Flee From Idolatry
1 Cor. 10:14-22
Prayer
Introduction
We often look down on the tribesman and the worshippers of Idols with disdain. We think that we are above having Gods made with our on hands but I want you to think about something the only difference between the idolatry of a tribesman ascribing power to a fetish and the idolatry of a professor attributing the wonder of the natural world to evolutionary forces is one of degrees. The professor has one and the tribesman does not. Now which is smarter than the other, which one looks more foolish. Our knowledge can become an Idol, people can become idols, anything that takes first place I our lives has just become the idol, the false God that we serve.
Strange for us to think of idolatry as being something in the modern world but consider this:
• There are actually people who worship crawling creatures: In a museum in Egypt there is a monument to the scarob beetle.
• The philistines actually worshiped flies. Hindus today won’t swat a fly lest it be an ancestor of their paying for wrongs.
• Today you find that there are 330 million gods of the Hindus, 8 gods for every person.
• In Thailand there are 20,000 Buddhist temples. In one there is a 2-inch tooth supposedly saved from Buddha’s funeral.
• In China a Buddhist statue actual fell on a man and the family sued the budhas in the temple and it was found guilty and it and 14 other statues were actually beheaded. IDOLATRY is rampant in our world.
• The Roman Catholic Church has relics: Mary’s hair, Mary’s wedding ring, Mary’s holy girdle, the last supper basin, the burial cloth of Jesus, the lance which stuck in His side, actually footprints of Jesus, and John the Baptist: 3 shoulder blades, 4 legs, 5 arms, and 50 index fingers that supposed pointed and said ‘Thou are the lamb of God’.
• Someone has said that the god of the last half of the 20th century is MATERIALISM. I can’t think of another generation that has spent more of their resources and time to accumulate more stuff than we do today. It is the reason many people go to school or choose the kind of work they do. To get bigger and better and nicer.
God tells us in 1 Cor. 10:14 Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. We are to run away from anything that may be a distraction for us that would cause us to no longer place God in the number on position in our lives. That means that if your favorite TV. show causes you to misplace God in your life turn the TV. off, and if a favorite hobby causes you to misplace God in your life quite it. If a job becomes the end all and be all of your life then leave it. This may seem drastic but God did not say keep doing it He says to flee from it. Don’t let Satan get that finger hold on your life. The most important thing that you do while you are here on earth is to serve and worship God. It is not about raising a Godly family because if God is first in your life that will occur naturally from the outpouring of God’s love through you. It is not about becoming successful because that will occur because of God’s blessing you. When God is first everything else just falls into place. That is why He says to flee Idolatry and don’t let Satan any part of your life. Because if Satan gets a fingertip grip He will soon have a hand holt and then have it all. So lets examine Idolatry so that we may avoid it.
I. What is Idolatry?
a. Idolatry is anything that we put before God in our lives.
i. It can be popular idols such as
1. Musicians
2. Heroes
3. Video games
4. Work
5. Hobbies
6. Ourselves
7. Status
8. Pleasure and entertainment
9. Our families
10. Our friends
b. Anything that comes before God has just become our idol.
i. People say I believe in God but then they do everything else besides serve Him.
1. I am to busy tonight we want go to Bible study
2. Man the day is perfect for golfing, hunting, fishing or so forth I think will go instead of going to church.
3. The kids are hollering, they have homework to do so we don’t have time for church.
4. Oh that TV. show is on that we wanted to watch, or the neighbors came over or some other convenient excuse to keep us from coming to church.
c. Idolatry is Satan’s attempt to undermine God’s plan of salvation.
i. He wants to keep people from church. This is the last place He wants anybody.
ii. He wants to keep people from studying God’s word.
iii. He wants to convince people they are not following idols. But if you are not worshipping God then you are worshipping something else and that is idolatry
II. Why are we not to worship Idols?
a. First we were created to worship only God and nothing else.
b. An idol is something man creates with his hands and his mind. It has no power, no authority, no life; it has nothing unless we give it.
c. Idolatry is destructive. Notice that every thing of this world is destructive in nature. It seeks to destroy because the who is in this world seeks to destroy.
d. Idolatry is the worship of demons and Satan. So if God is not first in your life Satan is. Because a true disciple of Christ has God first in their life. Others have placed something else first and no matter what that something, after you peel back the layers you will discover Satan hiding there.
III. What are we to do?
a. God’s word says to flee from Idolatry?
i. This does not mean study it.
ii. This does not mean talk about it.
iii. This does not mean to vote on it.
iv. This does not mean to walk away from it.
v. Paul says we are to flee, run away as fast as we can from Idolatry in any form or fashion.
1. We can’t do both. We can’t have our cake and eat it too. We can’t worship God and something else also.
2. God is a jealous God and He does not share.
vi. Anything that prevents us from serving and worshipping God quite doing it. Flee from it. We make choices every day of whether or not to serve and worship God. Nothing is to come before Him.
b. God has provided a plan of salvation that puts Him squarely in the center. He is the only one who deserves worship and that is what He demands of each of us. Anything less is Idolatry because something else is more important.
IV. Conclusion.
a. Why is it important that we let God be first in out life? Because we may touch others when God is leading. Miss Thompson taught Teddy Stallard in the fourth grade. He was a slow, unkempt student, a loner shunned by his classmates. The previous year his mother died, and what little motivation for school he may have once had was now gone. Miss Thompson didn’t particularly care for Teddy either, but at Christmas time he brought her a small present. Her desk was covered with well-wrapped presents from the other children, but Teddy’s came in a brown sack. When she opened it there was a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a bottle of cheap perfume. The children began to snicker but Miss Thompson saw the importance of the moment. She quickly splashed on some perfume and put on the bracelet, pretending Teddy had given her something special. At the end of the day Teddy worked up enough courage to softly say, "Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother . . . and her bracelet looks real pretty on you too. I’m glad you like my presents." After Teddy left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and prayed for God’s forgiveness. She prayed for God to use her as she sought to not only teach these children but to love them as well. She became a new teacher. She lovingly helped students like Teddy, and by the end of the year he had caught up with most of the students. Miss Thompson didn’t hear from Teddy for a long time. Then she received this note: "Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know. I will be graduating second in my class. Love, Teddy Stallard." Four years later she got another note: "Dear Miss Thompson, They just told me I will be graduating first in my class. I wanted you to be the first to know. The university has not been easy, but I liked it. Love, Teddy Stallard." Four years later: "Dear Miss Thompson, As of today, I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. How about that? I wanted you to be the first to know. I am getting married next month. I want you to come and sit where my mother would sit if she were alive. You are the only family I have now; Dad died last year. Love, Teddy Stallard." Miss Thompson went to the wedding and sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat, because she let God use her as an instrument of encouragement. What about you are you willing to let God use you? Are you willing to place Him first in your life? This morning if you are willing to place God first in your life surrender to His calling and come forward and make that commitment now. Come forward and remove all the idols from your life and dedicate it to the service of God. Come now.
