February 26, 2024
Sermon Part 2B: “The Pathology of Idolatry in Christian Living!”
Happy Sunday Saints!
Introduction
The Bible says when we find the thief, he must repay seven-fold what he has stolen from us. (Prov. 6:31) The thief is Satan who only goes about stealing, killing, and destroying people and property throughout the world. (John 10:10) I declare to you we are going to give the devil fits in this Sermon Series, and take back all he has stolen from us!
“All” of the wickedness Satan has been able to inflict upon the world, including the Christian community, is through the practice of idolatry. Yes, even the vast majority of the body of Christ has allowed Satan to trick and bamboozle them into idol worship. Idolatry is the excessive devotion or reverence for some “thing” or “someone” in this world. We make idols of things that are sinful, as well as the good things in life that God has entrusted into our stewardship. However, no thing or person is to be loved and worshiped above God. This practice of dumb idol worship must stop today!
Let’s take a deep dive into the pathology of idolatry to discover the root cause of it. Next week, the Lord willing, we will detail for you how to root out and abstain from idolatry; it’s a daily process. (I John 5:21)But before I get into the specifics of the genesis of idolatry, we should clearly understand that God “expects”for born-again Christians to live in His Holiness.
As born-again Christians, we should always aspire to see things from God’s perspective, and not our own. Our affections are to be set on “things” above where Jesus Christ sits on the right-hand throne of God’s Father, and not on things on the earth. (Col. 3:1-2) This will greatly help shine a light on just how utterly ridiculous it is to worship idols.
Daily Living in God’s Holiness
Every day and at all times, God expects that our whole beings (spirit, soul, mind of the soul, and physical bodies) are to be presented sacrificially to Him in holiness. (Rom.12:1) Every part of us is to be completely yielded to God’s Holiness (God’s Morality, The Word of God). God considers this our reasonable service, and Christians who live this way give off a sweet smelling savor to God.They are a delightsome habitation unto God.
Tell me, have you considered whether your relationship with God is to be this way? By and through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, daily, do you present yourself unto God as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable unto Him? This is God’s expectation you!
God has equipped us with His Holiness; as we have been sanctified in the Truth, the Word of God. (John17:17-22 & Heb.10:14-16) God has sanctified (set us apart, cut asunder, separated) us apart from the world, evil, the lie, the falsehood and established us in “His Absolute Morality!” In our hearts God has perfected us, and expectsfor us to live by every Word of God in this untoward world. (Heb.10:12-14 &Matt. 4:4)
Also, God expects for us to take the Word of God and renew our minds (brains, thought-life) with it, so that we might test/prove out the perfect Will of God for our lives. (Rom.12:2) To beconformed to the image of Jesus Christ is the perfect Will of the Father. (Rom. 8:29) God expectsfor our lives to be so much like Jesus’s life, as seated at the right hand throne of God that the people of the world can see the Light of Christ shining through us and our good works (supernatural works). So that the Spirit of God may prick their hearts to repentand receive salvation through belief in the name of Jesus Christ.
God has also given to us the Holy Ghost, who houses the Kingdom of God, fruit of the Spirit, and gifts of the Spirit to help in transforming our outer-man performance to reflect the inner-man perfection that God has given to us as new creations in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17) Thus, God expects for us to continually progress in spiritual things; from spiritual infants, to full grown and seasoned Saintswho master the art of the Ministry of Reconciliation; exchanging the problems of people for God’s promises. (II Cor. 5:18-19)
Furthermore, God expects for us to be keenly aware that because we are God’s special possession (a chosen people, royal priesthood, and holy nation) that we are hated by Satan and the people of this world. Satan hates that we are no longerunder his control. Recall what Jesus Christ told the disciples about how the world would hate us because of it’s hatred for Him; recorded at John 15:18-21:
8If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
No matter the disposition of hatred and persecution towards us, God expects for us to stand firm in His Holiness; to be unmovable in His Morality, and overcome evil with good. For we were all purchased with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, and are not our own. God demands of us that we glorify Him alone in our spirits and bodies, which belong to Him! The Apostle Paul attested to this Truth at I Corinthians 6:20.
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which is God’s.
I need everyone here who names Jesus Christ as Lord, to also attest to the Truth, and acknowledge that they belong to God in Christ Jesus. Please decree: “I belong to God in Christ Jesus, and I am not my own!” You do not belong to an object, another person, and not even yourself. You are the property of God in Christ Jesus alone!
