@jhanks787
Deuteronomy is Moses last teaching to the Israelites before he dies and they enter the land. His purpose in this teaching is to restate God's law and help God's people understand how they are to live in covenant with God. What we can see from this passage are the effects of idolatry -- something we in tech ministry (like all other believers) face every day. Even though idolatry can seemingly subtly make its way into our hearts, its ramifications are devastating.
Read Deuteronomy 4:25-31
25 "When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, provoking Him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the LORD your God will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell."
While Moses is prophesying here about the future sin of Israel, which all comes true in the generations to come, we can easily see ourselves in his warnings. One interesting thing to note, is that the timing of the sinfulness which Moses is describing is after they had long been in the promised land. This is significant because at the time Moses is speaking, the whole nation of Israel was focused on inhabiting and possessing the land God had promised them. This generation had seen their fathers and mothers be forbidden by God to enter the land (40 years wandering in the desert was required so that they would all die off) and now they are right on the cusp of themselves possessing it. This was no small thing -- it represented the pinnacle [of] their nation. Yet Moses warns that the possession of the land is not in itself the achievement of their purpose as God's people; rather they are to be concerned with reserving their worship for God.
Application: How many projects, events, jobs, or other things have subtly taken the place of God as our object of worship? When we invest ourselves fully into something like the upgrade of technology systems or preparing the tech side of a special worship service, we must recognize that we too can "make an idol in the form of anything."
Just as Israel would be scattered among the nations because of their idolatry, so we will lose the benefits of God's provision for us should we direct our affection toward other things. Israel lost full possession of the land because God would not be mocked by their unfaithfulness.
If the gear becomes an idol, there will always be something newer, better, and shinier that we want.
Application: The results of this are very easily seen in our hearts as church techs. If the gear becomes an idol, there will always be something newer, better, and shinier that we want. If we place our identity upon the doing of excellence rather than on who we are in Christ, the smallest mistake we or others make will become a tragedy and an offense worthy of depression and anger. If it is the position you hold that is your idol, watch out: surely you will come to find it unfulfilling and your heart will turn bitter and negative in all that you do -- to the detriment of the whole church and your family.
29 "But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will return to the LORD your God in later days and obey Him. 31 He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the LORD your God is a compassionate God."
Yet even in this dire scenario, in which Israel forfeits the land promised to them through their misplaced worship, there is hope because of who God is. The covenant mentioned in verse 31, which the Israelites would have recognized merely by its reference, is the foundation for Christian faith.
Genesis 12:1-3 reads...
1 "The LORD said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
We as the church are part of "all the peoples on earth" who have been reconnected to God through the family of Abraham -- Jesus, son of Israel, is the culmination and ultimate fulfillment of this promise, and our very Christian faith has its roots in this covenant between God and Abraham. It is through God's faithfulness to this covenant that we are redeemed as the Church. And even as Israel will experience discipline and great negative consequence as a result of sin, God will remain faithful to His promises to them. Even as we undoubtedly struggle at times with giving our worship and affections to things other than God, God remains faithful to us as believers, just as he did to Israel. They turned their hearts back to him in repentance and obedience, and so should we.
Taking this sense into tech ministry keeps the tools as tools and God as the power for and object of our service.
Application: When we find ourselves worshipping something other than God, and it usually takes experiencing that feeling of emptiness or dissatisfaction or hardship that results from it, repentance is the key to restoring our hearts to proper worship. Obedience for the Christian is not a means to the end of things being "right" with God -- this has ultimately been accomplished by Christ. However, obedience is the right response to God's grace for us and will in fact bring about such happiness as can be found in this world -- only he can satisfy us. Taking this sense into tech ministry keeps the tools as tools and God as the power for and object of our service.
[Editor's note: This piece was originally published in April 2012.]
