Waging War On All Idolatry
Why Reformation Must Begin With Defiling and Destroying Idols
This piece is based on a sermon I preached on the subject of idolatry in October 2023. You can listen to that sermon here. The sermon begins at the 19:40 minute mark.
In the annals of history, the year 628 BC witnessed the ascent of Judah's most virtuous monarch, King Josiah. Imbued with an unwavering commitment to righteousness, he initiated a profound reform, redirecting Judah's worship toward the only true God. A crusade against all forms of idolatry unfolded, a deliberate purge to rid the land of anything that defied the sovereign ruler of all.
Pause for a moment, and it becomes evident that divine intervention often unfolds in seemingly adverse narratives. God delights in orchestrating tales that initially favor the forces of darkness, only to kindle a small flame that consumes it all. Recall Moses and Aaron against the superpower of their era, or Gideon and his modest battalion. Josiah, much like his great ancestor David, wielded a metaphorical stone against the giant of rampant disobedience.
The narrative of Josiah is not an isolated chronicle but a pivotal episode in a grander reformation God is unfolding. The Protestant Reformation, in the 16th century, echoes a similar trajectory, where a solitary German monk, armed with conviction, paper, and a nail, reshaped the course of Europe and the world. Such transformative moments, be they in biblical epochs or historic milestones, underscore the intrinsic capacity of faithful individuals to alter the course of nations.
Fast forward to contemporary times, where we find ourselves confronted with a paradox in Zambia. A nation boasting a staggering 95.5 percent Christian population, predominantly Protestant, yet plagued by corruption, progressive abortion laws, economic struggles, and alarming rates of drunkenness. The juxtaposition prompts a critical examination of our collective conscience.
The root cause of Zambia's predicament is idolatry, a profound worship disorder that permeates every facet of society. Despite its religious displays, the nation remains oblivious to its idolatry, finding solace in the very fires of judgment that should prompt repentance.
This prevailing mindset attributes societal decay to external forces, neglecting the complicity of unfaithfulness and idolatry among those who profess to follow Christ.
A moment of introspection ought to prompt incisive questions—Are our homes mired in chaos due to our idolatry? Is our collective failure to recognize, confront, and destroy idols the reason behind struggling marriages and spiritually disinterested children? Does our dual allegiance, serving both God and personal pursuits, hamper the effectiveness of our churches? And are our communities in disarray as a consequence of our collective idolatry?
The parallels with biblical narratives must not be missed. The chosen people of Judah and Israel, when succumbing to idolatry, lost their distinctiveness and became indistinguishable from their defeated enemies. The modern-day Christian faces a similar conundrum—worshipping the same idols as the secular world results in a lamentable lack of influence.
In our pursuit of piety and integrity, we can pridefully be blinded to idols that corrupt the mind and skew our perceptions of reality. We can find ourselves idolizing our good works in a way that mirrors zealous pagans who behave somewhat ethical in their conduct. In such occurrences, what makes us distinguishable as a people of God?
We often recognize overt physical manifestations of godlessness but miss the idolatry embedded in our worldviews. And we often miss this because those in the surrounding culture, and many in the church, think in identical fashion. A lack of distinction is the occasion for blindness and compromise. The challenge lies in discerning the fundamental differences that set us apart, not merely in perceived righteousness but in genuine devotion and worship.
A reclamation of holiness is imperative. A holy people, set apart for God, must embody distinctiveness in thought, action, and speech. Fearing not the world's judgments, we must propagate truth, beauty, and goodness whilst being unburdened by the shackles of idolatry.
Idolatry: A Perilous Submission
The essence of idolatry lies in the submission of our thoughts, wills, and actions to false authorities elevated above or equal to God. It is an insidious act where we ascribe authority, lordship, and kingship to entities rivaling or surpassing the Creator of the heavens and earth.
Worshipping idols represents a distortion of the good, a warped reverence for the gift rather than the giver. Every sinful moment becomes an act of idolatry, a submission to something other than God, a momentary lapse into atheism, where we deny His omnipresence and holiness.
Consider this paradox: despite acknowledging God's omnipresence, we practice profound unbelief in moments of sin, crafting a distorted deity who either does not perceive our transgressions or remains indifferent to them. In essence, we fashion a god that accommodates our sins – constructing an idol made in our image.
The Puritan, David Clarkson's words resonate: "Thinking otherwise of God than He has revealed himself, or minding other things as much more than God, is idolatry."
Every sinful act, then, becomes an attempt to edit God, which is the essence of idolatry.
The Causes of Idolatry: Unmasking the Veil
Unbelief & Stubbornness: Doubt in God's existence, character, and justice fuels idolatry.
Spite: Idolatry emanates from a deep-seated hatred of a God perceived as an obstacle to sinful desires.
Forgetfulness: A collective amnesia concerning God's goodness, promises, and the consequences of idolatry pervades society.
Effeminacy & Weak Men: Faithless fathers breed faithless sons, leading to men ruled by emotions and crowd sentiments, devoid of strength and responsibility.
