1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 - American Idols - A Brief Excursus

23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience? 30 If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? 31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. 11 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Target Date: Sunday, 26 May 2024

Thoughts on the Passage:

In ancient Corinth there were cults to Aphrodite (protectress of the city), Apollo, Demeter Thesmophoros, Hera, Poseidon, and Helios and various buildings to cult heroes, the founders of the city. In addition, there were several sacred springs, the most famous being Peirene. Unfortunately, the destruction in 146 BCE obliterated much of this religious past. In Roman Corinth, Aphrodite, Poseidon, and Demeter did continue to be worshipped along with the Roman gods.

How blatant does a spouse’s relationship outside of marriage have to be before it is cheating?

Private dinners?

Refusing the spouse to be with the other person?

Sending statements of romance?

Building Points:

It doesn’t matter how much you BELIEVE in the idol, just how much you devote to it.

Idols are idols if:

It shares your love for God.

It defines any part of you.

It gives you identity.

It gives you purpose.

It protects you.

It causes you to live differently.

It makes you more sinful.

It makes you a better person.

Christians, we cannot FEED these idols in ourselves OR OTHERS:

Liquor to an alcoholic.

Tickets to an idolized performer’s show.

Enablement to an idolized activity.

Sermon Text:

I would like to begin by telling you the bulletin was not a misprint – we will be looking at a passage in 1 Corinthians this morning.

This is what you would call a brief excursus, a short focus on one thing that relates to our study of Isaiah, but a topic that would not be straightforward to bring out from a single text there.

For this, we will need the greater light of the New Testament, the fuller revelation of God and His will and work.

Those who were here last Wednesday night might recognize our text as the one we studied then.

I did not consider touching this passage again today until Thursday, when the parallels and applications between Isaiah’s time, Paul’s time, and our time began to weigh heavier and heavier on my heart and mind.

And I hope by this short diversion we will all have a better idea of what idolatry is and looks like in our day.

Some of you may remember our discussion a few days ago: this is a sin we almost feel like we have licked.

We don’t build temples to Baal, or to Zeus anymore.

In fact the biggest problem in our country, and the world, today is not an overabundance of BAD religion, but a complete lack of religion at all, a pervasive atheism.

So we might struggle, particularly in the references to idolatry we have left in our study Isaiah, to find suitable applications for ourselves.

Even worse, in our private Scripture readings, we might gloss over these indictments of God against idolatry and proclaim ourselves entirely free from breaking that first commandment.

Just because we don’t see a lot of people describing their idolatry as “worship” doesn’t make it any less idolatrous.

It makes no difference at all what YOU call it; it only matters what God calls it.

I am not sure who said it, but I think it comes close to being true: idolatry is the root of every other sin.

It is the First Commandment of the Ten, and every other one is a symptom of this.

Recall that Jesus said the greatest commandment is: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)

Idolatry itself is a failure of this greatest commandment – it is the very next thing that happens when our love for God fails.

It is the “works” to the failure of love for God.

But I think it is really important for us to understand that idolatry doesn’t have to be anything as formal as going to a pagan temple or bowing down to a Buddha doll or burning incense at a homemade altar.

People can be devoted to idols even while proclaiming at the top of their lungs their love for God.

Israel did that:

They ALWAYS considered themselves God’s people.

They sang their psalms.

They offered their offerings.

They said their prayers.

For many of those completely guilty of idolatry, they would have told you they loved God, not those other gods.

But when the beautiful women of Balak invited the Israelite men to come and have a party with them in a special grove, many of them went – and fell into idolatry.

They weren’t there for the god; they were there for the beautiful women, and the drink, and the same things people go to bars every Saturday night to find.

And it is idolatry.

When the people of Israel and Judah in Isaiah’s time practiced idolatry, they were going for the fun, for the show, and for the things that were offered in the context of that worship.

And they never realized, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:20, that they were just joining with demons.

In our passage this morning, the Corinthians were no more religious either.

They were Greeks, and they trusted their philosophy.

They may use the gods and use the myths, but to the pagans in Corinth, those gods were simply figures of speech and a means to an end.

Sure, for example, animals were sacrificed at the temple of Aphrodite in Corinth, but the main commerce of that temple were the hundreds of “women” owned by the temple (let the mature understand).

