Exposing Idolatry

I think a lot of us today think about idols and idolatry as something that maybe is a thing of yesteryear . It's a thing that happened in the time of the Old Testament , maybe in the New Testament , maybe it happened in third world countries , but not in our lives , not in 21st century Western , developed world .

But idolatry is alive and well , as alive and well as it ever has been , and it is rampant in our culture , in our communities and in our churches and , I'm sad to say , in me . Before I go any further , though , I want to say the reason that talking about idolatry is important .

The reason acknowledging our own idolatry is important is because that's where the hope is is important . The reason acknowledging our own idolatry is important is because that's where the hope is .

Paul in Romans 1 talks about this pattern that people throughout time have followed , where they , in his words , exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for and this is my paraphrase , they exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for images in the form of the things that God has created .

That exchange is idolatry , where we turn away from the God who has created all things . Worshiping him , giving him our lives , serving him , obeying him , believing him , depending on him , loving him . We turn away from him and give our devotion , our attention , our allegiance , our time , our love , our obedience , our faith to the things that have been created .

That is idolatry and God , because our God , the real God , is a God of love who does not force us to love him in return , because that would not be love . Love has to be freely given . We have to freely give ourselves to God in order for our gift to be a real gift , and that's worthy of a whole podcast in and of itself .

But in order to love God in return for his love , for his gift of life and for existence and all that we have , in order to love him , we must bring ourselves freely . We must give our devotion freely , our obedience freely , our affection freely , our worship freely .

So when we choose to turn away from him to an idol , to something else , to bring us the life and love and security belonging whatever else is that we're seeking . He lets us go , and it's not because he's indifferent about us . He lets us go because he simply wants us to be free and he wants us to have .

He knows that he is best for us , but he will let us go . And here I think of Jesus' parable of the prodigal son whom the father let go . But the reverse is not true . The reverse is not real .

When we are done with our idols , when we realize they don't satisfy , when we realize that they weren't what we thought they were , when we realize that they haven't actually loved us in return , when we realize that they have evil intent toward us , when we realize that they are not working for us and they're leaving us emptier than we thought at the beginning ,

when we realize that they are not working for us and they're leaving us emptier than we thought at the beginning , when we realize that they are stealing from us rather than giving anything to us that they promised , when we realize that they are not the bargain they told us they were in the beginning and we believe they were .

When we find out that we want to leave them , when we decide we're done with our idols . They are not like God . They don't care about our freedom and they don't actually want our love , and so when we try to leave them , they often do not let us go .

And this is at the heart of why so many men and women wrestling with unwanted sexual behaviors find themselves returning again and again and again to their behaviors , even though they are trying to follow God . The idols they've worshiped have addicted them . And , just as an interesting side note here , god is not addictive , isn't that interesting ?

The God of the universe , who is the most beautiful , powerful , wonderful , infinite , omnipotent creature sorry , not a creature creator is not addictive , but our idols and the things our idols feed us are addictive .

And so , through brain chemistry , through spiritual oppression , through demonization , through whatever means , when we try to leave them , they will hold us , and they will hold us firm , grieved and yet grateful that I have idols , that I idolize ministry , that I idolize certain versions of success , that I idolize my children , that I idolize an image of myself , that I

idolize other people's opinions , that I idolize food , I idolize comfort , I idolize convenience . I'm sure the list goes on . I can't remember who it was . It might've been Luther , might've been someone else , I can't remember who referred to the human being as an idol , factory and man . I'm just finding that in my life these days .

I have churned out idols over and over and over again and just to return to one of the ones I just named , that I idolize ministry and ministry success . I love being in ministry . I'm honored to be in Christian ministry . I mean , all of us are , we're all in Christian ministry . If you're a Christian , you are in Christian ministry . Hard stop .

Whatever you do , do it unto the Lord . You are in Christian ministry . Hard stop . Whatever you do , do it unto the Lord . And yet to be in vocational ministry is quite an honor .

And yet to find myself in a space where I recognize that I idolize this , that I use this for my own to draw people to myself , to try to somehow give myself a sense of validation and worth and belonging man , that's ugly , that's idolatry . So what are we to do about idolatry ?

And for many of you listening , the one you may resonate with most is idolatry of sex , idolatry of the male or female body , idolatry of sexual pleasure , idolatry of being in control of your own sexual pleasure , um , idolatry of your own ego and all that , all the ways that that feeds into your sexual acting out .

For some of you listening , you have an idol of your own image , and what people think of you , and the way that that is playing out in your life in regards to sexual sin , is that you're not telling anybody about sexual sin .

You're withholding from people around you people in your church , maybe people in your congregation that you preach to , maybe you're withholding from your husband or your wife that this is an area of struggle for you because you are so committed to , so devoted to the idol of their opinion of you , or you're so devoted to your ego that you believe they cannot live

without you , and so , if they find out that you have these faults , they're going to leave . And then they will . They will be um , devastated somehow , as though you are are their sustance , as though you are their source of life . So what are we to do about idols ? What are we to do when we find these ?

Well , step number one , I believe , is we come to the Lord and we say Lord , expose my idols , expose my idolatry , and we do this as best we can with a heart of humility .

And we do this as best we can with a heart of humility , not a heart of scrupulosity , not a heart that demands perfection and that we get this absolutely right , but a heart that says I don't want idols in my life , I want to rid myself of idols .

And as we become aware of idols in our lives , that which we are turning to , devoted to loving , committed to seeking life from apart from God , we acknowledge it , we confess it to God and we confess it plain . We just tell him Lord , I have been worshiping ministry success . Lord , I've been worshiping pornography .

