You Become Like What You Worship

Sermon 4

Giving God all He is worth

Whatever you value that will be reflected in the way you live, decisions you make, etc.

(We will be reading from Romans 12:1-2 - our key text and will also be introducing another key text from the book of Isaiah)

Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship (Our proper response is giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, our true worship.). Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

When we are too committed to the world and its way of thinking, then it molds and forms us according to its image and likeness, so that we reflect it and its way of thinking even more.

An idol is:

Is anything worshiped in place of the true God.

It is whatever the heart clings to for ultimate security.

It is whatever is substituted for God as the object of desire.

It doesn’t mean you can’t desire things, but what can’t you live without?

It is whatever is substituted for God as the object we trust in.

It is anything we revere other than God.

Self-Worship.

Biblical Idolatry: The self is set at the center of existence as a god: ultimate significance is found in god-like individual autonomy, self-set goals and boundaries.

The more we live for the enjoyment of the pleasures, prestige, and property of this life, the less we will invest of ourselves in the process of transformation that leads to the enjoyment of what is eternal.

When we worship self: Temporal things become more valuable than eternal things.

Matthew 6:19-21 ““Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Jesus is telling us to value what is eternal not what is temporal. Things that last are actually the important things.

When we don’t live this way, and continue in placing the “SELF” at the center and pursuing temporal pleasures… it looks a lot like:

Baal Worship & Culture

Baal religion is about what makes you feel good.

Ball worship is a total immersion in “what can I get out of it” (The object of worship in that person’s heart is self)

(As you can imagine, Baal worship was incredibly successful)

The Baal priests could gather crowds that outnumbered followers of Yahweh 20 to 1.

They had sex, excitement, music, ecstasy, dance, girls, friends, statues, and festivals.

What did the Hebrews have to offer? The Word! They did have festivals, at least!

(I have asked several questions: What can’t you live without? Who/What do you live for?) Today:

Why is what I worship such a big deal?

You become what you worship.

What we revere, we resemble, either for ruin or restoration.

To be transformed by the renewing of your mind is the equivalent to becoming conformed to the image of God’s son that we find in Romans 8.

Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

The deduction that can be made from this is that, if one is not “loving God” (Rom 8:28) and not consequently being “conformed to the image of God’s Son,” then one is “loving” some other earthly object of worship and, consequently, being conformed to this earthly image.

You are wondering why you are so lost and confused, because instead of reflecting the glory of God, you are reflecting the destruction and worthlessness of that idol you trust in.

God has made all people to reflect, to be imaging beings. People will always reflect something, whether it be God’s character or some feature of the world.

If people are committed to God, they will become like him; if they are committed to something other than God, they will become like that thing, always spiritually inanimate and empty like the lifeless and vain aspect of creation to which they have committed themselves.

Truth in the Meaning of the Word idol

Gillulim - “pellets of dung” or “shapeless, loggy things”.

While such idols were highly valued by their worshipers, their real value was equal to excrement.

Hebel - Vain, emptiness

2 Kings 17:15 “They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.””

Our lives become vain and empty when we commit ourselves to vain idols of this world.

Elil - Vain or empty thing

Isaiah 41:29 “See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.”

We may commit ourselves to some earthly idol for fulfillment, but there will be none, instead we will have confusion since such idols are truly empty and have no spiritual reality except a demonic one.

Mipleset - “thing of horror” or “thing of shuddering”

To worship such idols will bring only horror and dismay

When we begin to resemble the idols of the world and spiritual harm is set in motion, we don’t often feel the harm at first. Sometimes we don’t sense it until it is too late… we have “eyes but can’t see the spiritual damage being done, and ears but cannot hear the burning fires of destruction that are beginning to rage within us.”

Matthew 13:13-15 “This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”

Isaiah 6:8-10 “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.””

At first glance there does not seem to be any association with idolatry, however, a linguistic and conceptual analysis of the surrounding context and parallel passages reveals that this is indeed dealing with idolatrous Israel.

Why God’s judgment in v. 9 & v. 10

Psalm 115:2-8 “Why do the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.”

If the point has not come across clearly yet: The principle is this: if we worship idols, we will become like the idols, and that likeness will ruin us.

We were created to Image God and reflect Him.

I can face this world fearlessly with peace and joy because I image Him!

John 16:33 ““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.””

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1 Corinthians 10:14-22 “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry (with its connotation of extreme imminent danger & “They must not try how near they can go, but how far they can fly” -Chrysostom). I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?”

Those who receive the cup rightly receive Christ, they are bound together in fellowship with Christ.

Those who participate in an idol feast means having fellowship with demons.

Though the idols themselves do not have any valid spiritual reality and do not represent actual gods, there is a spiritual reality behind them in that they have been created at the instigation of demons posing as gods and those worshiping them worship those demons.

Heaping glory on the true God and worshipfully acknowledging his greatness leads to sharing in God’s greatness and glory by reflecting his glory, which is reflected back on him. Thus god is seen as the unique and weighty great One of the cosmos. - GK Beale

The First Letter to the Corinthians c. Those Who Worship God Must Refrain from Any Association with Idolatry, 10:14–22

The wonder of the Christian faith is that our participation in Christ (i.e., in his blood and body) is not based on a sacrifice that we make to please the god (as in the Greco-Roman and other pagan religions), but on Christ’s own sacrifice of his body and blood, that we might indeed participate in the life that only he can provide for us through that sacrifice. Pagan sacrifices offer only a reflection of the human longing for communion with the divine and a human attempt to establish that communion. Christ’s sacrifice of his body and blood for us establishes what we could never achieve otherwise: true communion with God and participation in the life he has won for us through the cross