in polite society. The fear of being ‘canceled’ or standing up for Biblical truths (again, which were accepted in Western culture for millennia until quite recently) causes all sorts of problems in society that are exacerbating our downfall, not staving it off. As we see quite often in the Old Testament, when Israel followed God, it thrived; when it turned away from Him, it had a fast-pass to destruction.

Perservere to the end

‘The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.‘ (Psalm 14:1) Paul’s letter to the Romans spells this out more clearly, the type of world we would live in should we (as a whole) neglect God:

¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁸ And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-23; 28-32)

These are immortal truths, yet man serves himself up as his own ruler — such has been the case since Adam. (Gen. 3) But we believers submit to a higher authority, and we’ve been bought with a high price so we must not cater to the flesh, but instead serve God. (1 Cor. 6:19-20) So, now more than ever, it’s incumbent upon the follower of Jesus to be bold in our faith, obedient to the Word of God, and to unite behind the cross.

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matt. 16:24-26)

We are to keep our eyes on the things above, not on things of this earth. (Col. 3:2-10) Fear no man, for the way to salvation is narrow, but the path to destruction is wide.

So, who do you serve? Jesus or the world? Following Christ will not come with comfort, earthly desires, or praise from man. But this earth is the closest to hell a Jesus-follower will come to, while this is the closest to heaven a non-believer will come to. So forsake the way of man, shine your light (Matt. 5:14-16), fear not, follow Him, and spread the Word.