When I started to realize that
idolatry wasn't just some
antiquated, old concept
but that it was the struggle, really, of life,
it helped me understand a lot more about
the stories in the Bible that deal with idolatry
and the statements about idolatry.
For instance,
maybe the most famous section in scripture
about idolatry is in Exodus, Chapter 32,
where the Israelites, God's people in the Old Testament,
are camped at the foot of Mount Sinai.
And they're dancing around a golden calf.
I like dancing as much as the next guy
but dancing around cattle seemed a little silly.
Didn't get it.
But I started to understand that there's more
that meets the eye there.
For instance,
what was this idol made out of?
Gold.
The people of Israel had melted
all of their precious metals.
Their earrings, their jewelry, their wealth.
And poured it into this false God.
And what was it fashioned into the image of?
A golden calf.
Well, that sounded kind of strange to me, too.
Until I learned that in Egypt,
where they had originally come from,
there was this god named Apis,
who was symbolized by a golden calf.
And in Canaan, where they now had gone,
there was another God named Baal,
symbolized by a golden bull calf.
In other words, this bull calf
was a symbol of fertility, and power, and prosperity.
And so what you have here with the Israelites
at the foot of Mount Sinai,
is a group of people who are really disappointed with God.
They're frustrated with God.
They don't understand what he's doing.
And so they turn to power, and sex, and money
to satisfy the restlessness that exists in their hearts.
Hmmm. Turning to power, and sex, and money
and thinking that those kinds of things
can solve all the problems of your life.
My, what an antiquated notion that is.
Thank goodness we've progressed so far beyond that.
Or am I
basically describing the struggles
in society today?
Or maybe am I even describing the struggles
that exist in your own house?
How do we get beyond this?
Idolatry isn't an ancient issue.
It's a struggle that each of us faces every day.
And so we have to ask ourselves questions like,
"What is the thing in life that if I lost it,
I would feel like life isn't worth living anymore?"
Or, "What's the thing in life
that I think, 'If I got that,
I would have finally arrived.
Life would finally be good.
I'd finally be happy'?"
If your answer those questions is something
or someone other than Jesus Christ,
the Bible says you've got yourself an idol.
But don't worry, there's hope.
Moses came down Mount Sinai
with the Ten Commandments in his hands,
just in time to see the children of Israel
dancing around that golden calf,
breaking those very commands.
But fifteen hundred years later,
a deliverer who is greater than Moses,
picked those broken commands up
and marched them right back up another mountain.
This time it was Mount Calvary.
The Apostle Paul writes about this in
Colossians 2:14, where he says,
"Jesus picked up the written code that we broke
and he cancelled it by nailing it to his cross" (Colossians 2:14).
Because of what Jesus did,
one day we are going to sing and dance
and have a real party.
But it's not going to be around
some silly golden calf.
We're going to dance.
And we're going to sing.
And we're going to party
around our beautiful Lord and Savior.
We'd love to hear about what modern idols
you guys see today
and what ones you struggle with.
So please comment below here
in our comments section and
we'll see you tomorrow.
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