Dealing With Idolatry 2-5-23 AM

Today, God is calling us to a singular focus on Him.

Colossians 3:1–3 (NLT) Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

The “things” of heaven are not as important as the God of heaven — let’ set our sights on Him, let’s think about Him.

Let’s make God our priority.

Not God and (Fill in the blank)

Like:

God and country

God and sports

God and comfort

God and convenience

Etc.

What happens when we mix God with anything on this earth, that earthly thing wants to dominate and push God out of first place.

God gets pushed to an, at best, secondary place.

And then, before we know what happens He gets pushed way out on the periphery.

Anything less than focusing on God alone leads to idolatry.

When God gave the Ten Commandments, the first four speak of our relationship with Him:

Exodus 20:1–11 (LSB) Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

8 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates. 11 “For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

The first 2 commandments speak of our relationship to Him:

No other gods before (or in front of) Him.

He is to be our one and only God.

If we don’t keep Him first place we will break the 2nd commandment and start making or fabricating alternatives.

It has been said that we have a God-shaped hole in our lives.

But fallen humanity tries to fill it with everything or anything else.

And when we do we end up frustrated.

We end up broken in pieces all because we didn’t put God in the a place of prominence in our lives.

So, this morning, let’s look at the human tendency to look anywhere and everywhere for an idol — a substitute for God.

Let’s resolve, that, with God’s help we will keep Him first place in our lives.

Escape!

Last week, before we shared the Lord’s Supper together, I urged us to examine ourselves.

I read from 1 Corinthians 10 & 11

Going back to 1 Corinthians 10 let’s read more of the context, specifically, the scriptures that precede whatt I read last week:

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1–21 (LSB) For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased. For THEY WERE STRUCK DOWN IN THE WILDERNESS. 6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” 8 Nor let us act in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to prudent people. You judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Look at the nation Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? 19 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they SACRIFICE TO DEMONS AND NOT TO GOD. And I do not want you to become sharers in demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

There is a sermon in vs. 6-10. Today, not thousands of years ago, but today:

Don’t be an idolater (yes, it is still a temptation!)

Don’t give in to the sexual immorality so prevalent in this world

Don’t put God to the test

And don’t be a complainer

We can resist all these temptations, because of vs. 10.

This verse get’s twisted and misused so often!

“God will not give you more than you can handle!”

Ask Job about that!

Ask Abraham

Ask Moses

Ask Elijah

Ask any of the Apostles

Ask the one who wrote this verse under the power of the Holy Spirit!

He said:

2 Corinthians 11:23-28 “23 Are they [other apostles] ministers of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, in beatings without number, in frequent danger of death. 24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked—a night and a day I have spent in the deep. 26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the desolate places, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brothers. 27 I have been in labor and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in starvation and thirst, often hungry, in cold and without enough clothing. 28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.”

That sounds like more than anyone could handle!

But the Apostle Paul said in:

2 Corinthians 4:7—11 “7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 in every way afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

Folks we WILL face things that are greater than we can handle —

so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves

so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body … in our mortal flesh.

But when it comes to TEMPTATION.

THAT is where the Lord gives escape.

THAT is where the Lord makes a way where there seems to be no way.

Otherwise, hang on buttercup, you are going for a wild ride!

And you better be holding onto Jesus!

The idol that provokes to jealousy.

But, notice what follows vs 13:

1 Cor 10:14 “14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

Lord willing, this Wednesday we will finish our study based on the book written by Mark Batterson entitled: All In.

In the closing chapters Batterson is trying to get us to realize:

God wants to do amazing things.

He’s simply waiting for us to consecrate ourselves.

So what are you waiting for?

You are one decision away from a totally different life.

It’s now or never.

It’s all or nothing.

It’s time to go all in and all out for the All in All.

To help us see that realization become reality. Batterson wrote Chapter 16:

The idol that provokes to jealousy.

As I said a few minutes ago:

Idolatry was not just a problem for the uneducated of thousands of years ago!

It persists today.

And verse 20 helps us understand why:

1 cor 10:20 “20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they SACRIFICE TO DEMONS AND NOT TO GOD. And I do not want you to become sharers in demons.”

Paul tied idolatry to its real power — demonic power.

But what is idolatry?

Rev. Harley Swiggum, author of the Bethel Bible Series, wrote a study on the Ten Commandments.