God loves you and will never leave nor forsake you. Nor will He ever leave you without support. (Heb.13:5) God is longsuffering, and no matter how long it takes to get our outer-man behavior and performance in line with His Holiness, He will uphold us with His mighty right arm. God expects for us to be assured that Jesus Christ has begun a good work in us and will perform it until the day of our redemption. (Php.1:6) Each day unfolds brand new graces and mercies from God because He loves us. We are to know these things, you see?
Also very important, as born-again sons of God, God expects for us to know our rightful place within His Holy Family. Receive with meekness and gladness of heart the Holy Family of God, recorded at I Corinthians 11:3 and depicted below:
But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Therefore, I say unto you Saints of God, its-high time that we start meeting up to God’s expectations! Every member of the Church of Jesus Christ is to live in holiness. God expects us as “One” body in Him to worship together in the Beauty of His Holiness. (Gal.3:28 & John17:21)
Finally Saints, as we go through this Sermon, please keep at the fore-front of your thinking, that God is not angry with you, nor is He interested in condemning you for wrong doing. (Rom.8:1-3) In the case of the practice of idolatry, through the Holy Ghost, God wants you to repent, receive correction, and do that which is pleasing in His sight. Exposing and bringing to light sin (in this case idolatry) is never first pleasant, but after it is removed comes the peaceable fruit of a closer walk with God and powerful manifestations of His Spirit in your life, and the lives of others.
Now, given all I have said about God’s expectations for us, what do you think Satan’s plan of attack is to try and separate born-again Christians from our Holy Union with God in Christ Jesus? The answer: Satan tempts us to make the decision to exalt ourselves aboveGod’s Holiness (Morality, The Word of God).Satan wants us to “decide” to “live in objection” to God’s Holiness by disobeying God’s Word, which brings about the practice of idolatry.
Here is a news flash for you. Whatever Commandment of God you choose to disobey,in turn means you have agreed to,and are worshiping a false god. It’s pretty simple to find the idol(s)we are worshiping. Justlocate theCommandment of God you are breaking continually…and surprise, there is your idol!
For example, if you are over indulging in eating a certain food, thenthat food is an idol in your life. For the Bible declares we are to do all things in moderation. Yes, every food you eat should be consumed in moderation. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation to over eat! (Php. 4:5, I Cor. 10:31, & I Pet. 5:8) Forty-percent of Americans are obese. Among the African American community, 55-percent are obese.
Now, let’s find the pathology, the root cause of idolatry. If we find the root of idolatry, then by the Spirit of God,we can “kill” it and the fruit borne by it, and worship God together in the beauty of Holiness. With the help of the Holy Ghost, God expects for us to root-out all practiced sin in our lives so we can enjoy eternal life! See Romans 8:13, it reads:
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
The Pathology of Idolatry is “Ungodly Pride!”
In studying the genesis of Idolatry keep in mind that we are looking at it from “God’s perspective.” Remember that idolatry defined is having an “excessive devotion or reverence for a thing or person, more than God.”God said we are to have “none” other god besides Him. (Ex.20:3)In a word then, in God’s eyes, idolatry is the practice of “Self-Centeredness.”
Self-centeredness is the systematic caring for and about one’s self, and self-satisfaction only. I like to say Self-Centeredness is the quintessential “U”-Tube, a never-ending telling of a vision of one’s self. Self-Centeredness is only capable of worshiping the three gods of self: “ME, “MYSELF,” and “I.” Self has no interest in the worship of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
When we choose to disobey God’s Word, we are being self-centered. We communicate to God that we do not care, nor have regard for His Commandments. God says we are to have no other God besides Him, but Self-Centeredness says, “Yes I Will!”The graphic below shows the Pathology of Idolatry, and its root cause which is “Ungodly Pride.”
PATHOLOGY OF IDOLATRY
(ME, MYSELF, AND I)
When we disobey God’s Commandments, we are saying to God that “I will” choose not to obey God’s Word, and instead, do what “I” want to do. For example, God’s Word says eat in moderation, but instead, the Christian says “I will” eat Porter-House Steaks three times a week because “I love steak.”(Php. 4:5, I Cor. 9:25, 10:31, & Prov. 23:20) This decision can cause excessive weight gain and health issues, and in many cases the Christian is aware of this, but continues to lust after and consume Porter-House Steaks. It is by our “own choice”that we turn ourselves into Idols; “I” “Dolls.” Get it? We are acting out life in fantasy, just like a little child plays with their toy doll(s) in make believe.
