DISTRACTIONS IN WORSHIP

The devil knows that he cannot stop nor prevent us from establishing and nurturing our relationship with God. He knows it! Therefore, the devil would never tell us, “Do not worship God.” The devil would never discourage us by saying, “You know that praying to the Father does not accomplish anything.” The devil would never challenge us, “God is not giving you everything that you want. So if you worship me, I will fulfill all of your dreams.” The devil will never say those things because he knows that we would immediately reject them and turn from him.

Although the devil would never directly tell us to disregard God and worship him, he does accomplish it indirectly as he distracts us away from spending time with God to spending time with anything else except God.

In Exodus 20:3-5, are two of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses which address God’s expectation for the time and attention that should be given to God, and forcefully expresses that worship, devotion and allegiance belongs to God and God alone.

3 You shall have no other gods before Me. (NKJV)

3 You must not have any other god but me. (NLT)

4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God (NKJV)

4 You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God (NLT)

As we will explore and expand this subject over the next few weeks, I will address it on today as it relates to corporate worship. Each Sunday, we assemble to worship and praise God. As the devil will never tell us to worship another god not worship an idol god, the devil is distracting many of us away from worshipping and praising through technology.

Some sit in the sanctuary, in the presence of God, checking texts, viewing Facebook, googling topics, and engage media and social media based activities.

Imagine the disrespect and dishonor God must feel as we come together at a time dedicated and devoted to worship and praise to God, and spend that time distracted by the carved image idol called the cell phone. Can we give the true God two hours of our attention without being distracted by the cell phone god?