1 Cor. 10:14-22
How can we take this ancient text and make it come alive for us and for our needs? We don’t know anyone who kneels before golden statues or bows down before carved images. So hasn’t idolatry gone the way of leisure suits, shoulder pads and jelly shoes? Aren’t we past all that? What if it’s not about statues? What if the gods of here and now are not known as cosmic deities with strange names? What if the demons fighting for our souls have taken more ordinary forms so that we don’t recognize them as gods at all? What if we do our “kneeling” and our “bowing” with our imaginations, our checkbooks, our search engines and our calendars? What if I told you that every sin you are struggling with, every discouragement you are dealing with—even the lack of purpose you may be living with—is because of idolatry?1
There is a war on. The demons who pretend to be gods are at war with the one True God but they attack us, and their strength is not to be underestimated. These gods clash for the throne of your heart, and much is at stake. Everything about you, everything you do, every relationship you have, everything you hope or dream or wish for depends true upon which god wins that war.
The deadliest war is the one most of us never realize is being fought. It is a spiritual battle and most people are asleep on the battle field, lying there defenseless and unaware, being trampled on by the demons who run our lives if we let them. And we most often let them, by just not realizing the roles they play in influencing the decisions we make. They like to let us imagine that we are free. But the Bible teaches that without spiritual awareness we are all slaves to sin.
It’s tricky too. It seems like even people who should know better get tricked into a deadly idolatry. During the time of the prophets in Israel there were many idolaters who just didn’t see any problem with it. Just listen to some of the prophets words. There are many instances of the prophets talking like this: Isaiah 1:3 “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Jeremiah 8:7, “Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.”
This does not mean that they did not also try to worship the Lord, for listen to Isaiah 1: 10-14, “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” That was God talking to the Israelites about their church services. He didn’t accept their worship because he didn’t have their total devotion. They were also worshipping idols.
How do we make sure that our church services don’t insult God like that? The Israelites just didn’t seem to understand that God was supposed to have exclusive rights to their worship. When things were going well for them, they just assumed God was blessing them and so were the other gods they wanted to honor. They wanted peace. So they were willing to pay homage to the gods of other nations. They were trying to get along with other nations. That’s maybe what they said about why they started participating in the worship of other gods. But deeper than that, our sinful natures are just drawn to worship anything but the one true God. What they thought was that they just wanted to fit in and not be offensive. When I start to put it that way, is it starting to sound like what we are dealing with in our culture?
We want to live peacefully. We want to fit in and not be offensive, live and let live. Do not judge and all that. Therefore many Christians cave in and let go of insisting on what God’s Word says about life and living. Instead of us, the Church changing the culture, we begin to let the culture change the church.
The Bible teaches that there is only one God to whom we owe our lives, our allegiance, our duty and our love. But there are many demons all bent on tearing us away from our one true love and they have many ways of tempting us into idolatry. There is a reason why Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and money. There is a reason why idolatry is so often connected to sexual immorality. But there is more. In his little booklet, “God’s at War,” Kyle Idleman summarizes for us 9 major idols that command our attention in today’s world. Grouped in three main realms that he calls temples; three gods in each temple. In the temple of pleasure people serve the god’s of food, sex, and entertainment. In the temple of power people serve the god’s of success, money and achievement. And in the temple of love people serve the god’s of romance, family and self. These are the nine major aspects of human life in which people today still will do whatever they can to get what it is they want. This is the pantheon of American idolatry. People will make big sacrifices of time and energy and even money in the pursuit of these selfish goals.
But I can simplify this even more for you. In America, and perhaps this is the core issue for all people really, the real god we worship is self. We will do anything to make ourselves happy. We don’t worship other gods anymore because we really worship ourselves. We don’t want to have to answer to anybody. Isn’t that what American individualism and independence is all about? We glorify personal responsibility because we think that by it we earn personal privileges and rights. I can do whatever I want as long as I am not hurting anybody else.
God says, “No you can’t. Anyone who wants to take care of his own life will lose it.” God is our King. We owe him everything. We Christians must recover a sense of loyalty to our king and become willing to obey him out of a sense of duty. Jesus asks us to take up a cross and die to all that is selfish in us, so that we can live for Him with that love that is otherish and not selfish at all. If we want to participate in the life of Christ and enjoy eternal life we must follow him and obey what he commands. But we can rejoice in this because we find that he knows what is good for us and even if he asks us to do something that causes us to suffer it is ultimately for our own good and for the good of the people we influence by our witness and testimony about God.
