THE SIN OF IDOLATRY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 05, 2023.

SUBJECT : THE SIN OF IDOLATRY!

Memory verse: "Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10 vs 23.)

READ: Job 31 vs 24 - 28:

31:24: If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

31:25: If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

31:26: If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

31:27: And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand:

31:28: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

INTIMATION:

Idolatry is the worship of idols, images, or anything which is not God; the worship of false gods. It is the excessive admiration or adoration or veneration for anything—someone or something. It’s someone or something which is highly revered, and becomes a deity other than God. Such deity or thing is known as an idol. 

An idol, therefore, in the context of our discussion, is that on which affections are strongly (often excessively) set; an object of passionate devotion, a person or thing greatly loved and adored. It is primarily an idea, fancy, or an image that represents a false God. It’s anything that substitutes for the true faith, anything that denies Christ’s full deity and humanity, and any loyalty that replaces God at the center of one’s life. It is also any human idea that claims to be more authoritative than the Bible, 

The corresponding Hebrew word for idol denotes vanity (things of nought). The apostle Paul called it, “nothing in the world” (First Corinthians 8 vs 4). And an idolater is one who adores or idolizes someone or something, and is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent. Idolatry is sin against God because it denies the supremacy of God and is a direct violation of the first and second of the Ten Commandments of God (Exodus 20 vs 2 - 3). It’s a sin of the mind against God that denotes lack of acknowledgement of God and of gratitude to Him. Many things can take God’s place in our lives. And such things becomes idols in our lives.

Idolatry begins when people reject what they know about God. Instead of looking to Him as the Creator and Sustainer of life, they see themselves as the center of the universe. They soon invent “gods” that are convenient projections of their own selfish ideas. These gods may be wooden figures, or they may also be goals or things we pursue, such as money, power, or possessions. They may even be misrepresentations of God Himself—making God in our own image, instead of the reverse. The common denominator here is that idolaters worship things God made rather than God Himself. 

When God is not first in your life, you are an idolater. Something then must be first in your life. Now, check yourself; is there anything you feel you can’t live without? Is there any priority greater than God? Do you have a dream you would sacrifice everything to realize? After haven checked yourself, do you worship God or idols of your own making? 

Idolatry is making anything more important than God, and our lives are full of such temptation. Money, looks, success, reputation, security—these are today’s idols. Many “gods” entice us to turn away from God. Material possessions, dreams for the future, approval of others, emotional reactions, and vocational goals compete for our total commitment. Striving after these at the expense of our commitment to God puts our heart on created idols which is sin. They put away worshiping the Creator in order to worship the creation. 

We are just as guilty when God no longer holds first place in our lives. When we think more about wealth, pleasure, prestige, or material possessions than about God, we are actually worshiping them as gods. Discipline awaits all those who continually put earthly desires above spiritual priorities. It is for this reason that Jesus said it is very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God because the rich, having their basic physical needs met, often become self-reliant. When they feel empty, they buy something new to try to fill the void that only God can fill. Their abundance and self-sufficiency become their deficiency. The person who has everything on earth is not a sign of faith or partiality on God’s part, but rather a strong temptation to idolatry.

Job affirmed that depending on wealth for happiness is idolatry and denies the God of heaven. We excuse our society’s obsession with money and possessions as a necessary evil or ”the way it works” in the modern world. But every society in every age has valued the power and prestige that money brings. True believers must purge themselves of the deep-seated desire for more power, prestige, and possessions. They must also not withhold their resources from neighbors near and far who have disparate physical needs.

To all believers the apostle Paul says, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” (Colossians 3 vs 5.) “For this you know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5 vs 5.) The obsession of these aforementioned evil tendencies, the apostle Paul says, is idolatry.

Prayer: Abba Father, remove from me obsessions with created things, and give me the grace to overcome the attraction of any evil tendencies in this world, rather empower me by Your Spirit to live for You, putting You first in everything in my life, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!