One Mind for One God

Read Zephaniah
 
Zephaniah 1:1 & 4-5 The LORD gave this message to Zephaniah when Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah…4 “I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist and destroy every last trace of their Baal worship. I will put an end to all the idolatrous priests, so that even the memory of them will disappear. 5 For they go up to their roofs and bow down to the sun, moon, and stars. They claim to follow the LORD, but then they worship Molech, too.”
  
VERSE 1 has two good lessons. The first is “The LORD gave this message”. This introduction was common among the true prophets who were faithful messengers of heaven’s will to Israel and Judah. The source separates Zephaniah’s message from any other ideology or religion. Today each person who teaches of God must speak only as the Bible teaches. This separates true teachers from false.
   The second lesson in verse 1 is Zephaniah’s heritage. He is the great-great grandson of the righteous King Hezekiah. This indicates some in the generations kept moving the message forward. God’s Word had moved even through Manasseh’s sins to stay in the family. Now Zephaniah spoke as the LORD directed.
   The prophet’s words in verses 4-5 reveal one reason Judah’s people would be conquered and exiled: They were hypocrites.
   Do you ever want to be on both sides at once? You know how it is. When you want to be a friend of all, you accept all things. It’s better to keep the peace than to take a stand, isn’t it? But in truth, there is no peace when you keep moving from one stand to another. When “anything goes” you will certainly find yourself going places spiritually and morally you do not want to go. That’s God’s condemnation. Judah physically worshiped God, and they worshiped the idol Molech. How is it possible to worship the God of life and a supposed god who required child sacrifice?
   Jesus often passionately condemned the hypocrites of his day. Then even after his return to heaven, he spoke against the church of Laodicea for being lukewarm (Revelation 3:16). A lukewarm church is in the middle, unsure where to stand.
   God is truth, and he can never accommodate anything false. “You must not have any other god but me…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.” (Exodus 20:3-4) These are always the first commands. He commands you because he loves you. Jesus also said this to Laodicea in Revelation 3:19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Yes, be diligent and direct. Worship the one God who created and saved you unto himself. There is no other.