Biblical selections: Genuine worship and idolatry

except where otherwise mentioned, source is New English Bible

RSV = Revised Standard Version

The First Commandment: prohibition of idolatry

Exodus 20:2-8

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other god(s) to set against me. You shall not make a carved image for yourself nor the likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. I punish the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But I keep faith with thousands, with those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrong use of the name of the LORD your God: the LORD will not leave unpunished the man who misuses his name. Remember to keep the sabbath day holy…

Exodus 20:23

You shall not make gods of silver to be worshiped as well as me, nor shall you make yourselves gods of gold. [in those days, the form of money]

Exodus 16:2-4, 16-20

The Israelites complained to Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and said, “If only we had died at the LORD’s hand in Egypt, where we sat around the fleshpots and had plenty of bread to eat! But you have brought us out into this wilderness to let this whole assembly starve to death.” The LORD said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people shall go out and gather a day’s supply, so that I can put them to the test and see whether they will follow my instructions or not”…“This is the command the LORD has given: ‘Each of you is to gather as much as he can eat: let every man take an omer a head for every person in his tent.’”…Each had just as much as he could eat. Moses said, “No one may keep any of it till morning.” Some, however, did not listen to Moses; they kept part of it till morning, and it became full of maggots and stank, and Moses was angry with them.

Exodus 32:1-4,20

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they confronted Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods to go ahead of us. As for this fellow Moses, who brought us up from Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron answered them, “Strip the gold rings from the ears of your wives and daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people stripped themselves of their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took them out of their hands, cast the metal in a mold, and made it into the image of a bull-calf. “These,” he said, “are your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from Egypt”… [Moses] took the calf they had made and burnt it; he ground it to powder, sprinkled it on water, and made the Israelites drink it.

Yahweh’s dwelling-place

1 Chronicles 17:1-6

As soon as David was established in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I live in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD is housed in curtains.” Nathan answered David, “Do whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.” But that night the word of God came to Nathan: “Go and say to David my servant, ‘This is the word of the LORD: It is not you who shall build me a house to dwell in. Down to this day I have never dwelt in a house since I brought Israel up from Egypt; I lived in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I journeyed with Israel, did I ever ask any of the judges whom I appointed shepherds of my people why they had not built me a house of cedar?’”

idolatry as “no gods but the work of men’s hands, mere wood and stone” [2 Kings 19:18, Isaiah 36:19]

Psalms 115:4-8

Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths that cannot speak, and eyes that cannot see; they have ears that cannot hear, nostrils, and cannot smell; with their hands they cannot feel, with their feet they cannot walk, and no sound comes from their throats. Their makers grow to be like them, and so do all who trust in them.

Isaiah 2:7-9

Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasure; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots; their land is filled with idols, and they bow down to the work of their own hands, to what their fingers have made. Mankind shall be brought low, all men shall be humbled.

Isaiah 10:15

Shall the axe set itself up against the hewer, or the saw claim mastery over the sawyer, as if a stick were to brandish him who wields it, or a staff of wood to wield one who is not wood?

Isaiah 29:16 [also see Isaiah 44:9-20, 45:9-11]

How you turn things upside down, as if the potter ranked no higher than the clay! Shall the thing made say of its maker, “He did not make me”? Shall the pot say of the potter, “He has no skill”?

Hosea 14:3

Assyria shall not save us, nor will we seek horses to ride; what we have made with our own hands we will never again call gods; for in thee the fatherless finds a father’s love.

Micah 5:13

I will destroy your images and all the sacred pillars in your land; you shall no longer bow in reverence before things your own hands made.

