Recognizing, Rejecting, and Replacing Idols

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Introduction

Alright, if you have your bibles with you, open up with me to Daniel chapter 3. Daniel chapter 3…right in the middle of the bible…if you need help getting there, the table of contents is your friend, no judgment from me.

Daniel 3.

We’re continuing in our series called: Exiles which follows the story of God’s people being removed from their homes and learning that faith is more about how you live than where you live. For us, Daniel shows us what it looks like to follow Jesus in a world and culture that doesn’t.

And we are getting to, what I think, is the most important part of Daniel that we will be looking at in this short series—at least in terms of how we make sense of and engage the world around us.

From 30,000 feet, here’s the story. Chapter 3 follows Daniel’s three friends who are faced with the decision to respect the king or their God. If the go along with the king’s commands, nothing in their lives changes. They go about doing what they were doing and there’s no real immediate problem. But if they don’t go along with it, they’ll be murdered; burned alive.

This is hardly the decision we are faced with today...

So why do think this is such an important part of the bible for us today?

Well, because when you dig down a little deeper, what we find is that this is actually a story about worship. It is story about what you give your life to and what you’d give you’re life for. It’s a about worship.

And everybody worships.

Which at first, feels like too generic of statement. Sure, maybe religious people worship…but everybody?

In his 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College, American Novelist and professor, David Foster Wallace said it in a way that captures both the universal truth and danger of worship, saying:

In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshiping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. If you worship money and things, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. Worship power, you will end up feeling weak and afraid, and you will need ever more power over others to numb you to your own fear. Worship your intellect, being seen as smart, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud, always on the verge of being found out. But the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they’re evil or sinful, it’s that they’re unconscious. They are default settings.

You see, the myth of modern culture is that worship is a thing of the past…and that people who still worship have primitive archaic practices that are out of touch (at best) or socially destructive (at worst). But what I love about this quote from David Foster Wallace, who was not a follower of any particular religion, is how directly he calls our bluff.

Idols, the uncontested object of our worship, are not something we had…they are something we have. The only questions are what or who are they…and what do they demand of us?

We can pretend all we want that they aren’t there, but the same decision Daniel’s friends face in chapter three is the one we face today.

And yet, this story also gives us a map for how we navigate this world filled with idols. As, along with Daniel’s friends, we recognize, reject, and replace the idols in our lives.

So if you’re not there yet, open with me to Daniel 3.

I’ll pray and then we’ll get started.

PRAY

Recognizing Idols

Alright, let’s get started. And what we’ll see first is the process of recognizing idols.

Now, just for some context, remember that Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were part of the royal family and noble class in Jerusalem when they were conquered by the Babylonian empire. And the plan was that the Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, would take the best an brightest of the Israelites, train them up in Babylonian culture.

And so far, in chapters 1 and 2 we’ve seen how they’ve gone out of their way to make sure they honor God in this new land. They don’t just role over and do whatever the King asks of them…instead their real goal is live in a way that honors God no matter what circumstances they’re in.

And in a bit of a paradoxical way, the more they pursue living faithfully in Babylon, the more influence they are given there by the king himself.

But at some point, we’re not exactly sure when, Nebuchadnezzar has the idea to set up a giant statue that represents his reign and his power.

This is what we see in v 1.

Daniel 3:1 ESV

1 King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

And the reason he’s doing this is to reinforce whose in charge.

He sends word out through all of the proper channels that when a certain sound is played, everyone in the empire is to “…fall down and worship the image.”

And this is the part of the story that I think makes it feels primitive and as a result, irrelevent.

Because “worship” is one of those words that we tend to keep firmly within the religious context…something that happens in a temple, a mosque, or a church. It is what religious people do for their gods.

But I think that’s a really unhelpful way of thinking about worship…it’s way to narrow. And it misses all of the other spaces where something far more powerful and formative is taking place, sometimes right under our noses.

A better way to think about worship is this: worship is the relationship we have to something that gives us worth and value.

So, for example, worship is how you could describe your relationship with God. You look to him for your value, your worth, you satisfaction and joy…and that relationship produces certain actions, right? You sing (like we’ve done this morning), you pray, you have a growing desire to honor him, to make significant sacrifices for Him from a place of love and affection, not duty....all of which is how we typically think of worship.

But it would also be an uncomfortably accurate way of explaining the relationship that some have to their careers, right? That you look to your job to give you your value and worth…your very identity...and that relationship produces certain actions, right? You may not sing and pray…but you how many are willing to “sacrifice” their family and other relationship on the altar of success?

Worship is how you can define your relationship to sexuality…and you look for your value and worth there.

It’s how you can talk about your relationship to a spouse…a girl-friend, boy-friend, or even the desire FOR that kind of relationship.

Back to the story in Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar sets up an image that represents his influence, his power, his authority and demands the entire nation fall down in worship to it…to him. He wants his people to look to him for their value, and worth, and security, and comfort. Worship describes their relationship to him.

