The Gospel in Life: The Gospel and Idolatry
October 17th, 2010 (AM). By: Rob Frame
I wonder what you had for breakfast this morning – fry up maybe, toast running out the door. Perhaps you’re a little more health conscious a bowl of muesli and a piece of fruit maybe. Well if that’s you then I need to warn you; you could be in danger, really, because if you ate 50 bananas one after the other it would kill you. Now I have no problem accepting this because I hate bananas but some of you will find this more difficult.
You’d die of a potassium overdose apparently which is ironic because one of the marketing lines spun by banana distributors is that we should eat bananas because they have potassium in them which is good for us. Potassium is good for us in low to medium doses but in very high doses it’s lethal.
That’s something of a disputed urban myth but our subject this morning isn’t it’s much more serious. You see Idolatry is the practice of taking something, even a good thing and slowly killing ourselves with it. It’s like being addicted to a hard drug which robs us of meaning, satisfaction and joy and yet like a drug addict we keep wanting to go back for more and are often unwilling to admit, or are unconscious of, our problem. The problem is idolatry, the sin behind sin – irrationally worshipping something which doesn’t deserve worship whilst ignoring the very person who does.
This morning we’re going to see the Apostle Paul calling the young Christians in Colossea away from the slavery of idolatry and into a life of freedom being remade in the image of God. We’ll look at our text Colossians 3.1-10 under three headings;
Idolatry – deceptive
Idolatry – deserving death
Idolatry – a battle for hearts and minds
Idolatry – deceptive
Idolatry is capable of perverting nearly anything, even good things, so that they lethally enslave us. The sin behind sin.
Idolatry might not be what we think it is. Idols tends to conjure up either images of totem poles and elaborate carvings or celebrity – our stars are often referred to as idols, which seems to be synonymous with role model/person deserving attention. As a result the word ‘idol’ has lost its bite. However, the Bible uses idol/idolatry to describe what is happening in the deepest reaches of a person’s heart. So we may need a redefinition of what idolatry is this morning and Paul helps us with that in v5;
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
Now read that verse again because you may have read it like this; (trailing off). We know these things are wrong; ‘sexual immorality, impurity, lust and greed’ but familiarity can breed contempt or at least apathy. Paul isn’t simply making a list here of sins the Colossians should avoid. Paul is going deeper; notice the second half of the verse; …lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Paul calls these things idolatry. It’s like Paul is a doctor tracing back the symptoms to the root cause; so sexual immorality is traced back through impurity – lust – evil desires – greed to idolatry. In other words sexual immorality is the result of being dissatisfied with God’s design for sex, it’s not simply breaking the rules but rather seeking to find our ultimate satisfaction in something other than God.
The word Paul uses for ‘desires’ here is helpful, you’ll know it if you’ve read the home group materials for this week, it’s the Greek word Epithumia which means an inordinate, over-desire of something, a senseless passion. This helps us understand how something good like sex becomes something that could become unsatisfying or even deeply hurtful and damaging. The problem is not so much the ‘object’ of desire but the desire itself. When we lean on anything for our ultimate sense of significance, for our pleasure or satisfaction other than God we pervert that very thing and turn it into an idol which we will worship and so enslave ourselves to.
Verse 5 tells us the reason why sexual immorality, lust and greed are wrong. They are not wrong because God wants to rob us of pleasure, meaning or satisfaction or simply that he wants us to play by his rules – though he has every right to demand that. No, God is concerned for our hearts for our pleasure, our satisfaction, our joy but we cannot enjoy these things if we place anything in God’s place, if we make anything else ultimate – they cannot satisfy. It is only when God is worshipped, when he is glorified that we can be truly satisfied.
So whilst we might read sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed wearily we shouldn’t do;
1. These sins are serious and this is God’s word warning against them.
2. The sin behind these sins is idolatry which we are all vulnerable to.
In film ‘The Usual Suspects’ there’s a memorable quote comparing the mysterious mastermind in the film to the way the devil operates;
‘You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist’
Idolatry is similarly deceptive; we might not have a totem pole in our garden or have a lifestyle that outwardly looks immoral but that doesn’t mean we are free. Heart idolatry often takes good things like a desire to provide for our families, a desire to be appreciated, satisfying work, a relationship and perverts it.
Idolatry is capable of perverting nearly anything, even good things, so that they lethally enslave us.
Idolatry – deserving death
Idolatry is the ultimate offense it deserves death and hell. The sin of sins.
So we’ve seen that idolatry can be deceptive; first in it not being what we might first think it is, second and more profoundly that the deceptive nature of idolatry fools our hearts into making even good things lethal by making them ultimate things. Paul is not just offering us advice to save ourselves from ourselves but to realise the depth of our idolatry and so the depth of our offence against God. That’s what I want to look at in our second point; ‘Idolatry – deserving punishment’. Look at the next verse, v6;
6Because of these (ie v5 the idolatry of greed sexual immorality etc), the wrath of God is coming.
Paul states quite bluntly; the reason that God is angry, the reason that he must bring justice by punishing wickedness is OUR idolatry. Let that sit for a minute – the reason God is angry is because you and I have replaced him with other things. {PAUSE} We have created idols out of money, security, sex, the approval of others, comfort, career, family etc etc we’ve sought by our own efforts to gain satisfaction from achieving these goals which we have set for and are in fact reflections of ourselves. We have worshipped ourselves and not Him.
