It is time to review

We have now finished Judges.  However, I trust and pray that the things that you have learned through this study have been invaluable.  Unfortuntely, for those doing this study from afar you haven't had the benefit of being in our groups, hearing people share of how God has spoken to them in a personal way, through His Word.  For everyone it is something different and that is the amazing thing about God when He speaks.  I realise it hasn't been an easy book to study but there are some great lessons to be learned.  If you are up for it then the last challenge is to send me an email and let me know how God has spoken to you about through the Book of Judges. My email address is pam.wunderli@maf-uganda.org 

Who or what do we worship?

Who or what do we worship?

³“You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God….. Exodus 20:3-4a

 

1.      What is an idol?  How does someone/something become an idol?

 

2.      Name some idols in our world today?

 

3.      How do we identify an idol in our own life?  At what point does something or somebody become an idol in our life?

 

4.      How do we remove an idol from our life and ensure that God stays on the throne of our hearts?

 

20 piercing questions from Tim Keller.

These are great questions to ask ourselves to diagnose heart idols

 

“Life only has meaning/I only have worth if…

1.      I have power and influence over others.” (Power Idolatry)

2.      I am loved and respected by _____.” (Approval Idolatry)

3.      I have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.” (Comfort idolatry)

4.      I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of _____.” (Control idolatry)

5.      people are dependent on me and need me.” (Helping Idolatry)

6.      someone is there to protect me and keep me safe.” (Dependence idolatry)

7.      I am completely free from obligations or responsibilities to take care of someone.” (Independence idolatry)

8.      I am highly productive and getting a lot done.” (Work idolatry)

9.      I am being recognized for my accomplishments, and I am excelling in my work.” (Achievement idolatry)

10.  I have a certain level of wealth, financial freedom, and very nice possessions.” (Materialism idolatry)

11.  I am adhering to my religion’s moral codes and accomplished in its activities.” (Religion idolatry)

12.  This one person is in my life and happy to be there, and/or happy with me.” (Individual person idolatry)

13.  I feel I am totally independent of organized religion and am living by a self-made morality.” (Irreligion idolatry)

14.  My race and culture is ascendant and recognized as superior.” (Racial/cultural idolatry)

15.  A particular social grouping or professional grouping or other group lets me in.” (Inner ring idolatry)

16.  My children and/or my parents are happy and happy with me.” (Family idolatry)

17.  Mr. or Ms. “Right” is in love with me.” (Relationship Idolatry)

18.  I am hurting, in a problem; only then do I feel worthy of love or able to deal with guilt.” (Suffering idolatry)

19.  my political or social cause is making progress and ascending in influence or power.” (Ideology idolatry)

20.  I have a particular kind of look or body image.” (Image idolatry)

 

Do we have an issue with Idolatry?

The following study on idols came out of our time in Judges.....here is some of what we talked about.

Idolatry

Let us start by defining what idolatry is.  Websters dictionary definition is “the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing”  An idol, in essence,  is anything that replaces the one, true God.

Exodus 20:1-5a lets us know what God’s thoughts are on idolatry.  The chapter starts out with the words “And God spoke all these words”  We are in no doubt as to who is speaking.  He goes on to say “I am the Lord your God”  the relationship is set.  We are not gods and we have our rightful place under God.  In the next section is tell us that it was God that brought the Israelites out of slavery and it is God that brings us out of what we are enslaved to.  What is a slave ?  Let us look at the dictionary meaning again: it is a person who is strongly influenced and controlled by something .  What are we enslaved to this morning?  Our jobs? A relationship? A lifestyle?  A hobby?  An unfulfilled dream? Materialism, Problems? Or something else?  Sometimes it is not obvious.  We become so used to being controlled by something else or somebody else that it becomes normal.  It becomes part of who we are but this is not from God.  Paul said in Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery.”  God sent his Son, Jesus to die for us that we might be free not that we continue to live like a slave or become enslaved again.

