1 Chronicles 5–6; Psalms 148–150; Amos 4; Hebrews 10
Last Monday our small group focused on idolatry, its definitions and its dangers. These days and in our culture, few people put carvings and statues on their mantles and bow before them, but we do trust and elevate all sorts of other things — such as money, people in power, fame and possessions. 1 Chronicles with its genealogies isn’t the most instructive OT book, but it did say this about idolatry:
The members of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land. They were very numerous . . . (names I cannot pronounce) These were the heads of their fathers’ houses (more names) But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he took them into exile, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to (more names, this time of places). (1 Chronicles 5:23–26)
The point is that idolatry takes those who do it from their home where they belong and exiles them to a place or situation where they would rather not be.
The three psalms describe the opposite, not idolatry of anything else but total praise for God. It includes all places, all creation, weather, nature, kings and all people of the earth, and all manner of praise such as music and dancing, even singing for joy on our beds! This Word from God says we praise Him as we defeat our enemies, while we are in the sanctuary, and for all that He is and does. This long list stands against having any other god but also reminds me that praising God has a practical application; I cannot sin while I’m doing it!
The prophet Amos starts out by calling the pampered and well-off women of Bashan “cows.” That pinched a little because when I was in high school, the Borden cow was a popular icon. Her name was Elsie and one of my classmates decided to call me “cow” all the times. He meant it in affection, but it still makes me cringe. I wonder how these women felt!
Amos reminded them of all that God had done to bring them back for their idolatrous and sinful ways. He scorned their religious activities, brought hunger and drought to them, filled their gardens and vineyards with pests and disease, sent pestilence and death and still they “did not return to me” declared the Lord. This describes another danger of idolatry; it makes blind and stubborn those who fall into it. These people were running into trouble yet seemingly could not connect the dots or realize that their troubles were sent by God to turn their hearts from their sin. How sad. I’m thinking the “cow” label I got wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the one God gave to them.
Hebrews 10 is a happier read. The OT people of God often did not connect the dots and easily fell into idolatry, at least until the final exile to Babylon. However, the NT people of God live under a new covenant where God changed hearts:
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:16–23)
Jesus came and changed everything. God’s people now have the inner power of the Holy Spirit and Christ has “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, sat down at the right hand of God . . . . and perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (verses 12-14).
Does this mean I’ll never worship idols? It must not because the NT is full of warnings to stay away from them. However God has graciously put His people into a family, the Body of Christ, where we can warn, poke, prod, encourage each other from straying away from our first love. Verses 24 and 25 say: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24–25)
APPLY: I’m thankful for our small group. We can freely discuss our struggles and pray for one another, with reminders that when we worship God together, sin and idolatry cannot get at us. God’s ten commandments put “no other gods” at the top of the list for good reason; it is the only way we can avoid all other sins.
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