Here are 4 reasons why idolatry is offensive;
First, Idolatry is unjust – Idolatry fails to give God what is due to him. Romans 1.21 says this about Idolatry;
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him
This is the deepest offense of idolatry – it fails to glorify or thank God for both his nature – his holiness, his beauty, his patient love, his generosity.
Second, Idolatry is based on a lie – Idolatry is not picking a god other than the God of the Bible, it is wilfully substituting the living God for a non-god. Galations 4.8,9 puts it like this;
… you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
When we worship idols we set ourselves up for disappointment, idols are not gods, or even false gods but ‘non-gods’.
Third, Idolatry perverts and enslaves – Romans 1.25;
25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
As we saw in our first point idolatry can pervert even good things, making us slaves to them. This is incredibly harmful to us but it is also offensive to God. Why? Because he loves us and desires what is truly good for us. Even more significantly it prevents us reflecting the image of our creator. In idolatry we misrepresent our creator and so fail to bring him glory and praise.
So then idolatry is unjust, based on a lie and a perversion of God’s creation, it is the ultimate offense and so deserves death and hell. It is the sin of sins.
Idolatry – a battle for hearts and minds
In Jesus God performs heart surgery on us replacing our idolatry with a deeper longing for our creator and redeemer
So far we have discovered two things about idolatry;
1. It is deceptive and we are all guilty of, and vulnerable to, it.
2. It is the sin behind sin; it deeply offends God and so deserves his coming wrath.
What hope then is there? If we are all guilty of idolatry, if we can be so deceived and enslaved by it and if it is so offensive to God what can we do? Is there an answer? You’re in church now so you are probably expecting me to say that the answer is Jesus – the answer is Jesus.
But we need to stop here first, in order to see how Jesus can and does deal with idolatry, how he deals not just with symptomatic sin but with the corrupted heart beneath those sins we need to know; to believe and feel that we are each, individually idolaters. We know this is true, you know it in your heart and you see it in your experience. It’s the source of our guilt and shame, it’s the reason why despite our society being richer financially than ever before we are less satisfied – we have chased after things that are not Gods and found them to be just that; not God. That dissatisfaction is God’s gracious warning to us.
What hope is there then? Well God is a heart surgeon he knows that our hearts are the source of the problem. God says this about Israel’s idolatry back in Ezekiel 14;
When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. 5 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.’
God recaptured the hearts of the people by punishing idolatry in Ezekiel’s day but now he has done something far greater he has punished his son for our idolatry. Let’s get back into Colossians 3 and v1;
1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.4When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
When we trust in Jesus we become united with him both in his death and in his resurrection. His death pays for our idolatry and the same power that raised him from the dead is now at work in us, guaranteeing our future and allowing us to set our hearts not on idols but ‘on things above’, things that will truly satisfy us and glorify him. He recaptures our hearts through Jesus’ work on the cross which;
1. Pays for our idolatry
2. Reveals the fullness of God’s love. Epically demonstrating just how worthy he is of all of our worship.
3. Gives us the Holy Spirit to transform our evil desires into godly ones.
Paul paints a picture of life after accepting Jesus, with is power at work within us in v9 and 10;
9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Here we see a life being transformed from idolatry to true worship and imaging of God. Notice that it is not a life where idolatry does not exist; Paul is still instructing the Colossians to daily take off their past identities as idolaters and put on their new selves. This side of heaven we will not be totally isolated from the temptation to worship things other than God. But we will more be able to detect idolatry more easily, repent more quickly and be more and more satisfied in our longing to know and be like Jesus.
Picture it like this… Imagine you are addicted to Big Macs you eat one for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. Nothing wrong with a Big Mac once in a while but if you’ve seen the documentary ‘supersized’ you’ll know the worrying health risks that come with such a diet. Now imagine you noticed there was some work being done down the street and lo and behold a gourmet steak restaurant has opened not 200 yards from your house, as compensation for the noisy building work they giving you free meals for life. It’s an analogy – go with it. Do you still want a Big Mac? No, as long as you know there is something vastly superior around the corner the desire is gone. Paul is saying that as Christians we are free, free from slavery to idols, free to choose instead to serve our creator and in doing so be recreated in his image – which is in fact our true selves, who we are meant to be.
To be human is not to worship idols made in our own image but to worship God and so be re-made in his image.
How can we have this life?
1. ‘Take off the old self’ – See and admit our idols. Recognise them. Know the offensiveness of our idolatry – know that we deserve death and hell. Repent. [REF GOSPEL IN LIFE READING pp40-44]
2. ‘For you died, and your life is now hidden in Christ’ – Know that Jesus death paid for our idolatry and frees us from it. Rest and rejoice in Christ. [REF GOSPEL IN LIFE READING pp48-49]
3. ‘Put on the new self’ – Ask for God’s Holy Spirit to mould our hearts so that they desire God first.
4. ‘Be renewed in knowledge in the image of our Creator’ – Think about these things, treasure them. Remember what Christ has done for us; remember God’s goodness, kindness, faithfulness, holiness, love, protection, hope, creativity. Meditate on the scriptures suggested in this weeks reading. Dwell on Jesus until you know him deeply and can see how much better he is than the worthless idols we have all exchanged him for.
Whether you’re realising your idolatry for the first time or the umpteenth time, the process is the same. We are all idolaters, each of us have enslaved ourselves to good things and so made them death. We deserve death but God has sent his son to punished him for our idolatry and recapture our hearts. We can be free from the dissatisfaction, disappointment and death of idolatry. Free to choose the life of the world to come, true joy, lasting satisfaction as we worship, enjoy and are made like the true God – the one worthy of all worship. Amen.