Idols

Introduction

Go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 10 in your Bibles.

What things are so important to you that you really don’t think life is worth living if they go away?

Some of you may be familiar with a man named Bryan Johnson. Bryan is a 46 year old tech entrepreneur, multi-millionaire (some reports claim he’s a billionaire), that has shifted his focus in recent years to a very specific goal: not dying. Bryan has developed an anti-aging routine that he refers to as the “Blueprint protocol.” His goal is to decrease his biological age to 18, and ultimately to extend his lifespan as long as possible.

It does appear that Bryan has some noble intentions. His goal is to be a “lab rat” of sorts, hoping that his research and practices might one day be available to a wide range of people, and would dramatically increase the average lifespan of human beings. He believes that his helping to usher in the next step in human development: relative immortality.

Of course, there are costs to this protocol. The protocol includes an incredibly restrictive diet, not eating after 11:00 a.m., always sleeping in a bed by himself, taking over 100 supplements a day, blood plasma transfusions, microneedling, full-body LED exposure, MRI scans, and that only scratches the surface. According to a Fortune magazine article, it’s estimated that this protocol costs him about $2 million a year. Bryan does hope that one day this protocol would be available at a much lower cost.

Bryan will also offhandedly mention how lonely his lifestyle is. He does have a son, but is not married and has no partner. He says he realizes that his lifestyle would make that impossible. With such a tightly structured life, he is obviously not able to go spend time with people in many types of social situations or engage in a lot of activities that are outside of his protocol.

Bryan has stated repeatedly that his #1 priority in his life is this: “Don’t die.”

On some level, we may have similar motivations to Bryan. We don’t want to accelerate death or the aging process. Especially as Christians we value life and want to cherish it. We also recognize that our bodies are gift from God that need to be stewarded well.

But, although this baseline motivation may not be “bad,” we can see how our culture nowadays is obsessed with anti-aging, even in ways that are less extreme than Bryan Johnson. This obsession with trying to slow down aging and delay death, perhaps indefinitely, consumes so many people’s lives, controlling their thoughts and behavior.

Of course, this is not the only type of thing that people obsess over. Money, relationships, careers, fitness, status, etc. are all things that can drive people to extremes. Even without necessarily going to extremes, many aspects of our lives will occupy an inordinate amount of time, effort, and mental space.

Think about your own life for a second. What things are so important to you that you really don’t think life is worth living if they go away? What makes you feel like you have worth and value? For Bryan Johnson, its pretty clear he only thinks life is worth living if he will never die. For you, what is it?

Whatever it is, you probably get some comfort in telling yourself that you have some aspect of control over that area of your life. You don’t think you have an obsession, let alone a problem. You just really care and are trying to control this aspect of your life so it goes the way that you want it to.

Maybe it’s only really clear that you may have a problem when something doesn’t go your way. Like, when some aspect of your life that you have meticulously curated to achieve some desired result, and yet for some reason things don’t go according to plan. What happens when you don’t get what you want in that area? Do you get anxious, depressed, maybe even angry?

These reactions reveal the harsh, yet undeniable reality:

The things you think you control are actually controlling you.

Scripture has a word for these obsessions, these elements we try to exert absolute control over. It calls them idols.

Now in your minds an “idol” may be some kind of little (or big) statue or figurine that people offer sacrifices to and worship. There aren’t a lot of those around in our culture today. We may feel like we don’t really have physical idols in our culture.

If we did, it would have to be like some physical object that we carry with us everywhere, we’d have to touch it on average something like 96 times a day, spend on average maybe 4.5 hours looking at per day, an object we can’t go anywhere without and whenever it dings or buzzes we stop whatever we’re doing to see what it wants. Okay, so maybe physical idols aren’t that much of a foreign concept for us after all.

But still, it can be a little difficult to translate the actual idea of idolatry from Scripture to our modern lives today. Because although we know that worshipping physical objects is wrong (it’s the first of the 10 commandments, after all), we can let ourselves off the hook by saying - “well, we don’t do that.” But what’s wrong with an idol doesn’t have anything to do with it being a physical object. Instead, the problem with an idol is a human heart that is willing to elevate some thing, person, feeling, or anything else above their relationship with God.

