So, my goal is to supply information about each study before we meet for it. It will be more info and verses than we'll have time to discuss on Thursdays, but I want it at least out there somewhere for you to access if you're interested.
Basically, every study we'll try to hit these main points:
- How can _______ be an idol?
- What does the Bible say about it? (Ecclesiastes will help)
- How can I recognize/discern this as idolatry in my life?
- How can I de-throne _______ in my life?
- See below for details
- How can I celebrate the God-given desire for _______ in my life in a God-glorifying way?
- We want to be careful to not fear the good stuff God gives us in our attempts to avoid idolatry
- Said another way: the goal of this study is not to make us all feel like crap and to condemn ourselves
Alright, so, onto the study....
Study 1: The Idols of Our Hearts
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT IDOLATRY???
In short: lots! So, I'll share what I can ...
Exodus 20:1-4
20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Jeremiah 18:15-17
15 But my people have forgotten me;
they make offerings to false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
not the highway,
16 making their land a horror,
a thing to be hissed at forever.
Everyone who passes by it is horrified
and shakes his head.
17 Like the east wind I will scatter them
before the enemy.
I will show them my back, not my face,
in the day of their calamity."
Effects of worshipping idols
Consequences of idolatry
Idolatry as adultery toward God as our true spouse
- Jeremiah 2:1-4:4
- Ezekial 16:1-63
- Hosea 1-4
- Isaiah 54:5-8, 62:5
- What do we enjoy imagining? What are our fondest dreams?
- Jeremiah 2:28
- Judges 10:13-14
- Isaiah 45:20
- Deuteronomy 32:37-38
- What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living?
- 1 Samuel 8:6-8, 12:12
- Judges 8:23
- Romans 1:25-26
- What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent? What racks us with a guilt we can’t shake?
HOW CAN WE DISCERN OUR IDOLS???
(1) Look at your imagination
- “Your religion is what you do with your solitude” (Archbishop William Temple)
- Where do your thoughts effortlessly go with nothing else is demanding their attention?
- What do you enjoy daydreaming about?
- How do you think about your future?
- What occupies your thoughts?
- Our patterns of spending reveal our idols
(4) Look at your most uncontrollable emotions.
(5) What do you spend most of your time doing?
(6) In what ways do you envy others?
WHY STUDY ECCLESIASTES???
The book of Ecclesiastes is an idol buster
- The Teacher in this book explores different avenues of potential meaning in his life; surprisingly, he comes up empty, frustrated and angry. “Everything is meaningless”
- Much of our current activity involves “chasing the wind” or even after false gods and it gets us nowhere
- Essentially it is a dialogue between two wise men—a skeptic and a person of faith. For most of Ecclesiastes the skeptic does the talking. He recounts his search for meaning in life.
- He learns that
- Control will always slip out of our grasp
- Relationships will always disappoint
- Work will leave us frustrated
- Pleasure is always fleeting
- Wisdom is never an adequate guide
- Spirituality usually gives in to legalism
- Life ends in decay and death
For a sampling of Ecclesiastes, read:
Ecclesiastes 1, 2:11, 3:9-15, 5:1-7
HOW DO WE GET RID OF THE IDOLS OF OUR HEARTS?
Joshua 24:23
He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”
Simply put: Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol.
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