Habbakuk 2:18-19

What use is an idol when its maker has shaped it?—it is only an image, a source of lies; or when the maker trusts what he has made?—he is only making dumb idols. Woe betide him who says to the wood, “Wake up”, to the dead stone, “Bestir yourself”! Why, it is firmly encased in gold and silver and has no breath in it.

work of human hands not to be equated with work of Creator’s “hands”

Deuteronomy 8:11-20

Take care not to forget the LORD your God and do not fail to keep his commandments, laws, and statutes which I give you this day. When you have plenty to eat and live in fine houses of your own building, when your herds and flocks increase, and your silver and gold and all your possessions increase too, do not become proud and forget the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery…Nor must you say to yourselves, “My own strength and energy have gained me this wealth,” but remember the LORD your God; it is he that gives you strength to become prosperous…If you forget the LORD your God and adhere to other gods, worshiping them and bowing down to them, I give you a solemn warning this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will be destroyed because of your disobedience to the LORD your God, as surely as were the nations whom the LORD destroyed at your coming.

Job 31:15-28

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same God create us in the belly? If I have withheld their needs from the poor or let the widow’s eye grow dim with tears, if I have eaten my crust alone, and the orphan has not shared it with me…if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man with nothing to cover him, if his body had no cause to bless me, because he was not kept warm with a fleece from my flock, if I have raised my hand against the innocent, knowing that men would side with me in court…If I have put my faith in gold and my trust in the gold of Nubia, if I have rejoiced in my great wealth and in the increase of riches…this would have been an offense before the law, for I should have been unfaithful to God on high.

false worship and true worship

against blood-sacrifice and empty ritual

Psalms 50:7-14

I will bear witness against you, O Israel: I am God, your God, shall I not find fault with your sacrifices, though your offerings are before me always? I need take no young bull from your house, no he-goat from your folds; for all the beasts of the forest are mine and the cattle in thousands on my hills. I know every bird on those hills, the teeming life of the fields is my care. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it are mine. Shall I eat the flesh of your bulls or drink the blood of he-goats? Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the Most High.

Isaiah 1:11-17

Your countless sacrifices, what are they to me? says the LORD. I am sated with whole-offerings of rams and the fat of buffaloes; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, of sheep and of he-goats. Whenever you come to enter my presence—who asked you for this? No more shall you trample my courts. The offer of your gifts is useless, the reek of sacrifice is abhorrent to me. New moons and sabbaths and assemblies, sacred seasons and ceremonies, I cannot endure… When you lift your hands outspread in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Though you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. There is blood on your hands; wash yourselves and be clean. Put away the evil of your deeds, away out of my sight. Cease to do evil and learn to do right, pursue justice and champion the oppressed; give the orphan his rights, plead the widow’s cause.

Jeremiah 7:22-27

But when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt, I gave them no commands about whole-offering and sacrifice; I said not a word about them. What I did command them was this: If you obey me, I will be your God and you shall be my people. You must conform to all my commands, if you would prosper. But they did not listen; they paid no heed, and persisted in disobedience with evil and stubborn hearts; they looked backwards and not forwards, from the day when your forefathers left Egypt until now. I took pains to send to them all my servants and prophets; they did not listen to me, they paid no heed, but were obstinate and proved even more wicked than their forefathers. When you tell them this, they will not listen to you…

Isaiah 66:2-4

The man I look to is a man [humble and contrite in spirit (RSV)], who reveres my words. But [he who slaughters an ox is like he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like him who breaks a dog’s neck; he who presents a cereal offering, like him who offers swine’s blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like him who blesses an idol (RSV).] All these are the chosen practices of men who revel in their loathsome rites. [best translation NEB]

Amos 5:21-24

I hate, I spurn your pilgrim-feasts; I will not delight in your sacred ceremonies. When you present your sacrifices and offerings I will not accept them, nor look on the buffaloes of your shared-offerings. Spare me the sound of your songs; I cannot endure the music of your lutes. [Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream (RSV)]

Micah 6:6-8 [RSV]

With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Jeremiah 4:4

circumcise yourselves to the service of the LORD, circumcise your hearts

against temple-fetishism

Isaiah 66:1-2

These are the words of the LORD: Heaven is my throne and earth my footstool. Where will you build a house for me, where shall my resting-place be? All these are of my own making and all these are mine. This is the very word of the LORD.

