Taking Sides

Everybody loves a contest. Why else are people going to see the Buccaneers play the Vikings next Sunday? From Project Runway to the Kentucky Derby, from Jeopardy to the World Cup, we enjoy seeing experts duke it out. And we like seeing underdogs win, too. People still remember the “Miracle on Ice” when the US hockey team beat the Russians in the 1980 Winter Olympics. And one of the reasons for Tom Brady’s popularity is his backstory: no one ever thought he’d make it to the top. Because that possibility - the long shot - is what keeps bookies in business and us coming back for more.

The pure thrill of vicarious competition is addictive. That’s why reporters in general focus more on the winners and losers in political races than the issues. Contests are entertaining, and thinking is hard, even though political races are far more complicated and consequential than sports. But sometimes the stakes are much higher even than who is going to be our next President. And the most important battles of all are, as often as not, often barely noticed - if at all.

And that is the battle between right and wrong, between good and evil, between moral and immoral. All of us face these choices every day in our lives, from fudging on our tax returns to whether or not to get a divorce in order to maximize our social security benefits. Yes, folks - our laws are written so that unmarried people do better than married ones in a whole lot of ways - not just the marriage penalty in the income taxes. Sometimes the battle lines are clear, and we know exactly what we should and shouldn’t do.... Sometimes there seems to be wiggle room, and we find ourselves trying to balance one good against another. Do we “obey the governing authorities,” as Paul tells us to do in Romans 13, or do we follow a stricter standard? God is more forgiving than the IRS, after all. But shouldn’t we realize that God’s standards are simply better than the world’s, even when there’s a price to pay? And do we really want to be the kind of people who can be bribed to ignore God’s clear instructions?

There are other times when the line is much fuzzier. After all, we have to live in the world, don’t we? And how important is it, really, that when we shop on a Sunday - as I do - we are demanding that others work on the Sabbath for our convenience? When is it right to buy a new car instead of making do with a used one and giving the difference to charity? When is it right to keep silent in the face of injustice just because we’re pretty sure it won’t do any good? When is it okay to watch “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” instead of reading your Bible?

How do we know that something is an idol that we should avoid, or simply a harmless diversion? Back in the 17th century, when the English Puritans under Cromwell were briefly in charge, there were huge conflicts over having games in the town square on the Sabbath. I got into another fairly fierce argument with one of my profs at seminary over whether or not having an American flag in the sanctuary was blasphemous. He said it was a question of the Lordship of Christ; I said it’s a question over whether or not patriotism is idolatry. For some it is, for some it isn’t. Paul wrote to Timothy, “everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving.” [1 Tim 4:4] So if we can receive it with thanksgiving, and give it up with equanimity, it’s probably not an idol. But it’s all too easy to rationalize our decisions.

What are your idols? We all have them - things that we are tempted to put ahead of God. The most obvious ones are fame and money, sex or drugs, things that most of us know we should avoid. But there are other gods - like family and career - that can also be dangerous to our spiritual health. And there are still others that are hard to recognize as idols: old grievances and new fears, the people we believe just because they agree with us, the shallow celebrities we waste our time on. False gods are everywhere, many disguised like Lucifer as angels of light. And social pressures push us into bowing to them even when we know we shouldn’t.

Back in Elijah’s day social and economic pressures pushed people into bowing to the god favored by Queen Jezebel. She was a pampered princess from Sidon who worshiped the Canaanite fertility god Ba’al, and her husband King Ahab slid promptly under her thumb and bowed down to Ba’al as well. And the people followed suit. The Northern Kingdom of Israel was pretty shaky in their knowledge of YHWH God, and they slid easily into idolatry often without even knowing it. I expect many of them thought “it doesn’t matter which God you serve, as long as you are sincere.” Others may have known they shouldn’t, but thought, “God knows I don’t really mean it when I go to the Ba’al festivals and make occasional sacrifices, but I have to keep my position at court - the title to my land - perhaps even my freedom or my life.”