The Idols We Keep: A Call to Worship God Alone
The Idols We Keep:
A Call To Worship God Alone
I have heard first-hand stories of people who have walked away from their faith as a result of the failures of someone they looked up to in the Church. This is what happens when our affections are more attached to a person rather than to Jesus. God does not want our second-hand worship. He is a jealous God and knows if He is not first in our lives we will be on a fast-track to destruction.
Have you ever thought of yourself as an idolater? I never did until I realized how pervasive it actually is. Brad Bigney offers a convicting definition of idolatry in his book Gospel Treason, “An idol is anything or anyone that begins to capture our hearts, minds, and affections more than God.” According to this definition, we have all been idolaters at one point or another. Idolatry is not just a statue worshiping thing, it’s an affection thing. Most often it goes undetected because loving people and things is such a socially acceptable part of our human experience. We are worshipers by nature and if God is not the object of our worship, something or someone else will be. We idolize performers for their talent, athletes for their skill, and leaders for their influence. This obsession with celebrity and fame is expected from the culture we live in, but it’s sadly just as common in the Church. The sacred space reserved for the worship and adoration of God alone can easily morph into a space for human performance and adoration of people rather than God. We love our platform heroes and especially adore the ones who are culturally relevant, stylish, and let’s be honest - attractive. We choose Pastors based on their charisma, gravitas, and ability to move us, rather than men who are faithful servants who love God, His Word, and His people. In our frailty we are quick to allow our affections for these popular leaders to overshadow our affections for Christ. I believe many of these celebrity pastors start with the best intentions. It’s not their fault we are so quick to elevate them over Christ in our hearts. The problem is when the propensity of our human hearts is ignored and there are no accountability measures in place to guard against pride and unhealthy admiration. Recent documentaries and podcasts have recorded the disastrous results of our misguided and misplaced worship in the Church. Human beings were never intended to be objects of worship. If left unchecked, it will always lead to corruption, abuse of power, and relational fallout.
This has been made evident by the non-stop stories of moral failings of high platform Christians. We set these men and women up on pedestals and are devastated when they come crashing down. I have heard first-hand stories of people who have walked away from their faith as a result of the failures of someone they looked up to in the Church. This is what happens when our affections are more attached to a person rather than to Jesus. God does not want our second-hand worship. He is a jealous God and knows if He is not first in our lives we will be on a fast-track to destruction. The first two commandments God gave us was to 1. Have no other gods before Him, and 2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God (Exodus 20:3-5). Right out of the chute God knew we needed clear boundaries around our worship. God insists that our worship belongs to Him alone. Not because He’s a narcissist, but because He made us, loves us, and knows that our deepest longings can only be met by Him. Anything else we attempt to put in His place will never satisfy. God has revealed Himself to us through His Word and through His Son so we can rightly know and worship Him and avoid the pitfalls of poor substitutes. The Apostle John warns us of this very thing in 1 John 5:20,
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children keep yourselves from idols.”
We must reign in our prone to wander hearts and fix them upon the Lord lest we be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3) This will require a lot of humility and self-awareness.
Calling out idolatry in the Church is uncomfortable, but necessary. We must first examine our own culpability and consider what we are doing to contribute to this celebrity culture that is so prevalent in our Christian culture. What is it in our human nature that causes our hearts to be so quickly enamored with leaders in the Church? What are the patterns we should look for and avoid in ourselves and the leaders we follow in order to stop feeding into this unhealthy phenomenon? Are we following our pastors/leaders because they are faithful shepherds who spur us on to maturity in Christ or because their magnetic personalities are capturing our hearts, minds, and affections more than God? I propose the following three categories as a means to test our hearts for idolatry in this area:
Loyalty
Admiration
Fruit
First, does the leader you follow call you to loyalty to Christ above all else, or loyalty to himself and his church? Do they see their congregants as people who belong to them or people who are entrusted to them, but belong to Christ? Do they encourage you to test everything they say against the Word of God or take their word as your authority? Is this person humble and open to accountability, or do they perceive rebuke as betrayal and criticism? Do they love you only upon the condition that you remain loyal to them, or would they still be your friend and love you if you went to a different church?
Second, does the leader you follow cause you to grow in your admiration for Christ or for himself? Do his messages cause you to be more and more in awe of who God is, or more in awe of who he is? Does he feed your ego in order to manipulate your affection or ingratiate you to himself through gifts? Does he hold back on teaching the doctrine of total depravity in fear of offending followers, or does he faithfully present the full scope of the gospel in every sermon? Does he elevate people as a means to inspire action or elevate Christ as our ultimate model to emulate? Does he compel you to humbly take up your cross and follow Christ, or is your sacrifice motivated by a desire for recognition?
Lastly, have you examined their fruit? Jesus Himself warned us,
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” - Matthew 7:15-20
We must examine the results of this person’s ministry. Do those closest to them look more like Christ, or do they become more toxic and unhealthy as a result of their proximity to this leader? Do they produce humble disciples who multiply the kingdom of God, or ambitious followers who crave approval and self-promotion? Is there a high turnover on their staff, or do people love working for them? Most importantly - does this pastor/leader humbly submit himself to the Word of God? Does he actively wrestle with God over his own sin and allow The Word to convict, mold, and shape him before he delivers it to you? In other words, do you see the fruit of God’s transforming power evident in his character, relationships, and leadership? Can you honestly say, like Paul, if you imitated him you would be imitating Christ? (1 Corinthians 11:1)
It’s time for all of us to examine our hearts and take an inventory of the idols we keep. There are so many things and people who capture our hearts and affections more than God. The fallout of our infidelity only leads to devastation in our churches and in our homes. As soon as we allow ourselves to desire anything more than we desire God, conflict and disorder will arise. Like James so wisely warns us,
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” - James 4:1-2
What do you want that you are not getting? How is that desire impacting your relationship with God and others? I’ve heard it said that our hearts are idol factories. None of us are exempt from this temptation. If we want to have healthy churches and healthy relationships, we must identify and cast down our idols. We must stop chasing after and elevating people and make God the utmost desire of our hearts. As John Piper puts it so beautifully, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” Nothing else this world has to offer will ever satisfy. Together let us join the Psalmist and declare,
“Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” - Psalm 73:25-26