He loved us first. He died for us first. He swore his allegiance and faithfulness to us for our salvation and for our eternal relationship with him and with each other. This is pictured for us in the Lord’s Supper. Christ’s body was broken so that we could be made whole. Christ’s blood was offered up as an atoning sacrifice so that our sins are forgiven. These truths set us free from captivity to sin and death and set us free to do and to become all that God truly intends for us, and it turns out that what God wants fir us is exactly what we should want for ourselves because it is best.
Today we celebrate again our holy meal, the Lord’s Supper and so it is fitting that our text today speaks of that meal. And in this text we see that the meal we are about to enjoy speaks of our participation in the body and blood of Christ. The word here for participation is the same Greek word translated as fellowship in other places. And indeed fellowship is really our participation in life together. It is not just that we become one in fellowship with Christ, but also with each other. As it says in v. 17, “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.” Therefore this is also a good day to welcome new members in to our fellowship as we will soon do.
One thing that stands out in the answers to the survey questions we have collected is that this congregation is blessed with a strong sense of family. That is good for fellowship. We enjoy each other’s company. Everybody wants to belong. This congregation at the moment does help people feel as if they belong here, or we belong to each other and will be cared for by each other. And so it is with joy today that we also welcome new members into our fellowship. Jane and Sharon and Shannon and Megan become signs of a fruitful ministry and bright future. Their decisions to unite with us in this cause of Christ encourage us and strengthen us to carry on in our service of the Lord with renewed vigor and hope! It is not just a formality. It is a new formation of the body of Christ in this congregation.
But this fellowship goes deeper than just hanging out together. It is a partnership of committed Christians who serve the Lord as members of His body. Our allegiances ought not to be divided between God and other interests, especially we ought to flee from sinful idolatrous interests, including love of self, because God calls us to love others. As we prepare our hearts today to receive again the bread and cup, let us remember that it is a sign that Jesus Christ gives His all for us.
Let each one of us look into our own hearts and consider, is there some form of idolatry in me that I ought to renounce for Jesus sake? Is there a sin or distraction that I can decide today to shun, as it says in Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
As when we get married we are not afraid to declare vows of commitment to a spouse, so let us today renew our commitment to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whole heartedly, trusting in His guidance and unfailing love for us. Let us renew a sense of duty to the call and cause of Christ and strengthen our resolve to serve him and him alone. Amen.
1God’s At War, Kyle Idleman.
How can we take this ancient text and make it come alive for us and for our needs? We don’t know anyone who kneels before golden statues or bows down before carved images. So hasn’t idolatry gone the way of leisure suits, shoulder pads and jelly shoes? Aren’t we past all that? What if it’s not about statues? What if the gods of here and now are not known as cosmic deities with strange names? What if the demons fighting for our souls have taken more ordinary forms so that we don’t recognize them as gods at all? What if we do our “kneeling” and our “bowing” with our imaginations, our checkbooks, our search engines and our calendars? What if I told you that every sin you are struggling with, every discouragement you are dealing with—even the lack of purpose you may be living with—is because of idolatry?1
There is a war on. The demons who pretend to be gods are at war with the one True God but they attack us, and their strength is not to be underestimated. These gods clash for the throne of your heart, and much is at stake. Everything about you, everything you do, every relationship you have, everything you hope or dream or wish for depends true upon which god wins that war.
The deadliest war is the one most of us never realize is being fought. It is a spiritual battle and most people are asleep on the battle field, lying there defenseless and unaware, being trampled on by the demons who run our lives if we let them. And we most often let them, by just not realizing the roles they play in influencing the decisions we make. They like to let us imagine that we are free. But the Bible teaches that without spiritual awareness we are all slaves to sin.
It’s tricky too. It seems like even people who should know better get tricked into a deadly idolatry. During the time of the prophets in Israel there were many idolaters who just didn’t see any problem with it. Just listen to some of the prophets words. There are many instances of the prophets talking like this: Isaiah 1:3 “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Jeremiah 8:7, “Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.”
This does not mean that they did not also try to worship the Lord, for listen to Isaiah 1: 10-14, “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” That was God talking to the Israelites about their church services. He didn’t accept their worship because he didn’t have their total devotion. They were also worshipping idols.
How do we make sure that our church services don’t insult God like that? The Israelites just didn’t seem to understand that God was supposed to have exclusive rights to their worship. When things were going well for them, they just assumed God was blessing them and so were the other gods they wanted to honor. They wanted peace. So they were willing to pay homage to the gods of other nations. They were trying to get along with other nations. That’s maybe what they said about why they started participating in the worship of other gods. But deeper than that, our sinful natures are just drawn to worship anything but the one true God. What they thought was that they just wanted to fit in and not be offensive. When I start to put it that way, is it starting to sound like what we are dealing with in our culture?
