In the Bible, idolatry and false prophets are usually discussed at the same time; I didn’t do that in my recent post on false prophets because I believed that numerous examples would be required to help new Christians see idolatry as it presents in 2019. Yes, it still applies to the worship of statutes of wood and stone that the prophets so frequently spoke against, but it means so much more; it is chiefly an error of the heart. Biblical examples will be used to reveal some of its other faces.
The second commandment is God’s standard that defines idolatry:
Exo 20:4 “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. Exo 20:5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject Me. Exo 20:6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love Me and obey My commands.
Implicit in the second commandment is the notion that God, Himself, is the one who defines acceptable worship. Yet, there is more to acceptable worship of God than just this one command: there are the other nine, for example; and there is Jesus’ statement: Mat 22:37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ Mat 22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment. Mat 22:39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Mat 22:40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
In other words, humans are not free to determine how they worship God.
An example of idolatry from the book of Jeremiah:
Jer 7:4 But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the LORD’s Temple is here. They chant, “The LORD’s Temple is here! The LORD’s Temple is here!” Jer 7:5 But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; Jer 7:6 only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Jer 7:7 Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. Jer 7:8 “‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Jer 7:9 Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, Jer 7:10 and then come here and stand before Me in My Temple and chant, “We are safe!”—only to go right back to all those evils again?
Jer 7:11 Don’t you yourselves admit that this Temple, which bears My name, has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil going on there. I, the LORD, have spoken!
In the above passage, their idolatry is described via three points by the prophet: 1) they were trusting that the presence of the temple (and likely their attendance and religious rituals…) would keep them spiritually safe even though; 2) they were not obeying God’s 10 commands as seen in the examples of social injustice the prophet uttered; and 3) as seen in their worship of other gods. They themselves determined that points 1– 3 were acceptable worship; God disagreed. Their fickle hearts were revealed in these errors; God was not first in their hearts.
Do we not have the same problems in the church today?
Another example from the prophets:
Isa 30:1 “What sorrow awaits My rebellious children,” says the LORD. “You make plans that are contrary to Mine. You make alliances not directed by My Spirit, thus piling up your sins. Isa 30:2 For without consulting Me, you have gone down to Egypt for help. You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection. You have tried to hide in his shade. Isa 30:3 But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated, and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.
To succinctly summarize the above passages, I could say that two ways are being expounded upon, 1) the way of depending upon, trusting in God’s words / promises for salvation; and 2) devising one’s own way to be saved, wherein trusting in God and submitting to Him is set aside for trusting in one’s alliances; or one’s religious performance, one’s own strength… (Isaiah speaks on wooden idols elsewhere, therein the same errors were committed; also see Isaiah 29:13 regarding the Israelites fickle hearts.)
What are some things that Christians trust in today instead of their God? I will speak to that in closing, but it is not too early to begin pondering that question.
Below, two New Testament passages are used to illustrate the same erroneous idolatrous thinking that is revealed above:
Gal 3:3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Gal 4:9 So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? Gal 4:10 You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.
Below, a couple of verses from 1 John and Galatians will be cited to illustrate that the apostles were distinguishing God’s true way from the false way of the false teachers whereby some in the church were being led astray. That false way held out by the lying prophets would cause its followers to participate in idolatry because therein, they would not be depending upon the true God, but on something else.
1Jn 1:5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. 1Jn 1:6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.
John was confronting the Gnostic false gospel message, that was being taught in some Christian circles. In case you do not remember what the Gnostics taught from my post on prosperity preachers, I pasted in that definition:
Gnosticism: Gnosticism was perhaps the most dangerous heresy that threatened the early church during the first three centuries. Influenced by such philosophers as Plato, Gnosticism is based on two false premises. First, it espouses a dualism regarding spirit and matter. Gnostics assert that matter is inherently evil and spirit is good. As a result of this presupposition, Gnostics believe anything done in the body, even the grossest sin, has no meaning because real life exists in the spirit realm only. Second, Gnostics claim to possess an elevated knowledge, a “higher truth” known only to a certain few. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis which means “to know.” Gnostics claim to possess a higher knowledge, not from the Bible, but acquired on some mystical higher plane of existence. Gnostics see themselves as a privileged class elevated above everybody else by their higher, deeper knowledge of God. (gotquestions.org) [For more information about how they acquired this higher knowledge, see my post on Christian yoga and meditation.]
So, 1Jn 1:5 above is a statement that exposes the gnostics false teaching, as John is stating that one’s actual conduct in the physical body was to be godly, that a pattern of godly conduct demonstrated that one was walking with God, believing / trusting in the gospel message.