Jeremiah 7:1-11

This word came from the LORD to Jeremiah. Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there make your proclamation: Listen to the words of the LORD, all you men of Judah who come in through these gates to worship him. These are the words of the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your doings, so that I may let you live in this place. You keep saying, “This place is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” This catchword of yours is a lie; put no trust in it. Mend your ways and your doings, deal fairly with one another, do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, shed no innocent blood in this place, do not run after other gods to your own ruin. Then will I let you live in this place, in the land which I gave long ago to your forefathers for all time. You gain nothing by putting your trust in this lie. You steal, you murder, you commit adultery and perjury, you burn sacrifices to Baal, you run after other gods whom you have not known; then you come and stand before me in this house, which bears my name, and say, “We are safe”; safe, you think, to indulge in all these abominations. Do you think that this house, this house which bears my name, is a robber’s cave?

against false affirmations of belief

Isaiah 29:13-14

Then the LORD said: Because this people approach me with their mouths and honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me, and their religion is but a precept of men, learnt by rote, therefore I will yet again shock this people, adding shock to shock: the wisdom of their wise men shall vanish and the discernment of the discerning shall be lost.

false prophesy

1 Kings 22:1-38 [the lying spirit in 400 prophets vs. the truth out of Micaiah]

Isaiah 30:9-11

For they are a race of rebels, disloyal sons, sons who will not listen to the LORD’s instruction; they say to the seers, “You shall not see”, and to the visionaries, “You shall have no true visions; give us smooth words and seductive visions. Turn aside, leave the straight path, and rid us for ever of the Holy One of Israel.”

Jeremiah 6:13-15, 8:10-12

prophets and priests are frauds, every one of them; they dress my people’s wound, but skin-deep only, with their saying, “All is well.” All well? Nothing is well! Are they ashamed when they practice their abominations? Ashamed? Not they! They can never be put out of countenance.

Ezekiel 13:9-12

I will raise my hand against the prophets whose visions are false, whose divinations are a lie….Rightly, for they have misled my people by saying that all is well when all is not well. It is as if they were building a wall and used whitewash for the daubing. Tell these daubers that it will fall; rain will pour down in torrents, and I will send hailstones hard as rock streaming down and I will unleash a stormy wind. When the building falls, men will ask, “Where is the plaster you should have used?”

meaningless and meaningful fasts [with reference to Sabbath]

Isaiah 58:5-10, 13-14

Is it a fast like this that I require, a day of mortification such as this, that a man should bow his head like a bulrush and make his bed on sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this what I require of you as a fast: to loose the fetters of injustice, to untie the knots of the yoke, to snap every yoke and set free those who have been crushed? Is it not sharing your food with the hungry, taking the homeless poor into your house, clothing the naked when you meet them and never evading a duty to your kinsfolk? …If you feed the hungry from your own plenty and satisfy the needs of the wretched, then your light will rise like dawn out of darkness and your dusk be like noonday…If you cease to tread the sabbath underfoot, and keep my holy day free from your own affairs, if you call the sabbath a day of joy and the LORD’s holy day a day to be honored, if you honor it by not plying your trade, not seeking your own interest or attending to your own affairs, then you shall find your joy in the LORD…

new covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-33

The time is coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although they broke my covenant, I was patient with them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will set my law within them and write it on their hearts; I will become their God and they will become my people.

New Testament

against false worship

Matthew 15:1-20

Then Jesus was approached by a group of Pharisees and lawyers from Jerusalem, with the question: “Why do your disciples break the ancient tradition? They do not wash their hands before meals.” He answered them: “And what of you? Why do you break God’s commandment in the interest of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’…But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, ‘Anything of mine which might have been used for your benefit is set apart for God,’ then he must not honor his father or his mother.” You have made God’s law null and void out of respect for your tradition. What hypocrisy! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “This people pays me lip-service, but their heart is far from me; their worship of me is in vain, for they teach as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Matthew 21:28-31