And the reason I’m spending so much time here is because, just like David Foster Wallace observed, every body worships. This is not an ancient thing…this is not just a religious thing. Worship is universal. Every single one of us worships something…

And in order for us to first recognize idols so that we can reject and replace idols, we have to learn to ask the question: what are we worshiping?

What is an Idol?

And I think this is one of the things we see play out in story of Daniel’s friends, because as they look at this whole business with a statue, they realize they are being asked to do far more than just affirm their allegiance to the Babylonian empire.

They recognize that Nebuchadnezzar is an idol.

And again, we find ourselves in the place of hearing a word that we automatically put in a box. We think of idols as little statutes that primitive cultures “worship.”

We think of it this way:

If you travel in Greece and Turkey today, you’ll find ruins of ancient cities that were dominated by temples and other places of worship. And some of these structures were enormous, considered part of the wonders of the ancient world! The temple of Artemis, in Modern Day Turkey, for example could house hundreds and hundreds of worshipers all there to come and offer sacrifices to the greek god, Artemis. The people gathered there believed they needed to please Artemis who was the god of nature and fertility. Artemis and the other greek gods are what we think of with the word idol.

But imagine for a moment that some catastrophic event takes place that knocks humanity back a few thousand years on the progress scale…Planet of the Apes style…And imagine they rediscover the ancient city of Columbus. How would they make sense of the different structures and buildings they found. If they found Polaris…how would they makes sense of our “obsession” with the North Star (some of you may just have made that connection). Easton would be god of commerce…and what would they think when they uncover our Colosseum? The place were over 100,000 used to gather to witness a clash between different regional deities...

And all of a sudden…the idea of idolatry maybe isn’t as primitive as we once thought.

We all worship. We may not immediately think of it that way, but it’s real.

We all have a set of idols to whom we look for our satisfaction…and joy…and comfort…our value and worth. And the demand for worship is everywhere.

But like Daniel and his friends, we have to recognize and idol for what it is.

What are common Idols?

And so the question for us is: what are the idols of our age?

Pastor Timothy Keller has an incredibly helpful insight here in his book, Counterfeit Gods,

What is an idol? It is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give....[it] is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

You see anything can become an idol in our lives.

Anything.

Good things like education, jobs, and relationships can all become idols when we look to these things to give us more than they could ever actually supply.

A whole host of substances become idols when we look to them to be our real source of comfort and escape from the world you may feel trapped in. Addiction is nothing less than the realization that we have been enslaved by what we worship.

You see in Daniel 3 first shows us that Daniels three friends immediately recognize the idol for what it is: an idol. A false promise. A counterfeit. And, friends, as we navigate our own world today, like Daniel’s three friends, we have to learn to recognize the idols that are actually around us, not pretend they don’t exist or that we are somehow immune to their allure. And until we recognize that they are real, we will be inevitably lured away by their Siren song.

Rejecting Idols

Keep reading the story though.

Look with me at v. 16 (Daniel 3:16-18)

Daniel 3:16–18 ESV

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

You see, these three friends don’t just recognize the idol, the reject idols. They refuse to bow down in worship…in other words, they say to Nebuchadnezzar, our ultimate allegiance is not to you. It’s not to your empire…because ULTIMATELY you are not the one who provides and sustains us. You are not the one who ULTIMATELY gives us value, worth, and security.

And I think this is the learned we response to idols that we need as followers of Jesus today. It’s not simply to recognize in your own life that someone or something has become an idol…we need to reject that idol. We need to refuse to give our allegiance. We divest our hope and disentangle our worth from this idol that can so easily have a a profound control over our lives.

And here’s how this works.

Just like we’ve been talking about, in our modern culture, we may not bow down before an actual statue of Aphrodite, the greek goddess of love and beauty. But the man or woman who stands in front of a mirror with a deep sense of shame over what they see is just as much a worshiper of Beauty as those who once filled Aphrodites temple. Why? Because you are chasing after an image that you believe will provide a much deeper sense of satisfaction and joy…you believe that achieving that body will in some way make you worthy of the love and affection of another, maybe even yourself.

But rejecting the idol here says: I was never meant to find my deepest sense of satisfaction and joy…my meaning and value…in my body! Rejecting the idol says, No! I was created to find my meaning in how others view my body.

And it does not mean you simply stop caring about your body. No, rejecting the idol of your body means you reject the idea that your ultimate hope in this life is in the best body you could attain.

And this places itself out in a thousand other arenas of life: your career can easy become and idol. A great example of a good thing that is poisoned when it becomes an ultimate thing because your career and your success in that career does not have the ability to ultimately satisfy.

It’s why Tom Brady…who by any definition has had an incredibly success career said in this 60 Minutes interview after his third Super Bowl win:

“Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me?  I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, ‘Hey man, this is what is.  I reached my goal, my dream, my life.’  Me, I think: ‘God, it’s gotta be more than this.  I mean this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.  I mean, I’ve done it.  I’m 27.  And what else is there for me?”

