Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

As we begin this new series on “House Cleaning: Preparing the Heart to Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus,” we begin by examining idols of the heart.

This morning we want to learn why idols of the heart are such a pernicious threat to our walk with the Lord and we want to learn how to identify those idols and to confront those idols.

1 John and Idolatry - As I was contemplating this topic and preparing for today’s message my mind eventually moved to the First Epistle of John.

In this first letter, John concludes his letter in a very unique way (some would even go so far as to call it strange/out of place).

John says this:

John declares to us a simply, yet emphatic command.

That believers are to keep themselves from idols.

This seems strange because idolatry doesn’t seem to addressed in the book of 1 John.

So the question must be asked of why John would make this statement.

Some have erroneously suggested that perhaps this isn’t even the correct ending to this letter.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ and Idolatry - However there is, I believe, a link between this statement and the rest of John’s letter.

This link is likewise the link between this series of messages and what we will gather to celebrate on Easter as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

John makes this link at the very beginning of his letter.

John is doing something unique here in his description of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is different in that he revealed God in way that is definite and certain.

Jesus was a god-man who existed in time and space.

Men looked upon him with their very eyes.

The disciples heard from his mouth the incarnated voice of God.

Men and women touched them with their hands and knew Jesus personally.

Jesus is set apart in that he exists as the ultimate revelation of God.

This John says separates Jesus out as truly unique.

Some have even suggested that John may also be alluding to ideas present in the Old Testament about idolatry in this opening of his letter.

For instance, in Psalm 135:15-18 the Psalmist declares that idols have “mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not hear; nor is there any breath in their mouths.”

Here in 1 John 1:1-4 Jesus is set apart in that he is the ultimate revelation of the real and true God.

Beyond that Jesus Christ’s resurrection identifies him as clearly divine, in that his resurrection declared him to unequivocally be the Lord of life, the son of God.

Thomas - This is made clear in the scene that we often think of at Easter with “doubting Thomas.”

We all likely remember the account of how Thomas declared that “unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Yet, after Jesus appeared to Thomas what did he say?

We read it in John 20:27-28.

Paul’s writing in Romans also makes this point about Jesus divinity, and he even does so in a text that will later deal with the idolatry of the human heart.

Romans 1:3-4 says,

This, then, brings us back to the simply command of the ending of 1 John which really is the central point of my message to you this morning.

Proposition: The Lordship of Jesus Christ demands that we tear down idols of our heart.

Today we are going to unpack, as I said, how do we do this?

Why are idols of the heart such an issue for us?

How do we identify idols of the heart?

And how do we confront them?

The Reality of Worship

One of the first things the Scripture teaches about this problem of false worship is to understand who we are, what were we created for?

We learn throughout the Scriptures that we essentially were created and designed to be worshippers.

We were created to be in fellowship with God as genuine worshippers of God.

Designed to Worship

1 John - In many ways 1 John 1:1-4 explained this to us when John said that he was writing so that we might have eternal life and fellowship with God.

John said that he was writing these things so that our joy would be complete.

The reality is that God created us to be in fellowship with Him.

He created us to worship him.

OT Law - We see this present in the Old Testament Law in Deuteronomy 6. Therein we read about the fundamental command of the Law of God “to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

That same passage in the law goes on to say that,

Jesus in John 4 - Jesus likewise asserted that the fundamental purpose of man is to worship God in John 4:21-26 in his discussion with the woman at the well.

The Reality of Worship - The reality, the truth, is that we were created to worship God.

God as our creator has abundantly blessed us

Problem of False Worship

John Calvin famously wrote, “the human heart is a perpetual idol factory” or differently translated, “the human condition is driven by idolatry.”

Humanity has a deep seated problem with idolatry.

This is made abundantly clear to us in the pages of Scripture.

One author declared about this reality that, “Idolatry is by far the most frequently discussed problem in the Scriptures.”

For instance,

The Shema - We already discussed the Shema in Deuteronomy 6 wherein God warns against idolatry.

The 10 Commandments - The first three of the commandments deal with this problem of idolatry where in Exodus 20 the law declared that “Israel was to have no other gods before Yahweh,” that they were not to “make for yourself a carved image,” and that they were not to “take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

Likewise, Exodus 32 reveals that the very first sin committed by Israel as Mt.

Sinai was the sin of idolatry.

The problem, however, is not one of merely bowing down before graven images, but one that goes much deeper than that.

We see that hinted at in the first commandment where idolatry is not simply a problem of images, but it is a problem of priority.

It is not enough to keep from the physical worship of idols, but God’s people are called to put God first.

"Idols of the Heart” - Ezekiel 14:1-5 reveals to us that the problem of idolatry is not an external but an internal problem.

In the text we actually hear the phrase that is found in the title of my message today, “idols of the heart.”

In this account we learn of certain supposed elders of the people of Israel who do not merely have an external problem of idol worship, but they have a heart issue of idol worship.

You notice at the end of that section that the Lord declares that He is going to “lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel.”

The problem reaches into their heart.

This idea is repeated in Ezekiel 20:26 where it says “their heart went after their idols.”

The problem was not merely with an external false worship, but an internal false worship.

Worship of Creation - Likewise, back in Romans 1, Paul after declaring that Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, Paul goes on to address the problem of idolatrous heart of man saying, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Going on he says, “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

Amen.”

Application:

Fundamental to human existence is a designed stance of worship.

Fundamentally we are worshippers.

Sin has desperately corrupted the heart of human worshippers and mankind foolishly and regularly follows after other gods.

Christians, we are redeemed worshippers.

God has given us everything we need to worship Him rightly, yet we still must wage a war against the temptation towards idolatry.

Although we don’t have time to explore these things in depth, 1 John reveals to us that, like Old Testament Israel, we are surrounded by competing influences on our worship.

John identifies them in 1 John 2:14-17 by saying that a believer must be ready to cut himself off from the temptation towards idolatry that is present in the world and on display in the lust of flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

Identifying False Worship

Now that we understand that we have this God designed bent towards worship that our sinful nature corrupts and twists, we need to understand how we can identify false worship.

In some sense this is simple, yet in another it is extraordinarily difficult.

Simplicity - It is simple in that the teaching of Scripture could not make it more obvious about what idolatry is… even taking the Old Testament Law as an example, we could very easily make the simple statement that false worship occurs anytime God does not have first place in my heart.

To put it another way, I am to love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my ability.”

Complexity - However, what are the warning signs that help me to identify when I am not loving God in this way.

Scriptures - First, Scripture gives us some clues.

I am not going to elaborate a lot on these passages here, but just point them out and then draw some questions which can help us evaluate and identify false worship.

In each of these passages, and we could cover dozens and dozens more, we see subtlety of idolatry on display.

So what are some ways that we can identify idolatry?

I would like to share with you 5 questions you can ask that I believe will help you identify areas of your life where the sin of false worship may be subtly creeping in.

(These five questions aren’t totally original with me.”

I am relying on a handful of authors that have posed some really helpful evaluative questions.

What do you love?

This is the question posed to us in 1 John 2:15.

These things which we love become idolatrous when our love for them supplants or comes before our love for God.