I remember when my daughter Jennifer was a young child, we would often play House with her Doll House, dolls, housewares, and cars.Jennifer would always name each one of her dolls and tell me their names. When I would suggest another name for the dolls, she would always correct me and insist on their names being whatever she called them.No matter how hard I tried to change the names, she would remind me not to.
Jennifer always dressed the dolls, decided when the dolls would marry and move into the house, positioned the furniture in the Doll House, and she always controlled the scheduling of tea-times and the conversations we had at tea-time. Everything always worked according to her plan and not mine. Why was this?
Because this was Jennifer’s fantasy, and I had to play by, her rules. The insistence that the rules be followed exactly as she determined was my daughter’s “pride” at work.Though this was just innocent child’s play, it’s a very good example of self-centeredness and how pride works to empower and elevate one’s own personal interest above another person’s interest.
In spiritual matters, the practice of idolatry, works similarly to my example with playing house with my daughter. You see, again I remind you that God through Jesus Christ has sanctified us in “Truth,” the Word of God; we are sanctified in His Holiness. (John 17:17) However, when Christians choose to practice idolatry (give excessive devotion or reverence to things or people more than God) they no longer are worshiping in Truth; God’s Holiness. Instead, they enter and walk in a “Lie” and false reality.
Eating Porter-House Steaks three times a week, though a food to be enjoyed in moderation, when consumed in excess can cause the Christian to live in a “Lie.” That is, that God can and will bless their health, heal their bodies on demand, and live a long and healthy and satisfied life while they suck the meat, fat, and juices off of the bones’ steaks three times a week. We know that Satan is the Father of lies and his desire is for Christians to enter into deception and live in falsehoods. (John 8:44)
When Christians decide to disobey God’s Commandments, in deception, the Christian thinks and is persuaded that the actions they are taking are acceptable and will lead to blessing, peace, and fulfillment. But in reality, their disobedience to God’s Word will only result in sorrow and destruction. See Proverbs 14:12:
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Ungodly Pride is the force behind the self-centeredness that causes the Christian to exalt their thoughts and opinions above God and His Commandments.
Just like my daughter stubbornly would not allow me to change the names of her dolls, Ungodly Pride in presiding over the mind (brain) of the Christian, refuses to change their ways to do what God’s Word says do. In the sight of God, the Christian exhibits behaviors of ignorance, selfishness, childishness, and foolishness,(depicted in the prior graphic)as Ungodly Pride reinforces through them resistance to the Commandments of God, saying “I will not, I will not, I will not obey God.”
Ungodly Pride is not satisfied until it has silenced the Holiness of God and taken its imaginary seat on the throne as king and lord in the mind (brain) of the Christian. With a stiff neck and rebellious head and attitude, the Christian crowns and sets themselves down as “ruler” of their own lives.
–Give tithes and offerings.
–Witness to the lost and make disciples.
–Pray and study the Bible.
–Attend church services.
–I will not submit to church leadership.
–Pray and lay hands on the sick.
–Speak with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives utterance.
–Flee fornication, adultery, homosexuality, same sex marriage.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul warned the Christians at Corinth, and it’s true today, we cannot disobey God’s Commandments and possess the Kingdom of God. Only deception is possible when we exalt ourselves above the knowledge of God to practice idol worship and other sins. Paul follows up by noting we are washed and sanctified through the blood of Jesus Christ, made righteous through Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, and therefore,have no business continuing in sin. We have no business continuing in idolatry!
To think we can make decisions to live lifeabove God’s Holiness is truly the madness of Satan at work, the author of lies. It was Satan’s foolish pride that caused him to fall like lightening from heaven when he and portion of the angels tried to revolt against God and dethrone The Holy God in the before times. Oh, how ignorant, selfish, childish, and foolish was Lucifer to let his pride bring him to a great fall. See Isaiah 14:12-15, it reads:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Also see Ezekiel 28:17-19, the prophet Ezekiel wrote of Lucifer’s prideful appearance and wisdom, which led to his great fall from heaven to the sides of the pit of hell;
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be anymore.
