Smashing Idols
By: Paul Boggess
“When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods — high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. Break down their altars and SMASH their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Completely erase the names of their gods! “Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. Deuteronomy 12:2–4 (NLT)
Idols?? This word flashes images across the screen of our minds of statues of gold emblems or wooden animals or a pot belly man that people are bowing down to. For many, the word “idols” reflects an ancient practice of an uncivilized culture groping for a connection with a higher power. However, idolatry is still very much alive in our society and must be confronted and resisted! Idolatry is not a “pagan” issue it’s a “human” issue. Why? Because humanity was made to worship something (Gal. 4:8). We are wired to worship, the question is what are we worshipping?
Worship (worthship) means to bring value to something, to ascribe worth to something. Basically worship is our response to what we value most. The Apostle Paul give us a glimpse of what idolatry can look like by saying that greed makes its appearance in the pantheon (Col. 3:5). Hummm! Not a statue of greed we physically bow down to but a heart posture that causes our thoughts and actions to bow to a lesser version of who we are truly meant to be, imagers of God.
Man will make idols out of success, sex, significance, money, entertainment, hobbies, even our kids. This is what modern day idol worship looks like! John Calvin said, “The heart of man is a perpetual idol factory.” This happens naturally because of our internal longing to connect with our Creator but the enemy presents “false gods” before us so we will ascribe worth to those things and not the one we are created for. We are all made to bear the image of God (Gen. 1:26). To understand the word “image” we have to get the cultural context of this word. To the Ancient Near East mind, “image” would conjure up thoughts of an actual statue that reflected the essence of the deity that it represented. For example, if the deity was a nurturing god or a warrior god then the statue would reflect that essence through the way it was made, the image that it bore. The statue was thought to have the breathe of the god that it represented, it was thought to actually be imbued with the presence of that deity. Everyone that saw the “image” knew what the god stood for, what it represented and actually believed that the deity lived in that statue.
Think about what God is trying to tell us, humanity is made in the IMAGE OF GOD! Meaning we are to be a living representative, imbued with His presence, carrying his essence (1 John 4:8) to the world. God has breathed on us and we have received His Spirit in us and we are living, walking, and talking IDOLS FOR HIM! No wonder God told us, “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” Exodus 20:4.
Why?? God doesn’t live in stone statues but in us who live and move and are able to reach out with a touch of compassion, with a word of encouragement or with feet that run to the aid of a world in need of a Savior. You can’t get that from a statue! This is why when we worship things other than Yahweh we become idols of the thing we worship. (Key: Read — Ps. 115:3–8) We begin to bear an image that we were never created to bear….things like anger, despair, discouragement, jealousy, unforgiveness, etc.
What is idolatry? A working definition: anything we choose to love other than God, anything we choose to devote ourselves to and be obedient to except for God. Idolatry is anything that comes in between us and God. With those definitions we can see that all of us could be an idol worshipper at one time or the other. Though we might not be bowing our knees to statues we could be bowing our hearts in devotion to things that are taking the place of God in our lives. What is it for you? Is it that job that you are spending 60 hours a week at while your family is neglected? Maybe it’s the idol of sexual pleasure that keeps you going back to the computer or phone though everything in you hates it? Maybe it’s shame of past failures and mistakes that always “commands” your life and skews your view of yourself or others? The list goes on…. Idolatry is the root sin of all sins (Gen 3:1–6).
How To Identify An Idol
- Idols Promise Joy & Security Without God — “If I have (Blank) I will be happy”
- Idols Need Protected — “What do you feel obsessive in protecting in your life”
- Idols Demand Sacrifice & Resources — “What is draining of you resources — money, time, relationship”
- Note: The more you sacrifice to an idol the more it demands
How To Smash The Idol(s)
- Realize My Idol(s) — Be honest and ask yourself the hard qst, “Is this an idol”?
- Reestablish Jesus as King — Repent and choose to make Jesus Lord over the area
- Remind Myself Daily — The battle field is the mind (2 Cor. 10:5)
Take The Fierce Challenge:
- What are some of the idols of our culture today?
- What kind of problems do you see in your own life with “idol worship”?
- Take a few minutes and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any idol(s) that have been erected in your heart? Now, take and smash those idols by acknowledging them before the Father and reestablishing Jesus as Lord over those areas.
Be Fierce & Be Free!
______________________________
Pastor Paul Boggess is the senior Pastor at Faith Christian Fellowship in Buffalo, WV. Paul is married to his wife Andy. They were married on April 26th, 1997 and have 2 children, Nora and Anna. Outside of ministry, Pastor Paul enjoys spending time with his family and sports. He also enjoys hunting and fishing.