“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.”

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

An idol is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s usually a good thing that we’ve made into a god-thing that then becomes a bad thing for us.

J.D. Greear, Gospel

Idolatry is pervasive - since the Garden of Eden our hearts have been drawn toward idolatry.

“Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.”

John Calvin, Institutes

In this part of 1 Corinthians, Paul is dealing with the question of Christian liberty. In other words, what are some things that might not be sinful that Christians might disagree on, and how should they think through these issues personally and work through them with each other?

The specific problem the Apostle Paul is addressing is twofold: it appears that some Corinthian Christians were continuing to take part in pagan, ritualistic meals that were part of the worship of pagan gods, whether that was by actually participating in the feasts themselves, or eating food that was part of those rituals. They did this because they didn’t see it as being explicitly “sinful,” and they thought they were strong enough in their faith to be able to engage in this kind of behavior.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen Paul addressing these Christians in Corinth that believe they are “strong” enough spiritually to push the envelope on what is proper for Christians to do. These Christians think they are mature enough to have liberty to dabble in some of these things and not fall into actual idolatry.

Let’s read how Paul continues to address them, starting in verse 14:

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 10)

14 So then, my dear friends, flee (run away, escape) from idolatry. 15 I am speaking as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I am saying. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel. Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?

19 What am I saying then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

Exegesis

I. (14) Flee Idolatry

In light of all that he has said so far about idolatry, Paul uses urgent language to communicate what the Corinthians heart posture towards idolatry should be: run - don’t walk away from it.

Echoes of 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.

“Flee” carries with it the connotation of “running for your life”

Two mindsets when it comes to idolatry:

Get as far as you can from it

Get as close as you can to it

Example of kids pushing boundaries/lines. Their body might not be over the line, but their heart is.

What does it say about our heart, our inner being/desires, when we try to get as close to idolatry as we can? It shows that we have an idolatrous heart.

If you are trying to get as close to the line as you can, your heart is already over the line.

Is your heart so captivated by Christ that you identify and react viscerally against any form of idolatry in your life? Do you run the opposite direction?

The fact that the Corinthians were not fleeing from idolatry showed they didn’t really understand what it was, so...

Paul appeals to the Corinthians and their belief that they are “wise” and “mature” in order to understand what he is communicating to them - the true nature of idolatry.

If you remember, the Corinthian Christians were by and large very confident of their own intellect, maturity, and “strength” as Christians. Paul is in some way challenging them based on their own assumptions about themselves - “if you’re so smart, then understand this.”

Paul has given them enough information to be able to figure out the problem with idolatrous behavior. They don’t have an excuse to not be able to connect the dots.

The problem the Corinthians had was the same problem we have. It wasn’t that they weren’t smart enough to be able to identify the problem with their idolatrous behavior, they just didn’t want to think about it too much.

That’s the problem with identifying idolatry: we don’t think deeply enough.

You let life happen to you - you don’t think about what you’re doing

Overthinking can lead to legalism - that’s next week.

You ever hear someone say “don’t think about it too much”? It’s this kind of mentality that allows idolatry to take root in our lives in behaviors and life rhythms based in our shallow thinking.

Instead of using the intellect and wisdom that God has given us to identify and remove idols in our lives, we use that intellect to make excuses for the idols in our lives.

II. (15-18) Expose Idolatry

It seems a little jarring that Paul shifts immediately to talking about the Lord’s Supper (sometimes we call it communion)

Paul is actually going to describe the truths of the Lord’s Supper in a way that is really profound, and relate it to the topic of idolatry. I’m not going to spend a ton of time unpacking all the implications of what Paul describes since in a couple of weeks we are going to get into the second half of 1 Cor. 11 which deals directly with the Lord’s Supper.

Paul is asking the Corinthians to think deeply about the Lord’s Supper, what it means, and how that relates to the expressions of idolatry they are engaging in.

Here’s Paul’s argument:

The Lord’s Supper is a way that we remember and proclaim what Christ has done for us. Luke 22:19 “And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.””

