Strategies for Overcoming Our Idols
Text: Various Date: 6-21-26
Why did God tell His people not to have any gods before Him or make a graven image or likeness of Him? Why did God tell His people not to bow down to or serve idols? Ex. 20:3-5.
God is a jealous God. What does it mean that God is a jealous God?
The word jealous means fiercely protective and unaccepting of disloyalty. In fact, this is a name for God (Ex. 34:14).
But, why does God guard His name? 1) Because there is no one like Him. 2) Because His character stands alone as perfect, holy, and righteous. 3) Because He is passionately protective of His character, power, and actions.
Truth: God’s jealousy rebukes all competitors while willingly redeeming those who follow Him. When a person worships idols, he or she goes against God and invites His discipline upon them. But, to those who humble themselves and worship God, He heaps His relentless love upon them.
Application: The first strategy to keep us from idolatry is understanding and apprehending the fact that God is a jealous God.
We are made to worship something greater than ourselves. Sometimes that manifests itself in an excessive love for ourselves, sometimes it is seen in an obsession with our possessions, sometimes it is seen in how we spend our time and money. Whatever it is, if God looks at our lives and sees that other things are taking His rightful place as Lord and Master, He is justified in His anger toward us.
Truth: God hates idolatry and idols because He knows that they interfere with rightful worship towards Him.
When we choose God, we must choose time for God. We must choose to worship Him. We must give ourselves and our things to Him. We must repent of our selfishness and rededicate ourselves to knowing God. Israel failed to know God. If we learn anything from Hosea, it would be this: learn to know God. We know God by learning of Him. We know God by digging into His Word. We know God by praising Him. We know God by fellowshipping together in our local church..
Cure: Take the time to reassess your life today. What might be an idol in your life that you should repent of? As you evaluate your life, do you believe God is honored by your time, use of possessions and money, and your corporate worship time? Are you stealing from God
2. Reassess our priorities (Matt. 6:33)
I am here to say today that all idolatry is wrong, as it ranks something ahead of God. What does it say to God when we give him a fraction of time in our lives?
I believe that many Christians are living aimlessly in their lives. Do we have a reason to live? What are our priorities?
Application: Why specifically are we so worldly minded? Matt. 6:30 tells us: We have little faith. Little faith means we trust idols more than God. We give those idols our time and not God. We aren’t truly seeking first the kingdom.
Seeking God’s kingdom involves taking every available opportunity to worship in God’s house. Seeking God’s kingdom requires taking time to pray for one another. Seeking God’s kingdom calls for saying yes to God and no to self. Seeking God consists of rearranging our priorities so that we are daily in the fight, prayed up, praised up, read up, and prepared to speak of God to anyone who comes along our path. Seeking God requires that we trust Him by faith when we are tempted to work so much that we have no time for God. Seeking God consists of desiring more time with Him than what we often do in the American church.
In Heb. 11:6, we find a connection to faith and seeking God. The reality is that those who seek God seek heavenly things.
Our driving passion should always have its entire focus on God’s will and way.
Cure: Take your focus off the earthly and place it in the heavenly. Reassess the priorities of your life and how you are spending it.
3. Number our days by living dependent on the Lord (Psalm 90:12)
The only way that we can make our lives count for God is to demonstrate our utter dependence on Him.