So just because someone thinks they are irreligious or devoted to God is no guarantee they are not also enslaved to idolatry.

Contrary to popular opinion these days, what you DO still matters as much as how you FEEL.

Many will come before our Lord on that great and terrible Day of His Appearing and declare that they IDENTIFY as Christians;

Yet they will learn it only matters how HE identifies you.

So I would like to spend some time thinking through with you how to tell if something is idolatry.

I will give you several things to consider in identifying idolatrous thoughts and actions.

And I will not be at all surprised if some of them sting you to your heart – they have already stung me.

The first, and perhaps the most obvious, way to tell if something is idolatrous is if it shares ANY of your love for God.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:26-27

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:33

The obvious part is that this is not a command to hate those closest to us; it would run against so many other commands of Scripture if it were.

This is a command to unhindered, unmixed devotion to God through Jesus Christ.

Nothing, no one, in your life can hold any part of your heart that should be entirely devoted to God.

Think of it this way, and I think the meaning is more clear even if the requirement is harder:

When you come to God, He does not promise that ANYTHING you have will not be used for His glory.

He doesn’t promise that ANYTHING you have will be left intact and in your possession through the course of your life.

He makes NO GUARANTEE at all that those who are closest to you, your husband or wife or kids or parents, will not be taken from you by His sovereign will.

Even your LIFE may be required in your devotion to Him.

Even everything you own may be required by Him.

And certainly anything you would withhold from Him would be an idol in your heart.

Anything or anyone where you say to God, “Please don’t touch this!”

Is there anything, or anyone, you have prayed this for?

Be sure that if our Lord requires it, He will have a good reason to take it.

Parents – it is NOT more loving of you to pray this for your children:

Do you think you love your child more than God does?

Do you think God can’t protect your child better than you?

Pray for your child’s heart; pray for their soul. Pray that God uses them for His glory.

But above all, pray that God is glorified and that you love Him most of all.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. – 1 John 2:15

We have lived in an easy and privileged country for a long time, enjoying religious freedom and easy access to God’s church.

And we should be entirely grateful to God for that.

But that generosity from God has worked in many Christians a laxity that expects only good things and blessings from God.

That entitlement that fuels so many Prosperity preachers to proclaim that following God is free from worry, free from persecution, and free from pain and loss.

Those very preachers are the priests of the idolatry of our day, preaching the doctrine of demons.

The true God does not bargain – He calls.

Leave your nets and follow Me.

Leave your tables and follow Me.

Take up your cross and follow Me.

He makes no promises as to your accommodations:

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” – Matthew 8:20

That was our Lord’s reply to a man, a scribe, who OFFERED to follow Him. God calls; He doesn’t listen to your offer.

There is a reason we read 1 John 5 this morning in our readings: its ending.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. - 1 John 5:21

When we read that, it seems a really abrupt ending, like the letter got torn off, and this is all we have left.

But I would argue that this is PRECISELY how John wanted to end his letter, because it SUMS UP the entire epistle:

Everything he is telling the believers to do and think and believe leads to this single summary: guard yourself from all these idols.

I invite you to read through that short epistle this evening to see the truth of it. I can’t take the time now.

The second way to tell if something is idolatrous is if it DEFINES any part of you.

There are two ways this can happen:

1. If anything but Christ help make up your identity.

If you are a believer, your identity in Christ is a Christian – full stop.

We have to be very careful when we begin adding hyphens or adjectives to this:

White Christian.

American Christian.

Even Reformed Christian. It is good to be a Christian who believes what are commonly called Reformed Doctrines, and this is an ok shorthand.

But we have to be REALLY careful if this becomes an IDENTITY to distinguish US from other believers.

Because if they are believers, too, then we are all just Christians.

But it doesn’t even have to be religious things that give us identity:

Southern.

Alabamian.

I even mentioned Wednesday night “Swiftie” – a fan of Taylor Swift. Yes, this is idolatry.

BLM

MAGA

Republican

You get the idea. ANYTHING that gives you identity apart from Jesus Christ is an idol. Even doctrinal distinctives – if they are your IDENTITY, they are an idol to you.

2. Another way an idol defines you is if it gives you purpose.

If something other than Jesus Christ gives you purpose for your life.

You could mention “Swifties” again.

But it could also be hobbies, social media, video games, sports, or your job.

