Subtle Idolatry
Even when we have a strong desire to
walk in God's will, we must still be
careful not to allow any form of
idolatry to creep into our lives.
Here now is Gene:
The key phrase in this Principle is
any form of idolatry. Any form of idolatry.
And of course, Solomon, as we'll see in the passage,
began to violate this Principle.
It began to happen when he violated God's law
and married Pharaoh's daughter
who was an Egyptian princess and, obviously, a pagan.
She did not believe in Yahweh, the God of Israel.
And that was one of the first steps that
began his downfall.
1st Kings 3:1 to 3:
Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt...
And of course when this kind of stuff
happens in these biblical settings.
We have to really understand all the
dynamics of the culture.
And being kings.
And relating to other kings. And alliances.
And all of this was very common stuff.
In this case:
Solomon made an alliance with
Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying
Pharaoh's daughter.
Those kinds of arrangements were
very common in the culture.
...Solomon brought her to live in the city of David
until he finished building his palace,
the Lord's temple,
and the wall surrounding Jerusalem.
However, the people were sacrificing
on the high places...
Now the high places--
nothing wrong with high places.
But the fact that matter is that's where
the pagans had their altars.
And they believed that if you were on high places,
the higher you could get on hills or mountains,
the closer you got to these deities.
And what happened is that Israel began
to sacrifice on high places.
...because until that time a temple for the
Lord's name had not been built. ...
And that was serious
because it's going to lead to sin in their lives.
And later we'll talk about idolatry.
But notice, this is a fascinating statement.
...Solomon loved the Lord by walking in
the statutes of his father David...
And here, his love for the Lord related to obedience.
I don't think it was great affection, particularly.
But he obeyed to a certain extent,
walking in the statutes of his father David:
...but [notice] he also sacrificed and
burned incense on the high places.
There was a step in the wrong direction,
which led then to idolatry.
And what we frequently say when we
look at what's happening--
what happened in Israel.
What's happening even in Christian religion today,
is that this--what Solomon did lead to--
it opened a crack, as it were,
to what we call syncretism.
Religious syncretism.
And there's a Principle from the book of Judges.
Let me share it with you and that is that:
We must be extremely cautious that
we never combine pagan concepts
with true biblical values.
And that's what Solomon began to do.
And this is based in the book of Judges on a
story of a man, an Israelite named Micah.
And he had false gods in his home.
And there was a young guy who was traveling.
Who was really from the tribe of Levi.
Now it's interesting in this context
in this story, it says that there was
no king in Israel.
And everybody did what was right in his own eyes.
That was this period of history in the
book of Judges.
And so this young man stops at Micah's home.
And he finds out--Micah finds out
this young man is a Levite.
And he's excited about that because he said:
Hey, you come in and I'll ordain you as a priest.
Because the Levites--the priests had to be Levites.
So he ordained him as a priest in his house,
in worshiping God and worshiping idols.
That's what you call syncretism.
And that happened in Israel again and again.
It happened when they were at
Mount Sinai receiving the law.
When Moses was up in the mountain
receiving the laws.
And Aaron succumbed and took
gold and made a golden calf.
And the interesting thing is, they weren't
worshiping this golden calf
separate from worshiping God.
They wanted an idol representing God.
Like the Egyptians had, in order to lead them.
And of course, that was all tied in with all kinds of
paganism as they worshiped this golden calf.
So here you see syncretism creeping
into their lives because they had been
living in this pagan culture.
And so it was very easy for them to slide
into this mixing--this pagan religion with
what they were learning about God.
I've seen this happen.
I've seen it happen in countries where--
I remember in one situation involving a church.
And the priests were out in the
courtyard doing mass.
Now I saw this with my own eyes.
And the witch doctors were in the
church offering their incantation to the
statuary that were in the church.
And that is taking Christianity and
integrating it with false idols and paganism.
This has happened all over the world
in terms of Christianity.
If we're not careful, we can combine this--
it's a form of idolatry.
Well you know what happened to Solomon.
His eventual demise was hastened when
he violated another commandment of God.
He multiplied foreign wives and concubines
who were devoted to these false gods.
1st Kings 11:4:
When Solomon was old, [what happened?]
his wives seduced him to follow other gods.
He was not completely devoted to
Yahweh his God, as his father David had been.
Here we see that crack was open and
it just got wider, and wider, and wider.
And he was led into horrible idolatry.
Which led ultimately to his downfall.
I think today we need to ask ourselves a question.
That is, what is an idolatrous activity?
Well it's really anything that becomes
more important than God Himself.
That can be idolatry.
Anything that becomes more important
than God Himself.
In 1st John, we have a warning
from John the apostle:
Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
Now it was true that in that culture,
idols were everywhere.
And they had to be really on guard that
they didn't fall in this trap of syncretism.
But the fact is, that statement is to us today, too.
Little children, guard yourselves from idols.
So the question, I think we need to
think about is:
What are some of the things in our culture
that are not wrong in themselves but that can
begin to take the place of God in our lives?
Well Jesus warned us.
Matthew 6:33:
But seek first the kingdom of God...
That's a key.
That's a very important key in avoiding idolatry
...But seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and all these things
will be provided for you.
These things can apply to lots of things
in this world.
Good things. Many good things that
have come from the hand of God
can lead us into idolatry.
Now first of all, we can say these things
relate to money, material things.
But it's not money, per se.
It's not the material things, per se.
That can be a real blessing from God.
We need it to live.
But the fact that matter is,
the apostle Paul warned that the
love of money, not money.
But the love of money is the root of all evil.
So material possessions can certainly
become an idol.
But it's more than money.
It can be the car we drive.
The house we live in.
Our job, per se.
Even this wonderful job if we're not careful.
Even being in the ministry can become an idol.
If it becomes more important than the
God that we're serving.
And we all have to be on guard against that.
Our family, our kids, our spouses.
Now I've had to pray:
Lord, Lord I really love these children.
I love these grandchildren.
But I don't want them to be
more important than my love for You.
And that's a very important balance, isn't it?
So it's easy to slip and step over that line.
We can say the same thing about entertainment.
You know, entertainment is great.
We need refreshment.
We need time away.
We need a change of venue.
But if we're not careful that can take
the place of God Himself.
We have to be very, very careful of it.
Of all of this.
And that's why Matthew did say that
we are to seek first His kingdom,
His righteousness, and all these things
will be provided for you as well.
In other words, it's a matter of priority.
So let me conclude by restating that Principle,
which I've called subtle idolatry.
Even when we have a strong desire
to walk in God's will, we must still be
careful not to allow any form of
idolatry to creep into our lives.