Bible Studies
The Religion of Idolatry: The Ultimate Rejection of God (Ex. 32:1-4)
Series: Lessons on IdolatryIntroduction:
1. The worship of the golden calf is the premier event of idolatry described in the Bible.a. It is cited in Deut. 9:12, 16 in Moses’ warning before entrance into Canaan.
b. Neh. 9:16-18 reminds the returning exiles that their fathers were stubborn and would not listen and even made “a calf of molten metal.”
c. Psa. 106:19-20 says that when they made the calf at Horeb they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass.
d. Stephen used the incident to describe the people of his day as they rejected the communication from God’s son (Acts 7:40-42). “You are doing just as your fathers did,” he said.
e. 1 Cor. 10:7 warns the Corinthians not to be like those who made the golden calf.
2. It is the premier event as evidenced by it being repeatedly referenced throughout Israel’s history in both the Old and New Testaments as the example of unfaithfulness and rejection of God. 3. “But I do not worship a golden calf, a wooden or stone idol. What does idolatry have to do with me?” 4. Certainly, idolatry takes on a more subtle form in the N.T. and in our day, but it is very real and Scripture is replete with warnings to flee idolatry. We will talk about modern forms of idolatry and how to avoid them.Discussion:
I. The history of idolatry in the Old and New Testaments—from the golden calf to the worship of the beast in Revelation.A. The departure point from the worship of God to the worship of idols is the rejection of God’s communication. This is what happened in Ex. 32 and it ultimately resulted in the exile. The prophets of the exile expressed it under the image of being blind and deaf.
1. Isaiah was sent to a rebellious people (6:9-10).
a. Their ears were dull and their eyes dim.
b. Their hearts were insensitive.
c. There was no perceiving, nor understanding.
d. Thus there was no healing.
2. Isaiah presents God as the one to lead the blind and to give instruction to the deaf (42:16-23).
3. Israel herself was called as a witness to the fact that God was the great communicator, not the idols (43:8-13).
a. It is God’s eternity that allows Him to predict (v. 13).
b. There is none like Him in that He knows the past and the future (44:6-8).
c. This is God’s distinctive feature. He stands in contrast to all other gods in that He communicates (45:20-21).
4. Jeremiah identifies the captivity as the result of Israel having eyes, but not seeing and ears but not hearing (5:19-20).
5. They did not delight in the word of the Lord (Jer. 6:10).
6. “They did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their neck in order not to listen or take correction” (Jer. 17:23).
B. In the N.T. period the same imagery was used.
1. It was in this context that Jesus identified John the baptizer as a prophet, the messenger of God in the long line of “all the prophets and the Law” (Matt. 11:9-15).
2. It was in this context that Jesus told the parable of the soils (Matt. 13:9, 14-17). Note the quotation from Isa. 6:9f. Cf. the parallels in Mk. 4; Lk. 8.
3. Paul interpreted the rejection of the message of Jesus by the Jews of Rome in this light (Acts 28:23-29; cf. Isa. 6:9). Cf. Isa. 29:10: “The Lord has shut your eyes, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, the seers.”
4. It is interesting to note that following Stephen’s condemnation of those he described as uncircumcised in heart and ears, who resisted the Holy Spirit, persecuted the prophets and now had become the betrayers and murders of the Lord that they “covered their ears” and silenced him by stoning him to death (Acts 7:51-60). But the message would not be silenced and continues even today to be echoed throughout the world.
C. Those in Rom. 1:18ff suppressed the truth, professing to be wise themselves, they became fools exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of the corruptible.
D. The great tragedy is that idolaters become like the idols that they worship (Psa. 115:3-8; cf. 135:15-18). God sees and hears. It is idolaters who do not (Psa. 94:7-14).
E. The one thing that distinguishes God from idols is that God speaks (Hab. 2:18).
F. But Israel exchanged her glory for an image (Psa. 106:19-20), as did those of Rom. 1:23.
II. We are to reflect the glory of God. We either worship God in whose image we are created or we become bestial worshiping the things that are created. To reflect the glory of God our minds must be transformed by the things God reveals to us, a transformation reaching its culmination when the Lord returns.A. Gen. 1:26-27 describes man as “created in the image and likeness of God.” Sin mars the image (Gen. 3).
B. When we the glory of God is exchanged for something else we diminish ourselves becoming bestial. Cf. the worship of the beast in Revelation.
1. Israel exchanged her glory for an image (Psa. 106:19-20).
a. At first they believed God’s words and sang His praises (Psa. 106:6-12).
b. But then they forgot and did not wait for His counsel (13-15).
c. “They forgot their Savior” (21).
d. “They did not believe His word” (24).
e. “They did not listen to the voice of the Lord” (25).
f. “They mingled with the nations and learned their practices, and served their idols (35-36).
g. Yet He remembered His covenant (what He had promised) and demonstrated His lovingkindness (45).
h. So in this Psalm it is God’s loyalty to doing what He said He would do contrasted with Israel’s unwillingness to give attention to His communication that is the focus.
i. They were “rebellious against His Spirit,” (33), i.e., They rebelled against His communication. Note Psa. 81:8-13; Hos. 4:1, 6, 10-12, 14. Note also the image of a “stubborn heifer.” Is this an image drawn from their calf worship reflecting their unwillingness to submit to the voice of God?
