Bring your idol to church day

Genesis 31:1–42 LEB

Now he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying, “Jacob has taken all that our father has,” and “From that which was our father’s he has gained all this wealth.” Then Jacob saw the face of Laban and, behold, it was not like it had been in the past. And Yahweh said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your ancestors and to your family, and I will be with you.” So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flocks, and he said to them, “Look, I see the face of your father, that it is not like it has been toward me in the past. But the God of my father is with me. Now you yourselves know that I have served your father with all my strength, and your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not allowed him to harm me. If thus he said, ‘Speckled shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore speckled. And if he said, ‘Streaked shall be your wage,’ then all the flock bore streaked. God has taken away your father’s livestock and given them to me. Now it happened that at the time of the mating of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams mounting the flock were streaked, speckled, and dappled. Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see—all the rams mounting the flock are streaked, speckled, and dappled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel where you anointed a stone pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now get up, go out from this land and return to the land of your birth.’ ” Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there yet a portion for us, and an inheritance in the house of our father? Are we not regarded as foreigners by him, because he has sold us and completely consumed our money? For all the wealth that God has taken away from our father, it belongs to us and to our sons. So now, all that God has said to you, do.” Then Jacob got up and put his children and his wives on the camels. And he drove all his livestock and his possessions that he had acquired, the livestock of his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-Aram, in order to go to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan. Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the idols that belonged to her father. And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he intended to flee. Then he fled with all that he had, and arose and crossed the Euphrates and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead. And on the third day it was told to Laban that Jacob had fled. Then he took his kinsmen with him and pursued after him, a seven-day journey, and he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Take care that you not speak with Jacob, whether good or evil.” And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his kinsmen pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead. Then Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done that you tricked me and have carried off my daughters like captives of the sword? Why did you hide your intention to flee and trick me, and did not tell me so that I would have sent you away with joy and song and tambourine and lyre? And why did you not give me opportunity to kiss my grandsons and my daughters goodbye? Now you have behaved foolishly by doing this. It is in my power to do harm to you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night saying, ‘Take care from speaking with Jacob, whether good or evil.’ Now, you have surely gone because you desperately longed for the house of your father, but why did you steal my gods?” Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought, ‘Lest you take your daughters from me by force.’ But with whomever you find your gods, he shall not live. In the presence of your kinsmen now identify what is with me that is yours and take it.” Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. Then Laban went into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tent of the two female servants and did not find his gods. And he came out of Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s tent. Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them in the saddle bag of the camel and sat on them. And Laban searched the whole tent thoroughly but did not find them. And she said to her father, “Let there not be anger in the eyes of my lord, for I am not able to rise before you, for the way of women is with me. And he searched carefully and did not find the idols. Then Jacob became angry and quarreled with Laban. Jacob answered and said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin that you pursued after me? For you have searched all my possessions, and what did you find of all the possessions of your household? Set it before my kinsmen and your kinsmen that they may decide between the two of us! These twenty years I was with you; your ewes and your female goats did not miscarry, and the rams of your flocks I did not eat. I brought no mangled carcass to you—I bore its loss. From my hand you sought it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. There I was, during the day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you have changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac had not been with me, indeed now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my misery and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

In my study for today’s message there is a word that I found that informed part of my message today. Syncretism - The incorporation into religious faith and practice of elements from other religions, resulting in a loss of integrity and assimilation to the surrounding culture. Throughout the word of God we find that the Lord was is still calling his people out of the world, He was and is still calling his people to rely on him, He was and is still calling his people to be separate from the world, He was and is still calling his people to worship him only and not have any other gods. Some think that with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus that this stuff doesn’t apply. Some think that with the baptism of the Holy Spirit is made us free to do what we want, when we want. In all of this we are new creatures, yet new creatures that are still called out of this world.

I will worship your God, as long as you let me worship mine. Jacob had been in exile for 20 years and the Lord told him that is was time to leave. 20 years of exile, 20 years of the deceiver being deceived, 20 years of the Lord blessing Jacob, and yet Jacob was still Jacob. Rachel and her idols. Idols of today - music, visual entertainment, social media, etc.

Not of this world: John 15:17-25

John 15:17–25 LEB

These things I command you: that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they do not have a valid excuse for their sin. The one who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this happened so that the word that is written in their law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without a reason.’

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own.” Called out from this world

Doing the will of God - 1 John 2:15–18 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because everything that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains forever. Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour.”

Doing the will of God, separate myself from the world. Doing the will of God, means having an altar in my life and if I am going to have an altar in my life, some things I need to get rid of.

Genesis 35:1–5 “And God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother.” Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are in your midst and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us make ready and let us go up to Bethel, so that I can make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my trouble, and who has been with me on the way that I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hands, and the ornamental rings that were in their ears. And Jacob buried them under the oak which was near Shechem. Then they set out on their journey, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, so that they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.”

Put away, get rid