A man had two sons. He went to the first, and said, “My boy, go and work today in the vineyard.” “I will, sir”, the boy replied; but he never went. The father came to the second and said the same. “I will not, he replied, but afterwards he changed his mind and went. Which of these two did as his father wished?” “The second”, they said. Then Jesus answered, “I tell you this: tax-gatherers and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.”

on worshiping the creations of human hands

Acts 17:24-31 [Paul to Athenians]

The God who created the world and everything in it, and who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by men….He created every race of men of one stock, to inhabit the whole earth’s surface….They were to seek God, and, it might be, touch and find him; though indeed he is not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move, in him we exist; as some of your own poets have said, “We are also his offspring.” As God’s offspring, we ought not to suppose that the deity is like [not “is” but “is like”] an image gold or silver or stone, shaped by human craftsmanship or design. As for the times of ignorance, God has overlooked them; but now he commands mankind, all men everywhere, to repent…

Acts 19:23-26 [in Ephesus]

Now about that time, the Christian movement gave rise to a serious disturbance. There was a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana and provided a great deal of employment for the craftsmen. He called a meeting of these men and the workers in allied trades, and addressed them. “Men,” he said, “you know that our high standard of living depends on this industry. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul with his propaganda has perverted crowds of people, not only at Ephesus, but also in practically the whole of the province of Asia. He is telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all.”

Romans 1:22-23

They boast of their wisdom, but they have made fools of themselves, exchanging the splendor of immortal God for an image shaped like mortal man, even for images like birds, beasts, and creeping things.

metanoia, and you will be forgiven: condition for entering kingdom

Matthew 3:1-2, 7-10

About that time John the Baptist appeared as a preacher in the Judaean wilderness; his theme was: “Repent; for the kingdom of Heaven is upon you!”…When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them: “You viper’s brood! Who warned you to escape from the coming retribution? Then prove your repentance by the fruit it bears; and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father.‘ I tell you that God can make children for Abraham out of these stones here. Already the axe is laid to the root of the trees; and every tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.”

Acts 2:37-38

When they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the apostles, “Friends, what are we to do?” “Repent,” said Peter, “repent and be baptized [born anew], every one of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit….”

Acts 3:19

Repent then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.

Romans 2:4

Or do you think lightly of his wealth of kindness, of tolerance, and of patience, without recognizing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to a change of heart?

Romans 12:2

Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your minds be remade and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect.

2 Corinthians 5:15-17

His purpose in dying for all was that men, while still in life, should cease to live for themselves, and should live for him who for their sake died and was raised to life. With us therefore worldly standards have ceased to count in our estimate of any man…When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world; the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun.

not what you say or show off but what you do that counts: incarnation

Matthew 7:21-23

Not everyone who calls me “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my heavenly Father. When that day comes, many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out devils in your name, and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them to their face, “I never knew you; out of my sight, you and your wicked ways!”

1 John 4:7-9, 12, 20-21, 5:1-2

Everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God, but the unloving know nothing of God. For God is love…. Though God has never been seen by any man, God himself dwells in us if we love one another; his love is brought to perfection within us….But if a man says, “I love God,” while hating his brother, he is a liar. If he does not love the brother whom he has seen, it cannot be that he loves God whom he has not seen. And indeed this command comes to us from Christ himself: that he who loves God must also love his brother…. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and to love the parent means to love his child; it follows that when we love God and obey his commands we love his children too.

Matthew 7:24-27

What then of the man who hears these words of mine and acts upon them? He is like a man who had the sense to build his house on rock. The rain came down, the floods rose, the wind blew, and beat upon that house; but it did not fall, because its foundations were on rock. But what of the man who hears these words of mine and does not act upon them? He is like a man who was foolish enough to build his house on sand. The rain came down, the floods rose, the wind blew, and beat upon that house; down it fell with a great crash.

Matthew 23:2-7

The doctors of the law and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses; therefore do what they tell you; pay attention to their words. But do not follow their practice; for they say one thing and do another. …Whatever they do is done for show. They go about with broad phylacteries and with large tassels on their robes; they like to have places of honor at feasts and the chief seats in synagogues, to be greeted respectfully in the street, and to be addressed as “rabbi.”