All these are fine to DO, but we must be careful to DO them BECAUSE we are followers of Christ, not in addition to it.

The problem is that otherwise good things might be idolatrous for you.

And they may be perfectly ok for someone else.

The third way to tell if something is idolatrous is if we think it somehow protects us.

There are all kinds of superstitions that do this.

Some people wear crosses, carry medals, or rub their lucky rabbit’s foot.

Some people think they will get sick if they don’t say the blessing over their food.

We should always give thanks to God for everything, including our food, but the blessing is not our protection.

A “Bless this House” plaque on the wall, or a horseshoe, or, for some, a picture of “fake Jesus” on their wall.

If you trust in ANYTHING besides God for your protection, that is an idol to you.

And if you trust anything to ENCOURAGE God to protect you, that is an idol to you.

Do your kids have to wear a necklace, carry a book, or beg you for you to protect them?

If you, who are sinful, do this, why would your heavenly Father not joyfully protect you?

The fourth way to tell if something is idolatrous is if it causes you to live differently.

Certainly the idols Israel dealt with caused them all manner of sin.

And those sins grew and grew as their hearts grew farther and farther away from God.

Many are the alcoholics, the drug addicts, the pornography users, the gluttons, the self-promoters who change their lives or hide part of their lives to conceal their sin.

But idols can also cause you to live a BETTER life, a more virtuous life, than you had before.

This is the kind of idol the modern church is less-equipped to deal with.

We look at someone who has a new god (little-g) and say “They are so much nicer than they used to be” or

“She isn’t drinking like she used to.”

Or “He isn’t nearly as big a jerk as he used to be.”

But if the CAUSE of their improvement is not their love for Jesus Christ ALONE, this is simply the demonic god using their improvement to lead others astray.

There are a lot of pagans and fake believers who are good people.

There are a lot of idolatrous people who relieve a great deal of suffering in the world.

And we can be thankful to God for His common grace that allows them to do so.

But the PROOF of the truth of a false god is not the effect it has on the follower.

For a true follower of Jesus Christ, there is sanctification that will grow out of the believer’s relationship with God.

But just because an unbeliever lives an improved life doesn’t mean they are not devoted to an idol.

For the believer in Jesus Christ, if there is something outside God’s means of sanctification that is making you a better person, be careful that you are not relying on an idol.

Because even if that idol makes you improve faster or be more popular or more persuasive for the gospel, you run the risk of being disqualified yourself.

So you may be thinking “Why do we have this passage in 1 Corinthians; we haven’t talked about it yet?”

Until now.

I saved it for last because it is the most difficult thing I will say, and most difficult for you loving parents.

I want to look at verse 29: I do not mean your conscience, but his.

The point of this is that the person who has invited you to dinner is serving meat that was sacrificed to idols.

If they don’t tell you, that is fine – there is nothing to an idol anyway. And you were unaware of where it came from.

But if he tells you, refuse to eat it – for the sake of his conscience.

The point is: we must not reinforce someone else’s idolatry.

If we are unaware of their idolatry, the sin is entirely on them.

But if we know of their idolatry, we sin grievously if we perpetuate that idolatry.

Thus, the easier things to consider are things like:

For someone who is an alcoholic, don’t give them a drink.

But loving parents, you also have to be looking at the things your children idolize – and don’t drive them toward their idol or give it any credibility.

That means if your child is a “Swiftie”, even the biggest fan on the planet, you are doing her HARM by buying her tickets to a show.

If your child LOVES video games to the point of idolatry, help them find something else that breaks them from that idol and leads then to Jesus.

Parents – I know. I get it. Those are the EASIEST gifts you can buy – those things your kid LOVES.

I have done A LOT of that in my life, and that may be why this hit me so hard.

Parents, it is your job EVERY SINGLE DAY to lead your child away from idolatry, not to increase their love for that idol.

It is not a call to stop giving gifts or to refrain from things they like – nothing of the sort.

Work through your child’s sinful idolatry with them, helping them each day to love Jesus Christ more.

And always be on the lookout for things that threaten to become idols, and help them keep it in the proper light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ.

Now, just because they want something badly doesn’t necessarily mean they are in idolatry;

It just means you have to keep a close and loving eye on them to guide their love to God Himself.

As much as we want them to love us best, always work to turn even their love for us into a greater love for God.