For the past few months, I’ve been addressing idolatry and expressing just how wicked it really is. Let’s be real and face the facts: we’ve all done it. We’ve all committed idolatry. We have all replaced God with something or someone else and given it an image. We’ve all taken God’s name lightly and disregarded it, nor remembered Him on our “Sabbath” day. We’ve all dishonored our parents. We’ve all hated someone to the point we would murder them if we knew we’d get away with it. We’ve all lusted after others who aren’t our spouse. We’ve all stolen, all lied, and all lusted after something that isn’t ours. We are all guilty of breaking all Ten Commandments and I do not believe I am off-base to suggest we did all this because of following a god or serving an idea, person, or thing that isn’t God. We are lost and without hope on our own, because God is going to make us face Him on Judgment Day when the books will be opened.
Idolatry is like a prison. It deceives us to think we are being free to do what we want, but in actuality it is slavery and the further we go, the tighter the chains get. It’s like any addiction. The moment you want to put it away, you find out you can’t. It won’t let you. You have made a covenant bond with it, and it won’t let you go. But there is hope! That bond can be severed. Those chains can be broken. There is one Man who did it: Jesus Christ. Jesus came and lived on this earth as a man. He was temped in every way known to man and beat it.
There was no point in Jesus’ life when He put another god, person, idea, or thing before God. He submitted completely to the Father. The very notion of going against His Father’s will was anathema to Him. There was no physical object He served to give Him hope or direction. It was only the Father. He never took His Father’s name in vain, even when He identified Himself as being one with the Father. Everyone else thought it was blasphemous, but they didn’t understand the Scriptures. It was not wrong for Jesus to identify Himself with God because He was God. He was and still is part of the Trinity.
Jesus honored the Sabbath. He understood its point and purpose: to rest the body and remember God. He dismissed the strict regulations of the Pharisees, who frequently were violators of their own laws themselves. He honored His mother and father. He submitted to them, when even at 12 years old and was teaching in the temple, He went home with His parents and submitted to their authority.
He was firm and at times fierce, but He never committed murder nor hated even those who rejected His message. He wept over the Pharisees and how they missed the mark with Him, and He rebuked James and John who in their anger sought to call fire down from heaven. He never lusted after another. There are false ‘gospels’ that suggest Jesus married Mary Magdalene, and I could only slightly agree with the idea that there may have been a temptation there, but not one Jesus would have given a second thought. I can only suggest this because Scripture says he was tempted in every way known to man, and if Jesus didn’t overcome sexual temptation, what hope do we have? Jesus never stole anything that wasn’t His, including the name of God. He never claimed anything that wasn’t His. He never lied, nor spoke even half-truths, nor hid the truth. He only spoke that which was true. And He never lusted after anything that didn’t belong to Him. He never coveted after anyone’s home, their clothes, their lifestyle, anything. He only asked His Father to meet His needs and was willing to go without anything His Father needed Him to go without. Jesus fulfilled every single commandment, perfectly. Nothing led Him astray.
That gives us hope. And because Jesus perfectly lived out a perfect life, He could offer Himself to the Father to satisfy the Wrath of God against sin. If Jesus has sinned just once, His death would only be able to cover His own sin, not that of another. That’s why none of us could die in the place of another. We have our own debt to pay, and our death can only pay for our own sins. Jesus could do it instead. And on that cross, a scandalous substitution took place. Jesus became sin and took on the full wrath of God in one go. He then traded His righteous perfection to us so that we do not carry our own righteousness but His. The debt is paid. The wrath of God is satisfied. But we would still be dead and so would Christ, so there was one more thing: the Resurrection.
It is the Resurrection that changes everything. It is the Resurrection that transforms a person and restores life. In the Resurrection of Christ, there is no more sin, death, disease, or even sadness. That has not yet been fully realized, but as the Old Testament saints looked forward to our day where Christ has come and done His work, we look forward to the day where we will finally be delivered from the very presence of sin. How does this happen? While the entire work is done by Christ so we have no means or ability to boast, we still have a response to make. The response Jesus taught in His ministry was, “Repent and believe.” We must renounce the old way of life, turning away from it. We no longer want that old life, and we forsake it. We must nail it to the cross, too, so that Jesus’ work can be accomplished. Then we must believe. It’s trust and dependence upon Christ, ultimately letting Him do His work in and through us. The real secret to Christianity is Jesus living His life in and through us, not us trying to live out Christianity. If we are willing to forsake our idols, destroy them, tear down the “altars” where we worship them, and replace them with the only True God, we will see true freedom and the idol’s hold on our lives will be broken. It’s a continual journey and we’ll never exhaust the end of it on this earth, but those who have done this have never regretted it. Once you know and taste the freedom God gives, you will never want to return to idols that can’t do what only God can do.
Do you want freedom? Do you want to break away from worthless practices that never satisfy and never let you know if you did “enough”? Get ahold of any of us at Worldview Warriors: Jason DeZurik, Katie Erickson, Steve Risner, Chad Koons, Eric Hansen, or myself. We will gladly work with you and show you how to meet Jesus and get freedom. Our hope is in Jesus Christ and He can be your hope too. Even if you are already born again, Jesus can offer deliverance to any area of sin that you have not yet experienced victory over. But you have to let it go so He can. When we turn to Jesus, He has the answer to ALL of our problems, and we can rest with assurance and confidence that He will take care of us. It may not be the way we think, but He will take care of us and it will be worth it. Put your trust and your faith in Christ Jesus. Unlike any idol, Jesus does what He claims, and He never leads anyone astray. Follow Him. You won’t regret it.
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