God Hates Ungodly Pride
Please don’t miss this. Satan is not the author of “pride,” God is. There is Godly Pride and Ungodly Pride.Godly pride is thanksgiving that flows from our born-again hearts for all that God has created and done for us personally. It’s a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from the achievements of God our Father and Creator of all things, alone. From our hearts, we are to take pride in ourselves in who God made us to be, his purpose, plan, and execution of our lives.
See Psalm 139:14, it reads:
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Godly pride always identifies Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross as the source, supplier, and provider of all good in our lives. (John 15:5 & Zech. 4:6) Our souls make its boast in the Lord only. (Ps. 34:2 & Rom. 3:27) Praise God, even when we experience failures and commit sin,we are proud of the finished works of Jesus Christ on the cross and Resurrection from the dead on the third-day, which redeemed us all from sin.The Lord of Righteousness has declared all who believe in Him Righteous. Oh yes, we are proud to say we are the “Righteousness in God in Christ Jesus!” (I John 2:1-2 & II Cor. 5:21)
In contrast, “Ungodly Pride” is as we have described earlier; devilish and perverted and from Satan. It’s a feeling of “exceedingly high self-regard” for personal achievements. Ungodly Pride is arrogant, high-minded, unyielding to God, blasphemous, and puffed-up. A person who possesses Ungodly Pride chooses to love themselves and things and pleasures more than God.
Most importantly, persons possessing Ungodly Pride elevate their thoughts and opinions above God’s Holiness (Authoritative Morality/Word) and keep them there. No matter what God says, they maintain a report in opposition. When Christians choose to disobey God’s Commandments, their pride causes them to “Jack-Up” their way of thinking, their wisdom, above God’s omniscience. They no longer possess a sound mind; but instead, have put on the mind of the spirit of fear, which has torment. (II Timothy 1:7)
In closing out this Session, I say to you that Ungodly Pride is pervasive throughout the world, and within the Church of Jesus Christ today. The Apostle Paul warned his protégé Timothy about how in the last days people would be full to the brim and overflowing with love for themselves and the pleasures of this world. See Tim. 3:1-5:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
The last days started after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and Day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and the people and perilous times have waxed worst ever since.Many-to-most Christians have only a form of godliness and are unholy. Through disobedience to the Commandments of God, fueled by Ungodly Pride, theydeny God’s Holiness (Absolute Morality). His omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.
We all confess that we love God in Jesus Christ and identify ourselves as followers of Christ, yet we fail to live holy before Him. (To love God wholly and all people as Jesus Christ loved us, to preach the gospel to the unsaved, and make disciples, to tithe and give sacrificial offerings; which are all among God’s greatest Commandments Christians openly rebel against.)
God has called us to be holy, as He is Holy. I love this Verse because God is communicating to us that He knows we are living unholy, opposite the way He thinks, and we need to change and think as He thinks. We are to have One Mind, the Holy Mind of God.
God’s Holiness (Morality) says that idolatry is immoral. God hates the root cause of idolatry, which is Ungodly Pride. Thus, God expects for us to hate Ungodly Pride too! See Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
Proverbs 16: 18
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
James 4:6 (ESV)
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
We have found the thief, Ungodly Pride authored by Satan, which seeks to dethrone God’s Holiness as the King and Lord over our thought-life. Christians have made Ungodly Pride as aroaring lion in their thought-life; an idol that is coddled and cozied up to like a kitten. However, the real and true idolin the lives of Christians is not the “material object” like cell phones, sex,flat screen televisions, jobs, cars, money, or people; that we give the excessive devotion and reverence to.
Rather, it’s the excessive devotion and reverence to the “Ungodly Pride” within the Christian. The Ungodly Pride is really the idol worshiped. It’s taking our personal will and making the choice to care only about ME, MYSELF, AND I above God’s Holiness. God is the examiner of the intents and ambitions of our hearts, and not the objects and people we bow down to. See I Samuel 16:7:
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
Also see Jeremiah 17:10:
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Next week,the Lord willing, we will examine how to kill and remove Ungodly Pride from our lives using the Whole Armor of God in prayer with God in the Spirit (Word of God). So that we may worship God together in the beauty of Holiness. Amen for the preaching of the Word of God.
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