BIBLE STUDY - IDOLATRY

THE GREATEST IDOL IN THE CHURCH TODAY IS THE IDOL OF KNOWLEDGE.

1 Corinthians 13:1–4 ESV

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

1 Corinthians 8:1 ESV

Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.

WHAT IF DISCIPLESHIP - FOLLOWING THE LIFE, PATTERN AND EXAMPLE OF JESUS EVERYDAY - WAS NOT PRIMARILY ABOUT LEARNING, BUT LOVING?

Philippians 1:9–11 ESV

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

WHAT IS PAUL ASKING THE BELIEVERS TO “ABOUND” OR GROW IN: LOVE, NOT KNOWLEDGE.

One author puts it this way:

“It’s not that i know in order to love, but rather: i love in order to know.” (James Smith, 7)

HE GOIES ON TO SAY

And if we are going to discern ‘what is best’ - what is ‘excellent,’ what really matters, what is of ultimate importance-Paul tells us the place to start is by attending our loves” (James Smith, 7).

Paul’s major point is this:

We are what we love

SO HERE IS THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION RAISED

“What if you are defined not by what you know but by what you desire? (James Smith, 7)

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE, - LIFE ITSELF - IS BASED ON WHO YOU LOVE AND WHO WE LOVE IS ALWAYS DETERMINED BY THE CONSISTENT EXPRESSIONS OF OUR LIVES.

ONE OF THE CHURCH FATHERS - THEOLOGIANS OF THE EARLY CHURCH - AUGUSTINE PUT IT THIS WAY

“My weight is my love. Wherever I am carried, my love is carrying me.”

WE ARE MADE TO LOVE, WE CANNOT NOT EVER LOVE. LIFE IS ALWAYS ABOUT THE DIRECTION OR OBJECT OF OUR LOVE.

HERE IS A KEY POINT

Everyone is a disciple, meaning that everyone is devoted in their affection to something or someone. What makes us Christian disciples, is not our profession to be such, nor is it simply that we can act as such. the real reason we are disciples is because our loved is directed, oriented and singularly devoted to the Lord and His glory

The Bible sums up worship to the Lord with these words

The Bible sums up worship to the Lord with these words

Mark 12:30–31 ESV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

(ESV)

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

It seems odd, when you look at it, to say love the Lord your God with all your heart, since this seems a bit obvious to us. BUT in this day, something more was expected. Jesus highlights these expectations by adding the following words: mind, soul, strength.

Love is the MAIN thing because love is EVERYTHING

Paul says in :13

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

· Love is the main thing () because love is EVERYTHING

LOVE IS NOT MERELY AN AFFECTION OF THE HEART, BUT THE DIRECTION OF THE LIFE.

THE SUPREMACY OF THE HEART (AFFECTIONS) IN THE BIBLE

Proverbs 4:23 ESV

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

A MAJOR THOUGHT THAT WE NEED TO KEEP AT THE FOREFRONT AS WE WALK THROUGH THIS STUDY IS THIS:

Whoever we are, consistently, in our relationships, is who we really and truly are.

THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON A LIFE IS ACTUALLY A JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON THE HEART

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

IT IS NOT SIMPLY THE WORD THAT PIERCES; THE WORD STANDS FOR THE LORD HIMSELF!!

WE SEE THIS IN THE VERY NEXT VERSE

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

SO UNDERSTAND THIS AND PONDER IT AS IT RELATES TO YOUR OWN LIFE:

LOVE IS NOT MERELY AN AFFECTION OF THE HEART, BUT THE DIRECTION OF THE LIFE.

CONSIDER ANOTHER PRAYER OF PAUL - IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS PRAYER

Ephesians 3:17–19 ESV

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

EPHESIANS 3:17-19

NOTE THE FOLLOWING

Where does Paul pray that Christ would dwell? (v17)

What does Paul want us to be rooted and grounded in? (v17)

What does Paul want us to have strength to comprehend? (v18)

What is the result of comprehending this? (v19)

THE TRUTH IS THIS: Being filled with all the fullness of God (being mature in Christ, coming to mature manhood, the full stature of fullness of Christ -) demands, not simply that we know about God but that we know One chief thing about Him - the all consuming depth and broadness of His love for us in Christ)

CONCLUSION

IDOLS ARE IMPOSTERS PROMISING MODIFIED BLESSINGS. THEY ARE

Love snatchers

Passion distorters

Chocolate covered deceptions

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE WORSHIPING AN IDOL?

Psalm 115:4–8 ESV

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

THERE IS SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT IDOLS BUT THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT. IDOLS ARE DESCRIBED AS

having mouths but not speaking

eyes but not seeing

ears but not hearing

THIS IS A WAY OF SAYING THAT IDOLS DO NOT HAVE LIFE - MEANING; IDOLS CANNOT PRODUCE OR GIVE TO THOSE WHO WORSHIP THEM THE LIFE OF GOD SNATCHED FROM THE SOUL OF MAN IN .

IN A WORD IDOLS ARE

WORTHLESS BECAUSE THEY ARE SPIRITUALLY LIFELESS

SO, YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE WORSHIPPING AN IDOL WHEN... GET THIS AND LET IT SINK IN, IF YOU CAN

YOU ARE LIKE THEM (V8)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE LIKE AN IDOL?

To have eyes but not seeing

To have ears but not hearing

Luke 8:8 ESV

And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Luke 8:9–10 ESV

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

Luke 8:10 ESV

he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

Luke 8:9–10 ESV

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

Luke 8:8 ESV

And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

SO HOW ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS HAPPENING WITH THE SEED SOWN AND THE RESPONSES?

THE INABILITY OF THE OPTHER HEARTS TO RECEIVE AND EMBRACE THE SEED BY LIVING IN ACCORDANCE WITH IT AND PRODUCING FRUIT IS BECAUSE THESE WERE HEARTS THAT WERE ACTUALLY WORSHIPPING OTHER IDOLS. THEIR HEARTS WERE ELSEWHERE WHICH IS PROVEN IN THE TIME OF TESTING.

luke 8:

An idol is . . .

Idolatry is the direction of our affection towards this idol, eventually making us like them

The Descent Into Idolatry

· Believing the lie over the truth ()

· Being drawn in our affections towards them

· Behaving like them

· Being Judged As they are judged

o As nothing

o As hearing but not…seeing but not …

What makes us like them?

· Hearing, not unde

· Seeing, not …

Becoming like them is both, the

· Mark of becoming like them

· The Judgment for worshipping and becoming like them

Flesh this Out from gospels