Focal Passage: Deuteronomy 6:10-15; Matthew 4:8-11
We love people, places and things. We rightly love people, we cherish places, and we rightly enjoy the good things of life. Yet, when we love people, places, and things more than we love God we have committed a form of idolatry that is dangerous and deadly. We are prone to idolatry.
Sixteenth century theologian John Calvin fought the battle of idolatry when he wrote in his famous Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols … Man’s mind, full as it is of pride and boldness, dares to imagine a god according to its own capacity; as it sluggishly plods, indeed is overwhelmed with the crassest ignorance, it conceives an unreality and an empty appearance as God.” (Institutes, 1:108)
Idolatry may be the greatest sin addressed in Scripture because it is an act of cosmic rebellion as we usurp God’s rightful place as supreme. In fact, Genesis 3:5 describes Satan’s temptation of Adam and Eve that they could “be like God.” This means that the ultimate idol is not the car in our driveway or the money in our bank account. The ultimate idol is me. And the ultimate idolater is me.
Shrum
Worshiping things other than God (Matthew 4:8-11). When Satan tempted Jesus to worship him — and all the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8-9) — he was tempting Jesus to commit a form of idolatry that is sinful and deadly because it could have led Him away from God’s intended purpose of His life — the redemption of sinners.
God forbids such idolatry. One could say the first four commandments of God’s Ten Commandments address idolatry — (1) no god but God; (2) no graven images of God; (3) no misuse of God’s name and; (4) worship God on the day of rest (Ex. 20:1-11).
Jesus’ response to Satan’s temptation is instructive. Matthew 4:10 records Jesus’ response, “Go away, Satan! For it is written” ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.’” It was then and only then that the “angels came and began to serve him.”
God’s gifts enjoyed, but not worshiped (Deuteronomy 6:10-12). How do we wrestle with and win over the temptation of idolatry? Deuteronomy 6:10-12 serves as a good example. God reminded His people that when they entered the Promised Land they were to remember that they didn’t do it — they did not deliver themselves, God did; they did not build the houses they would inhabit, others did; they did not plant the vineyards or the olive groves, others did.
And to cap it all off, Moses was to remind God’s people “to be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery” (Deuteronomy 6:12).
Countering idolatry (Deuteronomy 6:13-15). Practically speaking, how do we avoid idolatry? The steps are clear: (1) fear God, (2) worship God only, (3) make commitments only to God, (4) avoid idols, (5) remember the Lord God is the only God and is jealous for His own glory, and (6) God will hold accountable all who commit idolatry.
In the end, only the human heart that has been changed by God’s power and grace can overcome the temptation of idolatry. No wonder I Corinthians 10:14 and I John 5:21 commands us to avoid idolatry. B&R
