The Idols We Turn To: The World

We often provide clarification about the worship idols in the Old Testament because there are few people that have an idol crafted from wood that they turn to. One of the primary passages of scripture that we need to first understand when idols are concerned for this whole series is in Leviticus 26:1 . We need to start by

Leviticus 26:1 ESV

“You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.

Defining an Idol

We find a common command from God to not make idols. This is very similar to the second of the ten commandments but there are a few things we need to look into more in depth about this one verse. The idea here is crafting something for yourselves and this can happen in any number of ways but the example here is making some sort of a physical object whether it be of stone or of wood.

However, I think that there are two things in this passage that point us to the fact that idols are much more than an object we raise up ourselves. The fact that they are made for ourselves. It was during this day that many people would create idols to provide them with comfort. However the comfort was empty. You see, these idols by definition hold no worth. This is the problem with idolatry: God is the only one that is worthy of our loyalty and yet we all too often replace him with things that have very little worth.

This is how we will define an idol throughout this series: anything that we are loyal to over the Lord.

With that said, today we are going to talk about when we turn to the world as an idol. There is a lot that can be included in the world and will certainly have some overlap with some of the other areas that we will look into in this series.

Stand with me as I read from 1 Samuel 8:1-9

We first inspect

The Way of the World

The key phrase in this passage is in voice five where the elders of Israel come to Samuel and request “a king to judge us like all the nations.” It is here that we can see that they desire to be like the world and have a king who will rule over them. They do this because they see an issue with the way God has established things. Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah, were not serving in the way that they should have and because of that, the elders saw a flaw. However, the flaw was not in the system that was put in place but in the sinful humans that were in these positions of power.

A further explanation comes from the Lord to Samuel in verse 7 when He tells Samuel that the people were not rejecting him but rather rejecting the Kingship of the Lord over Israel. When we seek after the way of the world, whether it be the gain of money and power, the pursuit of pleasure, or simply being accepted, we are saying that Jesus being the Lord of our lives is not enough. We feel the need to replace Him in some aspect of life rather than allowing Him to rule over everything.

But the way of the world is not the only way that we can read here that the people make the world an idol. We can also see specifically that the sons of Samuel purse

The Things of the World

The whole issue with Israel asking for a King stems from verse 3. The hearts of the sons of Samuel were not right and because of that they abused their power in order to take advantage of others for financial gain. They had a deep desire to gain the things of the world rather than being content with what the Lord had given them.

Luke 9:25 . Profit the world but lose yourself.

Luke 9:25 ESV

For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Now that we have understood these two categories of people making the world an idol, I want to look at the consequences. Read down further with me at verse 10.

They are warned ultimately that the way of the world will fail them. And they still turn to the world as an idol over allowing God to rule over their lives as judge. You see, the ways of the world are the same today as they were during the time of Samuel. They will still fail you in ways that the Lord will not.