04-27-03 Communion Dedication - Baldwin Christian Church

James 5:1~8

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. (God hears the cries of those you've cheated.) Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Idolatry touches all of our lives: anything that becomes more important to me than what the Lord would have it be; if it takes away from the purpose He has for my life; if I elevate anything above my service to Him; if I devote my God-given time to the pursuit of things such as these, whether I realize it or not, it is idolatry.

The culture we live in today has many idols, but the one idol exalted above all others is time. Time is the essential ingredient of idolatry, and so it follows that those who seek to support many idols would also seek to make more time. Even on a simple trip to the market, we can see people trying to make time, and we can also see the lack of wisdom in their pursuit. They'll perform traffic maneuvers worthy of Dale Earnhardt just so they can be the first in line at the next stoplight, and if, for some strange reason, we arrive there before they do, we can expect to hear their horn honking within two milliseconds after the light turns green. Then they follow so close to your bumper that you can't even see them in your side mirrors, but at least some of them are kind enough to wave when they finally get their chance to pass you. It's all about being in a hurry to make time, but later, when you meet "the honker" in the aisle of the market, they usually seem more content than they did on the roadway, perhaps because shopping is one of their idols.

If this life is all you have to hope for, then you have to make every second count. Time becomes your ruler, your god, and as a result, anything that impedes your progress from one idol to the next becomes a major source of frustration and stress, because it's taking away from the time you wish to spend with your next idol.

When Jesus was warning us of what to expect in the days shortly before the "latter rain," He told us that "In your patience possess ye your souls." He expects us to be ever watching, and ready to fan a Spiritual spark whenever we see one, able to endure 'til His return with patient perseverance. The things written in these Scriptures were written to teach us, to give us patience, comfort and hope. Let's begin tomorrow with two questions: Lord, what do you want me to do today? Lord, what are my idols?