John Knox, the great Scottish reformer, accurately defined idolatry as, All worshipping, honoring, or service invented by the brain of man in the religion of God, without His own express commandment, is idolatry (Works, Vol. III, pg. 34).
For Knox and the other reformers who followed the Scripture, idolatry is not the mere constructing of an image and bowing down before it. It is not only serving any god other than the Triune God revealed in Holy Scripture (a violation of the First Commandment), but idolatry is also worshipping God in any way that He has not appointed in Scripture (a violation of the Second Commandment). If God has not ordered it to be brought to Him in worship, Paul calls it “will worship” (Colossians 2:23)—worship according to the will of man rather than worship according to the will of God.
We are not to make up our own ceremonies and holy days in worshipping our Creator and Redeemer. When the Jews had introduced certain ceremonies (ceremonial washing of their hands) into their worship of God, Jesus condemned it (Mark 7:7-8).
From our text today, we shall see God’s disapproval of the false worship of the prophets of Baal even though they were obviously very zealous in offering themselves to Baal. Our main points are the following: (1) The Extremes to Which People Go in Worship (1 Kings 18:25-28); (2) God Does Not Regard Worship That He Does Not Command (1 Kings 18:29).
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