Keep Yourselves From Idols
For this mornings exhortation, leading into our time of confession, I want us to look at the end of 1st John briefly. 1 John closes by saying:
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
John is saying, Christian, believer in Jesus, inheritor of eternal, full, abounding life, keep yourselves from idols. We need to take care not to stray from Christ into worshiping and hoping in other things.
Idols can be physical objects, but they can also be relationships, success, status, or bank accounts. They may be things we put all our effort into, or they may be where we fall back to for comfort or escape. We may serve many things, one idol being what we hope for, and another idol being how we cope with when we don’t achieve what we hope for. Where we look for joy, and where we look for refuge, are 2 places where idols may be hiding.
Here are a few Questions to consider:
What makes or breaks your day, or what defines your day? Are there certain things that overly dictate your emotions and attitude?
What do you run to for comfort, help or escape? What do you medicate with, whether it be TV shows, internet searches, or ice cream.
We try to worship Jesus and these things right along side him. We don’t trust his goodness and his attentiveness to us. Maybe following Jesus seems hard, so we look for help from other things we desire.
But here’s the reality. We think that these idols serve us, but rather, we serve them. Rather than money or a relationship being a good thing given by God, they become the only thing that matters. We must now have these things because we have placed our hope for joy, security, and purpose in them. We serve them because we have become dependent on them. We have become entangled and enslaved by them. We have welcomed other ‘gods’ in, and have pushed Jesus out.
That is what material, or immaterial idols do. They entangles us, they capture us. They may feel like freedom and control for a moment, like swimming down stream, until the waterfall comes and you realize you are not free at all.
Jesus is all we need. The cultural pressures of this world seek to convince a Christian that they are trying to live like a fish out of water. But, believing in Jesus and worshiping him, is actually a fish jumping back in the water.
A golf club works as an ok pool stick, but when you turn it around you realize it is actually made to hit a ball 100x times farther.
Faith in Jesus is turning around the club. Rather than pursuing whatever sin or pleasure we think is beneficial, we can worship God and pursue the joy that He has for us.
A pure joy that only comes when it is pursued in the times and ways God has designed it for. We trust the designer of our bodies and our world. We trust the architect of all that is wonderful and pleasurable.
Let us present our bodies and lives not to idols that entangle us, but to Jesus who frees us. We were made for him. Our souls are fed and revived by him. We will become happier and holier as we run to Him.
So brother and sisters, keep yourself from idols.