Exodus 20:2-6
Idolatry – What
is It?
Idolatry; what is it? Think about
that for a minute. What comes to mind?
I don't know about you, but when I hear the word idol or idolatry, I envision ancient people kneeling before a huge statue
of a golden calf, a sphinx, a Buddha-like figure, or any number of other
figures of stone or wood that has been fashioned into the likeness of animals
or people and ascribed divine power and character.
But, according to the Word of God, idolatry is a
much broader, more far reaching evil. The existence of an idol is not
determined by its materials of construction whether they be stone or wood or
flesh.
Theologian Paul Tillich defines idolatry as “the elevation of a preliminary concern to ultimacy ... Something
essentially finite is given infinite significance… leading to a conflict of
ultimates; thereby radically contradicting the biblical commandments.”[1]
And one place where the reality of idolatry is quite evident in our
society is marriage. Now, I must admit that I may have chosen marriage, in
part, because of my own experiences.
Of the 413 internet sites that I found containing
the phrase “number one cause of divorce,” most sites mentioned anger,
jealousy, child rearing, poor communications, finances, lust, lack of personal
integrity, and, of course, adultery and fornication, among others, as the
number one cause of divorce.
But,
the number-one cause of divorce is not among that list. All of these are
symptoms of a deeper and more far reaching problem.
At the core of every divorce whether my divorce, your divorce, or any
divorce that has ever occurred is idolatry by one or both spouses.
In deed, the number-one cause of broken
relationships, whether in marriage, or in a friendship, in employer-employee
relations, between neighbors, between parent and child, between classmates,
between church members, or between baseball players and the owners of baseball
teams, is idolatry.
We are entering football bowl-season. As you watch
the big games, consider the possibility that some, if not most, of the fans,
players, and maybe even you are caught up in the sin of idolatry.
Beyond the shadow of all doubt, however, the number-one cause of broken
relationships between humanity and God is idolatry.
Adam and Eve's problem in the garden was a
decision; a decision to choose what they perceived as a greater good. They
chose what they perceived as a greater good than the goodness of God. And that
is idolatry.
Idolatry occurs when we place greater emphasis,
importance, allegiance, honor, glory, praise and devotion upon things, people,
emotions, self, sensuality and pleasure than we place upon the God who has
created us.
Do you want to ruin your life? If you do, here is the prescription that
will guarantee it:
Place the pleasing of your
spouse above your desire to please God, place the pursuit of cars and boats and
land and houses and fancy clothes
above the pursuit of God, place satisfying your children's wants above pleasing God, place
satisfaction of the lust of your flesh
before God, place work in the church above God, etc.
Every sin that we commit is a direct result
of idolatry; the elevating of something or someone above God.
Paul tells us in Colossians 3:5, “Put
to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual
immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
Questions 104 and 105 of The Westminster Larger Catechism provide the
most complete description of what God requires of us in this first commandment.
Q. 104. What are the duties required in the
First Commandment? A. The duties required in the First Commandment are: the knowing and acknowledging of
God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly; by
thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing,
loving, desiring,
fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being
zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all
obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when
in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him.
Q. 105. What are the
sins forbidden in the First Commandment? A. The sins forbidden in the First
Commandment are: atheism, in denying or not having a God; idolatry, in
having or worshiping more gods than one, or any with, or instead of the
true God; the not having and vouching him for God, and our God; the
omission or neglect of anything due to him, required in this
commandment; ignorance, forgetfulness, misapprehensions, false opinions,
unworthy and wicked thoughts of him; bold and curious searchings into
his secrets; all profaneness, hatred of God, self-love, self-seeking,
and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or
affections upon other things, and taking them off from him in whole or
in part; vain credulity, unbelief, heresy, misbelief, distrust, despair,
incorrigibleness, and insensibleness under judgments, hardness of heart,
pride, presumption, carnal security, tempting of God; using unlawful means, and
trusting in lawful means; carnal delights and joys, corrupt, blind, and
indiscreet zeal; lukewarmness, and deadness in the things of God; estranging
ourselves, and apostatizing from God; praying or giving any religious worship
to saints, angels, or any other creatures; all compacts and consulting with the
devil, and hearkening to his suggestions; making men the lords of our faith and
conscience; slighting and despising God, and his commands; resisting and
grieving of his Spirit, discontent and impatience at his dispensations,
charging him foolishly for the evils he inflicts on us; and ascribing the
praise of any good, we either are, have, or can do, to fortune, idols,
ourselves, or any other creature.
But, John, the Westminster Confession is an ancient
text.
