Casting Down Old Altars

Last Sunday I went to church and the pastor began his message in Deuteronomy 11. His introduction was rather long so I started reading through 11 and into 12. Great stuff! Made me long for the Calvary Chapel in Yucaipa because that brother would have simply gone through the chapter. I would like to comment on the whole passage (read 11 & 12), but I shall refrain. But there is a part that has had me thinking all week

11:31  For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32  And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
12:1  These [are] the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.
2  Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
3  And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations…served their gods And ye shall overthrow their altars…and destroy the names of them out of that place. Wow. Utterly destroy. This was for Israel as they came out of Egypt and entered into the promised land. This applies to us. It seems obvious to me that the promised land for the believer cannot be heaven – there will be no idols there to be destroyed, no –ites to be driven out and no giants to defeat. What is it for us then? The fullness of the blessing, the abundant life, the Spirit-filled life. When we enter the promised land we are to overthrow all the old altars, utterly destroy them. What does this mean? All that we used to worship has to go.

But this week I’ve been thinking about how this relates to Christians in America. Before I go further let me emphasize – America is NOT the promised land, we are NOT called to conquer America or even to Christianize it!! But we ARE Americans and have grown up with and internalized the values and mores of our culture. God says to us who have been redeemed here in America, “When you enter the promised land you must fully obey me, and that means utterly throwing over all that you used to worship and all that those around you still worship.”

So I asked myself, What is that we worship in America? Beauty. Thinness. Health. Fitness. Money. Possessions. Entertainment. Sports. Independence. Environment. Technology. And the trinity in the American Pantheon? Sex, Fun, and New. Sex is almighty. But in everyday life, a thing is no good if it is not Fun. Vying with Fun is New. One of the worst things you can say about something is that it is old. New and Fun - that is American.

Now, none of these are wrong in themselves. But God says, And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire. Everything we value and pursue has to be evaluated by this, Is this compatible with the kingdom of God, the worship of God, my obedience to my Lord Jesus? Are my values, my priorities, my pursuits American or biblical?

I’m reading a book, Fire in our Hearts, which is the story of The Jesus Fellowship Church in England (which is also known as the Jesus Army; they hold the historic Christian faith, being reformed, evangelical and charismatic). This church began life in 1805 as Bugbrooke Baptist Church. Then in 1960s and 70s they were impacted by the charismatic renewal and became a part of the Jesus People movement. Describing their development in the early 70s the book says:

“Around this time we discovered Love Not The World by Watchman Nee. Nee wrote: ‘Salvation is essentially a present exit from a doomed order... [In baptism] a whole world goes down with you. When you come up, you come up in Christ — in the ark that rides the waves. You have entered a new order of things.’
Clearly the hippy culture was not the Jesus culture, but neither was the status quo. Everything in the New Testament cried revolution, transformation and a new society. ‘If anyone is in Christ,’ declared Paul, ‘he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ (2 Cor 5:17).
New creation became our theme song as we broke new ground. New creation called for a reassessment of values that had been drummed into us from birth. It meant hacking out a hallowed spot from the tangle of worldliness. It put a question mark on everything we did simply because everybody else did it. Television, theatre, sport, vacations abroad, religious festivals — they all came under the searchlight.
Many questions arose as we glimpsed the magnitude of God’s will. ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,’ he was saying, ‘but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (Rom 12:2). If it was a choice of moving with God or running with the crowd, then the matter was already settled.”

This is good stuff! Are my values, my priorities, my pursuits American or biblical??


And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day. These [are] the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land…Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.