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The Salt Newsletter

Welcome to The Salt Newsletter, a weekly email where I aim to provide insight from scripture and teach you how to teach this to someone else. 

In Acts 1:1, Luke states that in his gospel he wrote about all that “Jesus began to do and teach.” An important model for us all because it isn’t just important for us to do what scripture says. We should be quick to teach it to others as well. Why? Because we’re the salt of the earth and that’s how you and I will make disciples of all nations!

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THIS WEEK
Uncovering Hidden Idolatry

read time 8 minutes

_{Ex 20:4-5: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them: for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”}

Today, I’m going to share something that leans more towards the controversial side of Christian dialogue. A wise person once told me that all writing can be significantly improved by getting to the point faster. So, I’m just going to say it: A lot of Christians (myself included) might be performing idolatry without even knowing it.

When I was young, I watched "The Passion of the Christ," like many other kids in Christian families. The gruesome scene of the actor portraying Jesus hanging on a cross was seared into my mind, and for years, I would refer to that image while taking Holy Communion. It would unknowingly become an object of my worship. I’d use this visual of Christ’s suffering to feel like I was participating in His suffering. Perhaps this resonates with some of you reading this.

As I grew in my faith, I began to question if finding Hollywood’s portrayals of Christ as an object of my worship to Him was even appropriate. It felt like I was punishing myself to share in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross when I should’ve been celebrating the FINISHED work of the cross - and in the process, I was committing idolatry.

When you think of idolatry, what comes to mind? Is it metal images you’ll find in a Hindu temple? Could it be the pagan marble statues found in the ruins of Rome? These wouldn’t be wrong, but idol worship is more than these obvious things. It can be subtle and creep into the crevices of our daily lives more than we realize.

(1) Idolatry is anything that takes devotion away from Jesus and His Word.

(2) It’s anything that we establish or erect in our lives that competes with the place that God should have.

(3) It’s anything that partially or falsely attempts to display His full glory.

All of us have committed idol worship in one way or another and as a result, we’ve failed to keep the second commandment found in Ex 20:4-5: “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them: for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”

I’d like to break down the second commandment for us. Idolatry in the earth beneath and the waters below are a little more obvious, so we won’t spend too much time here. Essentially, that is the worship of images of little ‘g’ gods. These are the graven images that humans create for the purpose of worship. These are the false gods that are created through physical representations in the form of creatures, humans, or sacred texts of ancient cultures. It can also be our love of money, self, or even another.

However, God also says that “We shall not make for ourselves an idol in the form of anything in HEAVEN ABOVE.”

This is more profound than it may appear. The God of the Universe is referring to His heavenly domain! Idolatry is not only the worship of false gods but also the worship of the one TRUE God by earthly images because nothing on earth can fully grasp the full glory of God! How do we know this is what God meant?

Remember the Golden Calf that Aaron created by gathering all of the gold from the people of Israel? What if I told you that in Aaron’s mind, he was not even creating a false god? He literally thought he was creating an image of Jehovah!

After Aaron gathered the gold from the people, in Exodus 32:4 they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” As best as they knew how, they used their earthly knowledge to create an image of the heavenly Jehovah that caused the plagues in Egypt, performed incredible miracles through their leader Moses, parted the Red Sea, sent manna from heaven, shook the mountains with thunder and lightning, and rescued them from slavery to take them toward the Promised Land.

And the best they could come up with was a bull. They thought Jehovah would be honored with this image. After all, what’s stronger than a bull? I imagine the idol design team said to one another, “Of course, this is the perfect representation of God!”. However, the reality of this form of worship was that it severely limited the true glory of God. This is what made God jealous.

What are the ways in which we limit the true glory of God? It could be what I did growing up by letting the image of an actor on a cross feed my emotion while worshiping Jesus. It could be our own doubt by thinking God isn’t big enough to heal our sickness or lift us out of the mess we’re in. It could be our assumption that we don’t need to overcome a certain sin pattern because God still loves us. There are countless ways we misrepresent what God looks like, just as Aaron did by making the golden calf, and in the process what we’re actually doing is limiting the true glory of God.

We craft God to look how we desire Him to look. In other words, we make for ourselves an idol, except it’s in the form of what’s in heaven above. This may be a lot to take in, and I’m grateful for your time and attention.

TEACH THIS LESSON TO OTHERS

1. Introduce the Concept of Idolatry Beyond the Obvious: Start by discussing traditional views of idolatry to establish a common understanding. Transition into the broader, more nuanced concept of idolatry, highlighting that it can include anything that detracts from our devotion to God.

2. Encourage Practical Steps to Redirect Focus Toward God: Offer personal advice on how to avoid or eliminate subtle forms of idolatry. This includes taking inventory of the ways that we limit the glory of God. Are we not believing in a miracle? Are we assuming something about the nature or character of God that is false? 

3. Pray: Pray that the Lord breaks down the walls of idolatry of your heart and pray the same for your friend as you discuss this lesson with them.

A PRAYER

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for the greatness of your majesty. Lord there is nothing on earth that can truly display the fullness of your Glory. We can only see glimpses of it with all of creation combined. Forgive us for the ways that we’ve made idols in our lives through things that we’ve allowed to compete against you, or ways that we’ve assumed you to be. Aaron thought of you as a strong bull and in our own ways we create idols to represent you. Help us to chase the rest of our lives seeking the fullness of your glory until we get to realize it completely in eternity with you.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen