Laying An Axe To The Root of Idolatry

Idolatry weaves its way into nearly all other sins. One place idolatry truly prefers taking up residence is in our relational lives. Hero worship or looking to other people as if they are demigods. Sports stars, movie stars, rock stars, political stars. Stars…as if these people somehow outshine other people…or even outshine God. I have to be honest. I’ve never heard God referred to as a divine star or any kind of star for that matter. Usually he is referred to with scorn and outright distain. Humans are often referred to as stars as if they are something more than human. I believe even calling people stars is an attempt to usurp God’s throne by somehow immortalizing these types of people like the stars in the sky which were here before us and will be so after us.

Idolatry also shows up in our relational sexual sins too. I believe that is why adultery is frowned upon so fiercely by God. Adultery seeks to blow apart that which God binds together in marriage. It is an attempt to destroy the core unit of a family which is so representative of the Kingdom to come. I believe this is why divorce is frowned upon except as a last resort when one has either committed adultery or abandoned the marriage covenant. I believe also that idolatry is at the heart of homosexuality and is one of the reasons homosexuality is viewed as such an abomination by God.

Why you ask?

In the context of idolatry we begin to see why homosexuality is abhorrent to God and needs to be acted on so sternly. In rejecting God and a love for God, men (and women) literally turned to images of themselves (Romans 1:23 corruptible humanity) in a form of sexual and idolatrous narcissism. It is as if homosexuality is the ultimate form of idolatry. To make oneself (or another human being like the self, same sex and all) the sole object of worship, desire, love or lust. Homosexuals therefore not only reject God and His statutes, they end up adding insult to injury lusting and loving after the flawed created being (v.23) that has been given over to their sin (v.24). It is a self-perpetuating downward cycle of sin and depredation.

In relationships in general, when the enjoyment gleaned from the relationship becomes disproportionate to the thing that is being desired it becomes idolatry. In other words you cross the line from love/desire to obsession/lust instead of an appreciation of your mate, you’ve tripped over into idolatry. When relationships do not take into consideration other’s feelings, they are idolatrous. Relations simply become objects of desire and/or means to an end (this is a good description of a narcissist/sociopath too). To desire something that is not worthy of that desire is idolatry and that includes relationships that derail your relationship with God. Even when it is familial, even when it is a marriage. When desire leads to an expectation of self-gratification without gratefulness. When relationships and desirous people forget that all relationships and pleasure are a gift from God…you guessed it…your idolatrous. I will admit that this last paragraph has summed up about 90% of humanity, myself included. We all walk this line and no one is immune.

I part with the words of Jesus. It is all in the subtleties again with this post. We say that the Bible promotes “family values”. Yes, it does…and no it doesn’t. Not always. Not when those “values” attempt to trump obedience to the word of God. Hence my parting Scripture. First, we have Jesus in Matthew 10…

Matthew 10:34-39 ~ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

What Jesus is saying here is quite simple. Jesus indicates that following Him in normal familial and societal situation may not bring peace to a family, but may "split" it up. Those that do not follow God (Jesus) are in essence falling to the side of idolatry because they’ve put something before Him. It is literally,  "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," of Exodus 20:3-4. Get it?

The second passage that hits even closer to the heart of idolatry in relationships is in Mark 3…

Mark 3:31-35 ~ Then Jesus's mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." "Who are my mother and my brothers?," He asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

Jesus clearly deems obeying God's will as more important in a personal relationship with Him than sharing biological ancestry or the familial/communal aspect of that relationship. Indeed, he defines his "significant family" in terms of those who obey God's will. This is a striking departure from popular ideas of "family values," but it makes good sense once we see that God must be put first in any of our relationships if they are to be genuinely godly and loving. Jesus is willing to let his Father's will determine even the boundaries of his "true family". Jesus’ own words here are powerful testimony to idolatry in personal relationships.

Relationships are special gifts from God but when those very relationships whether they be platonic or sexual begin to replace God and put themselves relationally before your relationship with God…you will need to to take a long hard look and possibly make a very hard decision. A decision that will not be easy nor bode well for that relationship. Nor should it bode well...because at that point, that relationship has become rather unhealthy for you mentally, spiritually or physically. It is here deep in the heart of the relational aspect of both human interaction and idolatry that we get at the "root" of the danger of idolatry.

Matthew 3:10, Luke 3:9 ~ “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”