Ignorance: A deficiency in the knowledge of God's principles allows idolatry to take root.
Folly: Isaiah's words denounce the futility of idol crafting, highlighting the blindness and delusion that accompany such practices.
Consequences of Idolatry: A Grim Tapestry
Death & Destruction: Idolatry spawns destruction, as seen in the harrowing accounts of sacrificing sons and daughters to false deities.
The nations of Israel and Judah made idols known as Asherah’s to honor a false goddess of fertility. Think about this for a moment: A people who once worshipped a God who commanded them to be fruitful and multiply turned to inanimate objects to aid them. In their defiance, they suffered grave consequences (perhaps struggling with fertility), and rather than repent, they persisted in their idolatry. They traded the God of fruitfulness for a false goddess of fertility. However, it doesn't end there: as they worship this idol, they foolishly sacrifice their own sons and daughters as offerings in hopes that this would appease the favor of this goddess. Their attempts to appease this idol, not only sterilized them, but also destroyed their existing sons and daughters.
Death and destruction are inevitable consequences of idolatry. Idols delight in the destruction of what God calls true, beautiful and good.
Lies and deceit will always produce a culture of death. One of the ways to see through false philosophies and religions is to see what sorts of cultures they produce. Idolatry will always produce a culture of sterilization, destruction, and death.
Slavery: Worshipping idols leads to self-imposed tyranny, enslaving individuals and robbing them of dignity.
A people who worship idols will inevitably find freedom elusive. Freedom cannot exist outside the confines of God’s holy law. Idolaters sell themselves into slavery and become ruled by their own sinful appetites.
It’s important to note that to worship idols is to willingly be ruled by tyranny. And this sort of slavery produces anxiety, fear, joylessness, despondency, overdependence, and shame. A people who are made to be holy become a people with a lost sense of dignity. In their quest to do what they please and what is right in their own eyes, they enslave themselves and lose everything.
The Wrath of God: God's judgment looms over idolaters, a just consequence for forsaking His law and indulging in sin.
In pondering these consequences, one cannot escape the admonition of Psalm 2, where the nations' plots against the Lord are met with divine derision. The warning is clear – serve the Lord with fear and find refuge in Him, lest the wrath of a just God be quickly kindled.
Types of Idols: Naming and Confronting Them
Affluence & Wealth
The pursuit of affluence and wealth, while not inherently wrong, can easily become an idol when it transforms into the ultimate goal of our existence. In today's culture, the norm often dictates sacrificing important aspects such as marriage, family, and even moral principles for the pursuit of financial success. The idolatry emerges when affluence and wealth, instead of being viewed as tools for a greater purpose, become the defining objectives of our lives.
Acceptance
A common idol in our lives is the relentless pursuit of acceptance by others. The Israelites faced a similar struggle, desiring acceptance from the very nations God had given into their hands. Seeking approval from people rather than God can lead to compromising our values and beliefs. The idolatry surfaces when the acceptance of others becomes the driving force in our lives, overshadowing our commitment to please God above all else.
Our Children
Idolizing our children is a subtle but potent form of idolatry. When we prioritize their worldly success over their godliness, we risk losing sight of God's intended priorities. Living vicariously through our children and investing solely in their earthly prosperity can distract us from the crucial task of instilling in them a faithfulness that pleases God. Placing our identity and value solely in our children's achievements is a form of idol worship.
Selfism
Selfism, the pursuit of a self-fulfilled life centered around personal pleasure, often leads to idolizing oneself. When we place our desires and happiness above living a life for God, we inadvertently treat God as a genie existing solely to fulfill our wishes. Disappointment with God during life's challenges can reveal this idolatry, where we position ourselves at the center of everything, subtly undermining God's sovereignty.
Survivalism/Safetism
Living in constant fear and pursuing safety as the primary goal in life is a form of idolatry rooted in survivalism. Influenced by a Darwinian worldview, this idolatry prioritizes mere survival over the deeper purpose of glorifying God. The biblical perspective suggests that life's goal is not just survival but glorifying God through dying to sin and self. Succumbing to fear and playing it safe can hinder our faithfulness to God and compromise our duty to Christ as our true King.
Think about how the world uses fear to control others. Covid, had us so fearful we thought it best to hide in homes than gather, worship God, and care for the sick and dying. The world hid and so did we. Think about climate change, and the attempts to make us think the sky is falling as if God suddenly lost control of the universe. Our idolatry toward safety and survival makes us susceptible to falling for things like this; forgetting that Christ the King is on the throne and we have a duty toward Him.
Those, therefore, who fear other things more than God; who are more afraid to offend men than to displease God; who fear more to lose any outward enjoyment , than to lose the favor of God; who fear outward sufferings more than God’s displeasures; who had rather sin than suffer; more afraid of troubles in the world, than of losing peace with God; those whom the sight of man will more restrain more from sin than the all-seeing eye of God; who will venture to make more bold with God than men, and stand in more awe of others than God; they stand guilty of idolatry, that which is here threatened.”
