IDOLATRY

We are meant to long supremely for the Lord Himself, for the Giver, not His gifts. The absence of blessings – rejection, vanity, reviling, illness, poverty – often is the crucible in which we learn to love God for who He is. In our idolatry we make gifts out to be supreme goods, and make the Giver into the errand boy of our desires.

David Powlison

Seeing With New Eyes, P&R Publishers, 2003, p. 134-135.

When the loss of any temporal enjoyment casts us into excessive despondency and dejection it is evident that what we have lost, was the object of our inordinate love. The most innocent attachments cease to be innocent, when they press too strongly upon us! To cleave to any created object, and to look for happiness from it – is to make an idol of it – and set it up in God's place. Should this object be a friend, a brother, a wife, or a child, the idolatry is still odious in the eyes of that God, to whom we owe our chief affection. Our warmest passions, our most fervent love, desires, hopes, and confidences should always have God for their object. It is His desire that our happiness should not center in any of the good things of this life.

John Fawcett
Christ Precious.

Either we will love and serve God, or we will love and serve our idols. Idols exist in our lives because we love them and invite them in. But once idols find a home, they are unruly and resist leaving. In fact, they change from being the servants of our desires to being our masters.

Edward T. Welch

Blame in on the Brain? P&R Publishing, 1998, p. 194.

"Idolatry" is the practice of seeking the source and provision of what we need either physically or emotionally in someone or something other than the one true God. It is the tragically pathetic attempt to squeeze life out of lifeless forms that cannot help us meet our real needs.

Scott Hafemann

The God of Promise and the Life of Faith. Crossway Books, 2001, p. 35.

To cast God away for the temporary trinkets of this life, as if He were a secondhand piece of jewelry, is deeply dishonoring to the sovereign character of the Creator, who Himself alone can satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts (Psm. 16). At the center of our sin is our nonchalant neglect of God, as if we were the creators and rulers of our own lives, doing with them as we please. In short, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Our failure to honor God is an intolerable situation for the Creator and Savior of mankind, who will not share the rightful glory of His sovereignty with anyone or anything else (Ex. 9:16).

Scott Hafemann

This We Believe, John Armstrong and John Woodbridge, ed. Zondervan, 2000, p. 81-82.

O ye sons of men, think not that God is blind. He can perceive the idols in your hearts; He understands what be the secret things that your souls lust after; He searches your heart, He tries your reins; beware lest He find you sacrificing to strange gods, for His anger will smoke against you, and His jealousy will be stirred. O ye that worship not God, the God of Israel, who give Him not dominion over your whole soul, and live not to His honor, repent ye of your idolatry, seek mercy through the blood of Jesus, and provoke not the Lord to jealousy any more.

C.H. Spurgeon

A Jealous God, Sermon 502, March 29, 1863.

False gods patiently endure the existence of other false gods. Dagon can stand with Bel, and Bel with Ashtaroth; how should stone, and wood, and silver, be moved to indignation; but because God is the only living and true God, Dagon must fall before His ark; Bel must be broken, and Ashtaroth must be consumed with fire.

C.H. Spurgeon

A Jealous God, Sermon 502, March 29, 1863.

What may be good and beautiful under the authority of God, becomes a damning god if you love it more than Christ.

Jim Elliff
The Change of Mind, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.

Idols never satisfy, but always demand increasingly more, constantly adding to the burdens of our lives and in the end giving nothing of lasting value.

Richard D. Phillips and Sharon L. Phillips

Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, P&R, 2006, p. 62. Used by Permission.

We are all worshipers, and whatever we worship we rely upon and serve. For many men, success is the god they worship and serve. For others, it is fame or pleasure. Women often worship beauty or falling in love. Whatever it is, we worship it because we think it will make our lives work. It will secure us against a hostile world, it will give us satisfaction – in short, it will be our Savior. Thus, when an idolater says, “I love you, “what he means is, “You are a means for getting what I want. You are serving my needs and securing my hopes.