He wrote that an idol may be anyone or anything which REPLACES GOD AS THE SOURCE OF OUR ULTIMATE TRUST, which STANDS IN THE WAY of the Creator Father having His way in our lives, which MAKES OF GOD ‘A SECONDARY INTEREST’ and thereby leaves Him with nothing more than “our left-over loyalties”, or which leads us to such AN OVERPOWERING PREOCCUPATION with the present world that we forget our place in the next. Let’s say an idol is WHATEVER CONTROLS AND MOTIVATES YOU; it is anything more important and non-negotiable than God.

We can see MODERN IDOLATRY all through our culture:

Baal worship, for instance, still exists today in those who revere sex and sexuality as the main thrust of life.

Mars, the god of power, exists as nations build more and more war machines and weapons in attempts to keep the peace.

Vulcan still exists for those whose main purpose in life is acquiring possessions.

Venus lingers around every time an ad promotes personal beauty as something to be coveted above all else.

So, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we must resist idolatry, because:

WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP.

Romans 1 spells it out.

So does Ps. 115:8 (NLT): “And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.”

Second, God understood that worshipping idols LEADS TO MORAL DEGRADATION.

Read Romans 1:18-32.

Paul poignantly wrote that because people turned to other gods, to idols, God gave them over to their desires and lusts.

The result? (29) “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity.”

The THIRD reason for the concern about idolatry is that IDOLS OBSCURE OUR VISION OF GOD.

As we already saw in Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before me.” ‘

Before’ me has a double meaning: before in the sense of priority and of place.

In terms of priority, the issue is giving a higher importance to something other than God in our time, money, and energy. In terms of place, it means putting something in front of God;

covering up God.

It’s like putting pictures in a frame.

Often when we add the new picture we simply put it on top of the old ones.

Then one day we take the frame apart and rediscover all the previous pictures. They had been obscured from our view. Or let this door represent other gods. Now that I’m behind it, can you see me? As long as it is in front of me, before me, you cannot see me. You don’t even know for sure where I am… If I stayed here for the next few weeks, said and did nothing, you’d soon forget I was here. Some, who are not here today, would never know – out of sight, out of mind. It’s true of our vision of God as well. We soon lose sight of Him. Then we devote ourselves even more fully to these lesser gods that obscured our vision in the first place.

How do we counteract idolatry in our lives?

Like I said, the Apostle Paul tied idolatry to its real power — demonic power.

To counteract demonic power we will have to see God’s power unleashed in our lives.

First, DISCOVER YOUR IDOLS.

We need to ask ourselves:

What do we desire and love the most?

For what or whom are you willing to suffer?

For what or whom are you willing to give your life?

How do you respond to unanswered prayers or frustrated hopes?

Do they send you into turmoil and cause you to question or blame God?

What do you think about when nothing is demanding your attention – what fills your imagination – what are your fondest dreams?

How and where do you spend your time and money?

What do you fear the most?

What, if you lost it, would cause you to sink into despair?

In asking these questions we will discover what you cling to, or trust in other than or in addition to the one true God who has been revealed in God’s Word; what replaces God as the source of your ultimate trust, what stands in the way of the Creator Father having His way in your life which makes of God ‘a secondary interest” and thereby leaves Him with nothing more than “your left-over loyalties”; or what leads you to such an overpowering preoccupation with the present world that you forget your place in the next, In asking and answering these questions you will find what controls and motivates you, what is more important and non-negotiable to you than God.

SECOND, LEARN ALL YOU CAN ABOUT GOD.

Focus on Jesus who is God. And while doing so, obey what you already know. I’m convinced that our problem is not always that we do not know enough – it’s that we do not obey what we do know enough. It may include giving up what obscures your vision of God.

THIRD, we can develop intensity by MAKING GOD THE SOLE AIM OF YOUR LIFE.

(Dt. 6:5-8 MSG) “Love GOD, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got! Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.”

As Paul later taught, do all you do, whatever it is, to the glory of God.

Fourth, DEVELOP TRUST IN GOD.

Live with the reality that life depends, every moment, on our Sovereign God.

Paul wrote in Colossians 1 that in Jesus all things hold together.

Trust Him, therefore, to hold your life together.

Remember that the God who gave the commandments to His people is the God who first and foremost loved and saved His people.

He will continue to save you.

The reason the Israelites built the golden calf was because they tired of waiting for Moses to come back down the mountain; they lacked trust.

Believe and obey the Word of God –

(Ps. 118:8-9) “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man…than to trust in princes.”

(27:14) “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

(Heb. 10:36) “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

FIFTH, PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT.

When we dig up weeds, they grow back unless there is something to replace them.

When we get rid of idols they will come back unless we replace them.

Steps 1-4 are good, but impossible without the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promised God will give the Holy Spirit to all who ask Him (Lk. 11:13).

So ask for help – God is more ready to give then you are to receive.