However, beyond it just being a “remembrance,” Paul speaks to a deep, profound reality that is present in the Lord’s Supper. When we observe the Lord’s Supper, we are doing so in unity with Christians who have been observing this same ordinance for centuries. There is a deep sense of intimacy and unity that exists from breaking bread and sharing a cup together. In (figuratively) sitting at the Lord’s Table and sharing in the Lord’s Supper, Christians have unity with Christ and other Christians. More on that in a couple weeks.

So, Paul is very explicitly asking the Corinthians: whose table are you sitting at?

The Corinthian Christians were literally trying to sit at two tables - they wanted to literally sit at the Lord’s Table and share in the bread and the wine, while also going to the pagan temples and sitting at those tables with their pagan friends. They were trying to have a foot in both camps. They thought they were “strong” enough to be able to do both.

But, the same kind of unification that happens within the Lord’s Supper exists when the Corinthians engage in these pagan meals and eat food from that table.

Since the Lord’s Supper is a picture of the unity with have with Christ and with each other. Sitting at “another table” means the Corinthians were allowing their affections to be pulled in a different direction.

The strong see themselves as able to handle direct participation without being led into idolatrous participation.

Preben Vang

Now, we might not literally sit around a table and share the Lord’s Supper together (in fact we might use those little Lordables), and we definitely aren’t going to pagan temples to eat meals in veneration of pagan gods, but the principle here is still important for us today.

You aren’t strong enough to sit at two different tables.

Our participation in fellowship with Christ negates our ability to participate in fellowship with idols.

Idolatry is not something that you can just have a little sprinkle of without fundamentally being changed. You can’t engage in idolatrous behavior without compromising your relationship with Christ.

How then are you not acting inconsistently…blessing God for delivering you from idols, yet running again to their tables?

John Chrysostom (347 - 407 A.D.)

III. (19-22) Confront Idolatry

The food is not the problem. The heart is.

Pat Robertson Goodwill example

Paul is very clear that the food, the meal, the idols themselves, none of it had any sort of mystical, inherent spiritual power. It’s just food. Just a figurine made out of stone or wood.

But, Paul was also confronting the Corinthians in their idea that just because the gods their culture worshipped weren’t “real,” that taking part in the pagan rituals was just an empty gesture, it didn’t mean anything. Paul is saying “no, there is significance to what you’re doing and what you’re taking part in!”

If there really are no other gods, we tell ourselves, we can participate casually in whatever customs our culture may deem normal and “sensible.” But 1 Corinthians 10:1-22 raises a warning flag and summons us to scrutinize our small compromises with the cultural systems around us. When we find ourselves in the face of some dubious invitation or opportunity saying, “No problem, I can handle it; I can be involved in this and still be a good Christian,” we should pause and remember Paul’s warnings to the strong at Corinth. There are two distinct dangers here: the idols have more power than we suppose to reshape us, and we are courting the judgment of God.

Richard B. Hays

In order to confront this idolatrous spirit that had crept into the Corinthian church, Paul uses some pretty gnarly, descriptive language.

1 Corinthians 10:20-21 “No, but I do say that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot share in the Lord’s table and the table of demons.”

Paul here is actually quoting from the Old Testament. He’s referencing Exodus 32 but specifically Deuteronomy 32. Listen to how similar this sounds:

Deuteronomy 32:16-17, 21

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 32

16 They provoked his jealousy with different gods;

they enraged him with detestable practices.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not God,

to gods they had not known,

new gods that had just arrived,

which your ancestors did not fear.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 32

21 They have provoked my jealousy

with what is not a god;

they have enraged me with their worthless idols.

So I will provoke their jealousy

with what is not a people;

I will enrage them with a foolish nation.

Now what’s interesting is that this passage is referring to the children of Israel, God’s people, who had turned away from God and started worshipping other “gods.”

Through this comparison, Paul is saying that in essence what the Corinthians are doing through their participation in these practices is sacrificing to demons - worshipping demons.

Let’s slow it way down here for a minute, because this has the opportunity to be confusing and even alarming for you.