We want to live peacefully. We want to fit in and not be offensive, live and let live. Do not judge and all that. Therefore many Christians cave in and let go of insisting on what God’s Word says about life and living. Instead of us, the Church changing the culture, we begin to let the culture change the church.
The Bible teaches that there is only one God to whom we owe our lives, our allegiance, our duty and our love. But there are many demons all bent on tearing us away from our one true love and they have many ways of tempting us into idolatry. There is a reason why Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and money. There is a reason why idolatry is so often connected to sexual immorality. But there is more. In his little booklet, “God’s at War,” Kyle Idleman summarizes for us 9 major idols that command our attention in today’s world. Grouped in three main realms that he calls temples; three gods in each temple. In the temple of pleasure people serve the god’s of food, sex, and entertainment. In the temple of power people serve the god’s of success, money and achievement. And in the temple of love people serve the god’s of romance, family and self. These are the nine major aspects of human life in which people today still will do whatever they can to get what it is they want. This is the pantheon of American idolatry. People will make big sacrifices of time and energy and even money in the pursuit of these selfish goals.
But I can simplify this even more for you. In America, and perhaps this is the core issue for all people really, the real god we worship is self. We will do anything to make ourselves happy. We don’t worship other gods anymore because we really worship ourselves. We don’t want to have to answer to anybody. Isn’t that what American individualism and independence is all about? We glorify personal responsibility because we think that by it we earn personal privileges and rights. I can do whatever I want as long as I am not hurting anybody else.
God says, “No you can’t. Anyone who wants to take care of his own life will lose it.” God is our King. We owe him everything. We Christians must recover a sense of loyalty to our king and become willing to obey him out of a sense of duty. Jesus asks us to take up a cross and die to all that is selfish in us, so that we can live for Him with that love that is otherish and not selfish at all. If we want to participate in the life of Christ and enjoy eternal life we must follow him and obey what he commands. But we can rejoice in this because we find that he knows what is good for us and even if he asks us to do something that causes us to suffer it is ultimately for our own good and for the good of the people we influence by our witness and testimony about God.
He loved us first. He died for us first. He swore his allegiance and faithfulness to us for our salvation and for our eternal relationship with him and with each other. This is pictured for us in the Lord’s Supper. Christ’s body was broken so that we could be made whole. Christ’s blood was offered up as an atoning sacrifice so that our sins are forgiven. These truths set us free from captivity to sin and death and set us free to do and to become all that God truly intends for us, and it turns out that what God wants fir us is exactly what we should want for ourselves because it is best.
Today we celebrate again our holy meal, the Lord’s Supper and so it is fitting that our text today speaks of that meal. And in this text we see that the meal we are about to enjoy speaks of our participation in the body and blood of Christ. The word here for participation is the same Greek word translated as fellowship in other places. And indeed fellowship is really our participation in life together. It is not just that we become one in fellowship with Christ, but also with each other. As it says in v. 17, “Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.” Therefore this is also a good day to welcome new members in to our fellowship as we will soon do.
One thing that stands out in the answers to the survey questions we have collected is that this congregation is blessed with a strong sense of family. That is good for fellowship. We enjoy each other’s company. Everybody wants to belong. This congregation at the moment does help people feel as if they belong here, or we belong to each other and will be cared for by each other. And so it is with joy today that we also welcome new members into our fellowship. Jane and Sharon and Shannon and Megan become signs of a fruitful ministry and bright future. Their decisions to unite with us in this cause of Christ encourage us and strengthen us to carry on in our service of the Lord with renewed vigor and hope! It is not just a formality. It is a new formation of the body of Christ in this congregation.
But this fellowship goes deeper than just hanging out together. It is a partnership of committed Christians who serve the Lord as members of His body. Our allegiances ought not to be divided between God and other interests, especially we ought to flee from sinful idolatrous interests, including love of self, because God calls us to love others. As we prepare our hearts today to receive again the bread and cup, let us remember that it is a sign that Jesus Christ gives His all for us.
Let each one of us look into our own hearts and consider, is there some form of idolatry in me that I ought to renounce for Jesus sake? Is there a sin or distraction that I can decide today to shun, as it says in Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
As when we get married we are not afraid to declare vows of commitment to a spouse, so let us today renew our commitment to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whole heartedly, trusting in His guidance and unfailing love for us. Let us renew a sense of duty to the call and cause of Christ and strengthen our resolve to serve him and him alone. Amen.
1God’s At War, Kyle Idleman.
Comments
Post a Comment