One of the primary themes of the Bible is “idolatry.” From the first sin in Genesis to the wickedness of the nations in the book of Revelation humanity has found itself trying to be like God or replace God with something else.
This summer at Wilkesboro Baptist, we’ve been in a series entitled “More Grace: How God’s Interventions Make it Possible to Follow Him.” We’ve looked at several stories from Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Over and over again, Israel witnessed the greatness and glory of God, yet they failed to believe him. More than once on their journey, they adopted or sought idols to replace God.
Israel’s story in the Old Testament concerns idolatry and worship. The first two commandments in Exodus 20 are focused on proper worship and idolatry.
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. 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. 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, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Exodus 20:1-6
The one true living God is uniquely and singularly worthy of our worship. Even so, Israel’s history from Egypt and exodus to exile is filled with idolatry. Writing just before exile the prophet Jeremiah addressed the prevailing idolatry by affirming that idols are lifeless, powerless, and worthless. Idols are lifeless. They cannot speak, walk, and have to be carried (Jeremiah 10:5). Ancient idols were often man-made and inanimate. They could not do anything. Modern idols are still often man-made, though modern idols can do a great many things. But no idol can bring life. An idol that has no life cannot grant life.
Idols are powerless. They cannot do what they promise. Common idols are money, power, pleasure, technology (things), and people. Money cannot satisfy. Power does not offer peace. Pleasure cannot make our hearts whole. Technology can do a lot, but cannot stop death and often brings only more burdens. People will disappoint us or die leaving us without that one our hearts relied upon. Idols are powerless to give us what we need or to give us what they promise.
Idols are worthless. While ancient idols were often covered in silver or gold, those precious metals did not put food on the table and were not treated like currency to actually meet needs. Idols are “stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood” (Jeremiah 10:8). Jeremiah continued: “there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion” (Jeremiah 10:14-15). Lifeless, worthless, and powerless, idols are destined to be destroyed. Just a brief glance at world history proves this point. How many ancient religions or man-made idols have lasted centuries or even decades? They are long gone remembered only in history books. If we live long enough, the modern-day idols of money and technology will one day be no more.
In contrast, the one true God is the very definition of life, power, and worth. He is the “living God” (Jer. 10:10), “who made the earth by his power” (10:12), and gloriously unlike the worthless idols (10:16). God is very different than the idols that fail us. He is true, living, real, and able to do what he promised.
Like Israel in Jeremiah’s day, we need to address idolatry in our lives because idols can damage us horribly in two specific ways. First, idols leave us bearing a burden we were not meant to bear. What happens when our idols fail us? Who is left holding the promise that our job or career will fulfill us when we are fired or forced to retire? We are. What is left when the pleasure ends? We are. Where are we when that spouse, child, or lover that we idolized is gone? We are still here. And when our idols fail (they will), we are left to carry the weight we hoped they would relieve. We are not meant to carry that weight, nor were the lifeless, worthless, and powerless idols.
Second, idols leave us stupid and without knowledge (Jeremiah 10:14). Those who trust in idols are destined to become like them. Idols are stupid, blind, mute, and deaf. Those who trust in idols will become spiritually stupid, blind, mute, and deaf. Lifeless, powerless, and worthless idols breed hopelessness in human hearts. Is it any wonder why our world is the condition it’s in?
Christians are not immune from idolatry. In the letter of 1 John, John concludes with this admonition, “Little children, flee from idols” (5:21). I’ve struggled with my own idols, and I was counseling a church member recently who is struggling with idolatry. How can we identify our idols and address them?
John Calvin called our hearts “perpetual idol factories.” We are tempted to turn good things into god things. The following definition by Tim Keller is helpful.
An idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.
Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods, xix.
Keller goes on to suggest several questions that can help us identify idols in our own lives.
- What occupies my mind when I have nothing else to think about?
- What do I spend my money on?
- What is my daily, functional salvation?
- What is at the root of my most uncontrollable emotions?
There is good news. A cure for idolatry exists: a proper view of the living God and the everlasting King. Jeremiah writes in chapter 10:
There is none like you, O Lord;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you. (vv. 6-7)But the Lord is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. (vv. 10-14)Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
for he is the one who formed all things,
and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
the Lord of hosts is his name. (v. 16)I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself,
that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
Correct me, O Lord, but in justice;
not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. (vv. 23-24)
Jeremiah contrasts the living God who is full of life, power, and worth with idols who are none of these things. Want to burn idolatry from your life? Want to be rid of false worship? Want to stop relying on things that leave you burdened, exhausted, and stupid?
Develop a proper view of God and proper posture toward God.
The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
A.W. Tozer
To make sure our thoughts of God are proper, God’s Word should be our source and guide. To make sure our posture toward God is right, we need to become enamored with God as revealed in Scripture.
The remedy for idolatry is for us to get caught up in the majesty and grandeur of God, the true God, the living God, the everlasting King. An idol is a substitute, and you would never want a substitute once you have experienced the love and power of the Lord God Almighty.”
Warren Wiersbe
Here are a few helps to address the bane of idolatry in our lives:
- Ask yourself Keller’s reflection questions listed above. Identify and repent of any idols in your life. Note that idols will almost always be something good that takes an improper place in our lives. Be ruthless in identifying, confessing, and repenting.
- Practice the habits that lead to a proper view of God: Scripture, prayer, and worship. These habits form us as they invite relationship and interaction with God. Religious idolatry is possible if the practice becomes the point rather than the means to enhance a relationship with God. If our practices lead to self-righteousness like the Pharisees in the New Testament, we might be substituting religious activity for God which could be idolatry. Beginning with a text like Jeremiah 10 or Matthew 23 for study and review will help practice rightly and avoid self-righteousness.
- Embrace a proper posture toward God: humility in thought, demeanor, and worship. The proper posture toward God is the antidote to religious or self-righteous idolatry like the Pharisees in the New Testament. Regular attendance at gathered worship can shape the posture of our hearts to be humble and surrendered.
- Become enamored with the living God. The more we think rightly, meditate regularly, worship faithfully, and focus intently on God, the less likely idols will have oxygen to survive in our lives. Government agents were taught to identify counterfeit money by become experts in the authentic or real currency. As we gaze at, seek after, love, know, and become enthralled with the one true, real, authentic God, we will be able to identify what is counterfeit in our lives.
May God apply the cure to our idolatrous hearts.