ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 TU’APULELULU ‘EPELELI 16, 20226

1 TU’I 12-14; SELEMAIA 17:5-10

No idol is more seductive, deceptive, or attractive than the idol of self.

‘Oku ‘ikai ha ‘aitoli ‘e fakahinga, kakaa mo faka’ofo’ofa, ka ko e ‘aitoli ‘o e kitaa.

A couple came to me for counseling because their marriage was a war zone. Normal conversations became verbal duels for power. They went after each other's motives, character, choices, and actions in ways that were deeply personal and hurtful. It was hard to find any area in their marriage that wasn't a battleground. They claimed to be believers and they went to a pretty good church, but there was no God in their marriage. Because there was no God in their marriage, there was no higher agenda than the wishes and happiness of self. Their marriage ethics were set by the lord of self. Selfishness ruled every aspect of their relationship. They were exhausted and discouraged, but never considered that hope for their marriage would be found not in attacking one another but in together attacking the idol that was at the core of all their problems.

Idol worship rears its ugly and destructive head early in the biblical story. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve disobey God because they want to be like him. Worship of self, rather than worship of God, is the occasion of the very first sin on earth. Self-worship is the sad, discordant note that sounds throughout the entire biblical narrative. The great spiritual war is between the holy throne of God and the unholy deifying of self. Every act of vertical disobedience and horizontal cruelty is rooted in the dethroning of God and the enthroning of self. We see this clearly in 1 Kings 12:25-29:

Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah." So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

The kingdom is now divided. Jeroboam is king of Israel and Rehoboam is king of Judah. It is shocking to see Jeroboam set up calves of gold for his people to worship, but it is even more shocking to hear him credit these idols with the deliverance of the people of God out of slavery. However, if this is all you see in this passage, you miss its deeper warning. Jeroboam sets up this idol worship so that his people will no longer go to Jerusalem to worship. He is afraid of losing power. At the core of this religious idolatry is the idol of self. This account stands as a warning to us. May God, in grace, free us from our bondage to ourselves.