Worship GOD Exclusively
Notes
Transcript
1 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth. 2 “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 “You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. 4 “You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God. 5 “But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come. 6 “There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 “There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
Removal
Canaanite worship places
Many places because polytheistic (Their theology)
Many false gods for weather, fertility, and war
Practices
Objects used in their rituals, to honor and glorify them
Tear down, smash, burn, cut down, and obliterate!!!
Application: Remove anything that receives the glory only GOD should. Remove anything that subjects your life to values or morals that don’t align with GOD.
Example: Technology misused (glorify and subjection). Societal parenting (subjection to society). Fascination with misappropriated sex and sexual appearance (both).
Choosing
Refrain from personal preference (v. 8)
Focusing on what’s pleasing to me
Canaanites worshipped in any place they “felt” a divine presence
Choose God’s choice (v. 5)
Rejoicing
Application: All of these are collective, which means it is joint mission
Choose joy
A response to God’s blessings
Keeps us focused on GOD alone