Are You Hiding Idols Under Your Backside?

Before we get to today’s article, I just want to mention that am writing from the perspective of a man that has experienced many of the challenges of which I write…. and those spiritual battles continue daily. The articles are implications of what it means to obey the commandment to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. They require some reflection and are particularly for Christians who, as Peter would say, are diligently seeking to confirm their calling and are making every effort to supplement their faith. Said more succinctly, serious Christians. If you know other believers who desire to walk more faithfully with the Lord, please forward an article to them and tell them to sign up for future articles. Thanks so much!

Are You Hiding Idols Under Your Backside?

I love the Old Testament. In it we see how God thinks about His relationship with His people and although we are not in the same place and time as the Jews, we are worshiping the same God with the same glorious attributes today.

In the first 5 books of the Bible, we learn much about Him as Creator, Redeemer, Law Giver, and Husband to His people. Christians can easily find themselves in the failings of the Israelites and the consequences they bore for their disobedience, and it is important for us to note the patterns of disobedience that resulted in God’s discipline.

The book of Deuteronomy gives us a heads up on the expectations of God. Even if an unsaved person were to read the first half of the book and be quizzed on God’s constant repetition illustrating his greatest concern, he would not come up with any other answer but God’s great warnings against all forms of idolatry. And what exactly is idolatry? We tend to think of the worship of idols as worshiping an image of a false god. Certainly, the other nations surrounding the Israelites were doing just that, but that is not the broad definition of idolatry that the Lord wants us to have in mind.

No, idolatry is doing anything that non-believers do and think that is contrary to the commandments and precepts that God has revealed to His people. Of course, it could include worshipping statues of false gods, but the worshiping of statues is just another thing that is contrary to God’s commandments. As He prepares his people to go into the promised land, God tells them to not go after other nations. In other words, do not be like them and do not do what they do.

He prefaces his commandments by telling them numerous times that they are holy to Him. In this use of the word, holy, we are not talking about being sinless, but we are talking about being separated. He is declaring them to be His and as such, they are to be dramatically separated and different than the world around them. Furthermore, He tells them that if they obey Him, they will be blessed, but if they disobey Him, they will be cursed and experience His disciplining hand.

When we fast forward to the time of Jesus coming into this world, we hear confirmation about God’s concern regarding idolatry in the lives of Christians and it is exactly the same as it was for the Israelites in the Old Testament. God’s word teaches us that you cannot love money and God at the same time; you cannot be an unloving selfish person and be a Christian at the same time; you cannot love the world and love God at the same time. Those are crystal clear examples of God telling us once again that we cannot behave or think like people who don’t know the Lord and are not holy unto Him.

Note the language that is strikingly similar in both the Old and New Testaments describing God’s relationship with His people in terms of marriage, and the disobedience of His people in terms of adultery. In the Old Testament, God reveals Himself to the Jews as the God of absolute, undivided, loving, devotion and He demands the same of His people. In the New Testament, He is revealed as the God who laid down His life for His people and He calls His people (Christians) to love and be devoted to Him in the same way.

Consequences

And God will not be mocked. In the Old Testament God has made it very clear for us that He must respond when His people live their lives in the same way as non-believers. God tells the Israelites in great detail what the consequences will be for their disobedience and quite frankly, they are horrifying. In the New Testament, Christians are promised that God will bring discipline into our lives for our disobedience with the same intention that God had in mind for the Israelites. That is, to drive us back to Him and away from worldliness.

But as I think about worldliness in my own life, I have seen I often do not even recognize that I am going after other gods. We know the passage from Jeremiah 17:9 that tells us that our hearts are so deceitful, it is impossible for us to even fully know the extent of our sin. I also think of David praying in the Psalm, Lord, search my heart and show me my evil ways.

I believe the story of Rachel (beginning in Genesis 29) can be helpful to our understanding of idolatry. In a way, her father Laban kept her in bondage to his household by deceiving Jacob over many years. Finally, God orchestrates a way of escape. From what we read in Genesis, chapter 30, Rachel believes in Jehovah God, but when Jacob and Rachel leave Laban and Laban catches up with them in chapter 31, we learn that Rachel is sitting on some of Laban’s idols. Should we be surprised? Actually, if we go back to chapter 30, we will see that Rachel was full of envy towards her sister and did not wait for God to give her a child. Instead, she had a child through her servant Bilhah. Furthermore, her language in verse 8 shows us her heart and how she viewed having children in a kind of competition with her sister Leah.

We don’t know how God was working in Rachel’s heart through her sinful attitude, but we do know that God made her wait at least 8 years to bless her with a child from her own body. Is it fair to say that God refused to answer her prayer for a child because of her sin? We don’t know but we do know that God may choose to do so when we are walking in sinful ways. We see this in 1 Peter 3:7, or again in Isaiah 1:15, God says, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.”

You see, when we are praying for God’s favor while we refuse to turn away from worldliness, we are not believing that God is serious about obedience. Or maybe we think we can perform good works for Him in one area of our life that will somehow earn a pass for not turning from worldly things that we refuse to let go. Like Rachel, are we grateful for God’s deliverance while we remain determined to hide idols under our backside?

And how about our children? Are we praying that God will save them from sin and damnation while we continue to model or expose them to the foolish things of the world? Do we not realize that our idols will become their idols? Do we know in our hearts that we are participating in foolish things, yet we harden our hearts to change by telling ourselves these things have little or no effect on our heart or the hearts of our children? Are we effectively declaring worldly things God says are sinful are actually pleasing in His sight?

It is time to change

So, is it time to shake off those areas of idolatry in our lives. Every day we put it off, our hearts are hardened toward a closer walk with God and the blessings that come to those who have jettisoned their idols.

The writer of Hebrews says it this way: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”(Hebrews 12:1-2)

Yes, it will be difficult to change certain behaviors that you have been doing for many years, but it can happen and not as a result of your incredible effort alone, but because God has promised to help you. Whether we are listening to God in the Old Testament or the New Testament, God holds out His hands of blessing and fellowship to every sinner who is ready to repent of his ways.

But there are 2 prerequisites: You must desire to change, and you must believe that God is able to work that change in you.

Ask God to search your heart, show you any evil ways, and beg Him to give you the strength to kill the ways of the world in you. He will.

THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT IS A CHARLES SPURGEON SERMON. CLICK HERE: https://youtu.be/u9Vup4HEA3g