Romans 2:11-16, 26-29

For God has no favorites: those who have sinned outside the pale of the Law of Moses will perish outside its pale, and all who have sinned under that law will be judged by the law. It is not by hearing the law, but by doing it, that men will be justified before God. When Gentiles who do not possess the law carry out its precepts by the light of nature, then, although they have no law, they are their own law, for they display the effect of the law inscribed on their hearts…. If an uncircumcised man keeps the precepts of the law, will he not count as circumcised? He may be uncircumcised in his natural state, but by fulfilling the law he shall pass judgment on you who break it, for all your written code and your circumcision. The true Jew is not he who is such in externals, neither is the true circumcision the external mark of the flesh. The true Jew is he who is such inwardly, and the true circumcision is of the heart, directed not by written precepts but by the Spirit; such a man receives his commendation not from men but from God.

James 1:22-24

Only be sure that you act on the message and do not merely listen; for that would be to mislead yourselves.

James 2:14-17

My brothers, what use is it for a man to say he has faith when he does nothing to show it? Can that faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is in rags with not enough food for the day, and one of you says, “Good luck to you, keep yourselves warm, and have plenty to eat,” but does nothing to supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is in itself a lifeless thing.

James 2:18-26

You have faith enough to believe that there is one God. Excellent! The devils have faith like that, and it makes them tremble. But can you not see, you quibbler, that faith divorced from deeds is barren?…As the body is dead when there is no breath left in it, so faith divorced from deeds is lifeless as a corpse.

1 John 1:5-6

…God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to be sharing in his life while we are walking in the dark, our words and our lives are a lie…

1 John 2:3-6

Here is the test by which we can make sure that we know him: do we keep his commands? The man who says, “I know him,” while he disobeys his commands, is a liar and a stranger to the truth; but in the man who is obedient to his word, the divine love has indeed come to its perfection. Here is the test by which we can make sure that we are in him: whoever claims to be dwelling in him, binds himself to live as Christ himself lived.

1 John 3:17-18

But if a man has enough to live on, and yet when he sees his brother in need shuts up his heart against him, how can it be said that the divine love dwells in him? My children, love must not be a matter of words or talk; it must be genuine, and show itself in action.

1 Corinthians 13:1-7, 13

I may speak in tongues of men or of angels, but if I am without love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy, and know every hidden truth; I may have faith strong enough to move mountains; but if I have no love [agape], I am nothing. I may dole out all I possess, or even seek glory by self-sacrifice, but if I have no love, I am none the better. Love is patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offense. Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat over other [persons’] sins, but delights in the truth. There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and its endurance….In a word, there are three things that last for ever: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of them all is love. [RSV: Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.]

Titus 3:8

Those who have come to believe in God should see that they engage in honorable occupations, which are not only honorable in themselves, but also useful to their fellow-men.

no cheap grace

Romans 3:23-25, 31

For all alike have sinned, and are deprived of the divine splendor [simply not true: is a matter of degree], and all are justified by God’s free grace alone, through his act of liberation in the person of Christ Jesus. For God designed him to be the means of expiating sin by his sacrificial death, effective though faith [back to the idolatrous scapegoat concept of sacrificial offerings, that Yahweh has already indicated he despises]….Does this mean we are using faith to undermine law? By no means: we are placing law itself on a firmer footing.

Romans 6:1-4, 6, 15-16

What are we to say, then? Shall we persist in sin, so that there may be all the more grace? No, no! We died to sin: how can we live in it any longer? Have you forgotten that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus we were baptized into his death? By baptism we were buried with him, and lay dead, in order that, as Christ was raised from the dead in the splendor of the Father, so also we might set our feet on the new path of life….We know that the man we once were has been crucified with Christ, for the destruction of the sinful self, so that we may no longer be the slaves of sin…What then? Are we to sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not. You know well enough that if you put yourselves at the disposal of a master, to obey him, you are slaves of the master whom you obey…

Galatians 5:22-25

But the harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law dealing with such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the lower nature with its passions and desires. If the Spirit is the source of our life, let the Spirit also direct its course.