The Corinthian Christians believed it wasn’t a big deal for them to take part in these pagan rituals because the gods they were worshipping weren’t “real.” But, Paul is saying that although the gods that these pagans are worshipping are indeed not real - there is still spiritual significance to what is occurring.

Understand that “participants with demons” is not hyperbole. In our modern age, we are so enlightened that we really don’t like to talk about angels and demons. Even for Christians sometimes, that all seems rather antiquated. But the spiritual realm is real, and there are direct effects that we can see in our world today.

Not hyperbole, but also not meant to instill fear. Christian, we do not have to be afraid of evil spiritual forces. God has won the victory over them. But, just because we don’t have to be “afraid” of demonic forces, does not mean that we can ignore the reality that there is demonic influence in our world today. And it does not mean that the Christian is immune to the effects of this demonic influence.

Now, we might not be in danger of demonic influence by going into pagan temples and eating meat sacrificed to idols, but in our lives as Christians, what can this look like?

If Satan can’t destroy you, he’ll try to distract you.

If you are in Christ, Satan has lost you. You are saved and secure and Satan cannot touch you. You have nothing to fear from Satan or any of his demonic forces. But, when you give into your fleshly nature and begin to chase all the idols that this world has to offer, in essence what you are doing is bowing down to the demonic forces of this world. You see, idolatry is not as simple as just “liking something too much.” It is a real, spiritual reality that puts something above God. And elevating anyone or anything above God inherently has demonic undertones.

As we read verses 20-21 would should hear echoes of Jesus’ teaching from Matthew 6:24

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 6)

24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We try to rationalize this the same way the Corinthians did. You see, the Corinthians thought that since they knew that these gods weren’t actually real, they were off the hook. In other words, since in their minds they had the knowledge that these idols weren’t actually “real” they were free to do basically whatever they wanted.

You do the same thing. You will behave in every way like something is an idol in your life, but think that you are off the hook by simply saying in your mind “this isn’t an idol - it isn’t real.”

Telling yourself something is true when it clearly isn’t doesn’t make it true.

This is just another way we try to rationalize - saying “we can handle it!”

Application

The things you think you control are actually controlling you.

I think it is safe to assume that most of you are followers of Christ. If you aren’t, I am so glad that you are here, and today for you could be the day where you respond to the good news of the gospel, freeing yourself from the bonds of sin and death. But since most of you in here are Christians, at least in your head you know that idolatry is not something that should be present in your life. The question isn’t whether you are a Christian, but whether you are living out of your identity as being free in Christ.

Sheep example.

Idols tries to re-enslave us to the sin that Christ has freed us from.

Idols only take, they don’t give. They don’t have the capacity to give. Maybe you’ll get a little hit of some gratification every once in a while but that’s only to keep you coming back.

Idols string us along, telling us that if we just get what we want we’ll be satisfied. Finally get married, get that job, get that house, have that amount of money in that bank account. Or maybe it’s something less tangible. Finally feel respected, finally feel wanted, desired, in control, comfortable. I’m sensitive to the fact that some of these things are things some of you in here deeply want, and they are not bad things. They’re good things. And honestly, I hope that they happen for you. But if you are approaching these desires with an idolatrous heart that puts those desires above your pursuit of God - getting them might just be the worst thing that could happen to you.

Think about your own life, your desires, your wants, your needs. What are some of the good things that you want more than anything? What are you so afraid to lose, or never get in the first place? What are the things that cause you anxiety, despair, even anger if they don’t work out just the way you want them to?

Those are your idols. And even if you think you are in control of them, you are just a puppet on their string. When they say dance, you dance, when they say jump, you say how high. Although you are a follower of Christ, some of these things have their hooks in you, they have control over you on a deep level in your heart. You’re trying to eat from two different tables. You’re trying to drink from two different cups. And it is slowly eating away at your soul.

But here is the good news:

Idolatry enslaves you. Christ frees you.

The problem with an idol is that you have to take care of it. Make sure it’s happy, well-fed, getting what it wants, defending it. You may even have talked yourself into believing that you are free - that this thing (whatever it is) doesn’t actually have a hold on you. But if you’re honest with yourself, you know deep down you are enslaved by one, two, maybe many things that promise you joy and fulfillment, but only take more and more from you. Holding onto them so tightly is the cause of tension, anxiety, fear, depression, anger, and so much more in your life.

