Where the term 'blockhead' comes from . . .

“Some of the greatest woodwork, craftsmanship and artistry you’ll ever see is associated with religion, where people seek to and do create gorgeous things,” said Jordan in a recent study.

“I remember being in South Africa some years ago and we went into one of the first Dutch settlement churches that was built there in Cape Town hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

“When the Dutch first settled that part of the world, there wasn’t anybody living down at the tip end of Africa because the climate was too hostile and the closest African tribes were the Zulus, which were way up north of them.

“And the Dutch built a church there and it’s still there. I remember standing in it, looking at a pulpit built from one big block of wood, a tree, that would fill that whole wall. I went up in it; it was built for a little skinny guy because they were small people.

“I was looking at the artistry, just beautiful handiwork with faces in it, and I was complimenting it to this lady who said, ‘Yes, there’s a lot of love that went into that.’ I’ve remembered that.

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In Psalm 135, the Lord says, "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
[16] They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;
[17] They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.
[18] They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.

“Over in Isaiah 40-48, where He’s doing the polemic against the false religions Israel was following, He says, ‘You know, you go out there and you cut the tree down and do all this stuff to make it all beautiful, and then when you want to sweep, you got to move it because it can’t even get out of your way. Yet when you got a need, you go pray to it and ask it to help you. It can’t even get out of your way to clean the floor and you think it’s going to help you when your kid’s sick or an enemy’s coming?! Are you nuts?!’

“That’s why He says there in Psalm 135: 18, ‘They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them.’

“Well, if they’re dumb, blind, deaf and dead, then what are the people who trust them? They’re dumb, blind, deaf and dead. That’s where the term ‘blockhead’ comes from. You got a head made out of a piece of wood.

“So the emphasis Paul’s making in I Timothy is that ‘the church, the body of Christ,’ is where God works and where He lives and where He’s personally active and it’s not like religion. It’s not like Diana. It’s not like the Baal-worshipping stuff.

“Now, look, Diana doesn’t exist today, but the ‘queen of heaven’ does--‘mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth’ exists today. All that false religion—get in your Bible and find out what Baal worship is and you’ll find it everywhere you go out there.

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“This morning, we closed the service with that song ‘Face to Face.’ I didn’t have the heart to say it after we sang it, but every time we sing that I think, ‘There’s an illustration of hymnology teaching false doctrine.’

“Because that verse is taking a verse out of I Corinthians 13 about ‘face to face we shall see Him’ and making it be a reference to dying and going to heaven when the verse has nothing to do with that.

“That stuff just seeps in everywhere and you have to constantly be aware; constantly be checking. One of my favorite songs, ‘And Can it Be,’ has got a line in it, ‘He emptied Himself of all but love.’ I was singing that not long ago and I thought, ‘I don’t believe that! That’s an NIV and NAS translation of Philippians 2. That isn’t what that verse ought to say.’

“Paul says, ‘That’s not us out there in that dead system.’ We’re the church of the LIVING God. This is where God really is at work and where He really will save people. Where He really will transform people’s lives. Where things really happen that come from heaven. Where it’s God’s grace. Inexhaustible grace to a world that’s exhausted in sin. Over-abounding, over-abundant grace for our needs because it’s the LIVING God and it just flows out of His abundance.

“That’s who we are and God help us if we would stop to try to be the world’s policemen, or try to put people on a treadmill of performance; some conditional basis of trying to gain favor from God that He’s already completely provided for you in Christ.

“You say, ‘Well, what does that do to your growth?’ That lets you grow, not because you have to grow to get something from God, but you can grow in what God’s already given to you.

“He says, ‘Sit down and I’ll be life for you,’ and it’s His life. So that’s what we are; we’re a congregation where God lives.

“By the way, our relationship to the truth is important and that’s why we’re the ‘pillar and the ground of the truth.’ ”