2. A similar idea is expressed in the N.T. of exchanging the glory of God. See Rom. 1:23.
a. They suppress the truth of God and profess to be wise and exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image.
b. Thus God gives them over. Cf. Hos. 4:17.
c. Note also Rom. 3:23: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
C. Rom. 12:2 says that we must not be conformed, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. The rest of the book of Romans describes the transformation. For example, see 12:3ff.
1. The glory of God is our model. It is exhibited in Jesus Christ through the gospel (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:3-6).
2. When we accept the gospel in baptism we are raised as new creatures (Col. 2:12).
a. No longer are we limited to the worldly way of thinking (cf. 1 Pet. 4:3-11; Col. 3:1ff).
b. We have experienced the metamorphosis (cf. Rom. 12:2, “metamorphoo”).
D. The transformation reaches its culmination in the final resurrection.
1. Rom. 8:18-23, 28-30.
2. Phil. 3:18-21.
E. Those who worship the beast and his image will finally be defeated (Rev. 14:9-12), but those who keep the commandments of God (“He who has an ear, let him hear” 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22), are the new heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem, the bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21 and 22). Note the image of marriage and contrast with the images of adultery associated with idol worship in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
F. Thus in the resurrection we will experience the glory that God prepared for us from the beginning (1 Cor. 15:40-49). THIS IS WHO WE ARE!! THIS IS OUR HOPE! THIS IS OUR DESTINY as those transformed to (and by) the image of God.
III. In the meantime we must flee from ANY thing that would interfere with our relationship to God (1 Cor. 10:14). Any thing that we elevate above our relationship with God is idolatry. Any thing or any relationship we allow to compete with our relationship to God is idolatry.A. The rich young ruler was an idolater (Matt. 19:27-30).
1. He had not made a physical image, but his wealth had become his idol.
2. The disciples understood his problem. Peter said, “We have left everything and follow You” (27).
3. Note Jesus’ response: “You who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will inherit eternal life” (28-29).
4. God said, “You shall have NO other gods” (Ex. 20:3).
5. Thus coveting is identified as idolatry in Eph. 5:5 and Col. 3:8.
B. Whatever it is that we “partner up with” (have fellowship (“koinonia”) with) becomes our god.
1. See 2 Cor. 6:14-18.
2. Since we are partnered with Christ to partner with anything else is idolatry (1 Cor. 10:6-22; 1 Cor. 6:15ff).
C. Examples of forms of idolatry that challenge us.
1. The elevation of self.
a. Humanism. All quotations from Humanist Manifesto II.
1) A world-view that denies the existence of God and elevates man to the chief position of the universe.
2) “Humanists believe that traditional theism, especially faith in a prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for persons, to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith.”
3) “As non-theists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity.”
4) We can discover no divine purpose or providence for the human species… humans are responsible for what we are or will become. No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.”
5) With this world-view is the denial of the Bible as a revelation from God and acceptance of a system of ethics that advocates abortion, divorce, homosexuality, euthanasia, suicide, etc.
6) Not new. Read Rom. 1:18ff.
b. “What can I get out of it” religion.
1) Market driven churches attempting to meet consumer’s desires.
2) People want to know how to cope with self-doubt, physical illness, job loss, singleness, marital stress, soaring college costs, social issues, etc. Not bad things, but when exchanged for worshiping God and dealing with sin they are idolatry. Contrast sin being called into account as per 1 Cor. 14:20-25.
3) The “what can I get out of it” philosophy results in entertainment, social activities and the like being elevated to the neglect of worship according to the revealed will of God.
4) We are concerned more about what pleases our senses than obeying the Lord. Sing the songs we like. Listen to the preacher we like. Come to the assemblies we like. Contra 1 Cor. 14:20-25.
5) People need HOPE, not fluff. They need God and His message, not self-made religion (Col. 2:23).
2. The elevation of tradition above the commandments of God (Matt. 15:1-9; Col. 3:16-23).
a. Traditions become idols when they are held to more authoritatively than the word of God. Do we look to the word of God for answers? To family problems? Marital problems? Ethical issues? To psychology? Scholars? Scientists? Professionals?
b. When we elevate the wisdom of men above the wisdom of God it is idolatry.
c. God reveals things through general revelation (discovered by the scientific method) but when we elevate this above God’s specific revelation it is idolatry. See Psa. 19.
3. Idolatry is reflected in our “mind set.” Idolatry is reflected in our focus on mere earthly things (Col. 3:2; Phil. 3:18-21).
a. Those of Heb. 11 were looking further than mere earthly things (vs. 13ff, 26).
b. Friendship with the world is spiritual adultery (James 4:1-17).
c. We are idolaters when money and wealth are what we set our minds on (Matt. 6:19ff).
d. We are idolaters when what others think about us is more important than our relationship with God (Matt. 6:1ff; 23:1ff).
e. King Nebuchadnezzar was self-focused and was humbled to the beast that he was worshiping (Dan. 4:19-33). But he returned to his senses (34-37).
Conclusion:
1. Are you worshiping the beast(s)? Have you become what you worship? 2. Turn to the true and living God in humility. 3. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Note: For further study: We Become What We Worship, G. K. Beale