-David Clarkson
Feminism
Feminism, when embraced without discernment, can turn into a pervasive idol. Originating as an atheistic ideology, feminism seeks to undermine God's design for the family and femininity. The implicit influence of feminism can be subtle, even within Christian circles. The idolatry surfaces when Christians unknowingly adopt progressive ideas that contradict God's order, inadvertently aligning themselves with ideologies that defy God's principles.
Statism
Elevating the civil government to an all-encompassing authority is a form of idolatry, placing the state in a position reserved for God. Trusting the government as the ultimate deliverer and savior can lead to misplaced faith. The Israelites' desire for a king in 1 Samuel serves as a warning against expecting more blessing from the state than from God. When the state becomes an idol, we give it what should only be given to God, blurring the lines between earthly authority and divine sovereignty.
Secularism & Pietism
Secularism, the belief that God is irrelevant to various aspects of life, and pietism, limiting God's sovereignty to spiritual matters, are intertwined idols. Embracing these ideas inadvertently concedes that God is not the ultimate authority over all things. Christians may unknowingly be influenced by secularism, separating God from various aspects of life. This unintentional idol worship occurs when we allow the world's ideologies to shape our perspectives, compromising our allegiance to God as the true King over all realms.
Killing Idolatry: The Reformation We Need
Reorder your worship with a right and high view of God
In addressing idolatry, Josiah began by rebuilding the temple and restoring the Passover, emphasizing the importance of directing worship toward the true God. Acknowledging God's sovereignty, holiness, and righteousness is crucial to minimizing the space for idolatry to thrive.
Know, remember, love, and live by God’s law
God is sovereign, and as a result, He has given us His law. Rulers tend to have laws and we must know, love and live by the law of the only sovereign ruler of heaven and earth.
Josiah's revival included rediscovering and embracing God's law. Understanding the law informs our relationship with God, His creation, and other image bearers. Recognizing the threefold purpose of the law – bridling sin, revealing our need for a Savior, and teaching us how to love – establishes Christ’s rule over every aspect of our lives.
Confess and repent of your sin
Consistent confession and repentance of sin are essential for Christians. Developing a habit of acknowledging and turning away from idolatry keeps our hearts aligned with God.
Submit all areas of life to the Lordship of Christ
Acknowledging Christ as Lord in every aspect of life, from marriages to business practices, is vital. Having a biblical theology for every area ensures that God's sovereignty extends over every aspect of our existence.
Defile and demolish all idols
Idols warrant no respect. Just like Josiah, we should seek to destroy the idols in our lives and in the culture around us. We should waste them to dust. We should not merely turn our back on idols and ignore them, we must be in the business of laying waste to them.
Stories are told of an ancient Germanic monk named Boniface who went into the city of Geismar and found an oak tree that the inhabitants of the city worshiped. They believed that this oak tree belonged to the God of thunder, Thor. And so they worshiped there. Boniface, who feared God and was vexed by this towns folly, threatened to cut down this oak tree, and against the advice of the locals, began to chop it down with an ax until it fell. Many realized their idolatry after the tree was cut down and began to worship the true God.
We must be in the business of destroying every kind of idol.
Build something righteous where idols once stood
Our hearts were not meant to be empty spaces once we deal with our idolatry. We must do more than just get rid of our idols, we must replace them with that which is true, beautiful, and good.
Make disciples who love God and hate idols
Starting with our children, teaching others to recognize and destroy idols is a crucial step. Promoting holiness and defiance of idols contributes to building a culture set apart for God.
In Conclusion: A People Set Apart for God
Born in a state of sin, our hearts are naturally factories of idolatry. Each of us has a propensity to worship all kinds of idols. We have idols that are unique to us as individuals but we also have idols embedded in the culture. We need to be aware of and repent of both.
We also need to be reminded that Christ died for our idolatry. Engaging with subjects and texts like this can fill us with dread and despondency as we recognize how far we have fallen short of the glory of God. And we have indeed fallen short, but Christ in His mercy and grace died for our idolatry and rose from the dead in triumph over sin and death.
Believing this wonderful news of redemption should prompt us to want to honor and serve this God and give no room to idolatry.
God is sovereign and He will not share His rule with anybody. God cares about His glory so much that He sent His son to live, die, and rise not only to redeem His elect but ultimately to glorify Himself. If He will go to those lengths to glorify Himself, we cannot afford to take our idolatry lightly.
When we live in a culture that worships idols and there is no palpable tension and difference between Christians and the world, we are in trouble. Chances are that we are in the clutches of compromise, worshiping their false gods, with our sensibilities so dulled that we become unbothered and tolerant of the culture's idolatry. This compromise erases a necessary distinction between those who are holy and those who glory in their sin.
I pray that we would be the sort of Christians who are a growing threat to God’s enemies. I pray that we would be Christians that have a distinct culture from those that are godless. I pray that that we would be the kind of people who stand out and follow God courageously; becoming the salt and light we are called to be. I pray we act like what Christ redeemed us to be: a holy people who are builders of His kingdom here on earth. Amen!