Is Worshipping God Improperly Idolatry?

Last Week Elder Handson Fu wrote on some aspects of the appropriateness of proper God-honouring worship. This week, I would like to look at the opposite side – that of improper worship, and ask the question, is that idolatry?

A. W. Tozer (1928-1959), a notable Bible teacher, author, and a veteran pastor of 31 years, says it is idolatry. In fact he went so far as to say that not thinking rightly about God is idolatry! He taught that idolatry begins in the mind and is the very place where it should be rooted out. Discerning the lack of true spiritual vitality within the Church of his day, Tozer dedicated his life’s work to calling the Church back to a radical obedience to Christ.

Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. "When they knew God," wrote Paul, "they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." (Rom 1:21)

Wrong ideas about God are not only the fountain from which the polluted waters of idolatry flow; they are themselves idolatrous. The idolater simply imagines things about God and acts as if they were true. Perverted notions about God would soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long history of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the experience of some modern churches confirm it. So necessary to the Church is a high view of God that when that view in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high view of God.

Tertullian (155-230) an early Christian church leader makes the strong argument that idolatry is the root of all sins – in that it displaces God and His purposes from their rightful position. He wrote that, "The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry. For, although each single fault retains its own proper feature, although it is destined to judgment under its own proper name also, yet it is marked off under the general account of idolatry."

This is of course, to put it simply, sin and rebellion. And according to John Stott a well known preacher, scholar, and evangelist, the root of all man’s rebellion is the worship of man himself instead of God.

I couldn’t agree more. Stott in his book, The Cross of Christ, says, "For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone."

So, the answer to our question, "Is worshiping God improperly idolatry?" is a resounding "Yes!" Amen.

In Him,
Rev. Robert Chew