To follow the teaching of the gnostics and live immorally, would be idolatrous because it illustrated that one is trusting in another message: that is also what the apostle Paul confronted the Galatians about (but those false teachers were of the “circumcision” teachers, who wanted Christians to also practice the laws of Moses):
Gal 1:6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to Himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News Gal 1:7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
Those who were being fooled, were being seduced into becoming idolaters, because they were trusting a message NOT from God, but from men. It had no power to save as is stated very clearly elsewhere: Rom 1:17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in His sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
John closes chapter 5 with these words:
1Jn 5:21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts (NLT). Note: the ESV translation of this verse: 1Jn 5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
So, if you understood the message of the Gnostics and the Circumcision party; and you compared it to the message of the true gospel that the apostles John and Paul preached, you could see that two opposing ways were described: Paul and John described the True Way of faith in Christ. The false way of the Gnostics could be stated as Christ plus higher knowledge; and the way of the circumcisers, Chist plus Moses and the law. Following either of the latter ways makes one an idolater.
Do you know the true gospel message? (See Categories, Justification, Study Helps post; and Doctrine / Theology posts for help with that.)
Idolatry in 2019:
- Shopping for something new, to generate positive feelings, when you are experiencing distress [read psalm 50, e.g., for words from God on such an act; therein, He commands one to seek Him in times of trouble]
- Watching a feel-good movie to shake off some unpleasant emotions deriving from affliction, loss, failure…instead of turning to God via prayer, reading of His word; and self-examination
- Choosing a church based on your affection for the people who go there…instead of on their faithfulness to scripture…
- Looking at your own religious performance to determine whether you are a true child of God (see the 3rd video in the Study Helps post, therein Pastor Washer addressed that very common problem, he labels it idolatry because therein one is depending upon his performance to be right with God)
- Not reading scripture to learn about who Christ is, but thinking you can know by accepting what people around you, believe: you will likely be worshiping some other Christ: you will be an idolater because people who don’t abide in scripture have inaccurate notions about who Christ is
- Doing good things to be right with God (see the second video in the Study Helps post wherein Pastor Piper explains Justification, we are only made right with God via Christ’s merit and atonement)
- Not partaking of God’s appointed means of grace as in Acts 2:42; but making up your own way to worship God (whole Christian denominations and individual churches and believers can and are doing this: see categories: Justification, Study Helps; and Mission Statement posts)
- Worshiping / serving God in ways that are not prescribed by God in scripture (it seems that about 90% of Christians could have always been described as doing such, since the days of the apostles–that fits with Christ’s words in Matthew 7, few will find the narrow way)
- Any practice that adds to or takes away from the Bible (one must know the contents of the Bible to ascertain such practices)
- All addictions are idols as a huge portion of the addict’s thoughts are about his addiction; while God, family, and other important matters are neglected: the most obvious are alcohol, nicotine, drugs, sex, social standing…but sports, entertainment, and work are high on the list for most people too
- Any common thing that regularly occupies most of our thoughts, leaving few thoughts for God; following are some verses that address that: Pro_1:7, Pro_1:28-29, Pro_5:12-13, Pro_8:36, Pro_12:1; Joh_3:20; Rom_1:28, Rom_2:21, Rom_2:23; 2Th_2:10-12; 2Ti_4:3-4 castest: Neh_9:26; Isa_5:23; Jer_8:9, Jer_18:12, Jer_36:23-32
I am sure that I have not provided a full list of ways whereby one might partake of idolatry in 2019; but I am also certain that in not partaking in God’s appointed means of grace, one is embarking upon that broad WAY wherein he is practicing idolatry (see my post on God’s appointed means of Grace, under categories, Christian Walk). However, even though you may be abiding in God’s means of grace, you could still be an idolater. It has to do with your heart. To know the affections of your heart, you must practice self-observation and self-examination while you are using God’s means (see Categories, Self-Examination for several posts on SE). These help you see what is really important to you; what you have put in the place of God in your heart. Undoubtedly, when experiencing conviction from God the Holy Spirit while you are walking in His means of grace, the things you need to see will stand out; afterwards, continued prayer to be enabled to set them aside is indicated (see psalm 119: 25-32 for an example of the psalmist asking God’s help in such a matter; also, my post on The Beatitude Life, Meekness, 3 speaks to that in closing).
If the above troubles you, then please read my Study Helps post, as a way is outlined that is aimed at helping a believer find and walk in the true way. But don’t be disheartened if you discover lots of idols in your life; if you are striving to walk with the Lord, then such will be revealed to you. Seeing such things is an indication that the Holy Spirit is busy working on you! That is something for which to praise and thank God.
A widely read Christian told me that John Calvin called us idol factories, I would guess that he included himself in that summation. And I have heard pastor Paul Washer talk about God smashing his idols as part of his sanctification. It is necessary that we understand that we are sinners and that God is merciful…to us; you will make such a discovery if you are abiding in God’s means of grace.