We have been created to be people that worship.  Every person on this planet worships something or somebody.  The problems come when our worship is misplaced or focused on something else.  Exodus 20:3 says “You shall have no other gods before me”.  You might say well I don’t have a shrine in my house like Micah did in Judges 17.  Hopefully not.   However, the author, Kyle Idleman explains the “before me” in this verse from the original Hebrew like this….”in my presence”  God will not share His rightful position with anyone or anything else.  He is the one true God and He deserves His rightful place.  Our gods might look different to Micah’s in Judges 17 but the idea is the same nevertheless.  We worship God plus other things.  In the Bible we see people carving images to worship.  They made gods related to power, sex, weather and other things that covered every basis of their lives.  Why?  When you are the creator of that god then you believe that you are in control and that you can manipulate the outcome of a given situation.  We can’t control God.  He is the creator and we are the created.  However, we don’t always like being told what to do.  Just take children for example.  You ask them to do something they don’t want to do and what happens?  They have a temper tantrum.  We are no different at times.  We throw temper tantrums in God’s direction.  It might not involve us lying on the floor kicking our feet in the air but we might be mad, rebellious and just downright disobedient.

What has the position of glory in your life today?  Does God sit on the throne of your heart?  What is it that you are passionate about?  What is it that you pursue?  Not that it is wrong to be passionate or to pursue something but when that is all you want or that is the driving force in your life then we need to ask ourselves is that what is sitting on the throne of our hearts today.

The Hebrews viewed the heart differently from us.  Kyle Idleman said “The heart was a metaphor for the centre or core of a personality.  It was the spiritual hub, and your life flowed from its orientation….everything flowed from the heart – to the Hebrew, not only blood but personality, motives, emotions and will….your “heart” reflects your true identity”

Proverbs 27:19 says “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.  Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”.   What are you reflecting today?  Is it a life that honours God alone or a pantheon of gods wrestling for position in the throne room of your heart?

In Exodus 20:4-5  God says that we should not make for ourselves an idol in the form of anything and anywhere.  Why is this?  Because He is a jealous God.  This is a righteous jealousy.  John Piper put it like this “…He (God) deserves our deepest and strongest affections and admiration, but He is loving. It is a loving jealousy, because we were made to find our greatest joy when He is our greatest treasure. He is jealous that he be honored by being treasured and He is jealous that we be satisfied by treasuring Him. So He is jealous in a loving way and He is jealous in a righteous way. And if we find God to be so boring or so negligible that we must put other things in his place that really satisfy us more than He does, then we not only offend him, but we also destroy ourselves.”

In Colossians 3:5-6 we learn what happens when people are in idolatry and don’t know Him….they experience the wrath of God.  However, as believers we should be living a different life.  As Colossians goes onto say “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.”  Because of Christ and His redemption our lives should be different.  God should be number one in our lives.  That is His rightful place.  Is there somebody or something that we love or give more attention to than God?  It is time to put that thing or that person in its rightful place and it iis heart  3:1-3ternal not the temporal) you are praying for the person), fear adn place God be smashed and removpravity (1:28-3s not on the throne room of our hearts.

What happens when God is not given His just place in our lives?  Turn to Romans 1:21-25.  It’s a slippery slope to idolatry and we end up doing the unimaginable.  We serve created things rather than the creator,  we do unnatural things that we were not created to do, we let go of our knowledge of God and when our minds are not filled with the things of God it becomes depraved which leads to actions of depravity (1:28-32)

Martin Luther said that the ten commandments start with a commandment against idolatry.  He said that the fundamental motivation behind lawbreaking is idolatry.  We never break the other commandments without breaking the first one.

The cure for idolatry is found in Matthew 22:37 and Luke 4:8.  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only”

1 Thessalonians 1:9a-10.  May we be like the Thessalonians who are not afraid of the wrath of God because of their faith in God.  Because of Christ’s death we are rescued from the coming wrath.  Let us keep a short account with God and with each other when it comes to the throne room of our hearts.  Let us be known as people who serve the one true God and any idol that demands to replace God be barred from having that place in our lives.