Jesus’ instructions to the apostles

Matthew 10:16-22, 34-39

Look, I send you out like sheep among wolves; be wary as serpents, innocent as doves. And be on your guard, for men will hand you over to their courts, they will flog you in the synagogues, and you will be brought before governors and kings, for my sake, to testify before them and the heathen. But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say; when the time comes, the words you need will be given you; for it is not you who will be speaking: it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking in you.//Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will turn against their parents and send them to their death. All will hate you for your allegiance to me; but the man who holds out to the end will be saved….You must not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a son’s wife against her mother-in-law; and a man will find his enemies under his own roof. No man is worthy of me who cares more for father or mother than for me; no man is worthy of me who cares for son or daughter; no man is worthy of me who does not take up his cross and waLuke in my footsteps. By gaining his life a man will lose it; by losing his life for my sake, he will gain it.

Christian ministry

2 Corinthians 6:4-10

As God’s servants, we try to recommend ourselves in all circumstances: in distress, hardships, and dire straits; flogged, imprisoned, mobbed; overworked, sleepless, starving. We recommend ourselves by the innocence of our behavior, our grasp of truth, our patience and kindliness; by gifts of the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by declaring the truth, by the power of God….we are the impostors who speak the truth, the unknown men whom all men know; dying we still live on…in our sorrows we have always cause for joy; poor ourselves, we bring wealth to many; penniless, we own the world.

1 Thessalonians 2:4-6

…God has approved us as fit to be entrusted with the Gospel, and on those terms we speak. We do not curry favor with men; we seek only the favor of God, who is continually testing our hearts. Our words have never been flattering words, as you have cause to know; nor, as God is our witness, have they ever been a cloak for greed. We have never sought honor from men, from you or from anyone else…

1 Peter 5:1-4

And now I appear to the elders of your community…Tend that flock of God whose shepherds you are…not for gain but out of sheer devotion; not tyrannizing over those who are allotted to your care, but setting an example to the flock.

worship of wealth vs. worship of what is truly worthy of worship

Matthew 6:19-21

Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where it grows rusty and moth-eaten, and thieves break in and steal it. Store up treasure in heaven, where there is no moth and no rust to spoil it, no thieves to break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matthew 6:24

No servant can be the slave of two masters; for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and think nothing of the second. You cannot serve God and Money.

Matthew 19:16-22

And now a man came up and asked him, “Master, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” “…if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”…“I have kept all these. Where do I fall short?” Jesus said to him “if you wish to go the whole way, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and then you will have riches in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away with a heavy heart; for he was a man of great wealth.

Matthew 19:23-24

Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you this: a rich man will find it hard to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I repeat, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Luke 12:15-21

Then he said to the people, “Beware! Be on your guard against greed of every kind, [for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions (RSV)].” And he told them this parable: “There was a rich man whose land yielded heavy crops. He debated with himself: ‘What am I to do? I have not the space to store my produce. This is what I will do,’ said he: ‘I will pull down my storehouses and build them bigger. I will collect in them all my corn and other goods, and then say to myself, ‘Man, you have plenty of good things laid by, enough for many years: take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.’’ But God said to him, ‘You fool, this very night you must surrender your life; you have made your money—who will get it now?’ That is how it is with the man who amasses wealth for himself and remains a pauper in the sight of God.”

Luke 16:9

So I say to you, use your worldly wealth to win friends for yourselves, so that when money is a thing of the past you may be received into an eternal home.

Luke 16:19-31

There was once a rich man, who dressed in purple and the finest linen, and feasted in great magnificence every day. At his gate, covered with sores, lay a poor man named Lazarus, who would have been glad to satisfy his hunger with the scraps from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores. One day the poor man died and was buried, and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up; and there, far away, was Abraham with Lazarus close beside him. “Abraham, my father,” he called out, “Take pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this fire.” But Abraham said, “Remember, my child, that all the good things fell to you while you were alive, and all the bad to Lazarus; now he has his consolation here and it is you who are in agony….”

