Draw The Line

Exodus 32:26–27 ESV

26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’ ”

I’d like to follow up with what Sarah shared this morning.

As Christians we have to learn how to draw the line in our lives. We need to know when to say enough.

We have to understand that even though our communion with God is being healed and restored because of the Holy Spirit, we can still engage in activities that hurt the heart of the father.

One primary issue that I felt led to speak on today is idolatry

Idolatry

Exodus 20:1–5 ESV

1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord 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 a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

First and foremost, Idolatry is tied to idols and the Old Testament makes it very plain. We shall have no other Gods. In our pursuit of worship, people will build something as the image of their worship and in the same way that we show up and we sing and we turn our hearts towards the Father and we pray, these people do the same but to an idol.

But then as humans what we like to do is instead of using this to understand the nature and the character of God, we use it to justify how we live. What I mean by this is are you engaging in idolatry? If your first thought was to imagine if you have any idols in your house then you are misunderstanding the heart of God. It is true that part of this deals with us making the images, but we see that God is a jealous God.

Now we hear the word jealous and we immediately start thinking of jealousy as we understand it and as we’ve been taught. We think of the super possessive person who becomes very toxic and controlling in their jealousy. The key difference between our jealousy and God’s is the motivation.

Human jealousy starts in our pride and our self-centeredness and it births a possessive nature over items in which we have no proper claim. In other words we try to own things that we have no right owning. This leads to hostile behavior and malicious bitterness.

God can’t be jealous for what is already his. God created everyone and everything so it is impossible for God to be jealous of us. He is not jealous of us but He is jealous for us. God’s jealousy shows up when we choose to turn our attention and devotion to anything or anyone more than what our attention and devotion to God is

This is why the heart of the command is missed. Art is not sinful. You can go out and carve statues out of wood or stone or paint pictures of whatever you want. But the moment that the attention of your heart begins to drift. The moment that you start to consider maybe god is in this art, or you even might consider maybe God isn’t the only god and there are other god’s and start trying to find a way to reach them, you enter into idolatry.

That’s why we can take this one step further. We don’t need the carved image. Idolatry is when anything in your life replaces God. Take a moment to consider this. God is perfectly good. God created you. God loves you with a perfect love. Because God created you and He loves you with a perfect love and is perfectly good, why would you not trust Him? Why would you not believe that He will absolutely take care of you and give you everything that you need? God has an incredible track record. Not one person in humanity’s history has ever been let down when they placed their full trust in Him. The problem, of course, is when we start to think that we know better for ourselves.

It always comes down to a trust problem. Quick, don’t say it out loud but think what is your greatest worry right now. The funny thing is, our worries are proof that we don’t trust God to handle it. Our trust in God must be restored. There are several ways to do this but I want to talk about simply being in the presence of God this morning.

Exodus 33:7–11 ESV

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. 10 And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

We are going to zoom in on a person mentioned in the text that I think I often overlook. Joshua son of Nun would not depart from the tent. Moses pitches a tent so it would be available for anyone who sought the Lord. When Moses went to this tent, the glory of the Lord would show up like a pillar of clouds. Everybody else worshiped from home but where do we see Joshua? He is with Moses in the tent, in the direct presence of God.

Now we fast forward in Joshua’s life and see the result of dwelling in the presence of God

Joshua 24:14–15 ESV

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We are at the end of Joshua. They have conquered many nations. They have seen incredible wonders of God. But we hit a defining moment where a choice must be made. He mentions the idolatry that surrounds them, but he ends with the iconic phrase that you will see in many homes “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”

What are we to do with the idols?

Exodus 34:13–14 ESV

13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),

It’s not enough that we stop worshiping them. We must destroy the objects of idolatry in our life. If we are not able to destroy them, if we leave any piece of them, we will return to our idol worship.

Colossians 3:5 ESV

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

1 Corinthians 10:1–24 ESV

1 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 drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by 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, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer 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 partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? 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.

As Christians we truly are free, but we are never to use our freedom to sin. We are to use our freedom for the good of those around us.

Come Break Your Idols