Keep Yourself from Idols

Introduction

Last week we looked at a thematic overview of the book of 1 John and saw how confidence is at the centre of this letter. Not a confidence that is in ourselves or one that is based on wishful thinking, but a true confidence. Confidence that we know God, that the Gospel we believed from the beginning is the true Gospel, that the Jesus that was preached to us through the Apostles and the Scriptures they wrote as inspired by the Holy Spirit is the true Christ the son of God, and that we have come to know the Father through knowing him. John shows us that, on the one hand salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and is not a result of works that we do, and on the other hand there is a direct correlation between how we live our Christian life and the confidence we are able to have in our own salvation. There are certain changes that happen to us when we come to know God as Father through his only begotten son, and the more clearly we see these changes in our lives the more certainty we can have that this is indeed true of us. Just as seeing the symptoms of a disease go away gives you confidence that you are getting better, as the symptoms of sin and belief in the lies of the world go away and the healthy marks of spiritual growth become apparent, we can be more and more confident.

As John closes the letter, his last sentence has been confusing for many reading this book. It has convinced some that the end of the book was lost somehow, but there is no textual or historical evidence that this is the case. After concluding his point about our confidence in what we know about God and about Christ, John makes the last words of his letter this final command, “Little Children, keep yourselves from idols.”

At first glance, this may seem to have nothing to do with the content of the rest of the book, especially what John has just been talking about. Almost like he was adding one last reminder to them before closing his letter. With no closure to the letter as we see in a lot of other epistles, this is what John wants to stick into our heard.

Contrary to what may be our first thoughts of this final verse in 1 John, this command is extremely relevant to the purpose of John’s letter, because there is nothing that kills confidence in our relationship with God than idolatry.

Confidence Vs Idolatry

What is idolatry and why is it so detrimental to our confidence?

Idolatry is the worship, veneration, and placing faith in something or someone other than God or instead of God. Whatever we look to in life as most valuable, as most desirable, as our salvation or greatest hope, if it is not God it is an idol.

It is impossible to be confident in our relationship with God when he is not our sole object of worship, adoration, and faith. To have confidence in God and to be idolatrous are contradictions. Its like saying you are confident that your marriage is healthy and happy while you are involved in an adulterous affair.

Israel: a nation with many idols and little confidence. Whenever they drew away from God to idols, God drew away from them and took away the confidence that they had in God by bringing the covenant curses on them. When they turned back to God in faith, their confidence in God’s love for them was again secured.

If we want to grow in confidence, and it is imperative that we put idolatry to death. Unifying this text to the rest of the book, lets look at how idolatry may impact ourselves from the different points of confidence John has given us.

Keep yourself from gods that are not the God of Light

First, keep yourselves from the idolatry of serving gods that are not the God of light. This can be done in two ways.

First, it can be done by worshipping another God. Whether it be the god of Islam, the millions of gods in Hinduism, or mother nature in naturalism, worshipping anything as God in the place of God is to replace the glory of the Father for the lesser glories of created things and human imaginations. Romans’s 1:22-23 tells us the immorality of this kind of Idolatry:

Romans 1:22–23 ESV

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

And the foolishness of idolatry, as well as a display of what it truly is, is clear in:

Habakkuk 2:18 ESV

“What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!

To worship a false god is essentially to worship yourself. You made up the false diety, you fashioned it into what you desire, and you serve it in a way that pleases you. There is no difference between worshipping an idol and worshipping yourself.

Those who worship such things have no confidence that they know the true God. Sincerity is not the issue. If you sincerely serve a rebel it is not counted as reverence to the king being rebelled against, it is counted as treason.

Second, this kind of idolatry against the God of Light can be done by professing faith in him while serving the god of this world with our actions. Worse than an open rebel is a hidden traitor.

These are those mentioned in chapter 1 who say they are of the light but walk in the darkness. All sin is idolatry because all sin serves something other than God. To avoid idolatry, we must trust God by obeying him, submitting to his Word, and loving those that God loves.

Christians when we fall into sin still have confidence because we walk in active repentance. We disown and mourn the sins that we struggle with, we openly confess and forsake them, and we strive for obedience because we love the light. As Thomas Watson said, “Grace can live with sin, but it cannot live with the love of sin.”

Keep yourself from Christ’s that are not the Christ of Scripture

The next way we might fall into idolatry is embracing a Christ that is not the Christ of Scripture.

Embracing a Christ that is not fully God.

Embracing a Christ that is not fully man.

Embracing a Christ that does not fully save.

Works Salvation

Denying his saving works in living a perfect life for us, dying on the cross for our sins, and rising bodily from the dead.

Embracing a Saviour that is not Jesus Christ. This may be a politician, a teacher, a scientist, a philosopher, a historical figure, a fictional character, or a close friend or family member. Trusting anyone else as our “messiah”, our only hope, is idolatry.

Keep yourself from lying spirits.

The last type of idolatry is trusting the lies of various spirits rather than the truth of the Holy Spirit. Generally, this means rejecting God’s Word laid out in Scripture as well as grieving the Spirit in us when he pushes our consciences towards what is right and away from what is wrong in accordance with the Scriptures.

Denying the Scriptures as the Word of God.

Denying or ignoring the clear commands of Scripture.

Trusting the word of man rather than the Word of God to be true.

Rejecting the true Gospel for a false one.

Galatians 1:6–8 ESV

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

Conclusion

When we worship, value, listen to, trust, or obey anything or anyone over God, we are committing Idolatry.

Idolatry will drain you of confidence and make it harder for you to trust God or have assurance of your salvation or of the Gospel. Every apostate has embraced idolatry before the left the faith. Every Christian fallen into great sin has embraced idolatry that led them there. Every church split is a result of idolatry. Nothing is so destructive to the people of God as idols.

If we are to embrace confidence, security, and growth in our faith, we must be willing to remove any and all idols in our hearts and lives. The best way to do this is to regularly and prayerfully check for idols in our hearts with honesty and humility. Ask yourself questions like this:

Is there anything in my life I feel I cannot live without?

Is there anything I catch myself thinking about all of the time?

Is there anything that is seeding doubt in my heart towards God and his word?

Is there any behaviour that is either sinful or presenting me with temptation to sin?

Am I engaged in fights and quarrels? (Meditate on James 4:1-4)

Do I find myself going to things other than Christ and the Gospel for comfort, security, and joy?

Have I recently encountered a teaching about God or the Gospel that is different from what was breached when I first believed? What was my response?

Examining ourselves with questions like these regularly and acting mercilessly to eradicate those idols that do pop up on our radar will serve to both keep us safe and grow our confidence when we do it abiding in the Holy Spirit.

The good fight is the struggle to build our confidence in Christ and tear down any idol that stands in the way of that confidence. Don’t be passive about this. A life free of idols and warring passions will end up being a life of joy in Christ, love in his people, and confidence in the work of God.