"A Parody of Piety"

Scripture Passage

Isaiah 12:1-6; Isaiah 17:1-14; 2 Chronicles 28:16-21; 2 Kings 16:10-18; 2 Chronicles 28:22-25; 2 Kings 18:1-8; 2 Chronicles 29:1-2; 2 Kings 15:30-31; 2 Kings 17:1-4; Hosea 1-2:13

Note: Not historically tied to today's text!

This altar is not Assyrian and

was discovered at Beersheba

Scripture Focus

Then King Ahaz removed the old bronze altar from its place in front of the LORD’s Temple, between the entrance and the new altar, and placed it on the north side of the new altar. He told Uriah the priest, “Use the new altar for the morning sacrifices of burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offerings of all the people, as well as their grain offerings and liquid offerings. Sprinkle the blood from all the burnt offerings and sacrifices on the new altar. The bronze altar will be for my personal use only.” Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz commanded him.  (2 Kings 16:14-16 NLT)

Observation

Okay, this is tricky. King Ahaz has traveled to Damascus to meet with Tiglath-pileser III, the King of Assyria. They don’t meet as equals—rather, Ahaz comes as representative of Judah as a vassal state. While in Damascus, Ahaz’ attention is captured by an altar of Assyrian design, so he sends plans for the altar back to Jerusalem with instructions for Uriah the priest to construct one.

Upon his return, he replaces the old altar—of Jehovah’s divine design—with the new altar of Assyrian design, and begins making the daily sacrifices on the Assyrian altar. He keeps the old altar, he says, for “personal use only.”  He then gets busy doing a bunch of religious things in religious ways that have nothing to do with loyalty to or the worship of Jehovah—a parody of piety!

What’s that got to do with “tricky”? Well, it’d sure be easy to take this text and bemoan all the changes in the church these days. We’ve gone from pews in sanctuaries to seats in multi-purpose buildings. We’ve gone from hymnbooks and organs to video projection and electric guitars. We’ve gone from extended revivals meeting every night of the week to not even hosting a “conventional” Sunday evening service. Are we guilty—as Ahaz was—of discarding “real” faith for some foreign substitute?

I dare say “no”—at least, not because of the changes I’ve described. Ahaz’ modifications were not the result of technological improvements or to facilitate cultural connection. Ahaz’ changes resulted from misplaced loyalty—trusting the power of the Assyrian king and seeking to please him, rather than trusting the power of Jehovah and seeking to please him!

Ahaz could have continued to use the existing altar and been just as disloyal to God as ever. Conceivably, Ahaz could have installed a different altar for some legitimate reason and continued to worship God with a pure and undivided heart. Churches can retain pews and hymnbooks and traditional calendars and be as devoid of genuine love for God as any pagan. Churches can embrace cutting edge technology and ministry out of a heart for God and the world for which He died.

The matter, then, is not so much how the gift we bring to the Lord is wrapped, but the gift itself. Does He indeed find in me one who worships “in spirit and in truth” or find in my worship only a parody of piety?