But, the gospel declares that that you are free from that. Free from sin and death, yes, but also free from the harsh slave master that is your own desires. The gospel declares that you no longer have to be a victim of circumstances, of not getting what you want. Fears, doubts, insecurities, all of those things can evaporate from your life because the God of the universe has spoken an identity over you that nothing and no one can take away. You are a child of God, loved more than you can imagine, and set free from sin, death, and able to live a life that is full, confident, and abundant regardless of circumstance.

You have to protect, defend, feed, take care of your idols. But in Christ, God does all of that for you.

Idolatry Inventory

So we are going to get super practical for a minute, because this kind of message demands that there would be some kind of action step for you to take. Idolatry is too dangerous for a Christian to ignore in their lives. Besides being sinful, it hurts you and everyone around you. There’s an exercise that I want to strongly encourage you to go through by yourself, not to heap shame on you but to help you move toward a more abundant life in Christ. It’s called the “Idolatry Inventory.” It’s based in some part on Tim Keller’s work in his books Counterfeit Gods and Gospel in Life. Keller writes in Counterfeit Gods:

“A counterfeit god is anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.”

Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods

Using this idea, along with what we’ve seen here in 1 Corinthians 10, we can look through a list of topics, asking ourselves the diagnostic question “Life only has meaning/I only have worth if...” The complete inventory will be behind me, but don’t let it overwhelm you. I’m linking to a document at dontgo.be/idolatry that has this whole thing up there. But you can see that it deals with everything from power idolatry to materialism, family, relationships, independence, even religious idolatry.

However, we’re going to focus in on the first four in the list, which are often considered the main idols that many people struggle with. These are unpacked with some more detail at that link I mentioned, but I want us to take a quick look here and see if you identify with anything on this list.

Go through idolatry inventory

Some of you may be thinking, is this bingo because I think I just won.

The goal here is not to heap shame on your life. It’s not to try to get you to feel really bad about yourself, get you to “try harder” or “do more.” The goal is to uncover these things that are robbing you of joy in your walk with the Lord, and in exposing them allowing the Lord to heal them. So here’s what I’m gonna ask you to do: this week, go to dontgo.be/idolatry and go through this inventory. Maybe do it a couple of times. Ask the Lord to reveal what has a hold on your heart and be honest as you go through it. I would think of it in terms of green , yellow, and red. In other words, which of these are things that you would say you don’t really struggle with at all (green), which do you maybe not struggle with currently but you could see being a problem (yellow), and what would you say has a hold on your life, manipulating you and controlling you (red). Once you’ve identified these idols, confess them to the Lord, honestly asking him for forgiveness and help. He is more than willing to give it. At the same time, confess those idols to someone else in your life. Your spouse, a close friend, your discipler, whoever. Ask them to pray for you and help hold you accountable in this area. Then, make a conscious effort through the power of the Holy Spirit to turn away from these idols and replace them with a renewed passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it applies to your life. It won’t be a switch that flips, it won’t be necessarily immediate, it may be a process. But this is a first step on the road to more freedom and abundance in your life in Christ.

Conclusion

In the gospel accounts, it’s interesting how often, right before he heals someone, Jesus will ask them, “do you want to be made well?” I mean, what kind of question is that? I’m blind, I’m a leper, I’m a cripple, of course I want to be made well! I want to be healed!

But I think that question “do you want to be made well?” is actually very profound. You see, when Jesus was asking that question, he wasn’t just asking about their physical malady. He was asking about their whole being - body and soul. In asking if they wanted to be made well he was also asking if they were willing to let go of the things that was keeping them from being spiritually well.

So, as we close I’m going to ask you the same question: “do you want to be made well?” Do you want to confess and be freed from whatever idol has its hooks in you? Maybe you are finally ready to put your faith in Jesus for the first time and be freed from sin and death, in which case one of us would love to show you how to do that.

Do you want to be made well?