Luke 19:1-10

Entering Jericho he made his way through the city. There was a man there named Zacchaeus; he was a superintendent of taxes and very rich….When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus,…I must come and stay with you today.”…At this there was a general murmur of disapproval. “He has gone in”, they said, “to be the guest of the sinner.” But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Here and now, sir, I give half my possessions to charity; and if I have cheated anyone, I am ready to repay him four times over.” Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today!—for this man too is a son of Abraham, and the Son of Man has come to seek and save what is lost.”

1 Timothy 6:7-10

We brought nothing into the world; for that matter we cannot take anything with us when we leave, but if we have food and covering we may rest content. Those who want to be rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and perdition. The love of money is the root of all evil things, and there are some who in reaching for it have wandered from the faith and spiked themselves on many thorny griefs.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Instruct those who are rich in this world’s goods not to be proud, and not to fix their hopes on so uncertain a thing as money, but upon God, who endows us richly with all things to enjoy. Tell them to do good and to grow rich in noble actions, to be ready to give away and to share, and to acquire a treasure which will form a good foundation for the future. Thus they will grasp the life which is life indeed.

worship of men vs. worship of God

Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went away and agreed on a plan to trap him in his own words. Some of their followers were sent to him in company with men of Herod’s party. They said, “…Give us your ruling on this: are we or are we not to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor?” Jesus was aware of their malicious intention and said to them, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to catch me out? Show me the money in which the tax is paid.” They handed him a silver piece. Jesus asked, “whose head is this, and whose inscription?” “Caesar’s”, they replied. He said to them, “Then pay Caesar what is due to Caesar, and pay God what is due to God.” This answer took them by surprise, and they went away and left him alone.

Acts 4:17-21 [challenge to hierarchical authority, in trial before High Priest Caiaphas after arrest and imprisonment (4:3)]

They then called them in and ordered them to refrain from all public speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John said to them in reply: “Is it right in God’s eyes for us to obey you rather than God? Judge for yourselves. We cannot possibly give up speaking of things we have seen and heard.” The court repeated the caution and discharged them.

apostles disobey court, are reimprisoned (5:18), escape (5:19), and resume teaching in temple (5:21); are rearrested (5:26)

Acts 5:27-32, 40-42

So they brought them and stood them before the Council; and the High Priest began his examination. “We expressly ordered you,” he said, “to desist from teaching in that name; and what has happened? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are trying to make us responsible for that man’s death.” Peter replied for himself and the apostles: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had done to death by hanging him on a gibbet. He it is whom God has exalted with his own right hand as leader and savior, to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to all this, and so is the Holy Spirit given by God to those who are obedient to him.”…They sent for the apostles and had them flogged; then they ordered them to give up speaking in the name of Jesus, and discharged them. So the apostles went out from the Council rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer indignity for the sake of the Name. And every day they went steadily on with their teaching in the temple and in private houses, telling the good news of Jesus the Messiah.

Paul, in his trial before Sanhedrin for bringing non-Jews into the fold

Acts 23:4-5

The attendants said, “Would you insult God’s High Priest?” “My brothers,” said Paul, “I had no idea that he was High Priest; Scripture, I know, says: ‘You must not abuse the ruler of your people.’”

challenge to Temple’s hold on God: Stephen, citing Isaiah 66:1-2 just before he’s stoned to death (7:58-60), with Saul among the accomplices (8:1)

Acts 7:48-50

However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men: as the prophet says: as the prophet says, “Heaven is my throne and earth my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord; where is my resting-place? Are not all these things of my own making?” How stubborn you are, heathen still at heart and deaf to the truth! You always fight against the Holy Spirit. Like fathers, like sons. Was there ever a prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One; and now you have betrayed him and murdered him, you who received the Law as God’s angels gave it to you, and yet have not kept it.

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