Crush The Idols Matthew 6:24 Deuteronomy 5:7-10 Isaiah 44:14-20 Psalms 78:56-59 Psalms 81:9-10 1 Timothy 6:6-10 2 Timothy 2:19 1 John 2:15-17 2 Timothy 4:9-10 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 Ecclesiastes 7:18 1 John 5:21 02.15.21

 

CRUSH THE IDOLS

BREAD

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”  Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

 

⁷ “You shall have no other gods before me. ⁸ You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments.”  Deuteronomy 5:7-10 (NIV)

 

¹⁴ He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak.  He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.  ¹⁵ It is man’s fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.  But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.  ¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill.  He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”  ¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me; you are my god.”  ¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate.  Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”  ²⁰ He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”  Isaiah 44:14-20 (NIV)

 

⁵⁶ But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes.  ⁵⁷ Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. ⁵⁸ They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.  ⁵⁹ When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely.  Psalms 78:56-59 (NIV)

 

⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. ¹⁰ I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.  Psalms 81:9-10 (NIV)

 

⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.  1 Timothy 6:6-10 (NIV)

 

¹⁹ Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”  2 Timothy 2:19 (NIV)

 

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)

 

⁹ Do your best to come to me quickly, ¹⁰ for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica.  2 Timothy 4:9-10 (NIV)

 

²³ “Everything is permissible”--but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”--but not everything is constructive. ²⁴ Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.  1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (NIV)

 

The man who fears God will avoid all [extremes].  Ecclesiastes 7:18 (NIV)

 

²¹ Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.   1 John 5:21 (NIV)

 

BUTTER

 

“Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.”   John Calvin

 

“Scripture permits us to broaden the definition of idolatry so that includes anything on which we set our affections and indulge as an excessive and sinful attachment.  Therefore, the idols that we can see are certainly not the whole problem.  Idolatry includes anything we worship:  the lust for pleasure, respect, love, power, control, or freedom from pain.  Futhermore, the problem is not outside of us….the problem is in us….the heart’s instinctive plotting in this idol construction is amazing.  We know we are called to imitate God.  This means we are to live for His glory, not our own.  We are to make Him famous, not ourselves….the purpose of all idolatry is to manipulate the idol for our own benefit…..but (we) need the power of God, the message of Christ crucified and risen.  Other therapies can offer sobriety, but only this good news is powerful enough to liberate the soul.”  Ed Welch

“When you cling tightly to bitterness, anger, resentment, and unforgiveness, elevating them above your relationship with God, they become ‘idols’ in your life. For each idol you are willing to destroy, you will gain more than you lose. Each time you surrender something to God, you will remove another hindrance to a productive life of faith and prayer. Every idol that is demolished will bring you new treasures of grace and peace.”   Michael Youssef

“God promises us redemption, but His sacred path leads us away from safety, predictability, and comfort.  Any attempt to fly over the dangerous terrain or make a detour to safer ground is doomed because it will not take us to God.  Instead, it leads to a host of other idols that can’t provide us with the confidence of faith, the dynamic of hope or the passion of love we so deeply crave.   Each day we either live for God or for other gods.  In each moment of hardship we fear either God or man.  When we choose to worship gods and fear men our lives will suffer an emptiness and turmoil that is not much different than trying to fill our bellies with dirt.  At first we may feel full, but in short order our violation of God’s plan will lead to torment.”  Dan Allender

 

“Since we are made to worship, we are always centering our lives on something whether we realize it or not.  It is like a fire hose that is stuck in the ‘on’ position and shooting water out endlessly with great force. We must decide where we aim the hose as the focus of our worship. The idols of our modern world are not necessarily the hand-carved statues of the ancient world.  In our autonomous self-seeking ways, people have instead come to serve or worship the self-erected idols of approval, comfort, and security.  We must ruthlessly inspect the sin in our heart for these idols… so it is vital that [we] get to the heart. As Tim Keller puts it, ‘The solution to our sin problem is not simply to change our behavior, but to reorient and center our entire heart and life on God.’  Therefore, we must go after the nature of the sin by going after its root and not just the fruit of the sin. Oftentimes people repent of sin that is simply the fruit of the idols in their hearts. We must find out the why of the behavior and not just the what”.  Tom Wood & Scott Thomas

 

“We can make idols out of  – our work, our family, our friends, our hobbies, our adoring audiences, our wealth, even our ‘perfect’ children or our wonderful meals or our clean and ordered houses.  We can make ‘Delilah’s’ out of anything.  Idols are whatever we have a tendency to hold on to with a grip that we will not let go.  None of these things are bad in and of themselves – it is the priority we place on them that’s askew.  If they become our ‘god’s’ it is wrong.  If anything or anybody takes Christ’s rightful position on the throne of our lives it is an idol and must be removed for the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.  Live your life with open hands.”  BHY 

“Ask God to help you and show you:  How to move from pleasing your body/soul to pleasing and serving God.  How to exchange being dependent upon idols/false gods or fleshly thoughts, feelings or desires to being dependent on His Spirit.  How to be free in Christ and not captive to anything of this world.  How to let go what is not of Him and to hold to Him.”   Margaret Arant

 

“We must be aware of the various ways sin pulls us to wrong thoughts about God, righteousness, grace, ourselves and sin itself. Only the truth of God’s word and meditation in prayer can reveal the deceitfulness of sin.  Sin works against God. Sin will either deceive us into thinking God is a cruel taskmaster, or, if that will not work, will deceive us into thinking He is like a doting grandfather who really does not care what we do. Sin affects every Christian’s view of God and leads us to worship idols, figments of our own imaginations, and not the true God. Sin will deceive us concerning grace. We will either be deceived into thinking it is too good to be true, or we will buy into cheap grace and think that ethics are unimportant.”  Dr. Bob Flayhart

 

“God is rightfully to be on the throne of our lives.  He will not share that throne with another.   We cannot serve two masters.  We decide who or Whom we will serve.  How easy it is to seek after counterfeit God’s – God’s that we ignorantly believe will satisfy our souls yet when tried and depended upon ever come forth wanting.”  BHY

“We all have our own priorities, our own way of shaping our personal golden calves to feed our craving, aching emptiness. Idols are always about feeding gaping wounds that are really hungry for Him. And He is the hound of heaven who relentlessly comes to devour the cravings  and win free hearts and there is a tender grace that meets what we crave for and gives us what we are in need of.  Only our own lack of love can keep us from His love letter.   Only being captivated by other words can keep us from His Word.”   Ann Voskamp

“All of us fail.  And yes, some failures wreak horrible destruction.  But if we turn from our sinful failures to Christ, there is no failure that can’t be redeemed by the cross.  And if we will wait for the Lord, there is no failure that Christ can’t restore to useful service.  Jesus chooses and uses failures.”   Jon Bloom

HEART SAVOR

·         God will have no other god’s before Him.

·         Nothing but Jesus satisfies the human soul totally and completely.

·         Keep balanced – avoid all extremes.  We end up making our extremes into god’s we serve.  It is unproductive, costly and often ruinous to go down that path.  Don’t go there – save yourself the pain.