I've been bowing down at the idol of sexual sin . I've been bowing down at the idol of of sexual sin . I've been bowing down at the idol of male bodies , female bodies , sexual pleasure , uh , my own control of sexual , my own sexual pleasure , you name it . We acknowledge that humbly to the Lord and we ask for his forgiveness .

I think it's also important here to acknowledge our idolatry to other believers . If you're of the denomination the Christian tradition that has a priest or pastor that expects or is present , available for confession , by all means go to your priest or pastor for confession .

If you don't go to a brother or sister , someone you can confide in and confess plainly the idolatry in your life . And in addition , now you have to reckon with the ways the idols are holding you , the ways that they are not letting go .

Now there will be times , by God's grace , there will be times where a confession , an acknowledgement and confession of your idol , will be enough to release you from that idol .

But there will be many other times where you have become addicted to it , where you have become habituated to it , where your life is so entwined with this idol that it is not letting you go , where there's demonization that's connected to it .

Now , for you where there's been some kind of brain chemistry change , for you where there's been some , just a habit that's formed in your life you maybe even have formed your life so around this idol . That to give it up means there are other natural consequences involved financially , relationally , whatever .

And so now there comes the process of untangling yourself from these false idols , and for that I want to prescribe two things . The first thing I want to prescribe is that you get help . So this is again why regeneration exists there .

We have coaches here , we have groups here that can help you to untwist your life from your unwanted sexual behavior and from the sexual idols in your life , and it can even help you walk out some of what may be the fallout of letting those things go .

At minimum , find some others , one other hopefully , two or three or four others who can walk with you as you give up this idol and who can hold you accountable , who can help you with the practicals , who can pray for you , who can stand with you . You're going to need help in this process . We gave ourselves individually . We've given ourselves collectively .

We are going to need others' help on the way out as we leave these idols behind . Of course , you're going to need the Lord's help too . And that leads me to the second recommendation , which is the spiritual practices or the spiritual disciplines .

There is something powerful about age-old spiritual disciplines to help us to both expose our idols or have them revealed to us and to loosen their grip on us . Spiritual practices are not a way to earn God's help to find freedom from idols . They're not a payment that we make to anyone for the idol to let us go .

They are simply posturing ourselves in a position of openness before the Lord that his spirit can move more freely in us , and so the fabric of our lives can be less and less conducive for the presence and the hold of idols on us .

So , specifically especially I would recommend and there may be other spiritual practices that are just as effective or more so especially I would recommend and there may be other spiritual practices that are just as effective or more so , but specifically I would encourage you to move towards some of the spiritual practices of silence and solitude I've been practicing for

many months now , just the practice of being still before God for about 10 minutes most mornings . Still before God for about 10 minutes most mornings .

Not seeking to actively pray I may meditate on one passage or pray one passage of scripture to the Lord but simply to be in the Lord's presence , to let myself be , and I try to posture even my body in a posture of openness .

I try not to cross my arms or cross my legs or cross my hands , but just to position myself with a level of openness and I , even in that , will picture myself facing the Lord and just being still with him . And it is amazing what stirs in those times .

Emotionally it can be difficult , physically it can be difficult , mentally I can find myself flooded with all sorts of distracting thoughts . But it is a way to quiet my body , quiet my mind , quiet my heart before the Lord and it does something .

I can't exactly explain what , but my faith , my trust in that process is that as I open myself to God , that just being in his presence and him and opening myself to him , that he may come closer to me and he is definitely willing to come close or that I can experience his closeness , that does something to change the topography of my inner landscape and make

it less conducive , less hospitable to idols . The second spiritual practice I'd recommend is fasting , and I'm going to do a whole podcast on this at another time . But there is something powerful about fasting , and I mean specifically fasting from food , abstaining from food for part or a whole day , or multiple days . There are various forms of this .

You can fast from sunup to sundown . You can fast from 6 am to 6 pm and then have a small dinner .

You can fast from everything , for 24 hours , for 36 hours , for 48 hours but fasting abstaining from food , it simply does something and , in another way , opens us , and one of the prayers that I pray as I'm fasting is simply God , I want you more than food . John Mark Comer and others have pointed out that fasting does a couple of things for us .

One it does somehow open us to God's spirit in some ways , and I can't describe that or how that happens . But there you have it . It also is a practicing with our bodies of discipline . It is learning to discipline our bodies and say no to our to our physical desires In this case our physical desires for food .

But that certainly translates to strengthening our will to be obedient to God , saying yes to him and no to other temptations like our idolatries . All right , let me land this plane with this .

One of the false images that I think a lot of us have about God is that somehow he is either aloof or he is very rigid with us and demanding our worship and demanding our obedience . I think the reality that we are so free to worship idols , that we are so free to give ourselves , is a is also a clear indication that God's heart for us is good .

Why does God want us to obey him ? Why does God want us to love him ? Why does God want us to serve him ? Why does God want us to be with him ? Why does God want us to pursue him , to practice spiritual practices , to engage in Christian fellowship , to do what he says ? Why all these things ?

Is it because he needs servants , people to do stuff for him because he's too lazy ? No , is it because he's a megalomaniac and just wants everything to revolve around him out of some kind of prideful covering that's covering up some kind of deep insecurity ? And the maker of all things ? No , why does God want our obedience , our allegiance ? Because he loves us .

All other allegiances end up holding us , binding us , enslaving us , imprisoning us , destroying and killing us . Allegiance to him does none of those things . Allegiance to him is freedom and life and love . It is a fellowship in the goodness , the lavish generosity , the holiness , the wonder , the love , the joy of God . Why does God demand our obedience ?

Because there , and only there , are we free .