Rejecting the idol of your career does not mean you give up your job or don’t care about it. No! You work with excellence. But rejecting the idol says you refuse to rest your significance on your title. You refuse to find your HOPE in this life on how fast and high you can climb the latter.

Your Eduction. Your KIDS education. Where you LIVE…Chicago as an Idol for me.

Where you MOVE your family. Having KIDS at all.

[EXPAND]

The Cost of Rejecting Idols

But before we close up here, we need to recognize that this is no easy process. It is not as if we can simply decide to no longer find our value and meaning in these arenas of life. Idols put up a fight.

This is exactly what happens to Daniel’s friends.

Look at Nebuchadnezzar’s response to them when they say they’re not going to bow down to the idol (Daniel 3:19-23).

Daniel 3:19–23 ESV

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. 22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

If you want to really test the reality of Idols in your life, see what happens when you reject them. See what happens when you starve them. Because they will rear their ugly heads and all of a sudden demand allegiance or else.

In a way, we go through idol withdrawal…and with some of the more physically demanding idols, particularly the kinds that produce addiction…what happens when you stop? Your body has a physical and sometimes deadly response to you starving an idol. You go into shock. Everything inside of you is demanding you go back to the very thing that is costing your life.

And the reality, so many of us go back. We go back to someone or something else to fill the void we’ve created in rejecting one idol. We find that we’ve removed and rebuilt another in it’s place.

Or we find that and idol we thought we’ve dealt with has grown back.

Let me give you an example again. I’ve been with so many guys — and this is not just a struggle for men but for men and women — I’ve met so many guys who want to talk about a pornography addiction in their lives. And the conversations always go the same way…that it’s something they struggled with, felt like the confronted, rejected, put up barriers and set up accountability and promised to never go back…only to find that several weeks, months, or even years later, it pops back up again.

Why does this happen?

It’s because, as the great protestant reformer John Calvin put it:

…man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.

And the idols that grow back, grow back in strength. They put up a fight and want to retrain the affections of your heart…and they will do this until the very end of you life, like Daniel’s friends experienced, being thrown in the furnace.

Weeding

Like weeds, idols grow back and spread. And, again, just like with weeds, the way to rid your yard of weeds is not just by pulling them, but by growing grass. In other words, we need to replace our idols with something else. Something more real, something more beautiful and more powerful to hearts, minds, and imaginations.

This, after all, ends up being the key to what Daniel’s friends have done. And helps us understand how they were able to truly recognize and reject the idols around them. It’s how we too will be able to follow them in this.

Replacing Idols

See, the final step is replacing idols with something better.

Look again at their initial response to King Nebuchadnezzar’s demands…there is something astounding that we kind of skipped over.

Daniel 3:16–18 ESV

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Did you catch that right at the end?

They are convinced of two remarkable realities here.

They are convinced that God is more powerful than their idol…and as a result He would be able to deliver them from any and all retribution their idol could send their way. They are absolutely convinced that God himself is in the position of absolute power and authority over all that they would encounter and experience. But not only that, they are also convinced that:

God is more worthy of their affection…their allegiance than their idol. And you see this in v. 18, that while they are convinced there God is able to deliver them…He is worthy of their affection whether or not He does it!

I mean, come on! How backwards does that feel to us? How many of us in our heart of hearts have conditional affection for God? And we might not ever say it like this, but somewhere the idea exists, “If He really loves me, then he will do ‘this’ or ‘that’ for me. That he will give me ‘this’ or ‘that’?

You see what is remarkable about their response in Daniel, aside from how BACKWARDS it is from how we normally respond, is that the Power and Worthiness of God is far more real to them and far more beautiful to them than anything else they could possibly hold on to in this life.

Do you see that? Let me say it again:

The Power and Worthiness of God is far more real to them and far more beautiful to them than anything else they could possibly hold on to in this life.

You see this shows us that they have done something far more significant than just RECOGNIZE an Idol and REJECT it.

They have replaced the idol with someone better. They have replaced the idols of their world and of their hearts with the one and only thing that actually actually occupy AND SATISFY that position in our hearts, minds, and imaginations.

God himself.

And friends, this is what we must do. Lifepoint Worthington, we have no hope of dethroning any idol in our lives until we do the work of REPLACING the idols in our lives.

And what they find there is the God who is with them even when the idol rages back against them.

Look back at the story. As the three friends are thrown in the furnace (Daniel 3:24-25)

Daniel 3:24–25 ESV

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

They found they had another in the fire. They found that their Powerful, Worthy God…the one who was far more real, far more beautiful to them, was one who was ultimately with them.

Spiritual Intimacy

How do we replace the idols of our heart? How do we make God more powerful and worthy in our own hearts, minds, and imaginations?

Spiritual Intimacy

Gospel - A God like No Other…

The Gospel shows us a God like no other...

One who is with us. One who loves us... One who does for us what we cannot do ourselves... One who rescues us…

Let’s pray.