Richard D. Phillips and Sharon L. Phillips

Holding Hands and Holding Hearts, P&R, 2006, p. 59. Used by Permission.

The “god” of this twentieth century no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The “god” who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible Conferences is the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form “gods” out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a “god” out of their own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. A “god” whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits nought but contempt.

A.W. Pink

The Attributes of God, Baker Book House, p. 28- 29.

The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.

A.W. Tozer

There is nothing so abominable in the eyes of God and of men as idolatry, whereby men render to the creature that honor which is due only to the Creator

Blaise Pascal

Most of us think of an idol as a statue of wood, stone, or metal worshiped by pagan people. But the concept of idolatry is much broader and far more personal than that. An idol is anything apart from God that we depend on to be happy, fulfilled, or secure. In biblical terms, it is something other than God that we set our heart on that motivates us, that masters and rules us, or that we trust, fear, or serve. In short, it is something we love and pursue more than God.

Ken Sande

Reprinted from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, Ken Sande, Baker Books, 3d ed., 2004, p. 104. Peacemaker^® Ministries. www.Peacemaker.net. Used by Permission.

It is important to emphasize the fact that idols can arise from good desires as well as wicked desires. It is often not what we want that is the problem, but that we want it too much.

Ken Sande

Reprinted from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, Ken Sande, Baker Books, 3d ed., 2004, p. 104. Peacemaker^® Ministries. www.Peacemaker.net. Used by Permission.

Anytime we long for something apart from God, fear something more than God, or trust in something other than God to make us happy, fulfilled, or secure, we worship a false god.

Ken Sande

Reprinted from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, Ken Sande, Baker Books, 3d ed., 2004, p. 109. Peacemaker^® Ministries. www.Peacemaker.net. Used by Permission.

There is no connection between the worship of idols and the use of Christmas trees. We should not be anxious about baseless arguments against Christmas decorations. Rather, we should be focused on the Christ of Christmas and giving all diligence to remembering the real reason for the season.

John MacArthur

Idolatry is worshiping something other than the true God in the true way.

John MacArthur

1 Corinthians, Moody, 1984, p. 232.

Idolatry is having any false god – any object, idea, philosophy, habit, occupation, sport, or whatever that has one’s primary concern and loyalty or that to any degree decreases one’s trust in and loyalty to the Lord.

John MacArthur

1 Corinthians, Moody, 1984, p. 232-233.

I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed for idolatry.

D.A. Carson

The Cross and Christian Ministry: An Exposition of Passages from 1 Corinthians, Baker, 1993, p. 38.

Their god is something which they created themselves, a being who is always prepared to oblige and excuse them. They do not worship him with awe and respect, indeed they do not worship him at all. They reveal that their so-called god is no god at all in their talk. For they are forever saying that "they simply cannot believe that God will punish the unrepentant sinner to all eternity, and this and that." They cannot believe that God will do so, therefore, they draw the conclusion that God does not and will not. In other words, God does what they believe he ought to do or not do. What a false and blasphemous conception of God! How utterly untrue and unworthy! Such is the new paganism of today.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

A man sits in front of a bad television program and doesn't know that he is bored; he joins the rat race of commerce, where personal worth is measured in terms of market values, and is not aware of his anxiety. Ulcers speak louder than words. Theologians and philosophers have been saying for a century that God is dead, but what we confront now is the possibility that "man is dead," transformed into a thing, a producer, a consumer, an idolater of other things.

Erich Fromm

If created things are seen and handled as gifts of God and as mirrors of His glory, they need not be occasions of idolatry – if our delight in them is always also a delight in their Maker.

John Piper

Desiring God, 1996, p. 143, Used by Permission, www.desiringGod.org.

The God of this world is riches, pleasure and pride.

Martin Luther

My favorite explanation of idolatry is John Calvin’s: “The evil in our desire typically does not lie in what we want but that we want it too much.”

Wayne Grudem and Dennis Rainey

Pastoral Leadership for Manhood and Womanhood, Crossway, 2002, p. 197.

