God hates idolatry! He prefaced His instructions to His people with an emphatic…
Exodus 20:2-3 NIV
[2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery…”
… and launched into His resume of requirements for a covenant relationship with His people….
. [3] “You shall have no other gods before me….”
Throughout Scripture, God insisted that His glory was paramount in everything He said and did, and that His people should reverence Him and promote His glory in all the details of their everyday lives.
Isaiah 42:8 NLT
[8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.”
God chose one nation to be the vehicle through which He would display His love and power to the ungodly, idolatrous nations around them; for example, He crushed Egypt with ten plagues and delivered the Isaelites from the power of Pharaoh, exposing the impotence of Egypt’s gods.
Isaiah 43:21 NKJV
[21] “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.”
Idolatry is the worst form of insult to God since idols are man-made, useless, powerless, reflecting the worst of human nature, and are, ultimately, both visible and invisible representations of demonic spirits. Idols are substitutes for the only true God. They can do nothing to us or for us.
The worship of idols is the expression of human defiance against God, unbelief in who He is, and a determined effort to replace Him with self. Since humans create their own gods in one form or another, humans regard themselves as the creator above the great Creator. People create gods in their own image to elevate themselves.
How does idolatry affect people? When people worship anything or anyone other than the living God, they are living out the essence of Adam’s rebellion. “I don’t need God. I can be God!”
The spinoffs of idolatry are clear.
Humans create gods like themselves, worship them and eventually become like them, entrenching in themselves the wickedness of their gods. Idolatry becomes a vicious circle of demonic control and wicked behaviour.
Hosea 9:10 NLT
[10] “The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshipped.”
The greatest tragedy of all is that Israel attempted to marry their idolatry to the worship of God. They attributed to idols what God had done. They urged Aaron to make gods to represent the God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.
Exodus 32:4-6 NLT
[4]” Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” [5] Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” [6] The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”
As God’s children, we may no longer worship carved idols, but the remnants of idolatry are in us if we do not guard against the elevation of self in its many subtle forms. Let me highlight three ways in which we set ourselves above God.
- Self-importance and self-suffiency go together.
When we inflate our opinion of ourselves above who we are, we think we don’t need God or people. Pride is nothing less than. A form of idolatry. You have heard the statement about a proud person, “He is a self-made man who worships his creator!”
- Unforgiveness is another form of idolatry.
An unforgiving person displays an attitude of arrogance. “I am better than you. I didn’t say/do what you said/did. You owe me. I will not lower myself to your level. I will not let you get away with this. I will punish you by withholding my forgiveness. I… I… I…”
Withholding forgiveness is a form of manipulation, keeping the debtor in my power, playing God in another’s life.
Jesus forgave in the most extreme of cruelty and indifference to His suffering…
Luke 23:34 NLT
[34] “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.”
- Self-pity is a subtle form of idolatry.
“Look what has happened to me. I don’t deserve this! Poor me. I am a victim. Please feel sorry for me. Please pay attention to my suffering. Me…me…me?”
Again, it’s all about me!
Jesus is the perfect example of a human who had the correct perspective in life.
Luke 23:27-28 NLT
[27]”A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. [28] But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”
In His temptations, He refused to deviate from the Father’s instructions and His commitment to obey Him. “It is written…” was His response.
In His suffering, He entrusted Himself to the Father,
1 Peter 2:23 NLT
[23] “He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”
His example offers us a way to escape idolatry.
There are also significant spinoffs in worshipping the living God, the true God of the Bible. Jesus, as God, is worthy of our worship.
Jesus did not reject worship.
John 9:35-38 NIV
[35]”Jesus heard that they had thrown him (the blind man whom Jesus healed) out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” [37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” [38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.”
The same principle is true, that we become like the object of our worship, when we worship Jesus, the Son of God. We become like Him.
2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
[18]”And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Likeness to Jesus is God’s goal for His children. He is recreating us into Jesus’s image so that His children will all resemble His Son in His eternal family.
Romans 8:29 NLT
[29] “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
Worshipping God is an attitude and a way of life that witnesses to our belongingness to Him.
Colossians 3:17 NLT
[17]”And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”
1 Peter 2:9 NIV
[9] “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Worshipping God, living every moment connected to God as the centre and focal point of our lives, is God’s purpose.
John 4:23-24 NLT
[23]” But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. [24] For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
Worshipping God is the way we live in covenant with Him. In this covenant, sealed with Jesus’ signature in His own blood, is the guarantee of all the benefits of salvation and God’s provision for life. God’s requirement for us is to believe in Jesus. His promises are the conditions of His covenant, ratified and fulfilled by Jesus. We add our “amen” to receive them.
Worshipping God alone is central to everything we have been promised and everything we enjoy in the New Covenant. Conversely, idolatry in any form cancels our participation in this new life we have in Jesus.
1 John 5:21 NLT
[21] “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”