You are right. It is old. But sin has
not changed. It is our view and acceptance of sin, which has changed. The text
does a great job of describing the sin of idolatry. Idolatry was sin in the
1640s and sin is the same today.
Sin is that which contradicts the life
of God. Sin is the same today as then since God is the same yesterday, today
and forever. Therefore, if we are to participate in the life of God, which is
the only way we can hope for eternal life, we must participate in the life of
God as God is revealed to us in the Scriptures, for we have no other way of
knowing who God is.
But, some claim that since the
Scriptures are old, then they are outdated. And, so, they read it and ignore it
or justify an interpretation that suits their desired lifestyle. The God of the
Scriptures is not the God they want and so they fabricate one to meet their
needs; in order to guiltlessly embrace their pleasures. And the result is idolatry. We cannot start with our hopes
and desires and make the Scriptures fit them. We must start with the Word and
make our hopes and desires fit them.
Do you see the point I'm trying to make? Idolatry is a
no-win situation?
Dealing with idolatry in
one's life is like walking in an uncharted mine field in which the mines are
placed side by side by side. Everywhere you step there is a mine that can take
your leg off or indeed take your very life.
But in response to this, someone will say, “Well, I
just need to try harder. I can live an idolatry-free life if only I try harder,
pray harder, study harder, attend worship and Sunday School more often, be kind
to others, and love my neighbor as myself.”
So, you try harder. You find yourself
focusing on the Law, seeking with every fiber
of your being to comply; memorizing the Word, praying frequently, accepting
responsibilities in the church, becoming a Sunday School teacher, an elder,
etc.
So, through your passionate efforts to
please God, you find that your focus has become the Law rather than God, the
Lawgiver.
The Apostle Paul says of the Law in
Romans 7; “it produced death in me through what was good, so that through
the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.”
Do you know what scripture means when it says that sin
becomes utterly sinful?
It means that, in the end, our sin
relegates to idolatry. It means that, as we focus on the Law rather than the
Lawgiver, we elevate the Law ascribing to it divine power and character: we
turn the Law itself into a god, thereby making an idol of it. We turn the very
Law of God into an idol!
So, why does God give us Law through which our sin
becomes utterly sinful?
There is but one very gracious reason:
that we might, through the Law, recognize our helplessness apart from Jesus
Christ.
God gives us the Law so that through it we might
recognize the impossibility of perfect compliance and thereby be directed to
the only Human who has kept the Law perfectly, having never been guilty of
idolatry or any other sin.
The Law of God beckons us
to God in Jesus Christ, for in Christ alone is there security from the mines
around us.
It is not that in Christ we will miss
all the mines, but in Christ we are safe even when we step on them, even when
we create idols.
God speaks to you and to me through the Law this morning
and says, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
God says, “Try to keep my Law
without Jesus Christ and your sin will become utterly sinful. You will
inevitably place my Law above me, the Lawgiver and turn my Law of freedom into
chains of idolatry.”
The Spirit calls us to strive with all
our being to obey the Law of God, but to do so in awareness that even our
obedience to the Law is acceptable to God only through faith in Jesus Christ.
By connection to God through faith in
Christ, I become a beneficiary of his perfect life lived.
In his book The Wounded Healer,
Henri Nouwen retells a tale from ancient
Four royal brothers decided each to
master a special ability. Time went by, and the brothers met to reveal what
they had learned. The first said, "I
have mastered a science by which I
can take but a bone of some creature and create the flesh that goes with it."
The second said, "I know how to grow
that creature's skin and hair if there is flesh on its bones." The
third said, "I am able to create its
limbs if I have flesh, the skin, and the hair." "And I," concluded the fourth,
"know how to give life to that
creature if its form is complete."
With that, the brothers went into the
jungle to find a bone so they could demonstrate their specialties. As fate
would have it, the bone they found was a lion's. One added flesh to the bone,
the second grew hide and hair, the third completed it with matching limbs, and
the fourth gave the lion life.
Shaking its mane, the ferocious beast
arose and jumped on his creators. He killed them and vanished contentedly into
the jungle.
We, too, have the capacity to create
what can devour us. Goals and dreams can consume us. Possessions and property
can turn and destroy us - unless we first seek God's kingdom and righteousness.[2]
What is your most prized possession?
Would you be willing to give it up if Jesus asked you? If your answer is no
then your possession has taken God's place in your heart and has become an
idol.
How many of you are willing to turn
over to God your most prized possessions?
If you have understood the far-reaching
nature of the sin of idolatry, then the Spirit is calling you to the foot of
the cross of Jesus Christ.
Amen.