To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by “god.” To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart… To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your god.

Martin Luther

Luther’s Large Catechism.

Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is in itself perfectly good… An idol can be a physical object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero, anything that can substitute for God.

Os Guinness and John Seel

No God but God, Moody Press, 1992, 32-33.

Every one of us is, even from his mother's womb, a master craftsman of idols.

John Calvin

To identify your own idols, ask questions like these: What things take the place of God in my life? Where do I find my significance and my confidence? What things make me really angry? Anger usually erupts when an idol gets knocked off the shelf.

Philip Graham Ryken
Courage to Stand, Crossway, 1998, p. 90.

We’ve created a God that we must help out, who we must explain, who winks at sin, who excuses our lack of love for people and God’s Word.

Author Unknown

If we make an idol of any creature, wealth, or pleasure, or honour – if we place our happiness in it, and promise ourselves the comfort and satisfaction in it which are to be had in God only – if we make it our joy and love, our hope and confidence, we shall find it a cistern, which we take a great deal of pains to hew out and fill, and at the best it will hold but a little water, and that dead and flat, and soon corrupting and becoming nauseous (Jer. 2:23).

Matthew Henry
Commentary, Jeremiah 2:13.

Idols are dead; God is living. Idols are false; God is true. Idols are many; God is one. Idols are visible and tangible; God is visible and intangible… Idols are creatures, the work of human hands; God is the Creator of the universe and of all humankind.

John Stott
The Message of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1991, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press UK, p. 39.

Some people are eaten up with a selfish ambition for money, power or fame. Others are obsessed with their work, or with sport or television, or are infatuated with a person, or addicted to food, alcohol, hard drugs or sex. Both immorality and greed are…pronounced by Paul to be forms of idolatry (Eph. 5:5), because they demand an allegiance which is due to God alone. So every idolater is a prisoner, held in humiliating bondage.

John Stott
The Message of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1991, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Used with permission of InterVarsity Press UK, p. 39.

What is the result of…people-idolatry? As in all idolatry, the idol we choose to worship soon owns us. The object we fear overcomes us. Although insignificant in itself, the idol becomes huge and rules us. It tells us how to think, what to feel, and how to act. It tells us what to wear, it tells us to laugh at the dirty joke, and it tells us to be frightened to death that we might have to get up in front of a group and say something. The whole strategy backfires. We never expect that using people to meet our desires leaves us enslaved to them.

Edward T. Welch

When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 46. Used by Permission.

What each one honors before all else, what before all things he admires and loves, this for him is God.

Origen

An idol is anything, any attitude, any belief, or any god that so captures a person's attention and allegiance that God does not have pre-eminence.

Richard Mayhue
First and Second Thessalonians, Focus, 1999, p. 57.

For God to fail or refuse to value Himself preeminently would implicate Him in the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is honoring anyone or anything as god, instead of God. If God were ever to act in such a way that He did not seek His own glory, He would be saying that something more valuable than Himself exists, and that is a lie. Worse still, it is idolatrous.

Sam Storms

There are two ways to commit idolatry. You can worship something other than the one true God, that’s way one. There is another way as well. You can worship the one true God by some other means than those that He has appointed.

J. Ligon Duncan
“No Idols”, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS. As downloaded in Fall of 2010, URL: http://www.fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/exodus/Exodus%20Vol%203%20&%204/23aExo.htm. Used by Permission.

You don’t have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods. America is full of them. Whatever you love more than God is your idol.

D.L. Moody

Our society has made idols out of power, strength, beauty, wealth, intelligence, and athletic ability. These are the things that people value. In our society a successful person is someone who has several of these things. An unsuccessful man is someone who has none of these assets. According to the Bible, this way of measuring worth and success is wrong. These are not the things that God values most. These are not the most important things in life.

Wayne A. Mack

Strengthening Your Marriage, P&R Publishing, 1977, p. 155. Used by Permission.